PARIS — The 33rd annual Founders Day classic car exhibit will be held on Paris Hill on Saturday, July 16, featuring the antique and classic car collection of Bob Bahre.

The collection is housed at Bahre’s summer home — the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln’s first vice president Hannibal Hamlin. Bahre has been opening his collection to the public once a year on Founders Day since the 1970s.

Jennifer Lewis, the librarian at the Hamlin Memorial Library on Paris Hill, said the money raised from admissions supports the library and museum, which is housed in the upstairs of the library. The building was used for years as a local jail.

“We generally hope to raise about $10,000,” Lewis said. Because the crowd varies from 700 to as many as 1,400 people a year, usually depending on the weather, the amount of money raised also varies, she said.

Bahre’s collection of more than 50 vehicles includes one of the world’s finest assemblages of Packards, according to the release issued by event organizers. The Packard collection features Dietrich V-windshield body styles and LeBaron V-windshield body styles on the Packard 12 chassis for 1932-1934 cars, the one-off front-wheel-drive prototype sedan, a 1906 Model S touring car and other specialty Packards.

The collection also includes American classics such as the Duesenbergs, a V-16 Cadillac, Stutz, an Auburn 12 and foreign classic cars such as the Delahaye, Isotta Fraschini, Alfa Romeo plus later-model sports cars.

There are also an antique doll and toy collection, horse-drawn carriages, a player piano, old phonographs, tabletop instruments and a jukebox.

Lewis said there is usually a group of other antique vehicles driven by area residents who show off their cars on the village green on Paris Hill at the same time.

In addition to the car collection, Founders Day activities will include musical entertainment by John Governale, the Arts Move dance group and Once A Week and Company, a local folk group.

A crafts fair will also be set up on the green.

Donations for admission to the Bahre Collection are $10 for adults and $2 for children 12 and under.

A house and garden tour is also being held on the same day on Paris Hill from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Lewis said.

Information and directions to the Founders Day, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. are available from the Hamlin Memorial Library at 207-743-2980 and online www.hamlin.lib.me.us.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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