What does it take to pull off a free community dinner for 600 people? Well, to start with: 1,400 pieces of chicken, 1,100 ears of corn, 400 pounds of potatoes, 40 volunteers and one motivated farm family.

In Fryeburg on Tuesday, the Weston family of Weston’s Farm held their third free community dinner, serving barbecue chicken, corn on the cob, roasted potatoes, a cucumber and tomato salad and ice cream with maple syrup, all at no charge. Although they had planned on serving 600 people, the actual tally was closer to 540, possibly because the threat of rain caused the event to move from their farm on River Street to the (less picturesque) gym at Fryeburg Academy.

John Weston, the primary organizer, got the idea for a free community dinner after Hurricane Irene wiped out most of the farm’s crops in 2011. “Not only was it a financial loss, but a lot of food was lost,” he said. “That kind of resonated with me. At the heart of it all, a farm feeds a community.”

To recognize that connection between farm and community, Weston came up with the idea of a free community dinner, using produce grown on the farm and asking other businesses in the community to pitch in. “Certainly finding the right people that thought the same way and were up to it was key,” he said.

One of those people is musician Carol Noonan, who with her husband Jeff operates the Stone Mountain Arts Center, a music hall and events center in Brownfield. Noonan and her crew at the center cooked the chicken and made the cucumber and tomato salad. “I think it’s a great way for people to connect with what they do and what they grow (at the farm),” she said. “It’s just a way to bring everyone together with food and work. Everybody in the community volunteers and helps.”

In addition to volunteers who help with parking, setting up the tables and serving the food, local businesses contribute. The potatoes were donated by Green Thumb Farms and cooked by 302 Smokehouse and the Fryeburg Area Rotary Club. Jonathan and Natalie Spak of The Oxford House Inn cooked the corn, and Poland Spring donated cases of water.

Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Fryeburg Academy gym, volunteers shouted “Dinner is served!” and hundreds of people lined up at two buffet-style tables, filling their plates.

As she neared the end of the line, full plate in hand, Jackie Shea of Fryeburg praised the Weston family. “It’s wonderful,” she said. “They’re great people. They give back to the community all the time. And it’s good fresh food.”

To John Weston, the community’s appreciation is what makes the dinner a success. “There’s such good will and such good thoughts about the whole thing,” he said.

The dinner shows how tight-knit Fryeburg and the surrounding rural towns are, according to Noonan. “It’s a really great community,” she said, “and you really see it when we do this dinner.”

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