By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — With the smell of McCain Foods’ French fries wafting in the air, adults chatting with visiting vendors and signing up for door prizes, and children clamoring to shake hands with Spuddy, the official mascot of the Maine Potato Board, this year’s 31st annual Agri-Business Trade Fair was deemed a success by event organizers.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
Tyler Seaman, 7, and his sister, Tilly, 5, both of Caribou, were two of the many children who met Spuddy, the official mascot of the Maine Potato Board, at this year’s 31st annual Agri-Business Trade Fair. Held at The Forum in Presque Isle, the event featured upwards of 50 exhibitors ranging from recreational-type equipment to farm-related machinery and much more.
“I think this year’s trade fair went very well,” said Michael Bosse, executive director of the Fort Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, which hosts the event. “We were up — attendance-wise — a little bit. We had a real good Saturday. We received a lot of comments from the vendors saying that it was steady. Sunday was good, too. We’re very pleased.”
Upwards of 50 exhibitors were on hand for the yearly show, which is held at The Forum in Presque Isle.
“We had everything from recreational-type equipment to farm-related equipment, agricultural-related services like the USDA, Farm Service Agency and Maine Farm Bureau, and a community market which featured items ranging from crafts to food,” said Bosse.
One new business that attended this weekend’s trade fair was Windy Hill Restoration of Windham, which offers complete farm tractor repair and restoration work.
“We sell replacement parts for antique tractors, and we repair antique tractors that go back mostly into the 1930s up into the late ‘60s and early ‘70s,” said Ron Winship Jr., owner of Windy Hill Restoration, who attended the trade fair with his business partner, Ric Parady. “It’s a growing business and I grew up on a farm and was always messing around with old tractors. It’s fun.”
The Northern Maine Antique Tractor Club encouraged Winship to have a booth at the springtime fair.
“They’ve been after me to come up and I do some business up here and there’s kind of a need for it,” said Winship, “so I thought I’d come up and see about generating some business. It’s been steady and I’ve gotten some leads from people. I tell people that, ‘We have what your tractor needs.’ Everybody I’ve talked to up here seems to have an old tractor or knows someone who does. I would consider coming back. I attend quite a few shows throughout the state — mostly southern Maine and New Hampshire. This is my first show in northern Maine and I’ve been happy.”
All the vendors were surveyed, and Bosse said many would like to see the hours of the show adjusted.
“A number of people would like us to adjust the hours on Friday, open earlier and close earlier on Saturday, and open earlier on Sunday,” he said. “Whether or not we do that, we’ll have to wait and see, but we always want to enhance the show, and I’ve already met with two people on how we can do that.
“It’s an agri-business show and if we’re going to stay true to that theme, we need to make it relevant,” said Bosse, noting that he hopes to recruit more agricultural-related businesses to participate in next year’s show. “We’ll be looking to the industry leaders and hopefully bring the big players back in.”
The survey, which also addressed such items as location, facility and service, garnered positive results.
“We asked vendors to rate the categories on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest, and I’ve probably seen only a handful less than 3,” said Bosse. “Most of them are all 4s and 5s; it seems like the vendors were all very positive and had a good experience. One of the questions I asked was, ‘Would you return next year?’ and with the exception of two maybes, everybody else said ‘Yes.’ Based on that, I would say this year’s show was overwhelmingly positive.”
The Agri-Business Trade Fair is always the last weekend of March. For more information, contact Bosse at 472-3802 or log onto www.fortcc.org.
