LEWISTON — The Tri-County Mental Health Services/Social Learning Center held their annual “carnival day” Friday morning, offering more activities than in previous years. 

The Social Learning Center, according to their website, is an office of Tri-County Mental Health Services that helps to “prepare and support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities for the greatest degree of independence possible in their homes and communities.” 

The carnival is one of several events that the Social Learning Center holds each year, according to Cliff Winn, manager of the Tri-County Mental Health Services/Social Learning Center.

“It just so happens that we hold the carnival around the same time as fair season, and it takes place on Friday to kick off a long weekend, so it worked out pretty good,” Winn said. “We went and asked our neighbors and the local businesses to help out by donating out of the kindness of their hearts, and they came through for us.

“This is a big day for us here,” Winn said. “It’s just one of the things we do over the course of the year. In the spring, we have a semi-formal dance off-site, where people dress up and get to dance, sort of like a prom. It’s kind of the pinnacle of the social season for us.”

The carnival offered a variety of different games for the clients to try, including a ring-toss station, karaoke, a mini bowling alley, face painting and a crafts table.

Around 10:30 a.m., Winn, donning a Patriots T-shirt and a pair of safety goggles, sat in a chair while one participant after another took paper plates filled with Cool Whip and chucked them at his face.

“Whoa, I felt the wind fly past my head on that one,” Winn said after one plate narrowly missed his face.

Earlier in the morning, the Lewiston Fire Department visited and gave the carnival-goers a fire safety presentation, followed by an animal show by Andrew Desjardins, more commonly known as “Mr. Drew and his Animals Too!”

Desjardins presented a variety of animals to the audience, including snakes of various sizes, rabbits and rats.

Desjardins approached one person, Keith Jandreau, and asked him, “Are you brave? Do you trust me?”

Jandreau nodded as Desjardins draped the striped snake across Jandreau’s shoulders, sending “oohs” and “ahhs” throughout the crowd.

After putting the snakes away, Desjardins brought out a rat, which sent a chorus of “ewws” rippling throughout the audience.

“Rats have a bad reputation,” Desjardins said, “but they are actually very intelligent, and they make great pets.”

Heather Bryant, an employee of five years at the Tri-County Mental Health Services/Social Learning Center and a member of the building’s activities committee, said that the Social Learning Center has held carnival days in the past, though “never on the scale that’s being done today.

“We have a lot of new games for the consumers to try out, and not just the same things that we’ve had in the past,” Bryant said, talking over the sound of a participant singing “Sweet Caroline.”

“Normally, some of the people here are sleeping already, but when it’s carnival day, they’re all awake and having a good time,” Bryant added.

Other employees that helped Bryant with organizing the carnival include Kate Tuell, Tiffany Giguere, Nikki Pollock and Emily Allen.

“It definitely wasn’t a one-person job,” Bryant said. “They did a majority of the work.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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