Fair season is officially in full swing, and this weekend Vermont’s smaller counties are carrying the load. From Scottish athletics on the Quechee Polo Field to a bluegrass brunch on a Braintree hilltop, here’s what’s worth the drive this Friday through Sunday, August 28-30.

Friday, August 28

The gates open on the Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction, kicking off an eleven-day run of midway rides, livestock barns, moto-cross, and fair food that anchors the end of every Vermont summer. It’s Chittenden County’s biggest event of the year, and opening day crowds tend to be a little thinner than the weekend rush.

Down in Bondville, the state’s oldest continuously running fair — since 1797 — opens its Quilt Hall and Floral Hall for the Bondville Fair, where raffle quilts, antique pieces, and a Kid’s Korner run alongside the usual small-fair charm through the weekend.

Over in St. Johnsbury, Catamount Arts opens the weekend with a double bill: the Rock Art Reflection at 5 p.m., followed by Jon Hayes & The Company at 7 p.m. — a good excuse to make a night of it in the Kingdom’s cultural hub.

The Dorset Theatre Festival’s closing production, Kenneth Lonergan’s Tony-winning “Lobby Hero,” continues its final stretch with a Friday evening performance at the Dorset Playhouse. The 49th season wraps up over this very weekend, so it’s your last real shot to catch it.

In Middlesex, Camp Meade’s free Concerts on the Green series brings Sonido Mal Maiz to the lawn at 5 p.m., trading in Latin American folk, rock, and psychedelia for a laid-back Friday evening in Washington County.

Brattleboro’s Stone Church hosts Vacation Manor, an indie-pop act out of Virginia, for an 8 p.m. show that’s become the kind of local-favorite stop that makes downtown Brattleboro feel electric on a summer Friday.

And the Caledonia County Fair, marking its 180th year in Lyndonville, is in its closing stretch — the fair runs through Sunday with truck pulls, ox pulling, horse pulling, and a Grand Cavalcade rounding out the agricultural show.

Saturday, August 29

The Quechee Polo Field in Hartford hosts the 50th anniversary of the Quechee Scottish Games and Festival, a full day (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) of pipe band competitions, Highland dance, heavy athletics, sheepdog demonstrations, and more than 40 clan tents — an Upper Valley tradition that’s been going strong for half a century.

Up in the Northeast Kingdom, the town of Coventry kicks off its Fall Festival, a low-key community celebration that runs into Sunday.

At Killington, the resort’s free Cooler in the Mountains concert series brings Juice to the stage outside the K-1 Lodge from 3 to 5:45 p.m. — the series is all-ages and free, weather permitting.

Cold Hollow Sculpture Park in Enosburg Falls wraps its second Artist-in-Residence stint with a 2 p.m. public talk from NYC-based artist Ed Woodham, whose social-absurdist work has spent the back half of August in residence at the park.

Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury continues its weekend with “An Artist Responds to War,” while the Champlain Valley Fair, Bondville Fair, and Caledonia County Fair all roll on through their respective second days.

Sunday, August 30

Stowe closes out the weekend with the 20th anniversary of the Delta Dental Race to the Top of Vermont, a run, hike, or bike straight up the historic Mansfield Toll Road — 4.3 miles and 2,564 feet of climbing to the summit of the state’s highest peak.

On a hilltop in Braintree, the Chandler Center for the Arts wraps its summer series with the Braintree Bluegrass Brunch, featuring fiddler Ida Mae Specker and a community square dance, plus a 10 a.m. mountain bike ride and food and music running from noon to 3 p.m.

Catamount Arts closes its weekend at 5 p.m. with Küf Knotz & Christine Elise in St. Johnsbury, while the Caledonia County Fair wraps its 180th year the same day.

Coventry’s Fall Festival wraps up, and the Champlain Valley Fair keeps rolling into the week ahead for anyone who didn’t get their fill over the weekend.

Between the fairs, the fiddles, and a run up Mansfield, there’s not much excuse left to stay on the couch this weekend.