D-F Shiretown Homecoming returns this weekend
DOVER-FOXCROFT — This weekend the annual Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming and Foxcroft Academy’s 2018 Alumni Weekend together will feature a number of events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The festivities start on Friday, Aug. 3 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. Manning the grill will be Dover-Foxcroft Police Chief Ryan Reardon.
Friday evening Foxcroft Academy hosts a Friday Night Pony Party from 7-9 p.m. at The Commons at Central Hall. The party will feature music by the Josh Guthrie Trio (the group’s namesake is a Foxcroft Academy music teacher).
A day of events on Saturday, Aug. 4 begins with the 22nd annual Pony Pride 5K at 8 a.m. (with registration beforehand). The Alumni Weekend road race features a 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.
Observer file photo/Stuart Hedstrom
HERE COMES THE BRIDE AND GROOM — The 2017 Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming parade on celebrated the 95th anniversary of the union of the towns of Dover and Foxcroft and representing the municipal merger was Kylie Sands and James Watson. The 2018 “Home on the Range” parade starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4.
The school will host alumni boys and girls basketball games at 9 a.m. and boys and girls alumni soccer games at 10 a.m.
2018 marks the 96th anniversary of the joining of the towns of Dover and Foxcroft, and to celebrate the Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming Committee will be having a “Home on the Range”-themed parade. The parade begins at 10 a.m. at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds and will follow a route similar to past processions, along Fairview Avenue, Summer Street, North Street, East Main Street, Essex Street, and then the lower portion of Fairview Avenue.
The Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society Observer Building Museum will be open on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with Lew Dow present to show his model of the village of East Dover. A free blacksmith demo by John Calderwood of Etna will be from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the forge at 107 Dawes Road.
Visitors to Foxcroft Academy can take a tour of campus at noon, meeting at the gym lobby entrance. In the evening, 5:30 to 7:45 p.m., the school hosts a reception and alumni banquet.
Festivities move to the Sebec Lake public beach in the evening, leading to fireworks shot off by Central Maine Pyrotechnics at dusk at around 9 p.m. (the fireworks rain date will be Sunday, Aug. 5).
The “Country Hoe Down” beach party starts at 4 p.m. at the municipal beach at Greeley’s Landing and includes dancing on the sand with Steve Pratt The Music Maker and beach games. The Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis Club and Aktion Club of Mid-Maine run the 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 Foxcroft Academy at 7:45 and 8:15 p.m. and delivering attendees back into town post-show.
Foxcroft Academy’s Alumni Weekend concludes on Sunday, Aug. 5 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 9:30 a.m. in Orono.
For more information on the 2018 Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming, please see the event Facebook page. Additional details on Foxcroft Academy’s Alumni Weekend can be found at www.foxcroftacademy.org.