By CLAIRE STANTON
The residents of Penobscot lined the candy-strewn road in their lawn chairs, cheering the procession of fire trucks, floats and antique cars making its way through the town on Saturday, July 10. Penobscot Days, a local event including a yard sale, a parade, skits, music, fireworks, and more, was now underway.
Organized jointly by the Penobscot Historical Society and the Penobscot Fire Department, Penobscot Days is a tradition that has been going on for around 10 years (with a brief hiatus a few years back). This year it started off with a 7 a.m. breakfast hosted by the historical society, but it wasn’t until the 10 a.m. parade that the event really came into full swing.
Led by the Boy Scouts, the parade started up at the church on the hill and continued down toward the fire station, where the participants were greeted with prizes awarded by the fire department. Ryan Austin placed first with his Moby Dick float, followed by Jake Snow’s Penobscot Loggers float in second, and Ryan Dorr with his Wizard of Oz float in third. Prizes were also awarded to the Island Hopper fire truck for oldest fire truck, the first Penobscot fire truck for best looking fire truck, Ken Taplin for best antique car or truck, Paul Bowen for best tractor, and to the Boy Scouts for best marching group.
Another highlight of the parade was Fulton Leach, a resident of Penobscot Nursing Home who was lifted onto a fire truck by the fire department so he could ride in the procession. It is moments like this one that illustrate the spirit of Penobscot Days, said Fire Chief Dennis Robertson who summed it up by saying, “It’s a great community effort.”
The yard sale organized by the historical society shared this same spirit, with members of the community setting up stands, and volunteers selling breakfast, lunch and strawberry shortcake in the original Penobscot schoolhouse.
The historical society was also promoting its Brick Project at the yard sale. The goal of the Brick Project is to build a walkway in front of the original Penobscot General Store. People can buy bricks and have their names or a few words engraved on them, and the bricks will be put in the walkway.
The final component of the yard sale was a new addition: a silent auction. Two members of the historical society, Maggie Williams and Vicky Turner, came up with the idea, and with the help of local craftsmen and businesses, over 40 items were donated..
When asked about the new auction and the yard sale, John Gray of the historical society said simply, “I have to say ‘thank you’ to all of the volunteers and the hundreds of hours they put into this. ”
Volunteers not only played an integral role in the efforts of the historical society and the fire department, but also in another, fairly new part of Penobscot Days. Just past the chicken barbecue lunch at the fire department, the Penobscot Community Elementary School offered games, lemonade, strawberry shortcake, and baked goods to raise money for a drama club trip in the fall to see the musical Wicked in Boston. Members of the drama club also performed two one-act skits. Nick and Alex Szwez acted out two boys who had super-glued their hands together, and Nick Norton and Marina Koenka played a police officer and Bo Peep trying to find missing sheep.
As the afternoon went on and the events began to wind down, people slowly made their way back home to prepare for the night schedule. At 5:30 the Methodist church held a public supper, and then from 7 to 9 Black Tie Fiasco, a group that includes several recent graduates of George Stevens Academy, performed behind the Bayview Take- Out. The day ended with the bang of fireworks shooting off over the Bagaduce River.
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