Overview The Topsfield Fair is an 11-day agricultural fair on 83 acres, 18 miles north of Boston, where the world's first one-ton pumpkin crossed the scale, in 2012. The Essex Agricultural Society, a nonprofit, has run it since 1818 and calls it the longest continuously operating county fair in America. Thirteen agricultural buildings hold around 10,000 exhibitor entries, from cattle and poultry to honey and Christmas trees, alongside a midway, an arena and a daily program of shows. On site The Arena runs horse and oxen pulls, a draft horse show with six-horse hitches of Belgians, Percherons, Clydesdales and Shires, sheepdog trials and a stock tractor pull for backyard tractors built in 1970 or earlier. The fair says its Beekeeping and Honey Show is the largest at any fair in North America, with live observation hives. The poultry building runs a hatchery all fair long, the cattle barn holds daily milking demonstrations, and an interactive cow named Nellie can be milked. Fiesta Shows brings the midway rides. On weekdays three parades wind through the grounds at 5 p.m., throwing beads and beach balls. The beer garden is free to enter and open to families. Audience Much of the fair is entered by its visitors: 4-H members show cattle, horses and goats, local growers enter the vegetable barn, and backyard tractor owners weigh in on the night of the pull, coming from across Essex County and Rockingham County, New Hampshire. At the hatchery people wait for hours to watch a particular egg hatch. Families from Boston can arrive by commuter rail on a package that bundles the train, a shuttle, admission and a food voucher. Track record The Essex Agricultural Society formed in 1818, moved the fair around Essex County for a century and settled in Topsfield in 1910; it celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2018. The All New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off began there in 1984 with a 433-pound winner. Charlie Houghton set a world record at Topsfield in 2002, Joe Jutras broke it there in 2007, and Ron Wallace's 2,009-pound pumpkin in 2012 was the first ever to pass a ton. The 2025 winner weighed 2,507 pounds. The society awarded $80,000 in local youth scholarships in 2025. Brand presence A sponsor takes a space on the grounds for all 11 days in an agreed location, banners at the four gates - Main Gate, Rivergate, Maple Street and the 97 Gate - and a banner in the Arena that stays up all year. Sponsor logos also go on the fair's photo spots, on the reusable bags handed out at the information booths, and in the daily program. Keolis massAdventures sells the train-and-admission package from Boston. Every package is built to the partner.