Homecoming Maple Breakfast moving to Foxcroft Academy

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — The annual Shiretown Homecoming Maple Breakfast will take place on its usual date: Maine Maple Syrup Sunday, which will be March 22 this year.
    But for the first time ever, the location will be different. Instead of the Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department, the breakfast will be at the Foxcroft Academy gymnasium.

Observer file photo

    CROWD AROUND THE TABLES — Hundreds of patrons have attended the annual maple breakfast at the fire station in Dover-Foxcroft  over the years. This year’s meal will be served on Sunday, March 22 at a new and roomier location: the Foxcroft Academy gym.

    In previous years, the fire station was literally wall-to-wall people as the hearty breakfast drew crowds of more than 800 people. The unofficial Maple Sunday Breakfast record is reportedly 1,000 servings.
    “The fire department has been a wonderful venue over the years, but we’ve just outgrown it,” said event chairman Will Wedge. “You can only sit a few hundred people at a time over there, and many feel rushed to eat and get up so someone else can get a seat.”
    At the Foxcroft Academy gym, Maple Sunday Breakfast patrons will be able to “sit around and relax after a meal,” Wedge said.
    “We want to make this more of a social event than just a good meal.”

Observer file photo

    VOLUNTEER EFFORT — The efforts of volunteers, such as cooking and serving, help make the maple breakfast a success each and every year.

    The long serving lines will also be eliminated at the academy, said the chairman.
    “Food will be set up at stations. So if you want to get a cup of coffee first, then go back and get your pancakes or home fries – you can,” Wedge set. “You won’t be corralled in a long line.”
    Wedge is hoping for a 20 percent increase in attendance over last year at the new venue. “These changes are for the benefit of the consumer, so we hope to see more of them.” he added.
    Foxcroft Academy Head of School Arnold Shorey said that the school “is proud to be part of this great tradition.” A committee member approached him about using the gymnasium last year, Shorey said, “So I had a meeting with our department heads to see if we could pull it off. They agreed that we could. We are very fortunate to live in a supportive community like this.”
    Shorey added that the Foxcroft Academy Key Club will also be volunteering at the breakfast.
    While the location is new, many traditions will continue. “Master Chef” Police Chief Dennis Dyer will be cooking and serving his homemade home fries and Q-106.5 radio personality J.R. Mitchell will be flipping pancakes.
    Naturally, there will be plenty of Maine maple syrup donated by Bob’s Sugarhouse.
    Participating sponsors include Plum Creek, AMB Signs, the Eastern Gazette, Windy Knolls Farm, Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis Charities Fund, Will’s Shop ‘N Save, French Construction, Cleaves Farm, Steve Pratt “The Music Maker,” Kevin Chasse and the D-F Chiropractic Center, Center Theatre and the Piscataquis Observer.
    More details about Maple Sunday Breakfast will be published in the March 18 issue of the Observer.