Hannibal Hamlin birthday celebration in 2022.

PARIS — Friends of First Baptist Church of Paris, will be holding its third annual Hannibal Hamlin Birthday Celebration on Saturday, August 26 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Paris Hill Common. This is a throwback celebration, evoking the spirit of the 19th century and honoring the man who served as Abraham Lincoln’s first vice president.

Friends of First Baptist Church is a secular, not-for-profit community organization dedicated to the preservation of the First Baptist Church building on Paris Hill and the Common.

The Hannibal Hamlin Birthday Celebration will be a very festive day that offers games and entertainment for children and adults. Admission and parking are free. For the second year in a row Jerry Mathers, star of the 1960s TV show ‘Leave it to Beaver’, will be there. At 1 o’clock, Mathers and Hannibal Hamlin will host a quick quiz show about Leave it to Beaver before Jerry meets and signs autographs with attendees.

The festivities will also include the third annual State of Maine Cake-Decorating Contest, with a $1,000 Grand Prize, a $500 Second-Place Prize, and many other wonderful kitchen tools for prizes. The cakes will be judged in the morning and available to view at 12:30, then sampling and awards will take place at 2 p.m.

For more information or to enter the Cake Decorating Championship of Maine, send a message through the event’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2235098793343943?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[]%7D.

The day features entertainment on the stage by The Hadacol Bouncers, a New Orleans-style jazz band, Phil Smith, the Maine Magician, as well as the White House Chefs, who will show us their culinary secrets and share some of their unusual stories of working in the White House under several presidents. For a full listing of times, visit parishill.org/events.

There will be an old-fashioned lemonade stand, popcorn sold from a vintage sidewalk cart, and lots of great food hot off the grill – sausages with peppers and onions, burgers, hotdogs, and more for sale. There will be games for children, bell-ringing, a spirited pie-eating contest, and horse-drawn wagon rides around Paris Hill.

In addition, the Hannibal Hamlin Memorial Library and Museum – housed in the old county jail – will be open for the day, and visitors can go into this historic stone building to see the books and other artifacts. Well worth a visit! And a neighbor on the hill will be offering guided tours of the homes and former businesses and town government buildings around the common.

Children will enjoy the farm animals pen, featuring goats, sheep, and rabbits, and a fantastic Gems Table that showcases the variety of rocks and gems found in the Oxford Hills of Maine. These were very popular, interactive offerings last summer. Also, come visit with Cheeto, the arson dog, who helps the fire marshal’s office track down the source of a suspicious fire. And representatives from Oxford County Dispatch who will have information about CPR and what you should know when you have an emergency and have to
call 911.

Friends of First Baptist Church of Paris, Maine invite everyone to come see the church and grounds. The group has just completed some impressive restoration work at the church, including a major project on the steeple and the restoration and painting of the exterior, including the antique windows and shutters. The present church building, dating from 1838, looks spectacular!

The extensive restoration projects have been made possible through some extraordinary fundraising efforts by the group and citizens over the past three years and by significant grants from The Maine Steeples Fund and The Davis Foundation. This event raised over $20,000 last year.

Business sponsors for the Hannibal Hamlin Birthday Celebration 2023 include Head Invest, Goodwin Motor Group, Ripley & Fletcher Ford, Baker Newman & Noyes, Cross Insurance, Healing Home Foods, and Valley View Orchard Pies.