Crowds get a taste of spring at Agri-Business Trade Fair
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — While the 35th annual Agri-Business Trade Fair has come and gone, organizers and exhibitors are still talking about the success of the springtime show.
Staff photos/Scott Mitchell Johnson
NANCY WRIGHT, left, member of the Maine Agri-Women, hands a batch of McCain french fries to volunteer Grant Hemphill of Presque Isle, who then delivered them to a customer at the recent Agri-Business Trade Fair. Looking on is Hemphill’s grandmother, Diane Hemphill, chair of the steering committee for the National American Agri-Women Convention. Proceeds from the sale of the french fries will go to two Maine Agri-Women scholarship recipients.
HEIDI CHASSE, of Mapleton, holds her four-year-old grandson, Mason Chasse, also of Mapleton, while he enjoys a McCain french fry during the recent Agri-Business Trade Fair held March 28-29 at The Forum in Presque Isle. 
“We figure we had more than 4,000 people through the turnstile, but that included the exhibitors and vendors,” said Tim Goff, executive director of the Fort Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the March 28-29 event. “We also had a lot of volunteers, and we let people who showed up in uniform in for free. I would say paid attendance was around 3,500, which is great.”
Goff said while attendance is important, the true measure of success is “in the results.”
“The best gauge — for me — when we strip away the numbers and look at things overall, is results. We heard a lot of very positive results,” he said. “I know the Antique Tractor Club moved a pile more raffle tickets than they were expecting, the National Honor Society kids sold out of potatoes a couple of hours before the show closed Sunday, and the Maine Agri-Women did a bang-up job selling french fries.”
Noting that the weather was “spectacular,” Goff said people were chomping at the bit to get out of the house.
“Plus, while it’s not the greatest economy out there, there are some improvements. I think it’s the time of year where people have a better financial feeling about things,” he said, “so when you add in the factors of the weather being great and some slight improvements in the economy, that helped give us a really solid turnout.”
The trade fair sold out of booth spaces and more than 60 exhibitors were on hand. One of those vendors was Mike’s & Sons of Presque Isle.
“This is our first year at the show,” said Jamie Voisine, sales manager. “We’ve been in Fort Kent for almost 30 years and branched out down here April 1 of last year, and we wanted to get exposure into the market because not everybody knows we’re here. We wanted to showcase our products and meet potential customers.”
Mike’s & Sons featured its lawn and garden equipment including chainsaws, tillers, weed whackers, tractors and zero-turns.
“Things were great,” said Voisine. “The turnout was awesome, we were very busy and we got good sales leads. We sold a couple of pieces, as well, so it was a good experience for us. We saw faces that we may not see coming through our doors on State Street, so that seed has been planted by just seeing what we have to offer. We’ll definitely be back next year; it’s an awesome event.”
Mike’s & Sons was awarded the best large display at this year’s show.
“While the judges had difficulty determining a winner among several of the large dealers, ultimately the inviting, friendly and knowledgeable staff at Mike’s helped them claim the title of best large display,” said Goff.
Brian Edgecomb, owner/operator of Green Horizons Agri-Energy in Limestone, was another first-time exhibitor.
“We sell Central Boiler outside wood and pellet boilers,” he said. “Everybody is looking for alternative heating solutions, including myself, and where I’m a farmer, I thought that maybe I could use some waste crop potentially in the pellet boiler, and wood that we had on our own farm to use in the wood boiler.
“We’ve been in business less than a year, so I wanted to come to the trade show for the exposure,” Edgecomb said. “I’ve had a lot of interest in the boilers. There’s a fair amount of wood boilers out there in the community already; this is a new wood gasification model, so people have been curious about it and were stopping by to ask questions. It’s been good.”
As this was Goff’s first year overseeing the trade fair, he said he was a bit nervous.
“I didn’t know what to expect from the vendors, from the crowd, from the setup,” he said, ‘but it couldn’t have gone any better. Are there things that I’d like to change? I’ve got a list on my phone of things that we may look at for next year, but overall I couldn’t be more pleased.”
One of the possible changes is opening up the show “so it has more of a forestry feel.”
“While it’s ‘ag-biz,’ I think most people realize that forestry right now is healthy in Aroostook County. You’ve got Irving, Ashland Re-Energy, a pellet mill … there’s a lot of growth in that area, so in the future we may open up some space to invite some of that in,” said Goff.
The 36th annual Agri-Business Trade Fair will be held April 2-3, 2016.
