DRESDEN — At the end of the egg toss, the evidence of throws gone bad and over-enthusiastic catches was on shirts, on pants and on the grass in front of the Pownalborough Court House.

“They did a study in England,” Peter Walsh said. “You can drop an egg on the grass from 400 feet up and it doesn’t break.”

Peter Walsh, the emcee for Dresden SummerFest, explains the rules of the foot race Sunday at the Pownalborough Court House. The key to pulling off the annual community event? Avoid overplanning, Walsh says. Staff photo by Jessica Lowell

That explains why some eggs survived their wild tosses across ever-widening distances at Sunday’s Dresden SummmerFest, to be tossed again and again.

For a stretch of 15 minutes or so, the egg toss brought together young and old, the shy and the competitive, and the reluctant and the enthusiastic for the ageless contest.

Along with games and foot races, both individual and three-legged, the day featured music from Bowdoinham’s Steamboat Gypsy string band, tours of the Pownalborough Court House Museum, horse-drawn wagon rides by Hideaway Farms, a pie contest, lunch cooked by the Dresden Fire Department, visits by raptors in the care of Wind Over Wings, and demonstrations of Abenaki dances and drumming.

Between performing his duties as emcee, Walsh said the key to a successful SummerFest is not overplanning.

“We don’t really have a committee,” he said. “People just do things. (They) don’t really like committee meetings.”

The result is an opportunity for neighbors and visitors to meet, spend the day catching up and support organizations such as the fire department, which made grilled food for lunch.

Pat Theriault did multiple duties. An organizer along with Walsh, she led tours through the historic courthouse, doling out the details of the building and the people who lived there after it was converted from a courthouse into a private residence that housed the families of two brothers side by side.

Theriault also gave out samples of pie at the pie contest. Judging and donations were the responsibility of attendees. Everyone was welcome to sample the four pies and register votes for their favorite, and while voting, make a donation to the Richmond Food Pantry.

Theriault said the contest can raise $150 to $160 for the food pantry.

“We have a lot of people who use the food bank. It helps a lot of people who need help. You never know when you might need it yourself,” she said.

Theriault cut samples from the strawberry pie, the four-berry pie and the two lemon meringue pies donated for the cause.

The winner, she said, gains bragging rights for the year, as she did the year she won.

“If my husband didn’t like what I made for dinner, I could always tell him, ‘Get out of the kitchen, I am an award-winning chef,’ ” she said.

She’ll get those bragging rights again. Her fresh strawberry pie, with a dollop of Cool Whip, won the day, and the food bank will get $92.

Dave Probert is part of the stewardship committee for the courthouse and is on the board of trustees for the Lincoln County Historical Association, which owns the property. He sat behind a table of bowls and other items he made to raise money for the courthouse.

“It’s a very good way to get neighbors to meet,” he said.

It also promotes tourism for the courthouse, he said.

The event is also a chance to celebrate the honorees for Dresden’s Spirit of America award. This year it goes to retired teacher Gary Getchell and to the Dresden Fire Department.

“It’s for the kids, Walsh said. “They will remember this as long as they are alive,” he said. “When I was a little kid, we would go to an event like this and I never forgot it.”

Jessica Lowell can be contacted at 621-5632 or at:

jlowell@centralmaine.com

Twitter: JLowellKJ

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