NEW GLOUCESTER – Despite constant rainfall, the New Gloucester Community Fair attracted many dozens of supporters throughout the two-day event this weekend.
Umbrella-toting fair-goers donned raincoats and boots and chatted with friends while they slogged across the wet and muddy fields of the New Gloucester Fairgrounds on the Bald Hill Road.
“We couldn’t control the rain. We planned this event since last February and paid for tent rentals and other costly items,” said New Gloucester Firefighter Scott Doyle, who headed up the occasion.
Within a big tent area, an enthusiastic crowd milled and lingered while visiting vendors and chatting with friends.
Fireworks that had been scheduled for the end of the day were canceled.
“The fair, it’s here and yes, it’s wet. Next year, it will be sunny and in the 80s,” said Doyle to roughly 150 people inside the tent.
Throughout the fairgrounds, dozens of events and displays took place under the shelter of tents.
Several outdoor activities were canceled, however.
New Gloucester selectmen dedicated the fair to New Gloucester firefighter George Carman, 39, who is battling cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that attacks mucus-secreting glands of the body, chiefly the lungs.
A fund-raising campaign aims to raise $300,000 to help support Carman’s family when he receives a double lung transplant in the future at a New York City hospital. So far, $92,000 has been raised in the first 300 days of a three-year campaign.
New Gloucester Selectman Kevin Sullivan proclaimed that selectmen were naming Saturday as New Lungs for George Day in the town.
“We love our community, and we love our surrounding communities,” said Kevin Fowler in leading the opening ceremony.
Meghan Bagdon of New Gloucester delivered a solo rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The Gray-New Gloucester High School Patriots band performed musical offerings for fair-goers.
Jackie Lemm of Poland Spring said, “The fair was still enjoyable, though not as packed as it would have been.”
A baking contest brought first-place ribbons to Bonnie May, Kathleen Morrison, Courtney Target and Kathleen Potles.
Local clubs and groups with displays included the Royal River Riders Snowmobile Club; AMVET Post 6; the New Gloucester Historical Society; the Gray Optimist Club; New Gloucester Congregational Church; Boy Scout Troop 135; the New Gloucester Democratic Party and the New Gloucester Republican Party.
SAD 15 officials set up a display to help educate the public about a proposed $10.2 million bond that will go before voters Nov. 8.
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