BUXTON – Buxton promises it’s the place to be this weekend as the town celebrates its Buxton Community Days and the annual fair sponsored by the Dorcas Society of Hollis and Buxton.

The annual Buxton Community Days will be held Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20, at Tory Hill, the intersection of routes 202 and 112. In conjunction with the town’s event, the Dorcas Fair runs 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday.

The festivities promise plenty of fun and food.

“It’s shaping up so well,” Tasha Pinkham, Buxton recreation director, said this week.

Pinkham said the fair gets under way at 5 p.m. on Friday with DJ music, carnival rides and midway booths open at Weymouth Park. Pinkham said Monday there were 25 vendors so far, and she said they were “pouring” in.

Bragging rights will be on the line at the annual firefighters softball game. The Buxton team will host their Hollis counterparts at 6 p.m. in a friendly rivalry.

Early activities on Saturday include the 5K road race with sign up at 7 a.m. and the race start at 8 a.m. The Lions Club will get fairgoers off to a fast start and on a full stomach with a pancake breakfast served under the big tent at 8 a.m.

The Dorcas Fair opens at 9 a.m. on Saturday on the lawn at the Tory Hill Church.

Pinkham said Saturday’s hour-long parade starts on Main Street and proceeds along Route 112 to Weymouth Park. Units include youth groups, antique cars and tractors, Beech Ridge Speedway, churches, Hearts and Horses Riding Center, and Buxton Garden Club with its float.

At the midway, there’ll be an opportunity to dunk favorite officials as town department heads and selectmen will be on hand for the event new this year. A petting zoo is a likely new attraction for the kids.

Buxton police and fire departments will have demonstrations throughout the day. It will also be an opportunity to register in the Yellow Dot, a free program aimed at saving lives at highway accident scenes.

There’s a full slate of Saturday music entertainment with Saco River Jazz at noon; Bob Costigan, 2 p.m.; Boondogs Band, 4:30 p.m.; and Delta Knights, 7 p.m.

Highlights at the Dorcas Fair include a quilt show in the Tory Hill Church and more than 25 crafters and artisans in booths on the churchgrounds. In a booth on the green across from the Brewster mansion, Peggy Brisco, Bar Mills postmaster, will have 450 of her miniature characters she calls “Squeezums.” Brisco creates the 4-inch high characters from plastic canvas and yarn. The variety of characters include Batman, Red Sox players, and movie characters like Captain America. She sells them for $3 or two for $5.

“I make them solely for kids,” said Brisco, who, as a grandmother of two, knows what are favorites with kids.

Brisco said some people place Hershey Kisses or gift certificates in mouths of the “Squeezums.” One that sold at the Dorcas Fair even came in handy for a proposal.

“A gentleman put one on a Christmas tree with a diamond ring,” Brisco said.

Richard and Beverly Atkinson will again open the barn at their historic Brewster mansion, built in 1805. She will sell ice cream cones inside the barn and will giveaway cookies and water.

“I love it when the kids come,” Beverly Atkinson said on Tuesday.

Free door prizes will be available in the barn along with free tours of Atkinsons’ landscaped grounds. On the green across from the mansion, a Revolutionary War encampment with its huge cannons and soldiers clad in vintage attire is always a big hit with all ages.

Fairgoers can cool off and eat in the shade, as Dorcas Society members will serve lunch under a tent on the church lawn. The Dorcas Fair is a fundraiser for the charitable group founded in 1887 by children’s author Kate Douglas Wiggin.

At 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, fireworks, sponsored by the Narragansett No. 1 Foundation, cap the entire celebration.

Success of Buxton’s big show hinges on the weather, and Pinkham was keeping a close tab on the forecast this week.

For more information about Buxton Community Days, contact Pinkham at 929-8381 or email recdirbuxton@sacoriver.net.