Another fair season is over. My husband and I went to Windsor, Oxford and Cumberland. We had to leave all three of those fairs because of all the people who were smoking around us – not to mention our grandchildren.

My husband and I both have COPD and cannot be around cigarette smoke.

When you go to a restaurant to eat, people are not allowed to smoke. Why is it OK for people to smoke while they stand in line waiting for food and sit alongside us while we eat at fairs? This is still a public place.

At the Oxford fair, my sister and I went so we could see Charley Pride. My husband had to leave because he couldn’t breathe since there were so many people smoking.

I stayed because this was a dream come true for me to see Charley Pride in person. But I could not share my enjoyment with my husband.

When I left there, my throat hurt and my lungs felt like I had smoked a pack of cigarettes. I also had a migraine the next day.

We didn’t go to Fryeburg this year because we knew it would be the same as the other fairs: lots of smoking with lots of people.

To me, that is a public event and people should not be allowed to smoke wherever they please. There should be a designated smoking area and someone to enforce it.

Hope someone like the Maine Association of Agricultural Fairs can do something about this.

We really love our state fairs, but not all the cigarette smoke.

Carol Gott

Sabbatus

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