LISBON FALLS – Moxie enthusiasts crawled out of bed early again Sunday morning. But this time, they weren’t waiting for the parade.

They wanted to browse and buy Moxie memorabilia from the only Moxie store in the world – the Kennebec Fruit Co. on Main Street.

The line formed early. Even earlier than Frank Anicetti, the store’s owner, had anticipated. When he arrived at the store at 9 a.m., there was already a crowd waiting to get in.

Moxie fans couldn’t let the 20th annual Moxie Festival end on Sunday without getting a T-shirt and tasting the famous Moxie ice cream. The steady flow of customers continued throughout the afternoon buying tank tops, stickers and over 300 cones of ice cream. They leaned on the counter, slurped their ice cream cones and reminisced about the past.

“Ahh, this reminds me of the old days,” said Mike Cothran of Auburn.

He licked the Moxie ice cream from his lips and spoke of the days when his grandfather brought him to Anicetti’s store after their fishing trips. Cothran, now 44-years-old, still remembers sitting at the counter with his grandfather and drinking Moxie. On Sunday afternoon, he enjoyed a Moxie float – made with Moxie ice cream and the Moxie beverage – with his friend Mike Dechene.

Meanwhile, other Moxie fans congregated at Lisbon High School to participate in the medieval festivities that began at noon. Moxie fans booed and cheered as members of the Neville Company from the Bath Medieval Alliance demonstrated medieval combat.

Around 1 p.m., the trebuchet – a medieval siege weapon – was demonstrated by 14-year-olds Adric Marenius and Zack Tucker. The trebuchet, or catapult, took Marenius and his father two days to build.

When Marenius realized that tomatoes, which were going to be used for the demonstration on Sunday, would not be heavy enough to travel far, he opted to use something else. He didn’t use rocks or lead like they once launched at castle walls, he used big slippery water balloons.

Marenius and Tucker loaded the catapult, stood back and let it rip. The balloons flew through the air and splashed onto the children running to catch them: a cool refresher for the young Moxie fans.

Although a few of the medieval events on Sunday were canceled due to the wind, overall the festival was a huge success, said coordinator Sue Conroy.

Anicetti agreed.

He said that this was one of the biggest and busiest Moxie Festival’s to date.

“The nostalgia hits on something everyone likes,” he said. “And it’s a good friendly atmosphere.”

jkachinski@sunjournal.com