Volunteer firefighter, Earnest Peare, of Rumford Corner, has been cooking “the best yard birds in town” for 35 years for diners at the Andover Fire Station at Andover Olde Home Days in 2022. Rose Lincoln

Kierstyn Lyons, of Mexico, hangs the amateur photography show at Andover Town Hall for Andover Olde Home Days. In the foreground are photos in the amateur selfie show. Rose Lincoln

People fill the interior of the Andover Fire Station to eat chicken dinner at Andover Olde Home Days. in 2022 Rose Lincoln

Lenny Adler, of Otisfield, (the former fire chief of Otisfield) drove a ’52 Packard in the Andover Olde Home Days parade in 2022. Rose Lincoln

ANDOVER — This year Andover Olde Home Days organizers have added a Fly Fishing contest which coincides with the parade theme of “Hunting, Fishing, Camping. Oh my!”

New, too, are the Mountain Misfits Highland Games on Grimaldi Field.

Andover Olde Home Days will be held this weekend on August 2, 3 and 4.

There will be a food truck stationed by the popular lawn mower races this year. This year the races start at 4 p.m. instead of at 3 p.m.

Said Director Sharon Hutchins, “When it starts time for the lawn mower races, people race down there to get a good spot.” (emptying the Andover Common of people).

Hutchins, a retired fundraiser, said parade floats will be judged and the first three will receive cash prizes totaling $500.

Traditions

The skillet toss, corn hole tourney, photo contest, art show, cookie walk, and road race are all continuing as before. In addition to the nighttime entertainment, a musician will play at the Congregational Church during the day. Check the Olde Home Days Facebook page for a schedule of times and locations of all the events.

There is no longer space for vendors on Andover Common; spillover vendors will set up across the street and will be managed by the Olde Home Days committee. The Andover Service Circle manages Andover Common vendors.

This is Hutchins debut as Olde Home Days Director. She said her daughter was a brownie scout over 4o years ago, when they rode together in the parade.

“To be part of the nuts and bolts of it, this is my first time.” She joked that “stupidity” was the reason she took the helm. Then quickly followed with,  “No, I really love fundraising … I’m 76, I don’t want long-term. I’ll do it year-to-year.” Her group of five are meeting regularly to plan.

Buttons

Hutchins’ said the one-dollar Olde Home Days “buttons” have been on sale since May 1. They are like raffle tickets, the more you buy the better your chances of winning.

She said the stores that sell them start with 100 buttons. At the bottom of the bucket is Hutchins’ phone number. Tricia Mills at Andover’s Mills’ Market and salespeople at Rumford’s Aubuchon Hardware have had to call her for more. They are selling fast, she said.

Hutchins added, “They began selling like crazy when that quilt showed up.” The quilt she is referring to was made by a local woman. Longtime Andover resident Jane Rich who passed away in March asked for the quilt that is made of Olde Home Days’ t-shirts, dating from 1976 to 2023.

The full-sized quilt is part of the button raffle.

“Things are beginning to pick up,” said Hutchins who has garnered a nearly complete collection of Olde Home Days’ buttons from every year. Another desirable “button” prize is a rare 1000-piece Milton and Bradley Andover Gazebo puzzle.

“If we have a nice day, they will be here by the thousands,” she said of the annual event, now in its 48th year.