In comparing the 1935 Casco Days to the 2001 Casco Days, many changes have taken place. In 1935, the main attractions were horse pulls on the Leach Hill Road, water sports on the shore of Pleasant Lake and baseball games played between town teams. The Grange Hall served meals, plays like "The Old Peabody Pew" were performed in the church and the penny pitch proved to be the biggest attraction on the midway. In 2002, we took in over $113,000 compared to $374 in 1935.
The Grand Parade draws the largest crowd, thanks to Tom Hancock, longtime past chairman and Kevin Hancock, the current grand parade chairman. In the early days, the cast from "The Old Peabody Pew" would ride in the stagecoach of G. Albert Murch of South Casco. Today, floats come from surrounding towns, and in recent years a new category of "Family and Friends" has brought local families together in creating the float most viable for first place. The local camps also have very creative floats and this year Camp Hawthorne won first place!
1941 marked the 100th birthday of the Town of Casco and also the Centennial Celebration of Casco Days. This celebration was staged at "Little Rigby Fairgrounds," then owned by Ev Berry near Pikes Corner (where the Central Fire Station is today), and was the last event to take place at that historic site.
Ralph Maines and Roxanne Craig now run the food booth, after over 50 years of management by Richard Frank. The food booth first was located on the church lawn. It then moved to the front of the Town Hall and is now situated in the Casco Days Barn, where it requires the largest staff to sell and cook all the food sold at Casco Days.
The midway has grown over the years and much of that growth can be attributed to long time chairman Dave Hancock. Dave was particularly passionate about the midway and the games. We now have more games than we have ever had, the best prizes and the friendliest "carnies" around operating the games since we use all local volunteers! Dave always made sure we remembered our roots and included the old "penny pitch" somewhere on the midway.
Ralph Maines has been in charge of the Beano Tent since 1976, after taking it over from Ken Hancock. Game and Beano prizes are purchased on a buying trip in June to Boston where the dealer has been the same for many, many years. Ralph and Dave Hancock had gone on this traditional trip for about 40 years, first as children with Dave’s father. Now, Ralph and Kevin Hancock continue this tradition with the midway crew. In 2000, Dave Morton took over the Beano Tent, letting Ralph focus on the food booth and his overall chairman responsibilities.
In 2002, Casco Days grew with its 10th year of sponsorships, a great fireworks display, Schooner Fare, Rick Charette and his Bubble Gum Band, the old time favorite penny pitch and much, much more! Casco is the only area town that has successfully and continuously staged this type of Carnival. All the proceeds benefit the Casco Fire Association. The Casco Fire Association owns all of our games and rides and all of our staff are local volunteers. Thanks to a volunteer staff of over 200, Casco Days continues to flourish.
Some of the above material was taken from Melissa J. Kluge’s book, The History of Casco, Maine.
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