NEW SHARON – The former school building off Cape Cod Hill Road was surrounded once again with families, this time to celebrate the first annual Prince Baker Day.
The daylong festival on Saturday is loaded with family games, activities and lots of food. Everyone is invited to participate in the events, which are free of charge. A soap box derby that is expected to have a good turnout of racers will cap off the day and be held at 118 Main Street with a 4 p.m. start.
The Historical Society Committee organized the festival to bring back the celebration of New Sharon’s heritage and community. They began working on it a year ago.
“It’s been a few years since this has been held and people really missed it,” Selectperson Lorna Nichols said smiling before things got under way on Saturday.
Scores of volunteers, headed up by Darlene Power, Daniel Meng and Mercy Hanson, have kids games, a bounce house, a giant water slide, face painting, a whoopee pie eating contest, a corn chowder challenge, a horseshoe tournament, a cross cut sawing competition, music and karaoke throughout the day.
There’s free popcorn, cotton candy and hotdogs and door prizes ranging from $25 to $300 in value are being given away though the day. One of the prizes is a Windsor rocking chair handcrafted by Forrest Bonney of New Sharon. More door prizes will be awarded from: Imelda’s, White Water Farm, Jerry Provencher, York Hill Goat Farm, Pucker Brush Farm, Sandy’s Flowers, Julie’s Gardens, Pine Tree Poultry, Winslow’s Repair, Witt’s Auto Repair and Tracy’s Kountry Kitchen.
The community festival is named for Prince Baker thought to be the first settler here, moving to New Sharon in 1783. Baker and his descendants “played an important part of the settlement of New Sharon, Power said at the festival’s grand opening. She and Meng then unveiled a new sign for the historical society’s collection on the front of the Town Office building and the crowd applauded it.
Power noted funding for the four museum signs’ materials, displayed both inside and outside, was donated by Lois Nichols Seamon. More volunteers pitched in to help make them. Meng and his family cut and sanded the letters, Donnie Gardner glued them to the boards and they were painted. She thanked Selectperson Lorna Nichols “for giving me the opportunity to do this-maybe,” Power joked, “and I hope I didn’t disappoint you.”
A popular festival event is the “Dunk the Sheriff or a Politician” fund raiser. A $1 donation awards two balls with Sheriff Scott Nichols of New Sharon, Lance Harvell or Scott Landry, both of Farmington and running for the District 113 State House seat, as targets to be dunked. The event will help raise funding for medical costs associated with a liver transplant for Connie Douin Gilman from her nephew Joseph Douin of Douin’s Market in town.
While the town helped with funding the festival, the majority of it was contributed from community members and local businesses. A related story with the full schedule of events can be read here.
Sounds like a fun time, and I’m glad to hear someone (Darlene) as well as others have taken the time and effort to make this happen. Kudos!
I want to thank everyone who made this day a huge success.
Had a great time , good job Darlene . I am sure Scott was a bit waterlogged by days end.