POLAND – Groups of young people gathered on Route 122 over the Christmas holiday to remember friends and two others killed in a crash there last year.

On Dec. 24, 2006, six people were killed when a car filled with four people slid into another with a couple and their dog inside. All of them died in the early morning wreck.

Androscoggin County sheriff’s officials were told that a vigil was planned at the start of the week at the crash site. The first was expected Sunday, but rainy weather kept most people away. Instead, groups began stopping at the site Monday, which marked the anniversary of the fatal wreck.

The Dec. 24 crash was among the deadliest in Maine’s history. Two people have since been charged in connection with the fatality, one man for allegedly allowing a group of teenagers to drink liquor at his home in Poland. The other, a 19-year-old girl, stands accused of handing her car keys over to a man who had been drinking and who later lost control of the vehicle.

Police said the driver of that car, 20-year-old Michael Cournoyer of Auburn, was drunk when he lost control of the Nissan Altima he had borrowed from the 19-year-old at the party in Poland.

Three passengers in the car with Cournoyer also were killed: Jacob Roy, 20, of Lewiston; Robert Bruce, 19, of Auburn; and Matthew Manley, 18, of Lewiston. The two people in the oncoming Dodge Spirit also were killed. They were Steven Walton, 27, and his fiancée, Laura Caron, 25, both of Poland.

Investigators later learned that the four young men in the Altima had been together at the party a short distance from the crash site. The party, they said, was hosted by Ryan M. Brissette, 28, who was charged in June with allowing minors to consume alcohol.

Brissette has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Police said Samantha Renee Montana, 19, of Lewiston, was also at the party and that she handed keys to her car to Cournoyer shortly before the crash. Montana was charged with allowing criminal operation of a car and has also pleaded not guilty.

If found guilty, Brissette could spend up to a year in jail; Montana up to six months.

Police on Monday said they did not expect any problems as people stopped on Route 122 to remember the fatal crash. Sheriff’s deputies planned to monitor activity there only to ensure that traffic along the busy road was not disrupted.