The Fryeburg Fair will open a day early, overlapping with the Cumberland Fair after the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) determined earlier this month that they have no jurisdiction to stop them.
Because the Fryeburg Fair intends to operate unlicensed on Saturday, September 27 the fair will not receive its subsidy from the states' Agricultural Fair Support Fund for that day.
The Fryeburg Fair is intending to operate unlicensed on the Saturday prior to its first licensed day for the next five years.
Commissioner, Amanda E. Beal, said she hopes Fryeburg fair officials will reconsider.
Beal wrote that she hopes "that the Fryeburg Fair organizers take into account the compelling points raised in the public letters and testimonies and not implement their plan to extend their dates beyond those licensed by DACF."
The decision comes after Cumberland officials voiced frustration that Fryeburg would be starting on the same day as Cumberland's most popular fair date.
