HEBRON — The Redneck Olympics will start Saturday, Aug. 6, with the national anthem, of course. The weekend festival will raise money for veterans. And organizer Harold Brooks, a veteran himself, wants to show respect.
But things get weird after that.
At about 9:30 a.m., a man in a pig costume will run out of an outhouse, torch in hand.
“He’ll be running through and he’ll light a trash can full of old wood on fire,” Brooks said. “That will be the beginning of the Olympics.”
Brooks said he’s expecting 3,000 to 4,000 people will come to watch and participate in “Olympic” events such as bobbing for pigs’ feet, toilet-seat horseshoes, lawnmower races and contests in pie-eating, wife-carrying and mud-flopping.
Then there’s the pig roast on Saturday with no fewer than 12 pigs and hundreds of pounds of chicken. Other foods will be on sale all weekend.
The festival includes a beer tent, with proceeds from beer sales going to the Maine Homeless Veterans’ Fund and the Hope Haven Gospel Mission in Lewiston, Brooks said.
The event will be family-friendly during the day, Brooks said, but nights are an adults-only affair. On Saturday night, he plans to have a 20-foot bonfire and a wet T-shirt contest with cash prizes.
It all takes place on Brooks’ 210-acre cattle farm on Harold Lane. Camping from Friday night to Sunday is free and tents and campers are welcome.
The music starts Friday night. Local bands Stronghold, Twyce Shy, Firewater Creek, Mainestream, Gaffers and Dirty McGurty are slated to perform throughout the weekend on a 30,000-watt sound system.
Brooks said he and a friend came up with the event in early June and he’s been working on it since. He’s been promoting it on Facebook, in person at events like last weekend’s TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway, and on the radio, giving away tickets on WTOS.
He said it hasn’t been a hard sell. “Every time you pass out a flier, the person has a big smile. It’s almost like a little joke.”
What will make the event a success, Brooks said, are the attendees participating in the events. There will be a mud run in Brooks’ gravel pit that’s free to enter and most of the Olympic events are open to anyone.
Brooks has experience organizing events. For years, he has been in charge of logistics for the Great Falls Balloon Festival.
Tickets for the Redneck Olympics are $15 in advance online and $20 at the door. Admission covers the whole weekend. Tickets can be purchased online at redneckolympics.eventbrite.com. Brooks has been selling tickets online for weeks and has sold tickets to people from across New England, he said.
The pig roast is $9 for adults, $4 for children under 12 and free for children under 5. Dogs and glass bottles are not allowed on the grounds.
Brooks said he hopes the festival will be memorable. “We want them to truly say, ‘Oh, my God, I had fun.’”
treaves@sunjournal.com
Redneck Olympics
When: Aug. 5, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Aug. 6, 9 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Aug. 7, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: 12 Harold Lane, Hebron
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