Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown
HOMECOMING CELEBRATION
Homecoming returns this weekend
DOVER-FOXCROFT — This weekend the annual Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming and Foxcroft Academy’s 2016 Alumni Weekend together will feature a number of events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The festivities start on Friday, Aug. 5 with the Piscataquis Observer and WZLO Radio’s Homecoming BBQ from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Media Central on East Main Street with free hot dogs, beverages and desserts. On the grill will be former Zone Radio sports director and new Foxcroft Academy Communications and Marketing Director Toby Nelson.
Friday evening Foxcroft Academy hosts an East Lawn tent party from 7-9 p.m. The party will feature music by the Doughty Hill Band.
A day of events on Saturday, Aug. 6 begins with the 20th annual Pony Pride 5K at 8 a.m. (with registration beforehand). This year the Alumni Weekend road race features a new course starting and concluding on the Foxcroft Academy campus.
Foxcroft Academy has a number of athletic events planned for Saturday. A tennis tourney starts at 8 a.m. at the Burns-Johnson Tennis Complex, with cash prizes going to the men’s and women’s winners. A Homecoming/Alumni Weekend Golf Scramble at the Foxcroft Golf Club features 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. starts.
The school will host alumni boys and girls basketball games at 9 a.m., boys and girls alumni soccer games at 10 a.m., an alumni field hockey game at 11 a.m. — with long-time Pony field hockey head coach Gene Philpot in attendance and an alumni slow-pitch softball game at noon.
Tea is served under the big tent on the East Lawn at 9:30 a.m., for Foxcroft Academy classes celebrating 50-plus years since graduation.
A Family Fun Day takes place at Foxcroft Academy from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free activities include a children’s Pony Trot on the track sponsored by the Piscataquis Regional YMCA, inflatables, face painting, balloon animals, photo booth and more.
The Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society Observer Building Museum will be open on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Visitors to Foxcroft Academy can take a tour of campus at 10:30 a.m., meeting at the East Lawn tent. In the evening, 5:30 to 7:45 p.m., the school hosts a reception and alumni banquet in the gymnasium.
Festivities also move to the Sebec Lake public beach in the evening, leading to fireworks shot off by Central Maine Pyrotechnics at dusk, usually around 9:15 p.m. The bash at the beach includes dancing on the sand with a DJ spinning tunes and beach games. The Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis Club run its concession stand, selling the usual fare of hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, drinks and more. There will also be glow trinkets on sale.
Rowell’s Garage will again be offering free shuttle buses to and from the beach, picking up at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds and the courthouse parking lots at 8 and 8:30 p.m. and delivering attendees back into town post-show.
Foxcroft Academy’s Alumni Weekend concludes on Sunday, Aug. 7 with breakfast from 8-10 a.m. in the Pride Student Center. An alumni ice hockey game will be at the Alfond Arena on the campus of the University of Maine at 11 a.m. in Orono.
Annual Pony Pride 5K features new course
DOVER-FOXCROFT — In conjunction with Foxcroft Academy’s Alumni Weekend and the Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming, the 20th annual Pony Pride will be open to all and run at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6. This year’s event will feature a new course starting and ending on the campus of Foxcroft Academy.
Observer file photo/Stuart Hedstrom
FAST PONY STAMPEDE — A field of 87 entrants begins last year’s Pony Pride 5K in Dover-Foxcroft, a race held as part of Foxcroft Academy’s Alumni Weekend. The 2016 and 20th annual edition of the Pony Pride 5K will feature a new course, starting and concluding on the campus of Foxcroft Academy. The race begins at 8 a.m. with registration starting at 7 a.m. at the school’s track building.
Registration for the Pony Pride 5K starts at 7 a.m. at the Foxcroft Academy track building on West Main Street with rates available for those who pre-register, sign up the day of the race or who enter as families. T-shirts go to the first 80 to register.
Prizes will be awarded to the top male and female runners, top Foxcroft Academy male and female alumni and top male and female Foxcroft Academy faculty finishers as well as to age group winners.
More information and registration forms are available at www.foxcroftacademy.org.
Observer file photo/Stuart Hedstrom
FOUR-TIME WINNER — Graham Pearsall, a 2009 graduate of Foxcroft Academy, won last year’s Pony Pride 5K. Pearsall earned first-place honors for the fourth row in a row and he became the first runner to win the event four times.