Common Ground Country Fair — Local services in Unity

This review is for this past Sunday. The fairgrounds are beautiful and if you're going for a quintessential New England fair experience, you'll sort of get that but my friends and I were pretty disappointed after the 2-hour drive up.

I got there by 3:00 and every food vender was either closed or out of food. On top of that, everything was cash only which was really fatiguing. It's 2022 and because of the pandemic most people have become accustomed to using cards now. Considering they take card when you pay your entry fee (which felt overpriced for the quality of the venue to be honest, $20) I don't see why we can't have basic card readers at vendors like literally everywhere else now.

When looking at the horses, some of the staff were rude to us when we were walking around in between the stalls where the saddles were being kept, stating that part was off limits. Here's the thing, that's obviously fine but just put up some signs, there was a million other people who did the same thing before us, but we're the only ones who get talked too. A little more direction and helpful guidance overall would have been nice.

I get that this type of event planning isn't easy especially after not doing it for a couple years because of Covid but there could have been a lot of very easy improvements this year. Hoping things will be a bit more...

The are a wide variety of activities and experiences to learn from ranging from pottery, spinning, gardening to animal care. An impressive selection of vendors and small businesses to sample from and support. Also, an enjoyable selection of fair food. A very enjoyable experience in that area. Getting to the fair is easy enough as they start leaving signs to help direct people quite a ways up the road. There are many officers and volunteers directing traffic and parking. It will be BUSY. The volunteers deserve a lot of credit in keeping the lines moving along at a decent pace. Even once inside, it's crowded and difficult to get through areas at times. Lines for food are very long for some vendors. So it's better to eat before going. Some activities might have a bit of a wait to get a chance due to the amount of people. As long as crowds don't bother you it's going to be an awesome experience. I would also suggest going at least two days as there's a lot going on and that can be difficult to do everything you want in one day. Will probably be attending...

Most of the volnterrs were standing around commenting on the patrons and how hard it was working and that they had done more then others. The exhibits were perfect,baskets,kids crafts,felting,spinning just name a few. Best show of the day,the dogs herding goat and sheep. That said the vendors prices were inflated 5 fold, organic cider I get from local orchard.5 to 7 dollars a gallon, fair price 22. Dough boys 9 dollars, now a lot of vendors we have seen at other fairs with food less then here. The winners for taking advantage of customers hotdogs,8 dollars, 4 dollars for unsweetened lemon aid. I understand this fair wants everything organic , natural and farm grown local. But spending money in Maine to help support this, could be better spent at your local farm stand and farmers market. We did enjoy our selves and would go again but also budget our selves to what we could not find local. Just as note we bought some stone ground pastry flour fresh ground came home and made doughboys for under $1.50...