An Old-Fashioned Ag Fair

Saturday brings the first annual Springs Agricultural Fair to the green outside Ashawagh Hall during the weekly farmers market.

There will be contests and competitions. Bakers may enter their creations in categories from best pie, muffin, cookie, and cake, to best breads with and without yeast. Bakers will be judged in two age groups — 12 and under and age 13 and up — and must submit their entries at Ashawagh Hall between 8 and 9 a.m. Pie makers have been asked to submit a whole pie, muffin or cookie bakers a half-dozen of their creations, and bread or cake makers may submit one item each.

Gardeners may seek acknowledgment for the largest zucchini or other squash, or the largest tomato grown, and a “best flower bouquet” contest.

Each contest has a $5 entry fee. There can be only one entry per person, per category.

At the fair, there will be competitions for prettiest chicken, with registration at 9:30 a.m., and for best dog trick, with registration at 10:30 a.m. Each has a $5 entry fee.

Those squaring off to create the biggest bubblegum bubble can register for free, at 11:30 a.m. The bubble gum will be provided.

There will be first, second, and third prizes, with ribbons and cash prizes from $5 to $15, for each contest.

The fair is being organized by Chuck Ascher-Walsh, a Springs resident, and his family, and is modeled on a similar one held on Martha’s Vineyard.

Mr. Ascher-Walsh’s 5-year-old twins have been selling coffee and muffins at the farmers market. They will bring their baby chicks to the agricultural fair for others to enjoy.

Information about the agricultural fair can be found at springsagfair.com. “The first and most important rule is to be patient with us,” Mr. Ascher-Walsh writes there. “This is our first year running an agricultural fair and we admittedly do not know what we are doing. The goal is to have fun.”