FORT KENT – It’s not often there’s a chance to see a grown man in firefighting gear pedaling a child’s bicycle around traffic cones.

Then again, you don’t often see firefighters staggering and falling over as they connect hoses or riding in shopping carts.

Those were just some of the events on tap at the Aroostook County Firefighters’ Muster held by the Fort Kent Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday afternoon.

“We make these competitions up as we go,” said Richard Stoliker, Fort Kent departmental captain. “A lot of it comes from just joshing around at the firehouse.”

About a dozen departments from both sides of the border were on hand, including ones from Frenchville, Madawaska, Grand Isle, Van Buren, Mapleton; also from Grand Falls and Clair, New Brunswick.

While state musters must follow strict competitive rules with events focusing on real-life firefighting skills, at the county level things are a bit more relaxed.

“We have four nontraditional firefighting events,” Stoliker said. “We can do what we want but they are all firefighting-related.”

Hose coupling is a skill essential to all fire responders, but the Fort Kent crew added its own twist, literally. Competitors were required first to spin around with their foreheads touching a baseball bat standing on the ground, before connecting the hose.

The resulting short-term vertigo meant some competitors were crawling to their hose line stations.

Quick reaction time when a call does come in is another important skill, Stoliker said.

On Saturday, competitors had to go from street clothes to full rescue gear against a timer – all while riding a child’s bicycle to the piles of gear.

Other events included a team obstacle race in which three members rode in a shopping cart pushed by three blindfolded members and a race using a leaky bucket to fill a barrel of water.

“We’ve tried these all out ourselves,” Stoliker said. “We get to laugh at ourselves and today getting ready at the firehouse we were getting all giggly.”

While Saturday’s events were all about having fun, Stoliker is quick to say the business of fighting fires and saving lives is one he and his fellow firefighters take very seriously.

“Whether you are a professional firefighter or part of a volunteer department, you are all part of a brotherhood,” he said. “Having so many departments show up today shows how strong that brotherhood is.”

The competition Saturday was friendly and Stoliker said when the need arises, the departments are there for each other.

“There have been times with big fires we’ve had to call for mutual aid,” he said. “Clair [New Brunswick] is always one that responds.”

As the host department, the 29 members of the Fort Kent crew were not eligible to compete, although some did fill in when some teams did not have enough participants for an event.

The muster was just one of four events going on in Fort Kent this weekend.

Friday saw the opening of the fifth annual Muskie Derby and the start of the annual Ploye Festival. On Sunday cyclists from around The County and Maine took part in the annual Edgar J. Paradis Tour de la Valle to benefit local cancer support.

An unexpected but most welcome guest showed up for the weekend – the sun was out and shining all three days, which helped bring the crowds into town.

“We had 200 inches of snow last winter, we almost drowned the town this spring and you can’t count how many days of rain we’ve had [since],” Darlene Kelly Dumond, Fort Kent council member and co-chairwoman of the muskie derby, said. “People were still optimistic and no one gave up hope for a good weekend.”

By Friday, 269 entrants had registered for the derby and, according to Kelly, the largest fish landed by Saturday came in at 43 inches. The farthest registrant came from South Africa, she said.

“People are catching muskies from Grand Isle to Glacier Lake,” she said, laughing with the crowd at the muster. “We were blessed with some great weather and three different events coming together.”

David Kelso, Greater Fort Kent Area Chamber of Commerce executive director, agreed.

“The crowds seem pretty good,” he said during a break in ploye-making. “This town really needed a shot in the arm.”

In fact, Kelso had just had his first lesson in proper ploye preparation from the master, Janice Bouchard, whose family owns Bouchard Farms, makers of ploye mix that can be found on grocery store shelves.

On Friday, Janice and her family were on hand with their mix to once again produce the world’s largest ploye.

“It went awesome,” she said.

The combined derby and ploye festival even caught the attention of people outside of the area.

“I met some people who do a circuit of Maine festivals as their vacation,” Dumond said. “They were in Rockland last week for a festival and now they are here.”

jbayly@bangordailynews.net

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