This is weird. My wife and I have been selling handmade beaded jewelry at craft shows and fairs for six years now (though never at a state fair), and we've NEVER had to pay for insurance. The worst we've had to do is pay for local jurisdiction business licenses, in addition to the booth fee for the space itself (and remitting local/state sales taxes, of course). And we've been around several people selling those marshmallow blowguns at various shows, they're popular items with kids, cheap in materials and easy to make so they're profitable.
Is this a Maine thing, or just particular to this fair perhaps, I wonder.
}:-)4
may be the difference betwên a state or county fair and a craft festival.