Fair & Festival Glossary
Plain-English definitions of real fair and festival terminology, from lumberjack competitions to the midway.
- MidwayThe carnival strip of a fair: rides, games and food stands.
- GrandstandThe covered seating that overlooks a fair's main track or arena.
- Exhibition hallThe indoor building where non-livestock entries are judged and displayed.
- 4-HThe national youth development program whose members show and compete at fairs.
- Premium bookThe fair's published rulebook of classes, entry rules and prize money.
- PullingA contest in which teams of oxen or draft horses drag a weighted sled or drag.
- Harness racingStandardbred horses racing while pulling a two-wheeled sulky.
- Agricultural societyThe nonprofit membership organization that owns and runs a fair.
- Woodsmen's field dayTimber sports competition: sawing, chopping, axe throwing and log rolling.
- Wild blueberryMaine's small, low-growing native blueberry, harvested from barrens rather than planted rows.
- Blueberry rakeThe short-handled toothed rake used to harvest wild blueberries by hand.
- MoxieA distinctively bitter soft drink and Maine's official state soft drink.
- Whoopie pieTwo soft cake rounds sandwiching a sweet filling; Maine's official state treat.
- WindjammerA large traditional sailing vessel, in Maine usually a passenger-carrying schooner.
- Pumpkin regattaA race in boats made from hollowed-out giant pumpkins.
- Franco-American and AcadianTwo distinct French-speaking heritages with deep roots in Maine.