The Bolton Fair — Local services in Lancaster

This is our 3rd year going. We have a 4 year old. This was our favorite year by far! First year our son was too young to do as much as we did this year. and last year, the weather was pretty bad for much of it - although we still enjoyed the time we did spend.

This year (2019) the weather couldn't have been more perfect. We skipped the midway preview Thursday night but went Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Food is either fair food from the vendors that (I believe) are part of Fiesta shows or from a few added vendors that come in, such as Firefly's (which was our favorite). Food from firefly's was great! The regular fair vendors food was ok. Pretty much what you'd expect.

Rides are decent - we were there one day with family and they have a four year old as well. We spent $55 on 50 tickets. Kids used the tickets Sat and Sun. It worked well and while I'm sure they would have gone on more rides, it was enough. You can get a wristband for $25 and have unlimited rides on day from 12-5. Good deal if that is a focus, but rides are secondary for us as there's plenty of other places to go on rides.

What we really enjoyed were the shows. We saw the hot dog pig races, Flying high dogs, lumberjack show, clydesdale pulling show, jumping horse show, horses horses horses show, petting zoo, Lucky bob juggling and magic show, The Magic of Lance Gifford show and the demolition derby both Fri and Sat! As well as some of the ongoing shows, just as the birds of prey and reptiles as well as all the various animals.

All the shows we saw were part of the admission. For $30 for my wife and I for all 3 days, I felt that was an excellent value. Hopefully the weather will be as good next year! The only downside of the great weather is that it was crowded at times. Some long waits for food at peak times, but it really didn't take away from the fun. If you haven't been, I'd suggest going...

We've been attending the Bolton Fair since our children were in strollers at their old location squished into the center of Bolton MA. The new Fairgrounds in Lancaster MA are amazing and the Bolton Fair continues to shine. With free parking and minimal entry fee the Fair organization puts on quite a show.

Plan to spend a day at the Fair. There's always a show or demonstration going on to watch - love the dog team show. Last year they added a professional grade tractor pull in addition to my favorite the horse/oxen pulls. There is so much to see plus the craft vendors are offering some quality products, the amusements and midway remind me of childhood days at the town carnival, all the farm animals and especially the food (my favorite fried dough) is always delicious and worth cheating for.

Now that the kids are grown and we're waiting for grandchildren we continue to attend the Bolton Fair every year. There's something about attending an old time Country Fair that we look forward to year after year. Hope to see you...

Rides are expensive (per usual). Good news is you can buy tickets/bracelets with a credit or debit card now so you can stop paying those ridiculous carnival ATM fees. Demolition derby was cool. My son was through the roof when he saw the monster trucks. I guess you can ride the monster truck too but not sure how much it costs. Admission is a separate price from ride tickets..so 10 bucks to get in and then another 25 bucks for 20 ride tickets (they all cost between 2 and 6 tickets). A bunch of games..your typical rip-off. The vendors were good. Right at the entrance a homemade canning vendor caught my eye. He gave me samples of garlic jalepeño pickles which were sooooo good I had to buy some. I'd skip taking your youngans and go as an adult trip. There's really not much more than a handful of overpriced rides for them and then the farm animals. Take the kids to canobe and go here for a date night. You'll enjoy the vendors and save yourself the headache of your kids running around asking...