RANGELEY – Under a cloud-strewn blue sky on a breezy Saturday morning, hundreds of people lined Main Street to watch a colorful parade of floats, logging and construction equipment, and emergency response vehicles. during the 26th annual Logging Festival.
The parade, a segment of the two-day Logging Festival, traveled the length of Main Street, also known as Route 4.
Floats ranged from The Giving Tree’s portrayal of Christmas, with Santa and Mrs. Claus, to four women from the United Kingfield Bank of Rangeley, who were dressed in leopardskin sarongs while portraying Stone Age loggers.
Farmington’s Old Crow Indian Band provided patriotic marching tunes, that raised many a hand to hearts in salute.
After the 20-minute parade, people migrated a mile out of town to the Rangeley Lakes Region Logging Museum, which hosted the festival.
Back at the end of Main Street, Santa and his wife, portrayed by Sean and Pam Welton of Rangeley, relaxed, shedding some of their too-hot bright red clothing.
Santa didn’t see any bad people during the parade, “so, they might just get Christmas presents,” Pam Welton said.
The float was pulled by a truck rather than reindeer, though the Weltons were talking about attaching antlers to their dog for next year’s float.
At the museum, cars lined both sides of Route 16 for a half-mile. Carloads more were still arriving by 11:40 a.m. and as late as 1:15 p.m.
The Woodsmen’s Competition had just started with a crosscut-saw log-cutting timed event, following a comical, women’s rolling-pin toss event for both distance and accuracy.
Six women, including Little Miss Wood Chip, Natasha Haley of Rangeley, were extracted from a crowd of spectators. Then, they had to figure out the rules for the precision tossing, which included taking aim at a garishly cartoonish logger scarecrow.
Kyla Collins of Berkeley, Calif., who was heading home Sunday after a two-week vacation in Rangeley, said she enjoyed the pin toss.
“I play water polo, but the pin was heavier than I thought, so I threw it way too erratically,” she said.
“But, it’s fun, though, I think I’m definitely in last place,” Collins added.
A short distance away, George Slinn of Warwick, R.I., and Bob Miller of Rangeley dug out the last of four cooked 25-pound pots of bean-hole beans. The first three pots went fast, Miller said.
Out at the two “gates” charging $2 admission, were Gerry Adams and his wife Diane Schnellhammer, both of whom are stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Schnellhammer, a math teacher, and Adams, a science instructor, said they’re in the process of building a home at the Sandy River Plantation overlook. Repeat summer visitors, the couple decided to move here when they retire in three years.
Saturday was the first time they’d taken the time to attend the festival. They’re leaving Rangeley on Sunday, en route to Germany.
“Now that the competition is on, people have been rolling in pretty steady. It’s such a beautiful day,” Adams said at 1 p.m.
[email protected]
Comments are no longer available on this story