The 104th Carroll County 4-H and FFA Fair attracted record crowds - about 80,000 - to see more exhibits, bid on more livestock and cakes and consume more food than last year, organizers said yesterday.
Attendance was up about 15 percent from the 2000 fair. Organizers expect to meet at 9 a.m. today at the agriculture center in Westminster to critique the weeklong event and will regroup next month to review final statistics.
"We try to fix things from year to year and we want people to let us know what were not the best ideas," said Barry Lippy, fair director and manager of Carroll County Agriculture Center.
But he doubts many events were unpopular this year, his first as director. The daily pig races and a celebrity car - the General Lee from the 1980s The Dukes of Hazzard television show - were among the biggest crowd pleasers, Lippy said.
"We were more successful than last year, and we thought that was the biggest fair ever," he said. "This was my first year as director and I expected problems, but there really was nothing we could not fix."
Deputies were called to fix an altercation over a pig at the close of the fair Friday that resulted in three arrests. The late-night melee involved a disgruntled farm family, fair officials and sheriff's deputies on duty. The pig's owner had long since bowed out of the argument.
The livestock auction Friday attracted more than 200 bidders, one of whom paid a hefty price for a pig. Ellen Hoff, 44, said that because the pig was raised on her Westminster farm, she was entitled to a share of the proceeds. The pig's owner, whom police would not identify, disagreed. The owner told police that although she had quartered several pigs at the Hoff farm in exchange for labor, Hoff had no right to demand a share of the proceeds.
When Hoff allegedly refused to leave the auction barn, fair officials asked deputies to remove her from the grounds, police said. Hoff was arrested and charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
As police restrained Hoff, a 68-year-old, who police said was a relative, is accused of picking up a shovel, swinging at and missing a deputy. Police said Levine Lockard was charged with assault. A 15-year-old also is accused of interfering with Hoff's arrest and was charged with delinquency.
All three were later released, but will have to appear in court.
"The only good thing was the majority of people had left the fair and this was not disruptive to any activity," said Maj. Thomas H. Long of the Carroll County sheriff's office.
Fair officials played down the incident, saying it had no impact on the overall picture of voluntarism, family and agriculture.
Sales showed crowds attended with food in mind. Concession stands sold more than 3,600 hamburgers and 3 tons of french fries during the week. Visitors ate 400 pounds of pulled pork barbecue and 200 pounds of sausages.
Crowds kept cool with more than 1,000 snowballs daily and 1,400 gallons of ice cream during the week. Preparers and servers - more than 200 volunteers - went through 4 tons of ice keeping their offerings chilled.
"We never ran out of anything but it was really hard to keep up," said Meg Smith, concession chairwoman. "The hamburgers especially, we could not get them ready fast enough."
Smith does not have final figures but she expects concession proceeds to exceed $80,000. The cake auction Wednesday was a profit-maker, bringing in about $30,000, including $1,500 for the winning entry: a blueberry tea ring.
All proceeds keep Carroll's fair country, with free admission and parking and no midway rides.
