Don't miss the bus: In just 3 weeks and 2 days, the Rochester Fair makes a stop here

A school bus awaiting sure destruction during next month's Rochester Fair proclaims the much-anticipated return of the fair on Sept. 6-16. (Rochester Voice photo)

ROCHESTER - Motorists passing Benedict's Grill on Rochester Hill Road today can get a look at one of the 143^rd Rochester Fair's vaunted demolition derby buses while still in relatively pristine condition.

And residents all over the Seacoast can look forward in the days to come to seeing more of the school buses destined for destruction around town, harbingers of the much-anticipated return of the Rochester Fair and one of its signature events.

Longtime fair manager Mark Perry, who is helping to organize the fair's 2018 return after a one-year hiatus due to financial concerns, told The Rochester Voice on Monday that other demolition-slated buses will be popping up all over the Seacoast to hype the fair's much-anticipated comeback.

The fair, in fact, looks to be more like than different from its predecessors with lawnmower and trailer races, car and school bus demolition derbies, a circus and a midway.

Of course, as always, much of the focus will be agriculture and exhibits, which have always been the cultural backbone of the fair.

However, there is a new wrinkle, too, with fair organizers reaching out to any entrants who want to prove themselves New Hampshire's most talented yet undiscovered performers.

Open to all ages, performers can be singers, dancers, magicians, comics, musicians, ventriloquists and more. According to the fair's website, entrants will appear before celebrity judges who decide "which of these contestants will be deemed New Hampshire's best act."

This year's fair will run from Thursday, Sept. 6, through Sunday, Sept. 16, with closed dates midweek from Sept. 10-12.

In the past fair officials had admitted that midweek days were loss leaders, which may have prompted the change from the earlier format.

General admission this year will be $9 with several chances for reduced prices throughout the fair's run.

For more information on prices or hours or to register for any of the grandstand events, including New Hampshire's Got Talent, click here.