ANDOVER – The town kicks off its bicentennial celebration this year with a winter carnival Saturday, Feb. 28.

There will be classic cross-country races for all ages and from 8 p.m. to midnight, an old fashioned carnival ball at the town hall. On Sunday, Feb. 29, there will be judging of funniest, tallest and most original categories of snowmen built by Andover Elementary School and Telstar Middle School students.

The Andover Bicentennial Winter Carnival begins at 9:30 a.m. when five divisions of cross-country skiers from age 14 to 40-plus line up. They will be followed by Bill Koch Youth League racers, ages 8-13, who start at 11 a.m. Adults and teens have the option to ski either a 5 kilometer or 10 kilometer course, while younger skiers will skim over shorter 1.5K to 3.5K courses depending on division.

Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. at Andover Elementary School where refreshments will be available throughout the day. To preregister or obtain more information, phone Tim Akers 392-4582, or write to P.O. Box 280, Andover, ME 04216 or e-mail tim@akers-ski.com

Originally conducted under the auspices of the Pineland Ski Club, the tradition of Andover winter carnivals was established in the late 1920s and continued for more than 50 years. Tickets were sold to finance the annual weekend-long event, and high school girls vied for the carnival queen title by making sales throughout the River Valley area; the winner of the men’s cross-country race became king of the carnival.

A coronation ceremony was an integral part of the the Andover Winter Carnival from the time the first ball when Dorothy Bemis was crowned queen in 1928. The tradition continued until approximately 1980.

Those responsible for the Andover Bicentennial Winter Carnival have included that feature in their plans.

According to Barbara Hayden, with Philena Chaisson co-chairman of the Carnival Ball Committee, at least 17 former carnival queens intend to come to the 2004 event at the town hall on Feb. 28. They are: Eda Roberts Perkins (1938), Dorothy Learned Mills (1946), Philena Crooker Chaisson (1947), Dorothy Merrill Roberts (1948), Barbara Glover Meisner (1949), Barbara Farrington Hayden (1951), Sally Mills Wilson (1952), Sue Stowell Bartlett (1953), Helen Lang Deanis (1954), Phyllis Deanis Nichols (1956), Joan Stinson Carney (1959), Donna Meisner Marston (1963), Virginia Bell Tenney (1965), Cynthia Bell Towle (1967), Leslie Mills (1976), Rhonda Palmer Jodrey (1978) and Dorothy Morton Swan (1979).

Former members of Pineland Ski Club who will serve as honor guard for carnival queens of the past include: Allen Bodwell, Richard Hall, Herschel Hall, James Bodwell, Paul Bodwell, Kenneth Roberts, David Chaisson, Owen Morton, Leon Akers, Gerald Deanis, Leon Dunn Jr., Lorenzo Miller Jr., William Crooker, Haley Hutchins and Gary Marston.

Tickets for the ball, which features music by the Stanley Harnden Orchestra, are available at Mills Market.

Besides Hayden and Chaisson, members of the Carnival Ball Committee are Penny Poor, Peggy Madigan, Joan Carney, Rhonda Jodrey, Beverly Swan, Eda Perkins Barbara Meisner and Edith Russell.

Copy the Story Link