Dates are the single most searched thing about any fair, so this page does one job: it puts every event in our Maine directory in date order, grouped by month, with the full run of each multi-day event rather than just the opening Saturday. Maine fairs routinely straddle a weekend and then keep going into the following week, and that detail is what decides whether a trip works.
Two honest notes before the list. First, our records contain nothing at all in January or May 2026. The year opens in February with two winter competitions, goes quiet through the spring, and then does not really start until the first weekend of June. Second, smaller community fairs move their dates more often than the ten-day fairs do, so confirm on the fair's own listing before you book lodging.
February and March: two winter competitions
The U.S. National Toboggan Championships open the 2026 calendar in Camden on February 6 to 8, listed with competitions and food. Three weeks later, the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races start in Fort Kent on February 28 and finish on March 3. That is the only March date anywhere in our records, which makes these two events the entire winter calendar as far as this directory is concerned.
They also sit about as far apart as Maine allows. Camden is Knox County on the Midcoast. Fort Kent is Aroostook County at the northern border. If you want both, treat them as two separate trips.
April, and then a completely empty May
The Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race runs a single day, April 18, in Bangor, listed as a competition. It is the only April entry we have.
After that, nothing. May 2026 has zero entries in this dataset. If you are planning a spring visit specifically around fairs and festivals, there is no fair season to plan around yet. The next date on the board is June 6.
June: the season opens on two tracks
June splits cleanly. On one side, the agricultural fairs begin: the Maine Fiber Frolic in Windsor on June 6 to 7 with animals, crafts and competitions, then Springfield Fair in Penobscot County on June 11 to 14, Pittston Fair on June 18 to 21, and Monmouth Fair on June 24 to 27. Both Pittston and Monmouth are Kennebec County, which is a pattern that repeats all season.
On the other side, June is the month of city and coastal festivals. The Maine Whoopie Pie Festival takes a single Saturday, June 13, in Dover-Foxcroft. La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival runs June 18 to 21 in Biddeford. Pride Portland! is June 20 and Bangor's Pride Parade and Festival is June 27. The Portland Greek Food Festival fills June 25 to 27, the Maine Oyster Festival takes June 27 to 28 in Freeport, and Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days runs June 21 to 27 with fireworks. Closing the month, the Bowdoin International Music Festival opens in Brunswick on June 29 and does not finish until August 7.
July: the busiest month on the calendar
July carries 17 separate events, more than any other month in our records. Bath Heritage Days opens it on July 2 to 5 with fireworks and a parade. The second weekend stacks up hard: Ossipee Valley Fair (July 9 to 12), Skowhegan Log Days (July 9 to 11), Houlton Fair and the Moxie Festival (both July 10 to 12), the North Atlantic Blues Festival in Rockland (July 11 to 12), and the Maine Potato Blossom Festival in Fort Fairfield, which runs a full nine days from July 11 to 19. The Maine International Film Festival in Waterville overlaps the whole stretch, July 10 to 19.
The middle weekend is the tightest squeeze of the year. On July 17 to 19 alone you have the Yarmouth Clam Festival, the Waterford World's Fair, the Maine Celtic Celebration in Belfast, and the Rangeley Logging Festival on the 17th and 18th, with Old Hallowell Day landing on Saturday the 18th. Then the Ossipee Valley Music Festival (July 23 to 26) and the Pittsfield Community Festival (July 23 to 25), before the Maine Lobster Festival takes over Rockland from July 29 to August 2 and the Bangor State Fair opens July 30 for a ten-day run.
August: the ten-day fairs arrive
August is when the big agricultural fairs show up. Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle and Union Fair in Knox County both run August 5 to 9. Topsham Fair takes August 11 to 16. Skowhegan State Fair runs ten days, August 13 to 22, and Windsor Fair runs ten more, August 29 through September 7, crossing the month boundary.
Around them, the festivals keep pace. Dover-Foxcroft Homecoming is August 1 with fireworks. August 7 to 8 gives you two blueberry festivals on the same weekend, Wilton and Gray, plus the Maine Boat and Home Show in Rockland August 7 to 9. The Acadian Festival in Madawaska runs August 13 to 16, the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival August 14 to 16, and the Lewiston-Auburn Balloon Festival August 21 to 23. Wells Chili-Fest is a one-day event on August 22. The last weekend brings Acton Fair and Piscataquis Valley Fair (both August 27 to 30), the Crown of Maine Balloon Fest in Presque Isle (August 28 to 30) and the two-day Washington County Fair in Pembroke (August 29 to 30).
September: harvest fairs and a coastal second season
September holds 15 events, second only to July. The fairs run almost weekly: Blue Hill Fair (September 3 to 7), Harmony Free Fair (September 4 to 7), Clinton Lions Agricultural Fair (September 10 to 13), Litchfield Fair (September 11 to 13), Oxford County Fair (September 16 to 19), North New Portland Fair (September 18 to 20), Farmington Fair (September 20 to 26), and Cumberland Fair opening September 27 and running into October.
The Common Ground Country Fair in Unity takes September 25 to 27 and is one of only four events in our data tagged for crafts, food, animals and live music together. On the coast, the Camden Windjammer Festival is September 4 to 5, the Eastport Salmon and Seafood Festival September 4 to 6, the Eastport Pirate Festival September 11 to 13, and the Camden International Film Festival September 17 to 20. Add the Laudholm Nature Crafts Festival in Wells (September 12 to 13) and the one-day Cornish Apple Festival on September 26.
October, November and December
The Freeport Fall Festival opens October 2 to 4. Fryeburg Fair runs October 4 to 11 and is the last agricultural fair on the 2026 calendar. Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta closes the outdoor season October 9 to 12.
November has exactly one entry, the Maine Harvest Festival in Bangor on November 21 to 22, listed with crafts and food. December has two: Christmas Prelude in Kennebunkport, an eleven-day run from December 3 to 13, and Chester Greenwood Day in Farmington on December 5.
Events that run longer than a week
If your dates are fixed and you need something that will definitely be open, look at the long runs. The Bowdoin International Music Festival is the longest in the dataset at roughly six weeks, June 29 to August 7. Christmas Prelude runs eleven days. Skowhegan State Fair, Windsor Fair, Bangor State Fair and the Maine International Film Festival each run ten. The Maine Potato Blossom Festival runs nine, and Fryeburg Fair eight.
Everything else is a weekend or a long weekend, and 12 events in our records are single-day only. Those are the ones worth double-checking, because a one-day festival that moves by a week ruins a trip in a way a ten-day fair never can.
Weekends where you have to choose
Three weekends in 2026 force a decision. July 17 to 19 carries five overlapping events across four regions. August 7 to 9 carries three, including two blueberry festivals in different regions on identical dates. The final weekend of August, the 27th through the 30th, carries five, four of them agricultural fairs.
The upside of that clustering is that a couple of them sit close enough to pair. The downside is that the last weekend of August is also the most spread out geographically, running from York County to Aroostook. Pick a region first, then pick the weekend.
