March 2020

Tim Libby spends most of his time in the woods: from the off-the-grid cabin he calls home in Union, Maine, to the thousands of acres of protected land he stewards as the forest and facilities manager at Midcoast Conservancy in Edgecomb. Most days he can be found at the conservancy’s Hidden Valley Nature Center in Jefferson. Libby credits his professional role in the woods to MOFGA’s Low-Impact Forestry (LIF) program. “Without my involvement with MOFGA, I wouldn’t be doing the work I’m doing today.” His experience gained with LIF, he feels, makes him a suitable caretaker for Midcoast Conservancy.

Do you love the Common Ground Country Fair? Maybe you’ve been coming each year since you were young, or maybe you volunteered for a few shifts last year for the first time and want to do it again. We are looking for dedicated individuals to join our volunteer Fair Planning Team as area coordinators.

Each year many individuals work hard to ensure that the different pieces of the Fair run smoothly. From the parking lots to the kitchen to the speakers’ tents, volunteers take the lead. Do you love wool and yarn, are you up for taking a shift in the parking lot, or are you excited about alternative ways to get to the Fair? Perhaps you’ve volunteered many times and would be interested in becoming one of our hardworking area coordinators, organizing volunteers and scheduling events in a particular area of the Fair. This year MOFGA would love to find some people interested in helping us organize buses from different parts of the state, to mitigate the traffic and emissions associated with the Fair.
 
Whatever your interests, you can make a difference. To see a list of open area coordinator positions, visit /The-Fair/Fair-Volunteers/volunteer-as-an-area-coordinator.

If you have questions regarding volunteering at the Common Ground Country Fair, contact MOFGA’s community engagement coordinator, Andrew Graham, at agraham@mofga.org or 207-568-4142.

Would you like to be a vendor, exhibitor or demonstrator at the 2020 Common Ground Country Fair? Do you know of a presenter, artisan or Maine enterprise that would be a good fit for Common Ground? The application process for vendors, exhibitors and speakers for the 2020 Fair is underway.

If you are interested in participating in the Fair as a vendor, exhibitor, demonstrator or speaker but are unsure of which area at the Fair is appropriate for you, call us for help at 207-568-4142 or review the area descriptions and guidelines on the Fair Vendors and Exhibitor’s page.

Here are some things you can do now to start planning for the 20209  Common Ground Country Fair:

• Volunteer as an area coordinator to help manage a part of the Fair that resonates with you.
• Create a design for the 2021 Common Ground Country Fair poster design contest. Details are posted on the Fair Poster page at www.mofga.org.
• Order seeds and start plants for your garden. Results could be entered in the Exhibition Hall displays or offered to the Common Kitchen to help feed volunteers during the Fair. Grow Your Own Organic Garden classes are taught throughout the state in early April to help get you started.
• Work with your local schools and teachers to plan a student field trip to Common Ground. It's never too early to ask, especially because the Fair comes right after the start of the school year. All student groups get into the Fair free on Friday, and we offer mileage reimbursement to help with travel costs.
• Work with your local adult education program to organize a community bus trip to Common Ground. It’s a terrific way to help conserve resources while getting preferred parking near the Rose Gate! 
• Tune your bicycle and body to bicycle, partway or all the way, to the Fair. Each year nearly 600 cyclists pedal to the Fair. 

March 2020

A highlight during MOFGA day at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show was the unveiling of the 2020 Common Ground Country Fair poster. The poster, featuring monarda (bee balm) and bees, highlights the importance of native plant species in supporting pollinators. Artist Joy Grannis of Portland created the design, which is a beautiful and fitting image for the 44th annual Common Ground Country Fair, September 25, 26 and 27, 2020.

March 2020

In January, Anna Swanson, Andrew Graham, Nancy Rosalie and April Boucher represented the Common Ground Country Fair at the Maine Association of Agricultural Fairs (MAAF) annual meeting and conference.