The 174th Fryeburg Fair kicked off Sunday with all the usual trappings of fair food and carnival rides and a packed lineup of agricultural events.

Sunday’s festivities featured horse, poultry, dairy goat and flower shows, a firemen’s muster, ox pulling and more – all before noon.

Hundreds squeezed into a barn for the aptly-named “pig scramble,” an event that sets loose 12 local kids with burlap sacks on 10 pigs. What followed was a mad dash of kids catching squealing pigs – which they were allowed to keep or sell back to farmers for $40.

Others sat in bleachers to watch as John Simmons, owner of West Paris’ Stoneheart Farms, coached his two border collies, Maisie and Bea, to herd ducks. Simmons and his wife, Doreen, have traveled to several fairs over the past decade to educate people about the important role herding dogs play in farming.

Atlas Schools, 4, of Wiscasset, beams after receiving a toy at a dart-throwing concession with his father Phil Schools at the Fryeburg Fair on Sunday. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

“We usually do this with sheep, but there’s not enough room inside, so we’re doing this with ducks,” John Simmons said.

Maisie, 11, and Bea, 4, lead the group of quacking Indian runner ducks in figure-eight formations in and out of cones, then into the center of a hula hoop.

“These dogs need to be busy mentally and physically,” Simmons told the crowd.

Meanwhile, roughly 3,000 animals were prepped, sheared, washed and trimmed to blue-ribbon standards for their shining moments in the show ring.

Including a handful of chestnut brown Oberhasli dairy goats shown by 8-year-old Amelia Enos for Worth the Wait Farm in Denmark. Her mom, Leiann Enos, said that Amelia has been around her family farm since she was born.

“She just wants to make sure that they’re ready to show, she’ll walk them around, she hand-milks, so she’ll help milk after they show,” Leiann Enos said.

A group of burlap bag-clutching children, ages 8 to 10, chase swine in the Pulling Ring during the Pig Scramble on Sunday at the Fryeburg Fair. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

The family had just finished showing at the Cumberland County Fair last week, making for a busy fair season Amelia Enos called “a lot.”

“It’s definitely a long day and process, usually a long week,” Leiann Enos said. “We get here at 7 in the morning, and the show lasts all day long, and she just loves it.”

Over at the cattle barns, Emma Clement, 15, of Bucksport, got her steer Elmer ready for the 4-H Beef Steer Show. She planned on selling the steer in an auction later in the week.

“I’ve been coming to fairs my whole life, but I’ve been doing 4-H since I was 9,” said Clement, a third-generation farmer at Roundtuit Farm in Bucksport.

Clement was hoping to do well in the cattle show, but said she participates “mostly just for fun.”

“I just like being with animals, and being out and helping people learn about the animals,” Clement said.

The Fryeburg Fair continues through Oct. 6, with plenty more chances to experience all of Maine’s agricultural offerings.