In 100 years, a bit has changed, but many things have stayed the same at the Vinland Fair.

“It’s just a down-home community fair,” said Nancy Helm, who has participated since childhood.

Organizers will mark the fair’s centennial celebration this week, Thursday through Sunday, by continuing the classic fun.

Hay bale tosses. A livestock show. Homemade treats. Pet contests. An antique tractor pull.

“We’ll have the homemade chicken noodles on Friday,” Mary Gensler, a fair board member, said of one of the main attractions. “There will be people lined up for almost a block to get their share of chicken and noodles.”

Tug-of-war games. An ice cream social. A watermelon seed-spitting contest.

Organizers pride themselves on maintaining an atmosphere that harks back to the fair’s early days, when farmers rode over on their tractors and brought canned goods to display and fresh food to eat.

“It’s stepping back in time,” organizer Jean Moore said. “We try to keep it : like it was in the beginning. It’s a big community get-together.”

This year sees the return of many traditional crowd pleasers, but there are a few bonuses, planners said. An antique car show will make its debut. And five hot-air balloons will color the grounds.

Rabbit and poultry shows and a talent show are set for Thursday, as are an old-time farm skills competition and performances by the Baldwin High School Band and Alferd Packer Memorial String Band.

The Friday activities include the tractor pull, a historical exhibit, antique quilt show and bicycle races.

On Saturday, fairgoers can look in on a horseshoe pitching contest, antique tractor and farm equipment show, pet parade, box turtle race, livestock exhibit and homemade ice cream contest.

The fair will extend to Sunday with a 10 a.m. church service, lunchtime band concert, antique car show from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and other events.

Many area residents can recall times they spent with family and friends at the fair – times they now cherish as they look back.

Helm, who has organized the pet parade for more than a decade, recalls memorable moments on the pet stage. Each year, the judges struggled to pick the “cutest kitten” among multiple tiny balls of fur.

There used to be a “best-trained dog” category, but Nina – Jan Nitcher’s Cardigan Welsh corgi who used to wow judges with her “sitting pretty” trick – stopped competing and no dogs filled her space, Helm said.

Other contest categories have been dropped, as well. There used to be a “prettiest rabbit” category, but children don’t seem to raise as many rabbits these days, so that was dropped, Helm said.

Gensler remembered a time in the 1950s when she shared the stage with her future husband as the two paired up for the talent show.

“We sang a duet together for two or three years before we got married,” she said.

And Moore remembers the older fairgoers who gathered at the tables to chat.

“So many of those older people are now no longer there,” she said. “Those tables get kind of empty sometimes. We’re trying to start, maybe, sitting at those tables once in a while.”

Moore said she also relishes the time with the children.

“I work in the concession stand,” she said. “The children will come and they’ll say ‘I want that’ and they’ll point and you have to guess where that finger is pointed. I think my favorite part is getting to watch the children come.”