Portland Fair and Baker's Ground
The village has held the annual November Portland Fair for many decades. The area which became a housing estate named Baker's Ground in the late 20th century was once the main site of the Portland Fair.
According to a letter in an issue of the Free Portland News in 2010, the large area of Baker's Ground was a builders yard in Victorian times and was bought by John and Ann Orton who would travel around the country with horses and caravans to try their hand at many pursuits. They once set up a theatre at Baker's Ground in the early part of the 20th century and put on plays with music and 'magic lantern' shows. The site remained un-used until the housing construction.
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Famous quotes containing the words portland, fair, baker and/or ground:
“It is said that a carpenter building a summer hotel here ... declared that one very clear day he picked out a ship coming into Portland Harbor and could distinctly see that its cargo was West Indian rum. A county historian avers that it was probably an optical delusion, the result of looking so often through a glass in common use in those days.”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Every woman who visited the Fair made it the center of her orbit. Here was a structure designed by a woman, decorated by women, managed by women, filled with the work of women. Thousands discovered women were not only doing something, but had been working seriously for many generations ... [ellipsis in source] Many of the exhibits were admirable, but if others failed to satisfy experts, what of it?”
—Kate Field (1838–1908)
“Never let the other fellow set the agenda.”
—James Baker (b. 1930)
“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden.”
—Bible: Hebrew Genesis 2:9-10.