Lyme — If you go to the Hamburg Fair Sunday morning to watch the ox pull, appreciate that you will be a part of the history of this landmark summer pastime that celebrates its 115th anniversary this weekend.

“When this fair started, it was all about oxen,” said Marita Rand, chairwoman of the vegetable and grain contest this year. “They walked them in from everywhere.”

Fair Vice President Jim Pernal said oxen teams would trek down from as far away as Salem to participate in the Hamburg Fair competition.

“There were more oxen here than horses,” he said.

Photos in the fair’s history corner, titled “Remember When,” show how the event has changed over the decades, with the arrival of food booths, children’s rides and other agriculture events that have become longstanding traditions of their own.

Bright red tomatoes, green and red peppers, pumpkins and squash crowd the vegetable contest table in the historical 1896 Lyme Grange No. 147 Hall.

Artwork, photographs, crafts and hobby collections, including Christine Logiudice’s “tiny pencil” collection, fill the upstairs exhibit rooms.

“I always try to think what this place looked like 115 years ago,” Pernal said. “Probably a lot different.”

Outside the grange hall, low-tech throwback games still attract today’s children. A nail-driving contest, watermelon- and pie-eating contests, a hula-hoop contest and a game of Simon Says kept the children’s game tent hopping.

Dave Sanford, 14, a past watermelon contest winner, was in charge of splitting the ripe, round melons into equal quarters for the eight contestants in the age 7 to 10 bracket. A few minutes later, the table coated with pink juice, 10-year-old Dylan Paynter of Lyme emerged as the victor, taking home the $3 prize envelope.

The Morrison family won a different sort of contest just to get into the fair for the first time this year.

Hannah Morrison, 15, an incoming sophomore at Old Lyme High School, launched her business — a food cart named Deep River Dogs — this spring after her parents expressed a bit of sticker shock at her plans to go to medical school.

Parents John and Arlene Morrison helped build and staff the booth that proved a hit at Plattwood Park in Deep River. They figured they would try to get into the local fair circuit, knowing they would have to come up with something more original.

A friend suggested meatballs on a stick — with Greek, Italian and even deep-fried offerings.

“We were told there’s a two-to-three year waiting list to get in here,” John Morrison said, “that someone would have to die to make room.”

But the Morrisons came up with a winning strategy: They brought a crockpot full of their meatballs to the last Lyme Grange and Fair Association meeting for members to try.

“We said, ‘We’ll find a place for you,’” Pernal said. “That was good marketing.”

The Hamburg Fair prides itself on being one of the top small fairs in the state. Fair organizers say in good weather, the three-day event draws about 17,000 attendees.

The association tries to keep the cost down to continue to attract families. Admission is $7 for anyone over age 12 and older, with younger children admitted free.

Available parking and the tight fairground property necessitates that it remain a small-scale village fair, association members said.

The fair got off to a good start this weekend, with a packed house to hear the music of local favorite Braiden Sunshine.

The fair continues Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., starting with the 115th annual ox pull at 9 a.m. and closing with music by the Old Time Fiddlers.

c.besssette@theday.com