Photo / Fred Field
Two Supermen from the Bangor-based Anah Temple Shrine greeted the Fort Fairfield crowd.
Updated: August 19, 2024
Focus on Greater Bangor & Northern Maine
The County’s claim to fame: Aroostook is known for its potatoes, and its Potato Blossom Festival
Photo / Fred Field
The parade moves through the heart of Fort Fairfield where Town Manager Tim Goff estimated the crowd at 5,000 to 7,000 people.
By Fred J. Field
“The County” is a moniker often used when speaking of Maine’s Aroostook County. The bold claim may be justified by the fact that Aroostook is the largest county east of the Mississippi River.
The signature summer celebration in the County is the nine-day Maine Potato Blossom Festival. The potato is king here and the festival’s signature event is the parade through downtown Fort Fairfield. The parade has an agrarian feel befitting this agricultural county.
Maine’s potato industry had an estimated $1.3 billion in output in 2022, according to a March 2024 technical report by University of Maine professor Todd Gabe. Of the Maine land devoted to the growing of potatoes, 91% is in the County.
The view down Fort Fairfield’s Main Street shows truly impressive tractors, some costing in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Shortly after the parade ended, an Amish gentleman named Mose used a pair of draft horses to disc harrow his land, also in Fort Fairfield. The contrast between very old and very new and very expensive versus very inexpensive couldn’t be more stark. This is part of the charm in the County where the very old and very new meld seamlessly with the common denominators of farm, family, hard work, tradition and grit.
“The festival is a great opportunity for folks to come up and experience what the County is all about,” says Timothy Goff, Fort Fairfield’s town manager.
“Friendly folks, celebrating our agricultural roots, having some fun competing in events like mashed potato wrestling against our friends and neighbors, enjoying some music in great weather while having some food and a beer.
“It really is a tremendous event that injects life into our community, helps our economy and is a major fundraising opportunity for numerous nonprofit organizations. I think events like this help make the County more accessible to folks who are looking for a chance to experience a part of the country that is truly unique.”
Photo / Fred Field
Alliterative banners adorn light poles in Fort Fairfield.
Photo / Fred Field
Peggy Ward in star-spangled attire said she liked “the local flair and farm equipment” in the parade. She came to the parade and festival from Virginia.
Photo / Fred Field
The McCrum float honors the family potato tradition started six generations ago in 1886 in Mars Hill.
Photo / Fred Field
Mose, an Amish farmer in Fort Fairfield used his draft horses to disc harrow his garden in a scene reminiscent of farming in the late 1800s.
Photo / Fred Field
Potato blossoms stretch toward a distant mountain in this view from Fort Fairfield.
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