DIXFIELD — More than 80 people attended the first annual Old-Fashioned Lithuanian-style Picnic at Mountain View Campground off Route 142 on Saturday.

Due to rainy weather, the gathering was held inside a large quonset hut, from which emanated rollicking, taped Polka music.

It was accompanied by enticing aromas of traditional Lithuanian foods such as kielbase and sautéed peppers and onions, potato-based kugelis, cabbage and beet soup, bread and pastry.

The event was held by the newly formed Rumford-area Lithuanian Heritage Club, which has been busy since spring compiling histories and photographs of families who emigrated to Maine from the Baltic nation.

People came to socialize, hear and share stories and photographs, sample the food and discuss the culture of the once-Soviet-dominated country.

Club Chairman Matt Kaubris of Rumford greeted people beside a table on which club members were setting up a display of old photographs of Lithuanian ancestors.

“We’re looking forward to a good turnout,” he said at 11:15 a.m. after about 50 people had arrived.

He was soon joined by his niece, Eliza Cormier of Rumford, who wore an authentic Lithuanian folk costume.

Kaubris credited the Rumford and Mexico historical societies for generating interest in forming clubs like the Lithuanian one by holding dinners and inviting people of various ethnic backgrounds.

People of Lithuanian descent came to the picnic from as far away as Massachusetts, Florida and Chicago.

Bob Jackson of South Paris, a Bridgeport, Conn., native, said he and his wife came for the food.

“I haven’t had this food in years,” said Jackson, whose parents came to America from Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius.

His aunt, he said, owned a horse farm there when the Russians took over the country and his relatives were forced to leave their wealth behind.

Chicago Lithuanian Club officer Sarah Masalsky-Sillars of Florida said she came to help share the heritage and keep it alive.

 “I think this is wonderful,” she said. “I was thrilled when I came here for the summer and found out they formed this club.”

A Rumford native with a camp at Worthley Pond in Peru, Masalsky-Sillars said she learned the Lithuanian language while singing in the choir of a Lithuanian church in Nashua, N.H.

She said that as a member of the Chicago club, she collected donations to send care packages to the country and supported orphans there.

“It think it’s very important to preserve the traditions and culture,” Masalsky-Sillars said. “If we don’t keep it going, our grandchildren won’t know anything about their heritage.”

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Rumford-area Lithuanian Heritage Club members Julie Koris, left, Christine St. Cyr and Barbara Arsenault, all of Rumford, show off the traditional Lithuanian meal of kielbase, potato-based kugelis, beet salad, rye bread and sauerkraut, which they served at the first annual old-fashioned Lithuanian-style picnic on Saturday at the Mountain View Campground in Dixfield. Sarah Knight of Dixfield is in back.

Lithuanian heritage came alive on Saturday in Dixfield at the first annual old-fashioned Lithuanian picnic when Eliza Cormier of Rumford donned an authentic Lithuanian folk costume and greeted people, including Ed Kowalzyk of Roxbury Pond village.

A couple examine old photographs on Saturday at the first annual Old-Fashioned Lithuanian-style Picnic sponsored by the Rumford-area Lithuanian Heritage Club at Mountain View Campground off Route 142 in Dixfield. Memorabilia, maps, genealogical histories, Lithuanian flags and fashion, and old-country food greeted more than 80 people attending the event.

Wearing an authentic Lithuanian folk costume, Eliza Cormier, left, of Rumford, chats with Sarah Masalsky-Sillars of Florida at Saturday’s first annual Old-Fashioned Lithuanian-style Picnic inside the quonset hut at Mountain View Campground in Dixfield.

While gathering for a group photograph at Saturday afternoon’s first annual Old-Fashioned Lithuanian-style Picnic, members of the newly-formed Rumford area Lithuanian Heritage Club check out a display of old photographs of Lithuanian families. From right are club Chairman Matt Kaubris of Rumford; Jon Kowalzyk of Mexico; Jeremy Volkernick of Rumford; Stan Kaubris, Eliza Cormier and Barbara Arsenault, all of Rumford; Olga Peterson of Peru; and Connie Cassidy of Rumford. In back and partially hidden are Julie Koris and Christine St. Cyr, both of Rumford.

Julie Koris, right, of Rumford, adds some sour cream to the plate of Steve Agurkis of Auburn. More than 80 people attended the Rumford-area Lithuanian Heritage Club’s first annual Old-Fashioned Lithuanian-style Picnic on Saturday inside the quonset hut of the Mountain View Campground off Route 142 in Dixfield. Others in back are Christine St. Cyr, Matt Koubris, Barbara Arsenault, Sarah Knight and Joe Sassi.