Thousands turn out for Maine Potato Blossom Festival parade

FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Thousands of onlookers packed Fort Fairfield’s main thoroughfare Saturday afternoon for the annual Maine Potato Blossom Festival parade.

The hourlong event delighted the crowds with tractors, ATVs, clowns, area pageant queens, fire trucks, marching groups and many other entries.

The parade is one of Maine’s largest and is the culmination of the weeklong festival, which featured community events, reunions, the Maine Potato Board industry dinner, barbecue cook-off, Maine Potato Queen pageants, live music, sports events and more. Besides local favorites, the parade famously draws politicians from around the state, and both the Democrat and Republican parties took part with large contingents of seatholders and candidates.

Warm, dry temperatures and a breeze made for perfect parade viewing, and capped off a week of good weather. Families and dogs lined the streets, and people of all ages cheered and clapped as entries rolled by. The Anah Shrine Clowns got up close and personal with the younger set and even photobombed local photographers to everyone’s delight.

In keeping with the festival theme of The County’s agricultural heritage, there were tractors, farm equipment and floats with potato themes.

Winning parade entries were: Most Original, Northern Lighthouse; Best Theme, McCain Foods; All about Agricultural, Mars Hill Queens; Best Children’s, All Star Gymnastics; Best Non-Profit, County Federal Credit Union; Best Antique, Fort Fairfield Fire Department; Best Musical, Anah Temple Band; Best Queen, Van Buren; Best Marching Unit, Loring Job Corps Honor Guard; and Best Overall, Penobscot McCrum.

Throughout the festival week, crowds enjoyed various vendors on the food court. There were live local bands in concert in the evenings and walks with the Reynolds sisters.

Antique tractor pulls, a pet show, town-wide yard sale, a Spuddy Buddy challenge for kids, horseshoes, a cornhole tournament, the Fort Fairfield Athletic Hall of Fame dinner and more kept people busy.

This year’s festival also saw the first post-COVID return of a crowd favorite: mashed potato wrestling. The event raised funds for Fort Fairfield Fire & Rescue and was a big hit, Festival Director Cheryl Boulier reported on social media.

In annual pageants, new royalty was crowned to represent the Maine potato industry for the next year. Lauren Lister of Caribou was named Maine Potato Queen following a Saturday evening pageant. In an event earlier in the week, Adelyn Elliott of Mapleton became Little Miss Maine Potato Queen and Mallory Maynard of Caribou was crowned Junior Miss.

The entire event concluded Sunday evening with a fireworks show.