The Starbird Building at the Farmington Fairground is seen Sept. 3 with its newly painted roof. “We put 130 gallons of paint on the roofs of the pulling ring and the Starbird Building” this summer, Neal Yeaton, secretary of the Franklin County Agricultural Society, said. The fair opens Sunday and runs through Sept. 21. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

FARMINGTON — The Farmington Fair returns for its 183rd exhibition starting Sunday for seven days of agricultural activities, entertainment and a larger group of 4-H’ers for the animal auction.

“We have got more interested kids participating in it this year,” Neal Yeaton, secretary of Franklin County Agricultural Society, said last week.

“I believe 19 kids are signed up right now for the auction,” Kristen Grondin, 4-H community education assistant for Cooperative Extension, said. “We had four or five last year, have almost tripled the number this year. That is fabulous.” Ages range from 7 to 15, she said.

The auction at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18 will feature baby beef steers, hogs, market lambs, laying hens, meat birds and turkeys, Grondin said. They will be shown in Worthley Arena or the sheep/hog barn on Sept. 17 starting at 4 p.m.

“The kids have been checking in,” she said. “The animals look fantastic. I hope to have a nice turnout for them.”

Yeaton said there are several new events planned.

Jason Tardy’s high-energy juggling and dragonman show will be presented twice on Sept. 18. Yeaton said he saw him perform at the Maine Association of Agricultural Fairs’ annual convention and “he was very good.”

Also appearing at the fair for the first time, the Colonial Daughters, the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter, will hold a Constitution Day bell-ringing ceremony in the former New Sharon Library.

“We are excited to host the ceremony at the fairgrounds this year,” member Amanda Beane said last week. “It will be similar to the past two years with a short overview of Constitution Week followed by the bell ringing. And we will have a special singer too. Buzz Bridges will lead us in “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The Rave X motorcycle group will perform on opening day. Vacationland Jumps from Waterville will give a skydiving performance Sept. 18 at 5:30 p.m., landing on the grass area inside the racetrack.

Cushing Amusements is returning with rides Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week. It will have a motorcycle show set up beyond the midway.

Nick Rowley with University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Franklin County will give talks Sept. 17 and 19 in the Exhibition Hall, Yeaton said.

He said there will be two nights of truck and tractor pulling instead of one, scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 19 and 20.

Trustee Rupert Pratt said two or three new food vendors will be at the fair. “One does tacos, there is a peanut and nuts guy,” he said.

A lot has been done at the fairgrounds this summer, though much of it may not show, Yeaton said. “We put 130 gallons of paint on the roofs of the pulling ring and the Starbird Building,” he said, and 20 to 25 gallons of yellow paint on one side of the ice cream shop, one and a half sections of the grandstand and two barns.

“The paddock roof was replaced, the track graded,” he said. “We are ready for horse racing.”