BUCKFIELD – Anticipation dawned Labor Day morning along both ends and the middle of Buckfield’s annual community day weekend parade route.
While hundreds of people of all ages lined the downtown area prior to the 10 a.m. start, parade participants gathered at SAD 39’s Buckfield Junior/Senior High School off Route 140.
An ape costume and a luau float, complete with palm trees and hula skirts, added zaniness to the arrangement of marchers, fire engines, antique cars, horses and decorated bicyclists.
Tim Buck of Buckfield Rescue got into the swing of things early after donning the gorilla suit. Throughout the parade, he hopped on and off the department’s float, which took first place for Most Humorous.
“It’s how we all unwind,” said Deirdre Cameron, of Buckfield Rescue. Cameron rode on the luau float, which was manned by children of rescue workers.
Nearby, on a garishly decorated early American float, sat senior citizens Ralph Nichols, Bert and Lorraine Poirier and Eleanor Albright, in lounge chairs around a wooden table, playing cards. Their Pine Tree Acres Camping float took the prized Judges’ Choice award.
Sounding sirens signaled the 45-minute parade’s arrival, followed by thumping drumbeats and electric guitar riffs from Leavitt Area High School’s marching band.
The parade also included antique police cars, antique engines, fire engines from Buckfield, Turner and Sumner, the Kora Temple Shriners’ Crazy Cops cars, Brownie Troop 15, the Buckfield football team, equestrians, the Hartford Historical Society and floats made by other local businesses.
After the parade, the crowd drifted to the football field behind the Municipal Center where food and drink vendors, tables of crafts, entertainment and other adult and children’s activities have been set up the entire weekend.
East Sumner Congregational Church’s booth was a very popular spot, offering homemade pies.
The fair has been held for about 30 years.
Freelance writer Mary Standard contribute to this report.
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