The Common Ground Country Fair began in 1977 during a time of general American get-back-to-the-land attitude. The hippies had started growing up, and what began as an aimless, bummy resistance to the way things were grew into a desire to look for what things could be. Woodstock may be the perfect example: Americans felt alienated from one another and decided to come back together over something they mutually cared about.
“This is something we can really work towards if we’re looking out for one another,” said Jim Buckle, a Maine farmer, during a panel on PFAS organizing and policy that occurred during the fair. Buckle’s message was a welcome piece of solidarity during a talk which, reflecting the state of PFAS policy in the US, was frequently summed up with, “it’s bad and we can only hope to make it less bad.”
The Common Ground Fair began as a run-of-the-mill fair in order to fundraise money for MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association). Over the years, much has been done in the way of sustainability; boasting that it is the largest plastic free fair in the world since 2008 and being powered entirely by alternative energy sources since 2017. Mainers have learned to care deeply about the environment and what effects humans have on it since childhood. In the world we live in, this ideal can seem lost to the past sometimes — the historical past, before the pervasive climate doom and one’s own individual past. The Common Ground Fair can feel like a familiar place.
“This year just slipped by for me,” said a kitchen coordinator. “The fair really helps me slow down and think about what I’ve done over the past months.” The consistency and community that forms around the fair is vital to its life. The culture of volunteering, the piles of donated food made into meals to feed thousands, the nighttime contra dancing — the wonderful feeling of coming together with a bunch of strangers and making something wonderful work.
Leading up to 2020, turnout for the fair had been dwindling, and due to the pandemic, the fair was cancelled that year. However, the years since have shown a massive increase in interest. An all-time high attendance rate was hit in 2024, with the next two years keeping pace. Mainers — specifically young Mainers — are looking to come together with others over something they mutually care about.
“Every year we get all of these ingredients thrown at us and it’s like ‘okay, let’s feed an army,’” said one kitchen volunteer. How is it so simple and done so consistently? The answer seems to be that at the Common Ground Fair people really deeply care about one another. As the volunteer dinner was reaching its end on Saturday night, the dining area broke out into a sustained applause. It didn’t seem like the clapping had anything to do with congratulating one another on any individual act, it felt like one collective smile: “We did it again!”
