NEW GLOUCESTER – Area residents are planning a five-hour Family Fun Day on Saturday to benefit 23-year-old Ashley Perkins who was injured in a July trampoline accident.

Support for the event is coming from lots of people and businesses, said organizer Lynn Conger. Participants will include town and elected officials who’ll be throwing out the ball for the day’s ball games; Cliff Andrews who is organizing a yard sale; the Fire Department, which will have a chicken barbecue at noon; Hodgman’s, which is providing frozen custard; area musicians, who are donating their time; and people donating raffle prizes, she said.

The day’s two bands will be Mountain Avenue, a bluegrass band that will play during lunchtime, and the Free Spirit and the Time Travelers band, which will play a variety of music, including rock and country, from 1 to 3 p.m., said Dianna Jordan, one of the people helping with the event.

Perkins broke several vertebrae in a July 5 accident, Jordan said. She said that he has some movement in his arms. He was initially treated at Maine Medical Center, then transferred to the specialized Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, N.J., she said. Conger said that Kessler Institute was the one that treated actor Christopher Reeve after his 1995 horse-riding accident.

While in Maine Med, Perkins was married to his fiancée, Angela Coffren, on July 9, Jordan said.

Jordan said she’s been in touch with Perkins’ mother, Rhonda Perkins, by e-mail, who along with her husband, Brad, has been visiting their son in New Jersey as much as possible. Angela has been staying there in New Jersey, she said.

Jordan has promised Ashley that she’ll take “plenty of pictures” of the Fun Day for him.

The Fun Day will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Rowe Station Recreation Field on Rowe Station Road, off Route 231, in Upper Gloucester. The rain date is Sunday, Sept. 14.

The ball games will include: parents versus children; children ages 9 to 12 who must strike out their principal; adults under the age of 40; and adults over 40 “who may bring a walking stick or cane and get a younger person to run for them,” according to Conger.

She said that 1st District Congressman Tom Allen will throw out a ball for one of the games at 10 a.m. Others who will be doing that include Town Manager William Cooper, Code Enforcement Officer William Parquette, Road Foreman Bill Waterman, Fire Chief Bruce Tupper, and state Reps. Susan Austin and Lois Snowe-Mello.

Conger said the events also will include a “Pocket Lady” for little kids. They’ll buy a ticket and they be able to “pick her pocket” for one of the hidden prizes. There also will be a cake walk for children, featuring cakes in themes for youngsters.

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