Country Fair, Sunflower Fields, Native American Fest: Your CT Weekend

CONNECTICUT — There's a country fair, field after field of sunflowers, a Native American festival, and, of course, plenty of pizza and beer to take your mind off the shortening days this weekend in Connecticut.

The Wolcott Country Fair opens Friday afternoon and runs through Sunday. Sprawled across the fairgrounds will be multiple stages, carnival rides, arts & crafts, live music, quad racing, equestrian attractions, a circus, Frisbee dogs, The Works… Full schedule is here. Fair hours are Friday 4–11 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 10, 10 a.m.-11 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Who makes the best pizza in Connecticut? It's a debate that has come close to blows in many a tavern from New Haven to Naugatuck, but it's one that attendees of the Connecticut Pizza & Brewfest will be better able to answer than most. Many of the top pizzerias from the top pizza state will be doling out the dough at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport on Sunday, Aug. 11 from noon to 4:30 p.m. There'll also be all the usual pizza food truck suspects, but your general admission tickets net you $3 cheese slices and free beer samples after 1 p.m. Come for the pizza and craft beer, stay for the dough-throwing contests, pizza-making clinics, panel discussions, live music and merch.

There's still more beer and more music at Brewstock on Saturday at the Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center. Enjoy "a classic rock experience" while knocking back craft beer. KSF and Sweet Magic will provide the retro hits, while some of the top brewmeisters in the area will be pouring out the libations. Tickets are available online here. Doors open at noon, and organizers are encouraging attendees to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets and stay for the day. Cheers!

Experience a different kind of contentment this weekend at The Farm in Woodbury, where The Sunflower Festival is in full bloom. Guests can wander across four acres through over 20 varieties of "exquisite" sunflowers, in search of a favorite to bring home with them, or pick a bouquet for an extra fee. Fields are open 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and until 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, through Aug. 25. Tickets are available online here.

If those aren't enough sunflowers for you, you can literally get lost in the Sunflower Maze at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield. You'll find nearly one mile of winding pathways surrounded by 350,000 sunflowers in a 3-acre sprawl that will take you approximately 30 minutes to complete. Now in its 18th year of operation, the Sunflower Maze will be open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Aug. 25. Make your reservations online here.

The culturally curious will find much, much more than corn at The 19th Annual Green Corn Festival on Sunday, Aug. 11 from noon to 4 p.m. at Hollow Park in Woodbury. Presented by The Institute for American Indian Studies, the activities will include drumming, dancing, children's games, Native American flute performances, and storytelling, in the midst of all the vendors. Tickets are available online here.