Bath celebrated Independence Day weekend on Saturday with a different kind of super soaker: fire hoses stretching the length of Front Street, connected to fire engines dating back to the 19th century.

The 175th annual Bath Firemen’s Muster fell on the third day of Bath Heritage Days, an annual festival that’s celebrating its 50th year.

Saturday’s muster drew about 100 people, who watched as competitors from all over New England strenuously pumped water out of the vintage hand tubs to see which team’s burst of water would shoot the farthest.

The engine crews were composed of dozens of people who worked in unison to force metal pumps up and down and power the hoses.

“It’s fun – you scream, you sweat your tuchus off,” said Leia Graham, of Rockland. “It’s just a beautiful adrenaline rush, everybody working together.”

Graham has been participating in the muster for eight years. She was part of a crew that achieved a stream of nearly 178 feet using the Quansigamog, a hand fire engine built in 1853 for the city of Bath.

True to its 1800s roots, muster participants had to haul the vehicles onto tracks and measure the direction of the wind before they could compete. Once a horn sounded, each team had 15 minutes to pump the hose as many times as they could. The winning engine – Protection No. 1 out of Newbury, Massachusetts – clocked a water stream of nearly 193 feet.

The New England States Veteran Fireman’s League put on the event, so many team members have fire department ties, but mustering is open to anyone who wants to test their strength, Graham said. This includes some festivalgoers who volunteered to help teams that were short a few people.

The unique competition was one of many attractions at Bath Heritage Days, which also featured food trucks, carnival games, a library book sale and art vendors Saturday. The festivities kicked off Thursday with 1- and 5-mile races and an Independence Day parade, followed by a packed schedule of live music and fair activities.

“There’s a lot of pride in doing this every year,” said Camille Kauffunger, the business manager at Main Street Bath, the nonprofit that puts on the festival.

This year’s was an extra special festival for the organization, she said, because it marked a half-century of Heritage Days and 175 years of the Firemen’s Muster.

“Everyone has a story” associated with Heritage Days, Kauffunger said.

That includes Arthur Rideout, who came Saturday to watch the Firemen’s Muster. For Rideout, mustering is a family affair: Between he and his brothers, his family owns three engines – the Quansigamog and the Senator Baxter, both of which were used in Saturday’s competition, and a third that they’re refurbishing.

“It’s good for the backup fire department, because if they run out of gas, they can always have a hand pump,” Rideout joked.