D-F Shiretown Homecoming returns this weekend
DOVER-FOXCROFT — This weekend the annual Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming and Foxcroft Academy’s 2017 Alumni Weekend together will feature a number of events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The festivities start on Friday, Aug. 4 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, newly-retired Chief of Police Dennis Dyer, and Foxcroft Academy Communications and Marketing Director Toby Nelson.
Friday evening Foxcroft Academy hosts a reception in the Pride Student Center to honor Gary Worthing, who will be retiring after the current school year (his 40th year at Foxcroft Academy). The school will then host an East Lawn tent party from 7-9 p.m. 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. 5 begins with the 21st 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.
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.
Guided tours of Central Hall start at 9 a.m. with an open house and auction running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
2017 marks the 95th anniversary of the joining of the towns of Dover and Foxcroft, and to celebrate the Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming Committee has worked to have the parade return for the occasion — intending to have the procession every five years moving forward.
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. Residents aged 90 and up have been invited to view the parade from the Central Hall lawn.
The Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society Observer Building Museum will be open on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. A free blacksmith demo by John Calderwood of Etna will be from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the forge at 105 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 9:15 p.m. The bash at the beach, which starts at 4 p.m., 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 8 and 8:30 p.m. and delivering attendees back into town post-show.
Foxcroft Academy’s Alumni Weekend concludes on Sunday, Aug. 6 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.
For more information on the 2017 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.