ORRINGTON— The Town of Orrington will celebrate their annual Old Home Week from Friday, July 14 through Sunday, July 23 with special events highlighting Orrington’s rich past, vibrant present and bright future.
Old Home Week events will kick-off with the Endless Yard Sale on Friday, July 14 through Sunday, July 16. It has grown into one of the most anticipated events in the region, with bargain hunters driving up from Florida and down from the Maritimes. Thousands of treasure seekers have made Orrington the best place in the State of Maine to find the best bargains from yard sales covering over 70 miles of roads. Avid shoppers can pick up the yard sale maps starting July 13 at Kozy Korner Store, R.H Foster’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, A Straight Stitch, Snow’s Corner Wash & Shine, Fusion Salon, Lav’s Auto, Town Hall and the Public Library. Maps will also be available online at orringtonoldhomeweek.com and at facebook.com/OrringtonOldHomeWeek on July 13. Then look for the bright yellow signs when shopping all around town.
The Orrington Historical Society is also participating in the Endlesss Yard Sale. Snag some artifacts and bargains at the Orrington Historical Society Indoor Yard Sale from Friday and Saturday, July 15-16 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rummage through all their incredible community donations. All proceeds help support the renovation of the historic OHS Grange Hall.
The First United Methodist Church, Orrington Trail Riders Association and the Reigning Hope Ranch will all host huge fundraising yard sales during the Endless Yard Sale. Shoppers can fuel up at the First United Methodist Church at 14 Center Drive on Friday and Saturday, July 14 and 15 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. They are serving up a Double Dog Delight: 2 hot dogs, chips, potato salad, dessert and a bottle of water for just $10.
Fun and games will highlight this year’s Old Home Week. The Orrington Fire & Rescue folks will be sponsoring the first ever Old Home Week Cornhole Tournament on Sunday, July 23 at the Public Safely building, 271 Center Drive, starting at 10 a.m. This official tournament will follow a round robin format. Registration fee is $50 per team, with 100% of the registrations going to prizes for first, second and third places. This will happen rain or shine, moving indoors in the event of a downpour. Teams should download the app and register at https://app.scoreholio.com/cornhole/dashboardsetup?account=IgzXXNxv0sMQLznupI9DucuR6Tv2&game=A5crfFMKbUWwvhQgl7ym&page=&spr=0. Players can also register at the door prior to the start of thetournament. Bring your lawn chairs and cheer the teams on. There will be a BBQ lunch featuring hot dogs and hamburgers for all the athletes and interested spectators. Donations will be accepted.
Orrington Fire & Rescue is also conducting two “Stop the Bleed” first aid clinics on Saturday, July 22. Uncontrolled bleeding in the number one cause of preventable death from trauma. Learn how to stop bleeding after an injury. Register for the 1 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. sessions by emailing [email protected].
Reigning Hope Ranch at 305 Center Drive, is hosting a new 5K and 1-Mile Family/Fun Walk on Saturday 22, July Both races will start at Center Drive School. The 5K will go up Center Drive to the Dow Road intersection and back, including Bouchard Drive. The 1-Mile Family/Fun Walk/Run will go around Bouchard Drive and back. There will be water stops, snacks and prizes. For those who are competitive, the event will be timed. Registration is $20 for ages 13+, $10 for ages 5-13 and ages 5 and under are free. Registration can be completed at www.webscorer.com and search for Run for Hope. You can register the day of, but online is much preferred. Any questions please contact Michelle Mettler at [email protected].
The Orrington Recreation Committee’s 6th annual Wiffle Ball Tournament will be held all day Saturday, July 22 at the Center Drive School fields. Games will start at 9:00 a.m. Teams check in at 8:30 a.m. Teams can register by emailing your contact information to [email protected]. There are two divisions. The Open Division is for ages 14 and up and costs $75 per team. The Youth Division is for ages 10-13 and costs $50 per team. This year’s tournament will be dedicated to the family of Bryce Basso, with funds raised from the tournament going to his family.
Enjoy dinner and show on Tuesday, July 18. Start your evening off with a Baked Bean, Hot Dog and Casserole Supper in air conditioned comfort at the East Orrington Congregational Church from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Donations for meals are accepted. Then mosey on over to the “Recollections of Orrington” presentation from 6-8 p.m. at the Orrington Historical Society’s Grange Hall. The OHS’s annual Old Home Week presentation will be a live event featuring residents’ stories and eyewitness accounts about growing up in Orrington’s neighborhoods in the 1900s. What was it like in Orrington back then? Where did you spend your summer days? Do you have a favorite memory of school, scouts, sports? What was winter like growing up? Where were the special places in your neighborhood… North, East and South Orrington, Orrington Center, King’s Mountain, Brewer Lake and Baker Hill? Everyone is invited to share and listen to stories about growing up years ago in rural Maine. Learn about how special Orrington was and continues to be. These funny and poignant stories will be recorded and saved into the OHS archives. Those getting to the OHS Grange Hall before 6 p.m. can take a tour of the new archival room, ADA bathroom and storage facilities. The Historical Society is accepting donations for this event. Light refreshments will be served. To top off the evening, Orrington’s Citizen of the Year will be announced.
Along with the Baked Bean supper, the East Orrington Congregational Church is hosting three other Old Home Week events. The K-8 Vacation Bible School “What the World Needs Now is Love” will run for three days, July 19-21 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Before and after-care is available. Sessions are taught by certified teachers. Then bring the family to dinner at the Community BBQ with grilled hamburgers and hot dogs on Friday, July 21 from 5-8 p.m. This is followed by an Outdoor Christian Concert from 7-10 p.m., weather permitting.
The 19th Century Curran Village will be teeming with campers during the weeks of July 17-July 21 and July 24-July 28 for their Summer S.T.E.A.M. History Day Camps. Youth, aged 7-14, will be engaged in letterpress printing, bookbinding, pickling, outdoor cooking, archaeology, 1890s rules baseball, Native American arts and crafts, crystal radio set building, catapult building, sewing, metal fabrication, woodworking and more. The highlight of the day is a carousel ride. The cost is $375 for the week and includes a snack (bring your own lunch), and a daily ride on the 1894 horse carousel and more. Call 207-205-4849 to register.
The museum will also be open for general visitors to self-tour. Ride the carousel at 11a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Wagon rides will be available at noon each day. Old Fashioned Baked Bean and BBQ lunches will be available for modest prices each day. Come out and see the museum village that has developed within the last few years. New buildings will be open for the the first time this season, including the Bill and Dede Bullock Country Store, the Fenderson Red Schoolhouse, and the Tom Flagg Smithy (1935). There will be ongoing demos of early gas engines from their extensive collection of agricultural equipment, Model Ts, and more to experience plus hands-on learning. For more information, visit curranhomestead.org or call 207-205-4849.
The 19th Century Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that collects, preserves and utilizes historic artifacts and buildings for the purpose of exhibition, living history, traditional arts programming and hands-on education. The village serves as classrooms to not only raise awareness and appreciation of life in rural Maine and New England during the emerging Industrial Age of the 19th and early 20th centuries but to empower new generations through sharing the lessons of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from that time to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Their goal is to help to nurture future inventors, scientists, mechanics and agriculturists through individual awareness and discovery.
The Orrington Public Library is again home to many Old Home Week events. The Library’s Children’s Summer Reading Program, “All Together Now… Kindness, Friendship, Unity,” will be the theme for various activities. Readers vie for weekly prizes and will have a chance for the grand prize drawing on August 10.
Their most popular event is back. The annual Used Book Sale will fulfill your beach reads, fill your bookshelves, or stock up for those cold winter nights. The sale runs July 14-22.
The Friday morning Needlework Group Raffle features three of their crocheted creations: two afghans and a dinosaur. Tickets are $1 each or 8 for $5 and available at the Library.
The annual Old Home Week Photo Contest and Exhibit will feature photos taken of Orrington, ranging from scenes, animals, objects, etc. The top three vote-getters and another 10 winners will be printed into sets of note cards for 2024. You can view all the entries during these special Old Home Week hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Thursday 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
This year’s Public Library fundraiser is utilizing a 12” diameter 1/2” thick wood circle for the 2nd annual Creative Art Auction. Talented students and adults will decorate the wood with paint or other media and attach embellishments to turn the disc into decorations or something useful. These will be auctioned off to the highest bidder during Old Home Week, so bid high and bid often! The top three creations with the highest bids will win prizes. All proceeds go to support the library’s mission.
Purchase sets of Orrington Note Cards for $12 printed with the winning Photo Contest pictures from last year. They make great gifts! Limited quantities of the “Food for Thought” Community Cookbook will be available for sale for $15 each. It is the original Orrington Public Library recipe book published in 1978 with some new recipes from current Orrington cooks.
The Back-To-School Supply Drive all week long at the Public Library. Drop off much-needed school supplies for both students and teachers in the specially marked bins during regular Library hours.
Community exhibits will be on display outside the Library on Saturday, July 15 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Stop by and learn more about the Orrington Garden Club and Eastern Maine Camera Club and more.
The Fields Pond Audubon Center will be buzzing with activities on July 15 with three nature-oriented events on Saturday, July 15. Sign up for the Kirie class. What is Kirie? Kirie is a type of traditional art form that became popular during the Edo period (1603-1867) in Japan. A Japanese instructor, Shizuka Snyder, will show you the process of Kirie from drawing to framing. The subject matter is the native plants in Maine. Participants will take home their own creations of native plants in glass frames. Let the beautiful native plants and this humble technique of Kirie connect you to your natural surroundings. The class fee is $45 for members and $55 for nonmembers, with a maximum of 12 participants. Register online at maineaudubon.org. This cost covers all the materials including participants’ glass-framed artwork.
Buy native Maine plants at the Native Plant Sale with Andrew Tufts. Andrew will discuss how each native plant on sale supports habitats of a variety of wildlife. A plant walk around the nature center will follow. Plants will be on sale July 15 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Join the Family Scavenger Hunt at Fields Pond. Hit the trails and join the hunt on July 15 from 10 a.m.- 2pm. Families will compete to complete a series of challenging and fun natural history tasks at the Fields Pond Audubon Sanctuary. It’s free! For more information about all these activites, visit www.maineaudubon.org or call 989-2591.
The Sedgeunkedunk Stream will again be flush with fowl during Old Home Week as the SedgeunkeDUCK Regatta splashes down on Sunday, July 16 at 11:30 a.m. This rubber duck race is a fundraiser for the Orrington Historical Society. Individuals, families and businesses can take part in the SedgeunkeDUCK Regatta by sponsoring a rubber duck or a flock of rubber ducks for just $10 per duck or 3 for $25. Stop by Kozy Korner Store or Orrington Town Hall during regular business hours to choose and register your duck(s) or arrive at the event at 10:30 a.m. to adopt your rubber ducky. Each duck is numbered. No skills are needed to train the ducks, as each rubber avian is on its own and has an equal opportunity to finish first. The top three finishers will receive one-of-a-kind trophies and cash prizes: 1st place $75, 2nd place $50, and 3rd place $25. The bright yellow rubber ducks will all be released at the same time into the Sedgeunkedunk Stream at the Fishway Picnic Area. Spectators can watch and cheer on their favorite quacker as the ducks make their way downstream to the Johnson Mill bridge finish line. Kozy Korner Store will have lots of good food for take out, including Giffords ice cream. Enjoy a streamside picnic lunch at the umbrella tables.
Orrington Historical Society President Judith Frost Gillis will lead a group in Gravestone Cleaning at Pine Hill Cemetery on Wednesday, July 20 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Learn about Orrington’s history and how the gravestones are being cleaned. For more information email [email protected].
Bring the kids or bring the whole family to Orrington Center Church on Thursday, July 20 from 1 to 3 p.m. for their annual Children’s Day & Ice Cream Social. Kids of all ages will enjoy the ice cream cones or sundaes with all the yummy topping. This is a free event.
If you are interested in remote control vehicles, the folks of King’s Mountain RC will offer Open Track Days, both indoor and outdoor at 521 South Main Street, Brewer, just over the Orrington town line. They will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on weekends. You can also build a custom truck, learn to fly a plane without leaving the ground, discover the new world of high-flying, long-distance drones, and take the power of RC cars onto the water… all with the guidance of RC experts. On Sunday, July 23, head out to Perry’s Flying Field at 65 Harrison Avenue, Orrington from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (weather permitting) for the annual RC Expo to see the planes and drones flying high. These events will thrill kids and adults of all ages!
Old Home Week is generously supported by these community-minded sponsors: Town of Orrington, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, Bangor Savings Bank, Mobile Marine Service, J&J Auto Salvage, D.R. Disc Golf and Liz Champeon. Old Home Week’s mission is to celebrate Orrington’s rich past, vibrant present and bright future with residents, friends and neighbors. It will showcase the best of Orrington’s colorful history, distinct villages, beautiful natural resources, numerous businesses, thriving churches and organizations and, of course, the friendly people. Visit www.orringtonoldhomeweek.com for the complete schedule and more information. Follow the fun on facebook/OrringtonOldHomeWeek.
