FORT KENT – “The First 100 Miles of America,” an hour-long documentary about the first 100 miles of U.S. Route 1 from Fort Kent to Presque Isle, will have its debut showing this weekend at four Aroostook County locations.

The story, filmed last summer by a New Hampshire documentary company, is told in vignettes by residents of the St. John Valley and central Aroostook County.

“We let people tell their own story,” Lisa Browne, one of the producers for Accompany of Concord, N.H., said this week. “People and their lives made this happen.

“We chronicle who they are and what they do,” she said. “We are anxious for people to see the video. People saw us around with cameras last summer. This is the result.”

The documentary includes such people as Danny and Roberta Labrie and their sons of Labrie Farms in St. Agatha, a three-generation family farm that grows potatoes.

James Pelletier, president of Edwin Pelletier and Sons Inc., Frenchville potato growers, discusses his hobby of tearing down and rebuilding antique tractors. His collection is a summertime attraction when they are parked along Route 1.

The film crew didn’t forget Bouchard Family Farms of Fort Kent, growers of buckwheat and potatoes. The Bouchards started packaging ploye mix in 1983 and now sell the mix internationally. Ployes are a buckwheat pancake used as a bread substitute among the St. John Valley’s French population.

The video, however, is not only about farming.

The production crew took time to talk to Fort Kent artist Susan Roy, who paints, among other things, on potato barrels. They also included Madawaska’s Gateway Restaurant, where Acadian food is a staple on their restaurant menus.

The film crew also included the St. John Valley’s rich French and Acadian heritage. The Acadian Landing Site, a National Historic Site at St. David Village, also is included, as is the former Catholic Church at Lille, now a cultural center.

There also are people such as the singers Roger and Cola Pelletier of Grand Isle and Presque Isle’s 94-year-old piano player, Marion Fillmore. Ken Theriault of Madawaska shows off his collection of pedal toys from years gone by.

The documentary also focuses on Aroostook County’s largest employer, Nexfor Fraser Papers of Madawaska.

The sixth documentary of people and places in Maine by Accompany, the Aroostook County video was shot over a five-day period. John Gfroerer collaborated with Browne in producing the documentary. They will be at the four showings this weekend.

Browne said the production is a video travel journal in the style of Charles Kuralt’s “On The Road” format for CBS.

The first two showings will be at 4 and 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, at the River House Restaurant at Fort Kent.

There will be an 11 a.m. showing Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Madawaska Elementary School, and a 4 p.m. showing the same day at the Centre Culturelle du Mont Carmel at Lille Village.

At 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2, the video will be played in Folsom Hall at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.