LIVERMORE FALLS — With “Johnny B Goode” blaring from an antique vehicle parked along Main Street on Friday, people strolled the sidewalks and stopped to talk to others.

History was on display and people were talking and reminiscing about days gone by during History Night. There was even talk about creating a sports museum to enshrine the history of the sports teams, Jay High School Tigers and Livermore Falls High School Andies, and the rivalry that lasted for decades. It ended for the varsity teams on Friday.

The two school systems will combine July 1, and another era will begin as they become the Spruce Mountain Phoenix.

Two storefronts displayed the history of sports in Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls.

“This is my father’s baseball uniform and glove,” Muriel Bowerman, co-president of the Livermore/Livermore Falls Historical Society, said.

Her late father, Ervin H. Marcou, graduated from Livermore Falls High School at 18 in 1915. He played on the Andies from 1913 to 1915, she said.

The uniform was off-white, Melton wool, a heavy material, with navy blue pin stripes and navy blue trim.

The society has a complete set of Livermore Falls High School Banners from 1907 to 2001 and is looking to complete it through 2011.

Bowerman graduated from the school in 1950. Her mother, Louise Kelley, graduated in 1925.

Somewhere along the way, green and white became the Andies colors. Yellow wasn’t added until much later, society Co-President Don Newcomb said.

The Andies have a lumberjack mascot now but prior to the late 1960s, they were known as the Pandas, Mike Luciano of Jay said. A jersey hung on the wall with the panda mascot on the front.

Newcomb’s No. 23 Livermore Falls football jersey was also on display.

A picture of his brother, Harold Newcomb, was in a Banner yearbook. He played high school hockey his senior year on the Livermore Falls team in 1947.

The school no longer offers hockey, but back then the team flooded the current football field to make it an ice skating rink, Harold Newcomb said.

On the other side of the room, Bert and Doris Simoneau talked about their son, Dan, who was on the Livermore Falls ski team. He focused on cross-country and became an award-winning national skier who went on to become an Olympian, participating in two Olympics and serving as alternate for a third.

Outside, the music played a toe-tapping beat as visitors checked out the fleet of vehicles lining the streets.

Down on Depot Street, people milled in and out of another storefront containing sports history memorabilia.

Debbie Frechette Gregoire was a Jay High School Tigers cheerleader from 1966 to 1969 when she graduated.

One of her fondest memories was the year Jay won the football championship in 1968.

“Great times, great friends,” Gregoire said.

Kim Soucy Cook, also a 1969 Jay High School graduate, was a majorette. She remembered having to put heavy makeup on their legs to make them look tanned.

“We had some good times. We just had fun,” she said.

Tractors pulled trailers of children and adults through town. The aroma of cooking hamburgers, hot dogs and popcorn drifted through the air.

Caroline MacLagan, 16, of Leeds, was taking orders for grilled burgers.

She and others from the Emmanuel Assembly of God Church in Livermore Falls are raising funds for a mission trip to Alabama to help build a house for a family that lost their home in a tornado.

“It’s my first mission trip,” MacLagan said. “I am just looking forward to helping them rebuild their lives after the tornado destroyed their town.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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