WINSLOW — Although there were afternoon storms in the area Saturday, the sun came out for a while during the 50th Winslow Blueberry Festival.
The event featured live music, a dunk tank, kettle corn, basket raffles, artwork and, of course, the festival’s iconic blueberry pies.
Organized by the Winslow Congregational Church, the festival ran from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. and featured a blueberry pancake breakfast until 10 a.m. The Clinton Fire Department served patrons during the Chicken Bar-B-Q Supper on Friday.
Though it has been around for decades, this was Tina Roy’s first time volunteering for the festival. She helped bake the 696 blueberry pies that were sold at the festival — made Thursday and Friday at the Winslow Junior High School cafeteria. Then she helped sell the pies Friday and Saturday.
By 11:45 a.m. Saturday, they were down to around 50 pies, Roy said. She enjoyed the experience so much that she’d encourage others to come back next year and do it with her.
“I’ve never done this kind of thing before; it actually is a great thing,” Roy said.
Lisette Beaulieu, a Winslow resident, said she comes out every year for the festival.
“I like to look at the stuff at the auction, and the food is always good,” Beaulieu said.
An acclaimed local tradition, it was just this year that the church fully came to understand how the event started.
Visitors enjoy the basket raffle and blueberry pies Saturday at the Winslow Blueberry Festival. Kaitlyn Budion/Morning Sentinel
Previously, it was thought that John Houston first proposed the festival. But Joyce Rushton, a historian at the church, recently discovered that the idea came from a woman named Patricia Johnson, who suggested a “summer festival” in 1972.
When the idea came to life in 1972, Johnson hand-picked the blueberries with her uncle. For a few years after that, the church paid for the berries. In 1988 Houston started donating blueberries from a family farm.
It was a light-hearted atmosphere Saturday at the festival. People enjoyed the weather, sitting and listening to the music, even eating pies out of the box.
Chris Smith made the journey from New Hampshire to attend, as his girlfriend’s brother was one of the musical acts at the festival. He said he enjoyed all of the booths, but he hadn’t gotten a pie because he would “eat the whole thing in one go if I get one.”
Rosalyn Vance, who lives in nearby China, is a member of the church and enjoys how much there is to do at the festival, and the opportunity to spend time with other people.
She came to join the church after she discovered it while attending a previous festival. Vance said she enjoys all the aspects of the event.
“There’s so much to do and see and buy,” Vance said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
