SKOWHEGAN — If you give a moose a muffin, he’ll want some jam to go with it.
So goes the story in the children’s book illustrated by Felicia Bond and written by Laura Joffe Numeroff.
But if you have about 1,000 people calling a moose all at the same time in the same place, what happens then?
Well, according to the folks at Main Street Skowhegan, you’ll set a record and be tops for the moose calling category in the Guinness World Records book.
The world record moose call will mean that at least 995 people will be issuing the same backwoods bellow all at the same time, said Kristina Cannon, executive director of Main Street Skowhegan, which is sponsoring the event.
“We’ve all been practicing our moose calls for the Guinness World Record attempt for the most people moose calling simultaneously,” Cannon said. “We hope lots of others will join us in the grandstand at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday so we can make history in Skowhegan.
“It doesn’t matter if you know how to moose call — we’ll do a crash course just before the record attempt — and you don’t have to be good. You just have to try. We have to have a minimum of 995 people for us to set the record.”
The event is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Saturday in the grandstand at the Skowhegan State Fairgrounds following the Moose Calling Competition, scheduled for 12:45 to 1:30 p.m.
The three-day Skowhegan Maine Moose Festival is the setting for the annual Maine Moose Permit Lottery conducted by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, which administers a drawing to select winners of Maine moose hunting permits. To hunt moose in Maine, hunters must have one of the special permits, which are limited in order to promote a healthy moose population in the state, organizers said.
In 2017, 2,080 hunters came away with permits. This year, 2,500 names will be drawn in the random chance lottery from a pool of over 54,000 applicants.
Maine’s moose hunt is designed to manage the moose population, according to promotional material from DIF&W. By modifying the number and type of moose permits available to hunters, the department can manage the moose population in order to provide for hunting and viewing opportunities, maintain a healthy moose population, and limit the number of moose-vs.-vehicle accidents.
The Skowhegan Moose Festival kicks off Friday with events for the entire weekend geared toward hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation, including the moose calling contest and attempted record break, a wild game and craft brew pairing and a country music concert featuring Phil Vassar and Bryan White on Saturday, for which a ticket is required.
All other events and attractions are free. For more information on the Skowhegan Moose Festival, including a schedule of events, visit SkowheganMooseFest.com.
There will be vendors, food trucks and activities for the whole family throughout the entire weekend, including information on Operation Game Thief, outdoor retailers, Moose Maine-iah monster truck rides, a beer garden and a game warden meet-and-greet.
On Saturday there will be four Axe Women Loggers of Maine shows, live music, a fly-casting demonstration and competition with prizes donated by L.L. Bean, a field hunting dog presentation by North American Versatile Hunting Dogs Association, and the DIF&W Moose Permit Lottery drawing in the grandstand from 2 to 5 p.m.
Events continue at 7 a.m. Sunday with a maple breakfast in Constitution Hall — $10 per adult, $5 per child under 12 — to be followed by horse-drawn wagon rides, live music with the Old Liberty String Band, exploratory activities for kids, and archery and BB-gun ranges.
Cannon said there have been other festivals in Maine surrounding the moose lottery and they have drawn thousands of visitors.
“This is not the first,” she said in January when the lottery site was first announced. “Other three-day festivals have been planned around the moose lottery, including at Cabela’s, in Scarborough; at Kittery Trading Post, in Kittery; and in the towns of Bethel, Greenville and Rangeley; and there may be others as well. All of these events brought in people from around the Northeast to stay and play in their region.”
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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