North Stonington — Though rain threatened earlier in the day ahead of the opening ceremony, the air soon softened as 10-year-old Reese Main belted out "The Star Spangled Banner" with ease to kick off the 52nd annual North Stonington Fair.

A group of Boy Scouts from local Troop 71 stood in silent attention before raising the flags, dispersing the small crowd of fair organizers and onlookers. As the clouds parted and the air cooled, a steady stream of people poured through the gates.

In the coming days, thousands of people from near and far will come out for animal pulls, a kids’ parade, horse shows, racing pigs and many other events that highlight the community’s agricultural roots. Main will sing twice more at two of the upcoming truck pulls on Saturday and Sunday.

“What about that rain, huh?” said Marvin Shaw, smiling as he kicked off the Connecticut tractor pulls. The grinding engines could be heard from all over the fairgrounds as the tractor operators from nearby Massachusetts and Rhode Island revved their engines. The pull ring, new this year, was a draw to many of the attendees who turned out for the increasingly popular event, like Justin Faria, who attended to check out the modified tractors.

“It’s just a tradition,” he said, one that his grandfather began when he first brought him.

Al Bernard, a North Stonington resident, used to participate in the tractor pulls, but this time was there for the antique car shows, showing off his 1951 Plymouth Business Coupe. 

“I traded in my tractor pulls for cars,” he said.

Parents pulled kids in wagons from event to event and took in the fair fare — a mix of carnival staples like fried dough and hot dogs to Thai food and chicken sandwiches on pita.

A.J. Lussier attended for the first time after an eight-year hiatus.

“I like it so far … as soon as I stepped in and saw the vendors and had some good carnival food” he was back again, he said. 

Frankie Justin Lamprey and his band Roughneck performed twice at the main stage on the baseball field. Lamprey, blending a powerful voice with the heavy bass tones of Roughneck, performed everything from originals to a Darius Rucker cover.

Last year, Lamprey opened for Groton native Steve Dagget, and returned to open on the main stage. Dagget will take to the stage Saturday at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. as well.

Peggy Sue Long, who has booked entertainment at the fair for years, said she tries to pick “up-and-coming” performers early on in the process who have occasionally struck the big time and returned to North Stonington. Lamprey is “such a great kid, (he) has such a great personality and I hope he makes it big," she said.

The coming days will feature Ken Atkins and the Honky Tonk Kind, who are returning for the second year in a row to play Saturday at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Atkins, who lives on a farm in Griswold, said they have returned to the fair every other year for the past 15 and insisted on playing the same small stage behind the poultry shed. 

“It fits us better," Atkins said. “We're quite traditional, retro-country kind of band ... there's defintely people that return and seek us out (and) we can generally grab a new batch of people."

The fair queen event, which typically takes place on Thursday evening, was moved to Friday to consolidate it with the “Princess Event” for younger children and was opened up to New London and Windham county residents. Participants are interviewed the day before and have to answer questions from the judges. Last year’s fair queen, Samantha White, said it’s rewarding to represent the town at various events and the fair and said she’s happy to hand the crown off to the next winner.

It's a great experience, she said, “to be able to have that chance to go for this job … and represent North Stonington.”

n.lynch@theday.com