On Sunday evening the 164th Agricultural Fair came to a close after four days of nonstop action on the fair grounds.

Islanders spent the weekend flocking to the barn to check out sheep, chicken, cows, goats and newborn piglets, and screamed in delight high atop the midway, phones often dropping to the ground as riders were turned upside down on all manner of rides.

Judges passed judgement on local goods and crafts, from prize cherry tomatoes and zucchinis, to jams, rugs, artwork and more. And food favorites were everywhere, from Island delights to once-a-year fair favorites of fried dough and corn dogs.

Each day also served up a host of competitions, testing the mettle of skillet tossers, corn-hole aficionados, rabbit wranglers and so much more.

The Woodsman’s Contest was not hard to find — one could simply follow the sounds of saws buzzing and the thwack of a hatchet finding its wood target.

The event brings seasoned competitors to the fair each year, all well versed in the art of chopping and slicing, cutting and sawing.

Tara Reed was getting ready to throw her fourth and final axe at Saturday morning’s event and the crowd was silent. She let the handle fly and there was a brief pause as it traveled from her hands to the wood target situated about a dozen feet away. When the blade hit the center of the target cheers erupted from the grandstands.

“It’s wonderful,” said Ms. Reed, a veteran competitor who travels to the Vineyard each summer with her family to participate in the event.

“We love the sport,” she said. “Not only are they competitors, they are sportsmen. If you notice during the competition, if someone needs help every single person here will help them.”

Vincent Maciel, of West Tisbury, is another veteran competitor who has traveled far and wide with his trusty chainsaw, nicknamed “The Little Chainsaw That Could.”

As he prepared for one of the contest’s final events, he checked the fuel intake valve and adjusted a zip tie so it compressed the safety throttle. Then, with one hard pull, the engine roared to life.

Like all the contestants, Mr. Maciel carries with him a personalized quiver of axes, customized specifically for the type of wood he needs to cut.

“Chopping with wood, there’s a lot of strategy to it,” he said. “It’s a big advantage to chop later in the day because you can watch other people chop. You can sit there and actually count how many hits someone takes to cut through the wood.”

The chainsaws are also specifically designed to cut faster and cleaner. That is to say, in many ways they are not exactly street legal. Some have had their piston replaced or a custom exhaust pipe installed. There are even super-charged saws powered by small motorcycle engines.

This year, Matt Taylor, of Maine, placed first overall in the men’s division. Marissa Laudete, of Connecticut, placed first overall in the women’s division.

Later in the afternoon, 4-H-ers Penny Athearn, 13, and Emmy Carroll, 15, showed off their steers Newt and Toad. They were the only Islanders in the youth ox pull, and for the costume contest they dressed the steers up as the Cheshire Cat and Where’s Waldo, parading them around with other 4-H handlers who dressed their animals as a bubble bath, the pope and more.

“The fair is the big event, we’ve been training them all year, and now we get to show them off,” said Ms. Carroll.

“I think it’s the best part of the summer,” said Ms. Athearn.

4-H is a nationwide organization with local clubs aimed at providing opportunities in agriculture, STEM and civic engagement to kids aged 5-18. Besides being active members of the club, Ms. Athearn and Ms. Carroll both have rich family histories of farming on the Island. For the 4-H animal talent show, the girls pulled a yoke and cart made by Ms. Athearn’s great-great uncle.

Over at the pulling ring, professional and amateur excavators were faced with a set of challenges: move a wooden block onto another wooden block, pick up and move a bucket full of water to a platform, thread a chain into a pvc pipe and transfer a basketball to a bucket.

This year there were 13 professionals, seven amateurs and 24 basketballs on hand — most competitors ended up popping the basketballs.

“C’mon, you never thought a basketball in an excavator could be this exciting,” said emcee Simon Bollin of Bollin Excavation and Trucking.

Behind the scenes each day were crews of volunteers hard at work with the detritus from the food court. Members of the “green team” directed fairgoers to sort their trash between compostables, recycling and landfill at stations around the grounds. Later, another team of sorters took care of the mixed trash, distributing items into four bins: food waste, commercial compostables, recycling and trash. The initiative was started years ago by Island Grown Initiative’s community food waste educator Sophie Mazza, and has continued under the Agricultural Society’s direction.

“The Ag Society and the vendors have been putting in a pretty monumental effort, especially over the last couple of years,” said Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli, a volunteer supervisor and co-founder of a waste analytics software.

This year, the Ag Society worked with vendors to use commercially compostable utensils and food containers, which will be composted on the property. Food scraps will be composted at Island Grown Initiative.

“I think people have started to really associate the fair with this environmentally responsible behavior,” said Ms. Danberg-Ficarelli.

On Monday morning, all was quiet on the fairgrounds. Some rides had already headed off-Island in search of the next town fair. Other waited their turn as workers took a much-needed break too.

The 164th Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair had ended, but planning for the 165th will soon begin.

More pictures.