Fireworks conclude festival

PITTSFIELD — The 18th annual Central Maine Egg Festival ended Saturday under the sparks of fireworks and surrounded by a strong feeling of people pullilng together because they seemed to like each other.

Many of the people came to Pittsfield Saturday for the parade, the rides in the Kiwanis Karnival, the food, the games and the music, but there also was an equal number who came for a loose-fitting reunion.

Clifford and Marcia Doherty of Fairfield had breakfast from the world’s largest frying pan with Dave Verzoni of Waterville, his girlfriend, Debbie Labreck, and her daughter, Laura.

While the breakfast meeting wasn’t planned, Clifford and Dave used to work together at the Maine Central Railroad. Cliff is retired now and Dave is working for S.D. Warren Co. in Skowhegan. Debbie is originally from Pittsfield. She expected to bump into old friends around the Egg Festival. Doherty has two brothers and two sisters who live in the area. He knew they would pop up somewhere during the day.

Carol and Marland Soucy could be called Egg Festival zealots. Carol has had some role in the festival for 17 years. This year, mud and water were around her ankles as she flipped toast in the 10-foot frying pan. A cloudburst soaked Pittsfield Friday. In previous years, Carol has worked hot dog, pizza, chicken barbecue booths and almost anything else that needed a body.

Although the big frying pan is no longer used to cook eggs because it has warped, more than 2,000 eggs were fried by Art Club volunteers.

Marland pitched the Pittsfield merchants to an 8-4 softball victory over the WABI-Family ball team. He has played in every Egg Festival softball game and showed his resilience by getting a solid hit and scoring three runs.

Tobey Pooler of Pittsfield and Nicole and Damian Buker of Newport said they look forward to the Egg Festival every year. It was an opportunity to take a day off from work, spend some money and listen to country music.

The Ellis family from Hartland, Gary, Karen and Heather, planned to spend the entire day in Pittsfield from the parade at 9 a.m. to the fireworks at 9:30 p.m. Karen Ellis was particularly interested in the parade because she had worked on the San Antonio Shoe Co. float. The SAS float won the best-in-parade award.

Sharon Corriveau, president of the Egg Festival Committee, had planned to retire after working on the festival for 14 years. Some new developments have emerged, which persuaded her that there is more work to be done.

The Central Maine Egg Festival became an international event this year with the entry of five Canadian brown eggs in the World’s Largest Egg Contest. Dirk Van Loon of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, a publisher of three Canadian magazines, ran a largest Canadian egg contest in early July and brought the eggs to Pittsfield.

The largest Canadian egg tied for second place in the contest with Dorothy Egg Farms of Winthrop. Keith Cross of Belfast was the winner of the contest with an egg which displaced 130 mililiters of water. The Dorothy and Canadian egg displaced 128 mililiters.

Mahmoud El-Bergearmi, Maine Cooperative Extension poultry specialist, said the winning egg was the smallest in the 18 years of the contest. The number of entries, 19, also was lower than normal.

Corriveau said a good link has been established with the Canadians for the future. She expected that the Egg Festival would build some future events such as highland bands around the Canadian connection.

The “Nestalgia” theme of the festival worked well, Corriveau said. While the Golden Oldies played, people of all ages were seen dancing all over the Manson Park grounds. The U.S. Postal Service had an Egg Festival Station Saturday with a large egg wrapped in a diaper as the Nestalgia theme.

First-place winners in the window painting contest were Kory Martin, in the age 5 to 8 category; Amber Quint, age 9 to 11; Matt St. Pierre, Brandon Delano and Adam Ross, age 12 to 14; Chris Thornley, Greg Hart, Kirby Heath, age 15 to 17; and Tom Bertrand and Richie Marquis, adult.

Winners in the parade and their categories were: Pittsfield Recreation Center, organizations; Truth Tabernacle, groups; the Edwards Co., businesses.