BINGHAM — How big is the parade going to be this summer when the town celebrates its bicentennial?

“It’ll be so big that the parade’s not going to move — we’re going to have to walk by and look at it,” First Selectman Steve Steward said Tuesday from a former grocery store on Main Street that will serve as bicentennial central.

Additional Photos

MILESTONE: Bingham Bicentennial co-chair Julie Richard and fundraising chairman Wes Baker set out items that will be sold during the town's bicentennial celebrations this summer. Staff photo by David Leaming

Work began two years ago organizing the nine-day festival that will run from Saturday, July 21, through Sunday, July 29. There will be a Franco festival with a tourtiére pie contest and a French Mass, a community chorus, tours, a talent show, a musket shoot, a school homecoming, a Revolutionary War encampment, antique cars, fireworks and an ice cream social.

Billed today as the gateway to the Maine forest, Bingham was settled in 1784 and incorporated as a town in February 1812 — eight years before Maine separated from Massachusetts. The town of about 920 residents runs along the Kennebec River on what is known as Old Canada Road, U.S. Route 201.

The area was settled by about six families who built farms on the rich “intervale” soil of the river bank. The town is named for William Bingham, a Philadelphia banker who bought large parcels of land — including the Bingham Purchase — to sell.

Farms stretched southward along the route that is now Main Street, almost to the Solon town line, according to bicentennial committee co-chairwoman Julie Richard.

As part of the fun of the 200th birthday, Steward, a co-chairman, and some other local men — as many as 30 or 40 — have agreed to grow beards, just as the men of the early 1800s might have done.

“It’s for the Brothers of the Brush. I’ve been growing it since October,” Steward said. “They did it for every centennial and sesquicentennial that we’ve had. It’s also a fundraiser, because if you don’t grow a beard, you’re going to pay for shaving permits — and they’re expensive. Back in ’62, they threw you on a jail float if you didn’t have a beard and you were watching the parade.”

Headquarters for the bicentennial are in the former Preble & Robinson grocery store at 325 Main St., which closed in 1975.

Events are coordinated from the old storefront, which in the coming weeks also will serve as a shop to sell bicentennial keepsakes. There are commemorative pins, coins, replica town signs, Christmas tree ornaments, stoneware mugs and throws. The throws feature sewn scenes from Bingham, including log drivers; the Bingham Ferry; the Somerset Railroad, which had a station in Bingham; the old Colby Theater, which still stands; and the Old Free Meeting House, where bicentennial events are scheduled this summer.

Donations still are being accepted to help defray the costs of the celebration, and food vendors are still needed. Call Liz Brochu at 431-1733 to be a food vendor or the Bingham Town Office at 672-5519 for additional information.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

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