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Not many people receive a posthumous birthday party. Even fewer get hundreds of guests and multiple cakes celebrating them, years after they have passed.

But then again, not many people were both wife and mother to American presidents.

On Sunday, Kennebunkport celebrated Barbara Bush’s 100th birthday. The outdoor event included music from a local band and games and books for children. Lobster rolls and Tex-Mex cuisine honored the Bush family’s connection to both Maine and Texas.

After serving as first lady from 1989 to 1993 during George H.W. Bush’s presidency, and raising 43rd President George W. Bush, Barbara Bush died in 2018 at age 92. The Bush family spent summers at their compound on Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport, and were regularly spotted at local restaurants and beaches, becoming fixtures of the community.

The celebration was held at Kennebunkport’s River Green, a park property owned and managed by Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. Inside is Ganny’s Garden, a flower garden dedicated to Barbara Bush in 2011. Many local residents and members of the Bush family, including great grandchildren of Barbara Bush, were in attendance on the sunny afternoon.

“Kennebunkport is a special place for (Barbara) and the Bush family,” said Thomas Bradbury, executive director of Kennebunkport Conservation Trust.

“Even in life she was larger than life,” said Bradbury. “Her legacy lives on and her good works live on.”

Volunteers donated cakes that were served at the celebration, including a replica of the Bush’s original wedding cake, a cake shaped as the straw hat Barbara Bush was frequently spotted in, and a chocolate confection from the official Bush family cookbook.

“She was community,” said Lesa Kraft Angelos, who helped serve the cake.

The event was put on by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which is hosting events across the country this year for Barbara Bush’s centennial promoting childhood literacy and celebrating her life’s work.

“For her actual birthday, we thought it was really important to go somewhere that really had roots for her. And so, it was an obvious choice of Kennebunkport,” Andrew Roberts, president of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

At 7 a.m. that day, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy hosted a commemorative walk on Gooch’s Beach, where Barbara Bush was regularly spotted in the mornings with her dogs. About 75 people walked in her honor, with some people and dogs dressed as the former First Lady.

The birthday celebrations will continue on Tuesday, when the U.S. Postal Service will reveal a commemorative stamp of Barbara Bush’s portrait for her 100th birthday. A dedication ceremony will take place at River Green at 11 a.m., and the stamps will immediately be for sale at the event and in post offices nationwide. There will also be a celebration of reading by various authors at Vinegar Hill Music Theatre in Arundel on Tuesday evening.

In addition to promoting literacy through her foundation, her legacy of charity remains in Maine through the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland and the George and Barbara Bush Center at the University of New England in Biddeford.

For many residents of the Kennebunkport area, Barbara Bush strolling on Gooch’s Beach remains in their memories. Bernadette and Ken Burks have walked that beach in the early mornings since the early 2000s and would frequently pass with Barbara Bush on her morning stroll, receiving a wave of recognition. They observed how she greeted strangers as well.

“We would notice when tourists would recognize her, and you could kind of follow their excitement,” said Bernadette Burks, who now lives in Arundel. “She would always call people over, take a picture. A very warm, down-to-earth lovely local person.”

The Burks attended the birthday event with four of their grandchildren and their daughter, who took a photo with George W. Bush on her wedding day in Kennebunkport after a coincidental meeting. The Burks have crossed paths with the Bush family in all moments of life in the town, big and small.

Bernadette Burks said that Barbara Bush’s legacy was more than who she stood next too.

“She was obviously the wife of a president, a time when women were not as recognized. She was the mother of a president. But I think that her character, her essence, her focus in terms of what was important, really, was a step above,” said Bernadette Burks.

“She was more than just ‘wife of,’ ‘mother of,’ I think. Very much so,” she said.