Survey results showed that 84 percent of people in the Lewiston-Auburn area participate in some form of outdoor activity.
LEWISTON – Kaylee Randolph gripped the wheel and waited for the announcer to lower his arm and yell, “Go.”
Then, with her tongue sticking out to the side, the 7-year-old carefully turned the wheel and watched as her orange remote-control stock car circled the miniature race track.
It flew by the green car, then the blue one, then it crashed into the yellow one and kept going. When the minute was up, the announcer declared her the winner. She threw her arms in the air, shook her hips, then graciously accepted the prize: a ticket for another game.
Randolph, who lives in Greene, was one of thousands of people who attended the Sportsmen’s and Outdoor Recreation Show at the Colisee in Lewiston on Saturday.
Along with the other younger attendees, she spent most of her time at the miniature race track and the climbing wall as their parents browsed exhibits and displays with everything from boats and motorcycles to camping kitchenware and the work of local taxidermists.
This is the first year that Jay Collier, the coordinator of the three-day event, brought his show to Lewiston.
Before making the decision to come to the Colisee, Collier conducted a survey in the greater Lewiston-Auburn area. The results showed that 84 percent of the population hunts, fishes, rides ATVs, owns a boat or participates in some other outdoor activity.
“Normally, it’s about 55 to 60 percent,” Collier said.
By late afternoon Saturday, Collier knew he made the right decision.
More than 1,000 people visited the show Friday. On Saturday, four times that amount showed up.
“Those are great numbers,” Collier said. “And we still have all day Sunday.”
One of featured attractions of the show is the “Hanson Buck,” a large whitetail deer that was harvested 11 years ago in Canada and broke the world record for its size and 12-point rack.
Attendees were invited to take a picture with the trophy buck for $5.
Derrick Barnes, a 12-year-old who lives in Buckfield, thought the deer was cool. But he was more interested the motorcycles and remote-control stock cars.
“I beat him,” he said with a big grin as he pointed to his older brother.
If it hadn’t been for that little girl with the orange car, he would have gotten a ticket for a free game.
lchmelecki@sunjournal.com
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