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Balloons lift off on Aug. 16 at Simard-Payne Memorial Park during the Lewiston-Auburn Balloon Festival. (Russ Dillingham/Staff Photographer)
Lord Huron performs on the Baxter stage during Back Cove Music & Arts Festival on Aug. 2 at Payson Park in Portland. The band headlined the first day of the inaugural two-day festival. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)
Issac Glover of Rumford guides a Belgian horse named Spanky around the single horse log-twitch course in the pulling ring on the first day of the annual Monmouth Fair on June 25. Competitors in the event at the Monmouth Fairgrounds guided their horse dragging through an obstacle course marked off by cones. It was a timed event, and they lost points for touching or tipping over cones. Glover said he got into pulling because his parents and grandparents are all involved in pulling contests and that the family goes to several fairs to compete over the summer and fall. (Joe Phelan/Staff Photographer)
From left, Autumn Grenier, Adelaide McArthur and Emma Robishaw wave to the crowd as they are driven through the grandstand at the Acton Fair during the grand parade on Aug. 23. Grenier was crowned Little Miss Acton Fair; McAthur, Junior Miss Acton Fair; and Robishaw, Miss Acton Fair. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Helley Arington runs toward Rangeley Lake on Aug. 21 with a net to try to catch a frog to enter into the annual Frog Jumping Contest during the Blueberry Festival at Town Cove Park in Rangeley. (Russ Dillingham/Staff Photographer)
Kiwinik Dana, a member of the Penobscot Tribe, dances during the Community Days gathering of the Houlton Band of Maliseets in Littleton on Sep. 6. Dana was the youth male head dancer at the gathering. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Susan of the East turns her great wheel (also known as a walking wheel) while spinning sheep wool into fine yarn during a demonstration at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity on Sept. 19. The fair is organized by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)
Kristyn Callahan of Acton throws a skillet during the skillet toss competition at the Acton Fair on Aug. 23. Callahan threw the skillet 41 feet, 7 inches. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Asa Mehuren, 11, and his cow Sunshine compete in the 4-H youth dairy show during opening day at the Union Fair on July 30. During the show, Mehuren is judged on how well Sunshine was cleaned, clipped, prepared as well as handled while in the ring. (Anna Chadwick/Staff Photographer)
Fans anxiously wait for the Country Band 12/OC to take the stage at Thompson’s Point on Aug. 23. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer)
Spectators watch the Portland Pride Parade on Congress Street on June 21. (Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer)
Other competitors watch as Teejay Sinclair of Waterville throws the hammer during the Backyard Games on Oct. 4 in Hallowell. (Joe Phelan/Staff Photographer)
Lindsey Seavey, 6, grooms 1,000-pound draft pony Bud before her family gave horse-drawn wagon rides during River Days in Skowhegan on June 27. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)
Kellee Ouellette relaxes on her family’s ox, Zeke, on Sept. 10 in the stable being used by her family from Shady Lane Farm of New Vineyard at the Oxford Fair. Zeke and his partner, Dick, an oxen weighing in at 3,770 pounds, were taking part in several competitions over the course of the fair. (Russ Dillingham/Staff Photographer)
Silas Burr, 13, of Gorham, center, was in the stands at the Cumberland County Fair watching his fellow 4H members show their livestock on Sept. 25. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
A wayward pig runs through the Livestock Show Ring during a pig-calling competition at the Acton Fair on Aug. 23. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)

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