There are three Jacob sheep across from me, big, gray and alert with curling horns.

The 153rd Agricultural Fair was one for the books. “Everywhere you looked, there was a good crowd,” said fair manager Eleanor Neubert.

On Thursday hundreds of visitors answered the call of the 153rd Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Fair, flooding through the white picket fences off Panhandle Road, eager to hit the midway, visit the livestock barn and, of course, grab some fried dough.

The painted sign by the Agricultural Hall has been up for weeks. The annual Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair begins its four-day run next Thursday.

There will be no racing pigs this year, but there will be a motorcycle contest. And poultry farmers take note: your prize-winning hens, roosters and pullets must pass a health test this month in order to be entered in the fair.

Muriel the pig was pregnant and a month overdue, and as the first day of the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair approached, Fred Fisher Jr. had to make a decision whether to bring the three-year-old sow or not.

“I took a big gamble doing it,” Mr. Fisher said on Monday. “I could have lost them all up there, but it turned out pretty well.”