Marshfield Fair Association

This review is for their Oktoberfest, which was just as real as Scotchtoberfest.
So you know those horror movies where a group of young folks go to a remote town/​resort and some old man/​woman at a nearby gas station/​general store (in an rickety old person voice) tries to warn them not to go, since the town is haunted, full of zombies, or whatever? The young group laughs off, goes into town and engages in a life-​and-​death struggle with some monster or something. And of course they regret not listening to that wise sage.
What was the point of that? This actually happened at this Oktoberfest. My friends encountered an older woman at the entrance of the fair. She warned everyone that the fair was a waste of time, waste of money and you’d be spending so much time in line. And just like what the older woman predicted… I lost all of my friends to the half gator, half donkey monster. No, really, this was a real waste of time and money.
There was only one line and one vendor for food. Needless to say, the wait for food was lengthy (like 30+ minutes). Once you get to the ordering counter, you’ll be shocked and disappointed by the food selection. It’s overpriced and meh. My $ 10 mediocre sausage was only ½ the size of the bun. Beer in a Oktoberfest cup was $ 12, and there were only a couple of German options.
The «German brass band» at the fair mostly placed old American pop songs. I was waiting for them to play «She’s A Maniac».
There was nothing German about this fair. There wasn’t anything German sold or performed. All there was were 6 sorry-​looking fair rides. The highlight was when this drunk woman randomly tried to get my friend to go on the zipper ride with her. Sketch-​tastic.

Marshfield Oktoberfest what a joke! Waited in beer line for 20 minutes for a $ 10 dollar beer and the only food truck with 1 line for 1 hour!!! Was too bad because the food was good and beer was cold. We only stayed because we paid to get in and drove 45 minutes. If the weather was not good we would have left.
No carnival games. 6 rides. What a disappointment. This could of been a great opportunity as many people showed up on a nice fall Saturday. We made the best out of it, but will not be back there again.

It’s a really fun place however the vendors are a little on the high side. I would recommend you bring lots of cash.

I love this fair, and go every year I can. They have all sorts of entertainment, derby, horse pulling, magic show and so on. My favorite is the truck pulling event, a little bit redneck I know, but still my favorite and lots of fun. Besides the shows there’s also carnival rides, games, and all the great fair food you can imagine. My top ones are the fried candy bars, bloomin onions and sausage with the works. There’s really something here for everybody, lots of vendors. And don’t miss the performance by The Rebel Kelly’s, they’re a family of musicians and they’re absolutely wonderful.

OK so we’re not kids anymore and I should probably give up on local fairs. That said, I think the Marshfield fair is great if you like overpriced rides or livestock. There should be more of the stalls selling arts and crafts, as well as a few more things to watch (live music is great but couldn’t we have magic and acrobat shows too?)
Let’s try to update the fair so it goes another 100 or so years.

Wished we purchase the advance tix with unlimited rides for $ 25 which included admission (will do so next year because we’ll be going back). It can be costly because rides average 4 – 6 tix and with one thrilling ride @ 10 tix (tix average $ 1 each).
The fair offers a good mixture of rides for adults and children. Lots of cute animals, mini shows & food options (not too outrageously priced).

This was fun. I went for the first time on Friday evening with my boyfriend and his son. They’ve been going for years to see the demolition derby and this I was finally able to join them. We ate some food, then watched about 90 mins (3 rounds consisting of 10 cars each) of the derby. Loved it! Then we ate some more and then got tickets and rode some rides. The rides at this fair are awesome. They are way bigger then your local carnival, wish I had had them as a kid in VA. I get sick nowadays on most rides but I was still able to do the swing, dragon boat, and the log ride. How cool that they have a water ride at a local carnival? Fair warning though — you DO get wet. They even take your picture to buy just like at 6 Flags. The place is busy on a Friday night so be prepared to wait a bit for food and ride lines.
There are also a lot of games to play, should you want to waste more money. I played one — the one where you shoot water out of your gun at a target to race your animal up the ladder the fastest. I was winning until my water pressure gave out 3 times. LAME.
There are also other things to do like caricature drawings, magic shoes, battle of the bands, henna tattoos, haunted house, mazes, shopping, etc. I loved the agriculture expo, reminds me of the county fairs I grew up with in Virginia. We got to see the largest pumpkins grown, the vegetables that competed for first place (did you know someone actually wins a 1^st price ribbon for their cherry tomatoes and peppers?) They also have little animals and people made of vegetables, and a USA of vegetables! Being that it was focusing on agriculture I wasn’t surprise to see the 4H showing of cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, ducks, ponies, and horses. Though I am not a fan of animal exhibitions I’m used to that growing up in VA and know that these particular domesticated farm animals have homes and get treated pretty well in their small family farms (that is until they get sent to the slaughter house later on…)
However I was not happy with the wild animal showcase. I didn’t know they had this here and it made me sad. Glad the animals aren’t caught in the wild and most of them had a buddy so they weren’t alone as the only species of their kind, but still. Traveling wild animal showcases (even ones based in MA) are exploiting to animals and teach children that it’s ok to lock up a wild animal for entertainment, even when that animal is miserable (yes some of the animals did display neurotic behaviors like pacing back and forth). The primates and rodents wanted more space, especially at night when they became very active. Granted the miniature goats in this collection were pretty content, getting lots of attention and grain, however I witnessed an extremely intoxicated man feeding the goats grain. He was trying to give it to the very small runt (which was sweet) however in doing he pushed, cursed at, and aggressively moved his arm through the goats to get to the small one. He also had a quarter still in his hand covered in grain. SO DANGEROUS. Can you imagine what would happen to the goat if it ate the quarter? The staff working the animal showcase mostly just watched him and laughed and only intervened when his cursing was getting too loud as there were small children around. This was not appropriate for animal welfare. Intoxicated people should not be allowed to get near these animals. Also I appreciated all the hand sanitizer, but it should be known that traveling animal exhibits carry germs and many kids have gotten sick from petting zoos. There was also a pony and camel ride nearby.
I just think the fair should stick to the rides, junk food, games, and vegetables and leave the animals at home (or in this case in the wild). There is no need to have animal entertainment at this fair, especially wild animals.
Also there is nothing to eat if you are vegan, with limited options if you are vegetarian. Vegetarian dishes include fried pickles, oreos, cupcakes, pasta, popcorn, pretzels, and grilled veggies. Vegan options included local corn on the cob (which was delicious!!!), french fries (many kinds to choose from) but they are fried with who knows what else…), and cotton candy. This place is great for meat eaters — all the pizza, corn dogs, hamburgers, fried clams, chowder, hot dogs, BLTs, etc. you could imagine. Get your heart attack on!
Prepare to spend a lot of $$$. My boyfriend between 3 admission tickets (each $ 10), + $ 30 worth of tickets, + food, parking, gas, etc. spent about $ 100. I spent about $ 60 on tickets, food, and a game. So that was $ 160 for 2 adults, 1 kid for 3 hours. Yes it’s fun but remember to bring a lot of cash. Also get to the derby early to get a good seat.

For $ 10 entrance— how can you lose?
Definitely was able to enjoy the rides– extra $ 20 for 4 rides.
I loved the old school singing, antique cars, rides, and greesy foods.
Went with my elderly father for the first time and he loved every minute of it.
If you want more… you are asking too much for $ 10.

I went to the Marshfield Fair on a Tuesday. At other times during the year there’s usually a pow wow, a rodeo, Octoberfest, and other cool stuff. And I think the farmers’ market is here.
The grounds at the Marshfield Fair seem to be cleaner on Tuesdays. I usually go during the daytime. It can get loud at night.
The must-​see attractions for me are:
*The arts/​crafts/​farming exhibits in the Agricultural Hall
*The former horse racetrack that now features music and sporting events
*The animals at the 4H and livestock barns, and at a few other locations throughout the fair
*And there’s usually a magician’s act, or two. I try to support my local magician.
*Fudge is also big. There’s several fudge vendors, so you might want to browse around.
*And there’s always some interesting, new, fried food to try. I think I saw onion blossoms.
*And if you like honey, or are just looking for some sauces and spices, check out the honey barn. You’ll meet some cool people in the honey barn. It’s near gate A.
Traffic gets very busy on weekends. You might want to research some alternate, alternate routes. Or just come during the week, when there isn’t some major event going on on that particular day.

I went to the Marshfield Fair yesterday, we go every year. I must say, I noticed it seems to be going down hill from previous years.
The place seemed dirty and the carnies seemed a bit more shady than past years. I got a candy apple and was very dissappointed at paying $ 4.00 for a rotted, nasty product, the woman that served it looked like a wasted drug addict to say the least.
Would have to really think about attending in the future.

After the parking and very steep ten dollar admission I was shocked that most of my budget had been spent. We got 28 dollars worth of tickets for rides that required mostly 4 tickets per ride it made for about 5 rides. 30 mins into our trip to the fair and I was out 100 dollars. I had to pull the plug at that point because I was not about to make this a 300 dollar day. I mostly blame the town for charging so much just to get in the place. It leaves you in the hole in the first few minutes however fiesta carnivals tickets were grossly over priced with a lot of duplicate rides on both ends of the fairway. I don’t know how a family of 4 could afford this on a regular salary even once a year. Also the prices have risen 30 percent in a few years. Avoid this place unless you have some serious money to spend. Even then it will not deliver. Very sad experience.

This was my first county fair in a long time. I second Casie’s review.
Marshfield does lack the agricultural emphasis of many larger fairs, but it seems to be a good community carnival event.
The 4-​H displays were excellent. Prize-​winning roosters, chickens, ducks, goats, cows, and a handful of llamas. Good change of pace from whatever you’re used to doing on a Friday night.
Watched five heats of demolition derby because my wife and I found it hard to look away. Hilarious stuff, and can’t believe that more drivers didn’t end up on a gurney. (see our video here:
) It’s like the rodeo without all that practice.
You won’t find healthy food here, but you will find plenty of fried dough (is that stuff legal?), sausage & peppers, and the other usual suspects.
I couldn’t believe that the price for throwing a dart at a balloon jumped from $ 1 to $ 3 since I was a kid, so we stuck to the people watching and beer.

I have been to many county fairs in my time and have to admit this is one of the worst I have ever been to. First off, I love Marshfield and the surrounding towns. It is typical New England shore town and quaint and a pretty nice place to visit. This fair sits off route 3A and is on a small piece of land. It evidently is the oldest in the country (don’t they all claim to be that) and has been there since the 1800’s. The exhibits in this place are horrible and consist of some 4-​H displays of flowers and vegetables and a few buidlings of farm animals and then the grandstand to watch tractor pulling or demo derby. The place consists mainly of fair food (always good) and rides (not safe ones by the looks of them being run by some equally scary people) which is not a bad thing but then don’t call yourself a county fair. The 10 dollar admission is a joke and I saw some of the scariest people walking around this place I had ever seen. Plus heres a thought, don’t have a county fair in the middle of August. It was like 90 degrees and the place was empty. That should tell you something. So there are a few thoughts on my experience with this awful fair. Hence I will never return and will pass along my thoughts to anyone that is thinking of visiting.

I am pretty shocked by all the negative reviews on here! I’ve go to the Marshfield Fair every year when I can (I’ve got a summer job that makes it kind of difficult), and I love it.
It’s a country fair: petting zoo, livestock shows, carnivals rides and games, and greasy food. It’s exactly what you would expect it to be.
It has the added bonus of a demolition derby, tractor pull, farmer’s markets, wrestling, motocross, battle of the bands, and more!
Just don’t go expecting upper class fine dining, and you’ll be fine! If you aren’t ready to invoke your inner white trash, it’s probably not the place for you.

Being the urban kid that I am, I’ve never been to a county type fair. So when I saw signs to Marshfield Fair, I decided to go. And that’s where I went wrong.
It started off great. We got there and paid to get in. Once we were inside, it was far bigger than it looked from the outside. Great! So we wandered around looking at the bee exhibit (all out of local honey), which actually taught us that by eating local honey growing up, you can help prevent allergies. Cool stuff. We looked at the other exhibits, then wandered to the fairway.
None of the rides looked very exciting. Or very safe. The food booths had the usual overpriced artery clogging fare. Thankfully, we had stocked up on turkey supplies from Bongi’s 15 or so minutes away.
The 4-​H exhibit was somewhat cool, though some of the cows looked almost as emaciated as the Olsen twins. The goats, as usual, were funny.
Then there was the demolition derby. Why not just call it white trash get together? Having never been to one, I had no idea what I was in for. While it’s cool to see cars smash each other up, it sort of loses it’s appeal after a couple of minutes. But I guess not to the 1,000 WT fans in the stands going wild.
All in all, it’s fine to go to if you have kids during the day, before the drunks come, or if you’re like me and have never been to a fair. I suppose I’ll be back. In 10 to 15 years or something.

So I went to the actual fair a few days ago… it was a mixed experience, mostly split between hilarious and terrible.
Hilarious:
–the fact that the older carnival rides literally have not been repainted since around 1983… and they still play the same damn MUSIC… from 1983.
–the demolition derby… it was actually kind of amazing?
–the 4H barns… i mean, they were actually awesome, but it was hilarious/​sad that the 830lb prize winning pumpkins and such within were snuggled up next to attractions such as ‘design your own body paint’, and ‘the Freak Out’.
–I could really go on… this country fair that is wholesome enough to make my farm-​raised dad want to attend, and sketchy enough to make me never want to take my kids there is a really funny concept.
Terrible:
–A small droplet, which I’m 99% sure was probably saliva or puke, came out of there air from somewhere above at a high velocity near rides like the Zipper, the Cobra, etc, and landed on my shoulder. Good thing the carnies installed little hand sanitizer stations every few feet.

The fair was dirty, smelled bad, expensive, crowded and dangerous. There used to be horse racing there when I was young and the amount of flies they brought into the town was insane. Flies are the least of the problems you get when you bring horse race betting anywhere. How about gambling addicts, drunks and psychos? Yeah, when I was there one time a guy was stabbed to death. True story. I was there with my parents and we didn’t witness it, but needless to say we never went back.