LEWISTON — Audrey Oquendo, 5, is a big fan of pirates. So she came to the Great Falls Balloon Festival pancake breakfast prepared Saturday morning.

She tracked down Gypsy, a crew member of the Rockland-based Pirates of the Dark Rose, wordlessly reached into her backpack to retrieve a folded piece of paper and handed it to the pirate. There, penciled in a five-year-old handwriting, were three words — “I Like Pirates.”

“It’s for you,” she told Gypsy.

That won the child a big hug from Gypsy, who goes by the name Mary Armstrong of Boothbay when she’s away from her pirate life.

“Ahh, what a sweetheart,” Armstrong said.

And Oquendo never touched her pancakes. She just watched Gypsy and her crew mates as they worked the tent Saturday morning.

It’s the kind of reaction the Pirates of the Dark Rose hope for, according to leader Captain Crudbeard, also known as Tomm Tomlinson of Rockland.

“I say it every year, the pirate thing is bound to die down next year and no one will want to see a pirate again,” he said. “It doesn’t. I think kids are drawn to pirates because, No. 1, it’s easy to be one. Put a rag on your head and squint and you’re a pirate.”

But there’s also a sense of friendly danger.

“Pirates are a little scary,” he said. “But yet, they’re with their parents and we are friendly pirates. I think that’s a big part of the pirate cachet.”

The pirate group was a hit Saturday, posing for pictures with fans young and old, offering demonstrations with guns, marching in the festival’s parade and generally livening things up.

The festival opened early Saturday as pilots took advantage of calm skies to get in the air soon after 6 a.m. Several considered coming back for a second morning launch but later decided that the bright sun would warm things up too quickly, creating unpredictable winds.

A few scattered rain droplets threatened Saturday’s night’s launch but calm winds proved too good for the balloon pilots to pass up. They launched and the rain never materialized.

The festival continues Sunday morning with balloon launches, a second pancake breakfast, live music with The Veayo Twins and Audio Vibe on the Lewiston Stage and Downeast Brass, JimmyJo n’ the Jumbol’Ayuhs and Sonic Nova on the Auburn stage.

The final balloon launch of the festival is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday, but Sunday’s forecast predicted the possibility of showers all day.

Balloonmeister Mickey Reeder said the festival has dodged bad weather for most launches this weekend and she hoped they’d be able to do it again Sunday.

“The way the weather has been this weekend, we may just get a shower in the afternoon,” Reeder said. “If it just comes and goes after morning launch, that’s what I’m hoping for.”

The Pirates of the Dark Rose will put on a puppet show at 10 a.m. and a pirate battle at noon in Lewiston. They’ll move across the river to Auburn’s Festival Plaza for pirate weapons demonstrations at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

It’s the second engagement this weekend for Crudbeard’s pirates. Tomlinson said the crew were the featured guests at Popham’s Pirate Festival on Friday. That’s more familiar territory for the Pirates of the Dark Rose, who end up working harbor festivals up and down the East Coast.

“We like to say we pillage from Eastport to Key West,” Tomlinson said.

Their demonstrations frequently involve them sailing into port in their pirate vessel and getting into a cannon battle with landed troops.

In Tomlinson’s case, the ship came before the pirates. A native of North Carolina, he began building his ship, the “Must Roos,” in 1989 — the name is Estonian for Dark Rose.

“We figured if we were going to have a pirate ship, we might as well have a crew,” he said.

The boat didn’t make the trip. Neither Tomlinson nor the Balloon Festival organizers could figure out how to get the Must Roos up the Androscoggin River. But Tomlinson said festival goers can expect everything else from the crew.

Saturday featured cannon and small arms demonstrations in Simard-Payne Park and a quick buccaneer training camp for amateur pirates ages 6-12 years old.

They’ll be back Sunday with a full-on pirate battle at noon in the park, and two pirate demonstrations at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. in Auburn’s Festival Plaza.

Most of the pirates have a day job — the crew includes a bank manager, a psychologist, an IT manager and a school janitor.

They work and train throughout the year, perfecting their pirate skills and working on their characters.

Sandi Bilbo, aka Pirate Quartermaster Felicity Adams, said they work to be as realistic as possible.

“We have people trained in theatrical fighting to come in and work with us,” she said. “We’ll take a couple of weekends out of the season and we will work on fights and other things. I’ve been with the Dark Rose for seven years and I’ve worked with some good trainers.”

That includes Hollywood stuntmen and Maine Academy of Staged Combat.

“We work to develop so many of things we do to get the crowd reaction,” she said. “We work pretty hard, and we continue to practice and practice.”

Tomlinson said they’re not re-enactors, trying to live like people from the 1700. It’s all for fun and entertainment.

It’s the first season for Armstrong in her character, Gypsy.

“I’m a new recruit — swab the decks, load that truck,” she said. “That sort of thing.”

This is pirate Jacko Santiago’s first year as well. He’s also known as Tim Jacobus of Rockland and works as a shipbuilder by trade.

“I bring a little trade experience to help keep the Must Roos going, and they have me working as a cannoneer, too.”

staylor@sunjournal.com

#GFBalloonFest: Watch the launch; share the launch

If you can’t make it to the Great Falls Balloon Festival this weekend, you can still watch each balloon launch on SunJournal.com. We will be sharing photos and videos of the festival fun in our social networks.

Look for our coverage at:

• SunJournal.com/BalloonFestival
• SunJournal on Instagram
• @SunJournal on Twitter
• Lewiston Sun Journal on Facebook

Sunday’s Events

Lewiston

• 6 a.m.: Balloon Launch
• 6-10 a.m.: Pancake Breakfast (under the tent) $6/person
• 9 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.: Family Fun Day!
• 9:30–9:45 a.m.: Meet Oreo! (the Pirate Bird)
• 10–10:45 a.m.: Pirate Puppet Show
• 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.: Pirate Encampment Stations
• 11–11:15 a.m.: Tooth Worms (Pirate Dentistry Demo)
• 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.: Children’s Area open
• 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.: Dannon Oikos Yogurt — free samples!
• 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.: Craft and Trade Vendors open
• 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.: Food Booths open
• 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.: Carnival
• Noon – 12:15 p.m.: Pirate Battle
• Noon: Camire School of Dance
• Noon: Rotary Duck Race (Main Street Canal)
• 1 p.m.: Element All-Stars Cheering
• 1–3 p.m.: Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul Tours, 122 Ash St., Lewiston (transportation provided from the Main Gate at Simard-Payne Memorial Park to the Basilica)
• 2 p.m.: TBA
• 3:15 p.m.: The Veayo Twins w/ Carter Isaac
• 5 p.m.: Audio Vibe
• 6 p.m.: Balloon Launch

Auburn

• 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.: Food Booths open
• 11:45 a.m.: Downeast Brass
• 1:15 p.m.: JimmyJo n’ the Jumbol’Ayuhs
• 3–3:30 p.m.: Pirates of the Dark Rose – Weapons Demonstration (on the lawn near the river)
• 3:30 p.m.: Sonic Nova
• 5:00–5:30 p.m.: Pirates of the Dark Rose — Demonstration (on the lawn near the river)
• 5:30 p.m.: Debbie Morin & Cheyenne

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