Farmers, gardeners, homesteaders and the agriculturally curious converged in Unity again on Friday for the first day of the annual Common Ground Country Fair.

The major fall event hosted by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, now in its 48th year, aims to celebrate rural living.

Visitors bought local produce, tried traditional crafts, ate beans cooked in a hole, contra danced, watched demonstrations from working animals and attended talks on subjects from creating ash baskets to preparing for death at home.

Attendance has broken records in recent years at the fair, which over time has grown from a small gathering in Litchfield to an event at the organization’s Unity headquarters that last year drew almost 70,000 people over three days.

Final attendance numbers weren

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