LIMESTONE (AP) – Leftover food from this month’s Phish concert at the Loring Commerce Centre will help feed the needy.

Some $3,000 to $5,000 worth of food, including frozen items and canned and dry goods, were donated ato Catholic Charities Maine for distribution to northern Maine food pantries, said Beverly Napier, catering and concessions coordinator with Great Northeast Productions.

The leftover food came from three caterers who fed nearly 1,000 of the company’s workers at the former Loring Air Force base.

The last caterer left the facility Tuesday, and food was picked up by Catholic Charities Maine volunteers on Wednesday and Thursday, Napier said.

A Portsmouth, N.H., company called Clean Vibes finished cleanup efforts at Loring within a week of the festival’s end, said Adam Lewis of Great Northeast Productions, which staged the festival.

Nearly 100 workers used more than 60,000 trash bags and 1,200 pairs of latex gloves to collect and haul away 300 tons of garbage, Lewis said. More than six tons of plastic and aluminum, and enough glass to fill a 150-yard Dumpster were also collected for recycling.

Brian Hamel, president of the Loring Development Authority, said the facility was back to normal this week after completion of the cleanup.

“It’s been outstanding,” Hamel said. “In a little more than one week, we were back in the aviation business.

“You cannot tell right now that more than 70,000 people were here for a three-day concert,” he said Friday. “They are out, except for a few logistics people, and we had planes landing at the facility yesterday.”

The Loring Development Authority received at least $500,000 for allowing Great Northeast Productions to hold its third Phish concert at Loring in the last eight years.

The jam band played six sets of music, plus a performance from atop Loring’s air traffic control tower, on Aug. 2-3.

AP-ES-08-16-03 1103EDT