After losing their leader, Cumberland fair organizers step up in his memory [Video]

The Cumberland County Fairgrounds are dotted with Lyle Merrifield’s contributions. The sawmill building and sugarhouse? He built those. The Canadian livestock? He helped coordinate their trip across the border.

And the tight-knit community of directors, organizers and attendees? In many ways, he forged that too, said those close to Merrifield, who was 62 when he died unexpectedly Sept. 8, just weeks before the Cumberland County Fair’s 152nd season, which starts Sunday.

“He’s really everywhere you look. He has his own touch on really every department here,” Merrifield’s daughter, Molly Bellefleur, said this week as she prepared to welcome visitors to the grounds. She runs the fair’s on-site museum, having taken the reins from her father years ago.

Merrifield served as president of the Cumberland County Fair since 2020, following decades overseeing the museum, operating the sugarhouse and working countless odd jobs to keep the festivities running. Friends and fellow organizers said he brought passion and …