The Common Ground Country Fair, also known as the Common Ground Fair, is an agricultural fair in Unity, Maine held the third weekend after Labor Day and sponsored by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). It is held at the Common Ground Education Center. It was first held in 1977. The fair "celebrates organic living, farming and growing," and all the food sold at the event must be organic. [1] The fair regularly hosts 50,000 to 60,000 people. [2]
The fair began in 1977 in Litchfield, Maine. In 1981, it moved to Windsor, Maine and in 1996, MOFGA purchased 200 acres in Unity, Maine, where the fair now takes place yearly. [3]
The first fair was held at the Litchfield Fairgrounds as a fundraiser for MOFGA. It raised $22,000. [4] In 2016, a Portland Press Herald article about the fair's history said:
A very small item about the first Common Ground Country Fair ran in the Portland Press Herald on Sept. 2, 1977 under the headline “Fair to Have Extra Features.” The “few touches” that would make the fair “a cut above the traditional” were “a roster of speakers that includes Helen and Scott Nearing, renowned homesteaders and authors.” The story is 102 words long, which suggests that editors at the Press Herald had limited expectations for the future of the Common Ground Country Fair. [4]
In the Nov.-Dec. 1977 Maine Organic Farmer & Gardner magazine, Lloyd Ferris wrote:
The Common Ground Country Fair was really too big to define in words. One is left with a lot of pleasant memory pictures; a lot of good thoughts. I will never forget, for instance, that incredible tent that looked a bit like an Egyptian pyramid or a star. And what food there was beneath it: The Strong Brothers’ egg rolls for which people lined up 50 deep, the Hungry Hunza sandwiches loaded with cheeses and sprouts and other good things, Mary’s home-made ice cream with hot apples, Krystina’s delightful bakery goods and that fine swichel (if I’m spelling it right) cooked up by the Sagadahoc County Chapter of MOFGA. It was a kind of hot cider mixture, they told me, consumed by workers long ago during haying season. [5]
In 1989, Hurricane Hugo flooded the fairgrounds and delayed the Saturday opening. [4]
In 2008, MOFGA installed water bottle filling stations to test the viability of no longer offering the sale of bottled water. The test run was deemed a success and the sale and use of bottled water wasn't offered the following year. [6] [7]
Coffee sales were not offered at the fair for many decades. By 2011 vendors could sell organic, fair-trade coffee. [8]
For the first time in 2017, the fair was powered entirely by alternative sources, including a 102-Kilowatt solar array, a series of heat pumps and a small wind turbine. [9] [10]
In May 2020, MOFGA announced the fair wouldn't take place for the first time since its inception due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fair director April Bouchard said in a statement the cancellation "allows us to begin planning a marquee virtual event." [11]
The fair commonly features traditional skills demonstrations, alternative energy demonstrations, handicraft vendors, farmers markets, and food courts selling a range of organic foods.
The fair is also host to a large number of political groups and activists. In 2009, there were 64 political or social activism groups in attendance. [12]
In 2012, Anne Raver of The New York Times visited the fair and wrote: "The fair is a grand celebration not only for organic growers, but also for spinners and weavers; woodworkers and jewelry-makers; drovers of oxen, horses and mules; and sheep herders and their dogs. Not to mention poets and fiddlers, reflexologists and herbalists, solar and wind power gurus, seed savers and worm-keepers." The Times also noted: "It wasn’t the toasty smell of cotton candy that filled the air; it was the fruity fragrance of sweet Annie (Artemisia annua), a European herb that can self-seed in the garden like an invading army. Women old and young wore golden crowns of it on their heads." [13]
In 2013, the Portland Press Herald reported: "Instead of the typical fair staples such as cotton candy and carnival rides, the Common Ground Country Fair draws crowds seeking veggie burgers and workshops on worm composting." [14]
The fair is known for its numerous vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. Vegan columnist Avery Yale Kamila wrote in 2014: "for vegetarians there is no contest when it comes to the agricultural event with the largest selection of meat-free options. The Common Ground Country Fair wins the blue ribbon for consistent veg-friendliness year after year." [15] [16]
The Maine Campus newspaper wrote in 2019 the fair "has significantly more vegan and vegetarian options than an average fair." [17]
Each day of the fair features one keynote address plus hundreds of other speeches, talks, panel discussions, demonstrations and other educational events. Some past keynote addresses at the Common Ground Country Fair [18] [4] [19] were delivered by: Wendell Berry, Scott Nearing, Helen Nearing, Elliot Coleman, Vandana Shiva, Will Bonsall, Kent Whealy, Jim Hightower, Ross Gelbspan, Percy Schmeiser.
MOFGA holds an annual competition for the artwork to be featured on the next year's fair poster and merchandise. Maine residents and MOFGA members can enter the contest. In 1987, the featured artwork was from Dahlov Ipcar. The 2011 poster was a still life oil painting of canned goods by Dacia Klinkerch. [20] In 2014, Kate Seaver's medicinal herb drawing won the competition. [21] The 2018 poster was a painting of two kunekune pigs by Arika von Edler, who painted them to highlight livestock not being raised for meat. [22]
New England cuisine is an American cuisine which originated in the New England region of the United States, and traces its roots to traditional English cuisine and Native American cuisine of the Abenaki, Narragansett, Niantic, Wabanaki, Wampanoag, and other native peoples. It also includes influences from Irish, French, Italian, and Portuguese cuisine, among others. It is characterized by extensive use of potatoes, beans, dairy products and seafood, resulting from its historical reliance on its seaports and fishing industry. Corn, the major crop historically grown by Native American tribes in New England, continues to be grown in all New England states, primarily as sweet corn although flint corn is grown as well. It is traditionally used in hasty puddings, cornbreads and corn chowders.
Portland is a port city and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Historically tied to commercial shipping, the marine economy, and light industry, Portland's economy in the 21st-century relies mostly on the service sector and tourism. The Old Port is a prominent neighborhood known for its nightlife and 19th-century architecture. Despite the economic shift, the Port of Portland was still the second-largest tonnage seaport in New England as of 2019.
Jeremiah Hacker was a missionary, reformer, vegetarian, and journalist who wrote and published The Pleasure Boat and The Chariot of Wisdom and Love in Portland, Maine from 1845 to 1866.
A ploye or ployes are a Brayon flatbread type mix of buckwheat flour, wheat flour, baking powder and water which is extremely popular in the Madawaska region in New Brunswick and Maine.
Here is a recipe on hot to make a good old fashioned hot dog.
Helen Knothe Nearing was an American author, advocate of simple living and a lifelong vegetarian.
The Portland Farmers Market is a farmers market in Portland, Maine, U.S., which has been in continuous operation since 1768. Since 1990, the market has been held place year-round. From May to November, it is held on Wednesdays in Monument Square and on Saturdays in Deering Oaks Park. From December to April, the winter market is held on Saturdays in the former Catherine McAuley High School building.
The North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) is a charity and activist organization with the stated objectives of supporting vegetarians and informing the public about the benefits of vegetarianism.
Matthew Kenney is an American celebrity chef, entrepreneur, author, and educator specializing in plant-based cuisine. He is the author of 12 cookbooks, founder of dozens of vegan restaurants, and founder of the companies Matthew Kenney Cuisine and Matthew Kenney Culinary, a plant-based diet education business.
The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) certifies organic food and products throughout the State of Maine. It is a voluntary organization whose office is located in Unity, Maine. As of 2016, MOFGA certifies 480 producers and growers.
Freya Smith Dinshah is the author of The Vegan Kitchen, president of the American Vegan Society in Malaga, New Jersey, and editor of American Vegan magazine.
Toni Fiore is an American TV host, cookbook author, and chef, focusing on vegetarian and vegan dishes.
Avery Yale Kamila is an American journalist and community organizer in the state of Maine. Kamila has written a food column for the Portland Press Herald /Maine Sunday Telegram and its affiliated newspapers since 2009.
Will Bonsall is an American author, seed saver and veganic farmer who lives in Maine. He is a regular speaker about seed saving, organic farming and veganic farming.
A vegan school meal or vegan school lunch or vegan school dinner or vegan hot lunch is a vegan option provided as a school meal. The meals have become part of the menu in some public school districts. Vegan school meals most reported on by the media include those added by Los Angeles, California in 2018, Portland, Maine in 2019, and New York City in 2022. A small number of private educational facilities around the world are vegan schools and serve exclusively vegan food.
Horace A. Barrows was an American physician who practiced in Western Maine in the early 19th century, made and sold plant-based medicines, prescribed a vegetarian diet and invested in local businesses.
The Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro is a vegetarian restaurant serving Thai cuisine in Portland, Maine, that opened in 2007 in the city's Arts District. A second Green Elephant restaurant is located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Both have received critical attention for their vegetarian dishes.
Henry Aiken Worcester was a Yale University alumnus, a vegetarian, and a Swedenborgian minister who worked in Maine and Massachusetts. His "Sermons on the Lord's Prayer" was published posthumously in 1850.
The Hollow Reed was a vegetarian restaurant in the Old Port district of Portland, Maine that opened on February 7, 1974, and closed in 1981, and is cited for its influence on the city's notable restaurant culture.
The Great Lost Bear is a bar and restaurant in Portland, Maine, United States. Established in 1979 by Dave and Weslie Evans and Chip MacConnell, it is noted for its selection of draft craft beers.