BUXTON – The annual two-day Buxton Community Days this weekend at Tory Hill promises to be fun times, with food, entertainment, fireworks, parade and loads of activities for kids.
“It’s shaping up beautifully,” Tasha Pinkham, director of Buxton Recreation Department, said Monday.
The event gets under way when booths open and with amusement rides at 4 p.m. Friday, July 22, at Weymouth Park, at the intersection of routes 202 and 112. Pinkham said this year’s event would feature more rides.
In a softball game with the first pitch at 6 p.m., the Buxton Fire/Rescue team is challenging their Hollis counterparts. Motor Booty Affair will entertain from 7-9 p.m.
A full day of events is planned for Saturday, July 23, with a road race kicking off activities at 8 a.m. followed by a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Lions Club under a tent at Weymouth Park.
A parade at 10 a.m., Pinkham said, lines up this year on Salmon Falls Road instead of Depot Street as in the past. Pinkham said parade units include antique tractors, Scouts, Little League teams, Shriners, fire and police vehicles, bagpipe band and a Buxton Garden Club float. Plummer’s Store will be collecting foodstuffs along the parade route for the food pantry.
Community days’ popular, special events will again include frog jumping, ladies pan toss, horseshoe tournament, and a pig scramble. The Maine State Police Canine Unit will be on hand throughout the day.
The event offers plenty of shows. The Saco River Jazz Ensemble will play patriotic melodies and the Rips will also perform. Saturday, Time Riders Band entertains 1-4 p.m. and The Half Moon Jug Band will be on stage 6-9 p.m.
Food booths will offer a usual assortment of fair foods and the Bar Mills Community Church sponsors a bean supper, costing $5, at 4:30 p.m. at Weymouth Park.
The community days is held in conjunction with the annual fair and lawn party of the Dorcas Society of Hollis and Buxton, a charitable organization founded in 1897 by author Kate Douglas Wiggin. The Dorcas Fair opens at 9 a.m. on the lawn at the Tory Hill Church.
The society will serve luncheon under a tent 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and have several craft booths featuring a raffle, baked goods and attic treasures. A special treat this year is a vintage fashion show in the church.
Carla Turner, president of the Dorcas Society, said the show would have 10 models and 50 costumes, a combination of authentic dresses with a few reproductions. Tickets are $5 and $3 for senior citizens; and free for children under age 12.
The society is also sponsoring a Revolutionary War encampment with musket and cannon firing. For history buffs, the barn and grounds at the historic Royal Brewster mansion, owned by Richard and Beverly Atkinson, also will be open for tours at no charge.
Fireworks sponsored by Narragansett No. 1 Foundation at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday cap the celebration. The fireworks are provided by the same concern that produces displays for Portland and Boston.
“It should be fantastic, with a special surprise at the end,” Pinkham said.
This year new parking will be available on a huge lot at the cemetery on Woodman Road. Handicapped parking is at Weymouth Park.
Pinkham acknowledged the assistance she’s had in planning this year’s event.
“I’m grateful for all the departments in town for helping out,” she said.
Models prep at Quillcote in Hollis for a vintage fashion show to
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