FARMINGTON — The Narrow Gauge Drive-in theater in Farmington will be hosting two events this Labor Day weekend, a craft fair on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the International Fly Fishing Film Festival on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
This is the first craft fair that Narrow Gauge Cinema owner John Moore has organized, and he has over 30 local artisans signed up so far.
“Most of these craft fairs have all been canceled, or most of them. And I’m not sure the craft fair season will happen this winter or this Christmas; it’s looking less and less like it. Certainly some of them will happen for sure,” Moore said in a phone interview. “It’s a way for us as well to get some people into the drive-in and hopefully the crafters will make some money too.”
Nicole Burgess who will be participating in Saturday’s craft fair at the Narrow Gauge Drive-in, hand paints salvaged wood, such as the one pictured above, with acrylic paint. Photo Courtesy of Nicole Burgess
Admittance to the craft fair is free and vendors will be spaced six feet apart. Moore assured that all of the state’s Center for Disease Control guidelines will be followed and he is requesting that everyone wears a face covering when social distancing is not possible.
Spruce Mountain High School social studies teacher Nicole Burgess makes custom, hand painted wood signs using recycled wood that she collects from demolition sites and town transfer stations. She was delighted to hear about a craft fair that she could participate in since her hobby blossomed from quarantine.
“I found myself isolated at home throughout the whole week, and not going out on the weekends anymore, so I started to experiment with painting and found a love for the hobby itself and an interest base that wanted me to create pieces for them! So I JUST am beginning to participate in craft fairs this year,” Burgess said in an email.
Other vendors will include chair painters, local authors, jewelry makers and wood workers. Moore also plans on hosting another craft fair in October and a flea market in a couple of weeks.
“We’ll see how close it was to what it should’ve been and then we’ll adjust for our October craft fair. So again, having never done this before, we’re learning a little bit,” Moore said.
The Outdoor Heritage Museum in Oquossoc is sponsoring the International Fly Fishing Festival at the Narrow Gauge Drive-in to raise money for museum operations. The festival, which the museum has sponsored for the past two years, consists of short films that showcase fly fishing. Utilizing the drive-in allows the museum to bring in additional income when it has struggled to do so during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pictured above is an exhibit at the Outdoor Heritage Museum in Oquossoc which is sponsoring the International Fly Fishing Film Festival at the drive-in theater in Farmington. The museum features exhibits that highlight the region’s natural resources and historical outdoor stories such as the 1956 fishing trip of President Dwight Eisenhower. Photo Courtesy of Bill Pierce
“Because of the pandemic, we are down in admissions this year about 60% despite the museum having new exhibits and being better than ever before, really,” Executive Director of the Rangeley Lakes Historical Society Bill Pierce said in an email.
The Outdoor Heritage Museum curates exhibits that showcase the Rangeley region’s natural history, Native American artifacts and documentary archives that tell the stories of historical, outdoor Maine adventures.
Tickets for the International Fly Fishing Film Festival are $15 and can be purchased at flyfilmfest.com. The Outdoor Heritage Museum is located on Routes 17 and Maine 4 in Oquossoc and is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until October 12.
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