Tim Goff has fond memories of the Maine Potato Blossom Festival when he was growing up in Fort Fairfield in the 1980s.
“I remember the very first festival I would have seen when I was 8 years old. The parade was going by my house and the Grizzly Club was flipping pancakes at my dad on the lawn,” said Goff, who since 2014 has been one of the orchestrators of the 10-day festival as the town’s economic director.
“I always thought it was exciting that for a weekend my little town became a city,” Goff said. “My parents still live in the same house and it’s the best place to watch the parade.”
On Sunday evening, with fireworks and music downtown, Fort Fairfield wrapped up its 70th annual Maine Potato Blossom Festival with 10 days of activities, concerts, street vendors, high school homecomings, and pageants.
Before World War II, other towns held a summer potato festival, but in 1947, Fort Fairfield claimed the blossom festival, Goff said. The town has been hosting the festival ever since.
Goff estimates that as many as 35,000 people visit Fort Fairfield for the festival over the 10 days — representing about 10 times the local population of about 3,500. The visitors include locals from around northern Maine and New Brunswick, as well as Fort natives who now live in other parst of the state or country.
“It’s a great home coming for the community,” Goff said. “I saw some friends that live in the Midwest and West Coast who I haven’t seen for years.”
Among the families with an organized homecoming this year was the Ashby family, celebrating the 167th anniversary of the settlement of the family’s homestead on Conant Road.
Cheryl and Donna Ashby remember eagerly awaiting the Blossom Festival and decorating their bicycles for the parade.
“We always had a great time,” said Donna Ashby, who lives in South Carolina and visits Fort Fairfield during the festival every summer.
Cheryl and Donna’s father William, now 87, farmed with his dad and two brothers at the original family farm, where relatives held a large gathering Sunday.
“The last reunion we had was the year 2000, for our 150th celebration,” she said. “We thought it was time to have another one.”
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- Siblings Donna, Cheryl and Scott Ashby with their parents William and Betty gathered near the Fort Fairfield library to watch the Maine Potato Blossom Festival parade on Saturday. The Ashby’s held a family reunion this year to coincide with the festival. (Anthony Brino)
