FRYEBURG -After marching and performing during Saturday morning’s 90-minute Grand Parade at the Fryeburg Fair, the Bridgton Bavarian Band still had plenty of “oomph” left for another two hours of German Oompah music.

And they needed it, because the troubadours, ages 40 to 76, skillfully wended this way and that through a crowd of thousands to perform many more sets of waltzes, polkas and marches at several different impromptu venues. Their lively music stopped many people in their tracks, drawing applause, and, yes, even groupies.

“We get a lot of compliments, but unfortunately, we almost never practice and it showed today,” band leader Dick Albert said. “Most of us are in the 60 to 70 (age) zone.”

They also had two musicians subbing for regulars during their 16th Fryeburg Fair performance – Dick Poland of Hiram playing his 1910 tuba and, on the clarinet, Heather Stewart of North Bridgton.

Joining Albert, Poland and Stewart, were, Dale Honaberger of Bridgton on baritone, trumpet players Tom Ackley of Fryeburg and Mike Costa of Denmark, and Kenyon King of Chatham, N.H., on the tenor trombone.

But to those who weren’t familiar with the traditional German, Austrian, Swiss and Eastern European sound, they played just right.

“We love them. We love brass,” Sharon Rainey said of herself and Bud Rainey, both of Wilton. They own and operate the Dutch Treat ice-cream and meals business.

“They’re awesome!” John Steeves of Pembroke, Mass., said. “I’m half German, so I like this kind of music.”

“I think it’s wonderful,” Hans Bowders of Buxton said. “I have some German heritage a long ways back, and it’s just fun. I think the kids have fun listening to the oompah part of it.”

“It’s a great family event,” Don Combs of Hampstead, N.H., said of sons Danny and Nick and daughter Collette, who applauded after the set. “We’re delighted. Our kids really love the music. This is our first time here today.”

In addition to the sound, the band’s authentic German outfits – six men in “leiderhosen” (embroidered green short pants and suspenders, coupled with hiking boots, colorful socks and hats) and Stewart in a red dress known as a “dirndle” – attracted plenty of mouths-wide-open stares.

“We always wander around. It makes it kind of fun that way, because there’s always a crowd no matter where you go. It’s great fun. I never tire of it,” Albert said.

Playing beside three blue trash barrels near the pulling ring, they attracted several onlookers, many of whom could be heard wondering out loud, “What the heck are they about?”

Albert and crew then wandered off again, weaving through a small box canyon of trucks and trailers and a maze of electricity cables. They continued past the Tilt-a-Whirl and into thick crowds, attracting stares from small children and smiles from older folk before Albert stopped beside a carnival Whack-A-Mole game stand.

While fairgoers whacked mechanical moles with oversized hammers, the band played on.

The band is comprised of musicians from the Bridgton Community Band, which Albert conducted for 28 years before retiring and forming the Bridgton Bavarian Band in 1975 after the group got interested in German sheet music. Now, he said, they can perform for four to five hours straight without playing the same tune twice.

They play 12 times a year, performing in New Hampshire and Maine at private parties, Oktoberfests, parades, and concerts at old-home days events. They’ll return Sunday to play another two hours on the fair’s last day.

“It’s nice to be here with all these people and help make the atmosphere bright and cheerful,” Costa said before disappearing with the others into a sea of humanity, searching out the next place to perform.

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