Almost 100 years ago, businessmen in Lewiston tried a community booster campaign somewhat like the current “L/A – It’s Happening Here,” effort. It was called the Harvest Carnival and it featured both aerial war games and a tightrope act above the city’s streets.

“Don’t Miss the Great Carnival” shouted local headlines on Oct. 16, 1915. “Lewiston’s Big Show To Be Finest Entertainment Maine Ever Saw,” read the headlines in the Lewiston Evening Journal.

The railroads even offered special rates to attract people to Lewiston and Auburn as stores geared up for big sales. Harvest Carnival was the idea of the Lewiston Ad Men’s Club, and it was endorsed by the Lewiston Chamber of Commerce.

The event’s headliner was aerial daredevil Bud Cary who was bringing his biplane to Lewiston for an aerial warfare enactment. Part of the free spectacle was to include placing three National Guard companies and two machine gun sections of the Portland Naval Reserve on downtown rooftops. The plan was to have the military units fire blanks at Cary and his plane as he dove from 4,000 feet straight at the Lisbon Street buildings. Cary said he would drop “bombs” from his aircraft, and he promised that it would produce loud but non-destructive explosions on the ground.

There was a growing war in Europe that had heightened American awareness and interest in the new kind of aerial attacks, so Cary’s exhibition was very timely. L-A residents were watching newsreel scenes of overseas battles, but the United States was maintaining a non-involvement stance at that time preceding World War I.

Early in the week, Cary’s plane arrived in Lewiston, but it was aboard a train and disassembled. His crew would have to put the craft together in time for the show.

“There will be no disappointments in this show,” Cary said in a Lewiston Evening Journal interview printed the day before his flight.

A reporter asked the out-of-town promoter of the show if he had ever flown with Cary.

“Once,” he said.

“Like it?”

“I have a sufficiency,” he replied.

Showtime arrived on Oct. 20, and crowds gathered on the downtown sidewalks. One of the military platoons was atop the Manufacturers National Bank Building, another was assigned positions on the Music Hall roof, and the third was on the Great Department Store roof.

It was reported that 4,000 rounds of blank ammunition was prepared and inspected for their use.

Cary’s promise of no disappointments didn’t hold up. He took to the air two hours late on the scheduled show day, but no “bombs” were dropped. He said parts did not arrive for the bomb mechanisms. He did manage to make dives on the downtown area, and the rooftop battle emplacements shot back and managed to put on a good show.

Later in the week, Cary had more mishaps that grounded his plane with a broken propeller.

The Attack on Lewiston stunt was not the only entertainment planned for the Harvest Carnival. The organizers also booked “The Aerial Howards” for a tightrope show twice a day on each of the three days of the event. The tightrope was strung above Main Street from the roof of The Great Department Store (later called B. Peck Company and now an L.L. Bean call center) to what was then the Bellevue Hotel at the head of Lisbon Street.

The husband-and-wife act featured Mrs. Howard riding a bicycle across the wire with her husband performing on a trapeze hanging below.

Their performances thrilled large crowds that gathered for each tightrope ride during the week.

Despite the problems with the aerial bombardment, the Lewiston Ad Men’s Club declared the Harvest Carnival a great success.

Dave Sargent is a freelance writer and a native of Auburn. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].