DRESDEN — Equipped with a blueberry rake and an appetite, Mae Ryan, 4, led her family’s voyage Sunday into the blueberry meadows of Fields Fields farm in Dresden.

Along with her 4-month-old brother, Miles, and parents Kate and Sean, Mae had come up from Gorham to take part in their first Wild Blueberry Weekend, an annual celebration of the Maine farms that produce the vast majority of America’s wild blueberries.

Wild blueberries are sold Sunday during Wild Blueberry Weekend at Fields Fields farm in Dresden. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

“Here mommy, for you!” Mae said as she handed Kate Ryan a handheld rake with dozens of blueberries she’d scooped.

This year is the fourth time blueberry farms across Maine have organized Wild Blueberry Weekend, and Fields Fields farm at 565 Blinn Hill Road is one of about 15 taking part this year. It was the first time the Ryans have participated, Sean Ryan said.

Lily Pistell, 1, center, shows her excitement Sunday while sharing pizza and blueberry ice cream with her sister, Sierra Pistell, 3, left, and grandmother, Heather Pistell, during Wild Blueberry Weekend at Fields Fields farm in Dresden The three are from Bath. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

“It’s a little drive,” he said, “but we just want to get involved and support local farms.”

From behind a food truck, where she was selling blueberry crisps and maple cotton candy, farm co-owner Ashley Field watched as the Ryans and other attendees moseyed their way from the row of vending tables to the sprawling fields behind the farm.

Wild Blueberry Weekend has become an important event for Maine’s local blueberry farmers for the opportunity it gives farmers and customers to interact with one another, Field said.

“There is definitely a trend right now for people to know their farmers and know where their food is coming from,” she said. “So for small farms to be able to open their doors and really let people get to know them personally is really important right now.”

Fields Fields farm featured several events and activities, including blueberry picking and winnowing, live music and booths for local vendors. Treats sold from food trucks included fresh blueberry pancakes and organic ice cream.

Wild Blueberry Weekend has helped strengthen the community between the state’s farmers, Field said. Though other states produce more blueberries overall than Maine, the state is the country’s leading grower of wild blueberries, which Field said have a different taste and quality than cultivated blueberries.

Cultivated blueberry crops generally only produce one type of blueberry and emphasize growing as many berries as possible, as cheaply as possible. Wild blueberries, Field said, are just that: wild.

“They’re not planted, they’re not tilled, they’re not plowed.” Field said. “The (blueberry) plants are in that field just the way they have been for tens of thousands of years. There’s hundreds of variations of blueberries all mixed together on the vines in the fields, whereas with a cultivated crop, you just get one kind of berry.”

Field estimated “a couple thousand” people had ventured to the farm by noontime Sunday for Wild Blueberry Weekend, though she said she had not kept close track of attendance.

“We try to create more of a festival atmosphere, and just let people hang for the whole day if they want,” she said. “It’s just fun, you know?”

David Dore pours wild blueberries into a winnowing machine Sunday while cleaning and sorting berries for sale during Wild Blueberry Weekend at Fields Fields farm in Dresden. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel