RUMFORD – “Gather round for a group picture and, don’t touch your boobs!” Patty Drakas harped again to 16 men dressed to the nines in women’s clothing, makeup, high heels and false proportions. It was five minutes to show time at Saturday night’s second annual All-Male Beauty Pageant, Rumford Eagles Auxiliary 1248’s largest fundraiser for 16 different charities.

Mary McDonald, one of several real women backstage helping the men get outfitted three hours before the event, said the toughest parts were getting the men into nylons, getting them to sit like ladies and, getting them to stop adjusting their false breasts. But she was too busy laughing to seriously complain.

“These guys are dressing up as women to help us raise money. They’re great sports,” she said. “This is all about people helping people.”

Behind her, George Stetson of Augusta, who went to the bar to get his wife a drink and got talked into filling the spot of another man who didn’t show, got a crash course in being a woman after being helped into hose, heels and a shimmering blue dress for the casual wear performance.

“When you go up the walkway, walk like a lady,” Drakas told him, miming a woman’s exaggerated walking style. “Get those hips moving. You got to strut your stuff. You’re doing good.”

Stetson later learned he’d be performing in the talent show to Frank Sinatra’s crooning “The Lady is A Tramp.”

Some were nervous, others relaxed and hamming it up as the minutes ticked by.

“The women did my face, they did my nails and I even allowed them to do my toenails,” said Jamie O’Leary, 33, of Mexico, a machinist at Maine Machine Products in South Paris. He was turned out in long blonde hair and a flowery blue dress with a butterfly brooch.

“I’m going for the Euro trash look. And I thought I was homely,” he said to another mustachioed contestant.

Self-employed carpenter John Iwaniszek, 48, of Brewer, dressed as a biker chick in a black leather vest hiding a big-cat skin bikini top.

“I’m nervous as heck. I’m going to be playing my harmonica in front of 250-plus people,” he said. His charity was a cancer fund.

“My mom’s got cancer and six months to live, and I lost a sister to cancer, so I think this is a great thing. It’s what we’re all about. People helping people, and I thank God for them all,” Iwaniszek added.

James Jenkins, 29, a roofer from Mexico, was dressed as “Redneck Woman Gretchen Wilson,” sporting black ponytails and a black outfit. During the talent show, he wore size 3 black leather pants and too-tight shoes, but his act was a big hit with the crowd.

“I like doing things for a good cause as long as the money’s going to people who need it,” he said.

The hardest part: shaving his legs and getting his nails done.

“I need an earring put back on, Mary,” Eric Arsenault of Mexico said to McDonald.

“You can’t fix it yourself?” she asked.

“Not with my nails,” he said.

Robert Parker, 57, of Oquossoc, said the most difficult part was getting talked into strutting his feminine side. He drew lots of applause and laughter while singing karaoke to Aerosmith’s “Dude Looks Like a Lady.”

But the man who brought down the house in the talent show and collected $150 to win the casual wear event, was Rumford Patrolman Tracey Higley raising money for the department’s DARE program, in which he is an instructor. During the talent show, dressed like an overly endowed cheerleader, Higley performed rap throughout the crowd, then did two cartwheels, ending with a split at the end of the lighted walkway.

“This is a fantastic way to raise money for charity,” emcee Jeffrey Campbell, president of the Maine Eagles Club, said. “We’ve got more interaction tonight than we ever get at most charity events we do.”

During the opening act of the evening gown performance, the Portland man walked Dennis Arsenault, who was dressed in a bridal gown, down the stage and back.

“This is the first time that a father wants to give his daughter away,” he said to laughter while “Going to the Chapel” played in the background.

People were wiping tears from their eyes from laughing so hard.

“Everyone’s been, ‘Oh my God! This is great! Oh, Mary, this is even better than the first one, and I have to admit, it is,” McDonald said.

The men raised $850 with the casual wear walk and were well on the way to more than $2,000 raised, in addition to the evening meal.

The “woman” who raised the most money would be crowed queen and given a bouquet after the more than three-hour event. Star trophies would go to the three runners-up.

The first event was also sold out and raised more than $1,700.