TOPSFIELD — All the staples are there — the fried dough and Italian sausage stands, Robinson's racing pigs, and a pumpkin grown to gigantic proportions.

A visit to the Topsfield Fair this year also has a distinctly local flair marked by a Groveland sand sculptor, an award-winning yard designed by a Haverhill nursery, and a Methuen woman who, this year, decided to sell her gift baskets and more at her first fair stand.

"I have a little bit of everything on sale here," said Zulema Page, owner of Energize Me, a basket designer and events planner at 197 East St. in Methuen.

Page is selling everything from her trademark gift baskets stuffed full of all kinds of goodies, to jewelry, crafts and baked goods. She hopes the fair exposure will help her grow her business.

So far, "sales have been so-so," she said.

Across the fairgrounds, in the flower building, Springfield Garden Center of Ward Hill pulled in some major horticulture awards for an eclectic yard design. The layout includes a small, granite-edged pond, ferns, mums, pine and Japanese maple trees, and a working fountain that spills from a red McCormick Farmall cub tractor. A shovel, hoe, rake and work gloves also are incorporated into the design.

The yard won both the Horticultural Club of Boston Award and the fair's Challenge Award.

Also in the flower building, Joanne Krause of the Atkinson Garden Club in Atkinson, N.H., won an honorable mention for an architectural plant design she entered. Judges noted that Krause made "creative use of building materials." A purple leaf she used in her design "commands and holds the eye," the judges noted.

Groveland's Justin Jordan of Elwin Designs also is hard at work this week on a 55-ton sand sculpture. Using putty knives, plastering tools, trowels, melon ballers and straws, Jordan and his team are creating a massive sculpture titled "Rediscover," the fair's 2008 theme. The sculpture mimics a twisting roll of film and each slide on the roll represents scenes from fairs past.

The sculpture will be completed Oct. 12, a day before the fair closes.

He's not a local, but a sculptor of a different sort also is an impressive addition to this year's fair. Chuck Jennett of Vermont is a chain saw artist who carves wood stumps into bears and other animals, including an alligator he's working on for a golf course.

Jennett has already sold 30 bears at the Topsfield Fair. He does custom work and encourages folks with ugly stumps in their yard to "bring it by and we'll make it pretty."

Jennett, nicknamed "The Woodchuck," has a fenced-in workshop right at the fair. His finished products are on sale there, too. He's next to the Bear Country Live Bear stand.

She doesn't have any hard numbers yet, but longtime Topsfield Fair spokeswoman Sally O'Maley said attendance over the weekend "was fantastic."

"We're looking good," she said.

She also predicted a busy week, with entertainers, including country musician Jo Dee Messina, the music groups Lonestar, America and The Village People, and Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin lined up with a variety of performances.

Those who have worked the fair for decades said negative financial news depressing the nation doesn't appear to be impacting fair visits.

"They're here," said Judy McNeil, who, along with family members, has sold sausages, pizza, hot coffee and soda at the fair for a combined 40 decades. She doesn't think people are trekking long distances to get to the fair. But the locals are coming out in droves.

"They are staying close to home and getting out," she said.