Members of the Waldoboro Fire Department are planning to treat their town to an event-filled 175th anniversary celebration this summer.
Fire Chief Paul Smeltzer said the department is looking for names of all those who served in the department since it began in 1838.
Jean Lawrence and Assistant Fire Chief Bill Maxwell are reaching completion of a history of the department that will be published in time for the Waldoboro Day, this year being celebrated Saturday, June 15.
“We’re up to 365 names of people that have served, including current members,” Maxwell said. He and Lawrence want to complete the list by March 31, so they can include the names in the history.
The anniversary party will take place over three days, Friday-Sunday, Aug. 9-11.
While events are still being planned, Smeltzer said the celebration will begin with a memorial service for all firefighters that served Waldoboro in the department’s 175 years.
The service will be followed by a lighter-hearted event, the Miss Water Witch Pageant featuring male contestants from area mutual aid fire departments.
Waldoboro’s first fire apparatus was a used Water Witch engine, one of a group of 11 that were built in England in 1776. Waldoboro’s engine was purchased in 1838 from the city of Boston. Other engines in that group were purchased by George Washington, for Alexandria, Va. and John Hancock.
Other events will include a carnival all weekend on the Miller School grounds with Smokey’s Greater Shows, as well as a number of musical performances on a stage at the Waldoboro Recreational Facility on Percy Moody Road, beginning with a Friday night performance by Bad Penny.
Saturday, Aug. 10, festivities will resume with a 10K road race to begin at the former Sylvania factory on Friendship Street and continue through the village and up Jefferson Street. A parade will follow at 2 p.m.
A chicken barbeque, sponsored by the Jefferson Fire Department, will take place later that day, followed by a concert with Motor Booty Affair.
Sunday, Aug. 11 events will include a concert with Rick Charette and the Bubble Gum Band and an appearance by Fred the Singing Fireman, from Presque Isle.
Following a pig roast sponsored by the Union Fire Department and a concert by Emerald Sky, the weekend will close with a fireworks display at 9 p.m.
Parking will be available at several satellite sites, with buses bringing revelers to the various event locations.
Smeltzer said fire department members are footing the bill for the event. They are holding a number of fundraisers in coming months to help pay for the anniversary celebration.
The next fundraising event will be a dance, Saturday, March 16 at Soule-Shuman Memorial VFW Post 4525 at 75 Ledges Circle. The dance will start at 8 pm. Tickets are $8 per person and $15 per couple, with $1 off for anyone wearing green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
Other upcoming events will include a bottle drive, an auction, and monthly yard sales. Other events are still in the planning stages.
“All of this is a gift to our town form the fire department,” said Smeltzer. He said there will be no charge for any event other than food and carnival rides.
Maxwell said he is still hoping to find photographs or other images of the department’s first station, the Engine House on Glidden Street. Like most of the other structures in Waldoboro at that time, it was a wood-framed building, Smeltzer said.
Full listings of events, as well as registration forms for the road race and parade will be posted on the town website at www.waldoboromaine.org.
To share photographs and memories of department history, contact the Waldoboro Fire Department at 832-2161. Donations for the department’s yard sales can be made by contacting Capt. Mark Gifford at 380-5486.
