The Fare Share Follies and Silent Auction are a major fund-raiser for the co-op.
By Lilia Bright
Special to the Sun Journal

PARIS – There is a something for everyone at the third performance of the Fare Share Follies. An array of musicians, dancers, humorists and historians will gather Friday, April 18, at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School auditorium to raise money for the Fare Share Co-operative market of Norway.

Fare Share Co-op founding member Ken Morse said, “A community without art is like a beehive without honey.”

Among the stars of the show are Mike Miclon of the Oddfellows Theater, folk musicians Jewel Clark and Donnie Katlin, local historians John McDonald and David Sanderson, and dancers from the Art Moves Studio and the Maurice Dance Theater.

“The Follies and the Silent Auction are our most important fund-raisers of the year,” said Fare Share store manager Suzanne Dunham.

The variety show has been popular since its conception in 2000. “It’s also a nice social event for the members,” said member and employee Emily Woodworth.

There are more than 30 gifts and services with values up to $100, donated by individuals and businesses in the Silent Auction.

Bids may be placed now on www.faresharecoop.org and during the Follies intermission.

Alan Day, a member since 1978 and the current treasurer, has been an active organizer and participant at the event every year.

Day, who was a co-founder of the late 1970’s music festival “Hills Alive,” said the Follies idea grew out of a conversation among members contemplating how to fund moving the store to a new location on Main Street. The store made its home on Tannery Street for two decades.

Morse has been an organizing force for the past 25 years, said Day.

Morse remembers the precursor to the Co-op, a collection of about eight pre-ordering cooperatives that sent a truck to Boston’s Chelsea Market on a regular basis. The goods were then split up for the several hundred families from Oxford Hills and beyond who were soon to become the membership of the local co-ops open today.

The proceeds from the show will help pay for the technological upgrades and other expenses of the not-for-profit natural foods market. According to the 2002 Annual Report introduction by President Zizi Vlaun, the co-op was not “fiscally sustainable.”

This is due to major expenses incurred in the move to a new location and the installation of a computer system. The fund-raising goal for the Follies show and the Silent Auction is $4,000, wrote Day, who is chairman of the fund-raising committee.

The show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children age 12 and under.

Tickets are available at the door and in advance at the Fare Share Co-op.

Phone 743-9044 for more information.

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