A dance, a potluck supper and events through the day are planned for Saturday.

NORWAY – The Fare Share Cooperative will celebrate its 25th anniversary Silvermoon Harvest Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 11, at its nonprofit market building at 443 Main St.

It will include face painting, a kids’ coloring contest, sample foods from local growers and producers, as well as a free 4 p.m. talk by herbalist Deb Soule, a 6 p.m. potluck and a 8 p.m. dance with music provided by a local group, Freakwitch!

The potluck will be in the community room, and everyone is being encouraged to bring their most prized food specialties. Fare Share will provide beverages.

Soule’s talk on “Coming into Winter: Herbs for the Immune System” will be in the Fare Share Commons. Soule, who grew up in South Paris, has been growing and using medicinal, organic herbs for more than 25 years. She founded Avena Botanicals Herbal Apothecary in 1985. In 1996, she created Avena Institute, a nonprofit herbal and healing arts center, both enterprises are in Rockport.

Participants will be asked to help support Fare Share by making a small donation at the door.

The celebration includes:

• Face Painting all day, a pumpkin hunt and a kids’ coloring contest (entries started Oct. 6).

• Prizes, such as canvas bags filled with products from Fare Share, a one-year membership to Fare Share, coupons for coffee and Fare Share gift certificates.

• A members-only 25 percent off sale (to mark 25 years) on selected items in the store. The general public will receive a 10 percent discount on selected items.

Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. for the dance. The suggested donation for the dance is $5.

Fare Share, one of a handful of food co-ops left in the state, had its beginnings in the early 1970s when a group of families gathered to order cases of produce and natural foods. In 1978, stores were opened in Bethel and South Paris, which incorporated as the Oxford Hills Food and Nutrition Exchange. In 1980, the South Paris store, Fare Share, moved to Tannery Street in Norway. In 2001, in partnership with the town of Norway, the state and the federal Rural Development Agency, Fare Share purchased and restored a historic Main Street building and realized its goal of becoming a community center.

Today, Fare Share has a membership of about 300 households throughout the Oxford Hills. The membership owns and operates the Market and the Commons, which provides a venue for an artists’ collective, a music collective and a variety of educational classes and presentations. The Commons space is also rented out at a nominal fee to area individuals and organizations. The building also has four, second-floor commercial rental spaces.

Fare Share is also in the process of a “Remembership” campaign to encourage past members to come back, and new folks to become members.

All celebration activities are open to the public. For more information, people can contact store manager Suzanne Dunham at 743-9044.

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