WATERFORD – At least $900 was raised for homeless teens in Oxford Hills at a Springfest fair at the Waterford Congregational United Church of Christ last weekend.

“We’ll always be a small church in a small town,” Meg Wheeler said, “but we aim to find ways to be big in our thinking, to reach the community and beyond.”

Pastor Anita White said she mentioned to the church council that she believes being a church means serving the community and the world. Later, someone asked if she realized there are a lot of homeless teens in the area, and that spawned the Springfest.

Many groups in the community participated in the event, which included a Chinese auction, bake sale and crafts in the Wilkins House and historical displays, musical performances and food concessions on the grounds between the two buildings on Plummer Hill Road in Waterford Flat.

Jane Morse represented the library with a tent inviting kids in for story time. David Sanderson of the historical society assumed many roles: balloon man, fiddle player, expert on historical artifacts and harmonica player using a wooden instrument from the 1800s.

Helping Sanderson with the historical society’s guessing game, Mary Ann Holme identified a wooden contraption as a “sleep tight,” which is used to tighten the ropes of old-fashioned beds so the feather beds or straw-filled mattresses wouldn’t sag. That’s where the saying, “sleep tight” came from, she said.

Melby’s store provided ice cream, scooped by owner Kay Legare.

The Flute Cakes, Molly Bell and Kaitlin Crockett of Waterford and Devin MacDonald of South Paris, entertained with their repertoire for flute. Bob Dow, a new Waterford resident, played guitar and sang folk songs.

Rick Starbird, who grew up in Waterford and now lives in Norway, invited people to play Skittles, an old-fashioned English pub game he built after seeing one at a Renaissance fair. Skittles uses nine pins and is the forerunner of bowling, he said.

A bird bath, which came from the home of Starbird’s grandmother, Mildred Howe, was installed in a garden at the church recently. The family agreed it would be a fitting memorial to her, a longtime member of the church who died last fall at the age of 105.

Dan Sansoucy, homeless youth coordinator for Oxford County, said he tries to get homeless kids hooked up with other programs and hopes to get the Oxford Hills program “up and running” again after being out of commission since December.

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