Beautiful and bountiful harvest

We are amidst a beautiful and bountiful harvest and the community will be celebrating it in high style this weekend at the 13th Annual Bethel Harvestfest and Chowdah Cookoff.  The “main event” will be held on the Bethel Common from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., but there are many ongoing activities all weekend, including the Upper Andro Angler’s Alliance Driftboat Competition on Friday and their 2-Fly Tournament on Saturday. A guided bike tour is the showcased event on Sunday morning. Gather in the Casablanca Cinema parking lot at 9 a.m. if you’d like to be a part of this great event. A full schedule for the weekend is available by going on the website: www.bethelharvestfest.com. Many thanks to the sponsors who are helping to make this event happen: Frito Lay, Oxford Networks, Allen’s Coffee Brandy, Maine Street Realty & Rentals, Stephens Memorial Hospital, Sysco Food Services of Northern New England, Kraft Foods, Good Food Store and the twelve restaurants who will be present serving their delicious chowders. They are: Bethel’s Best Pizza Grille & Dairy Bar,The Bethel Inn Resort, Crosstone Restaurant, Foothills Grille, Funky Red Barn, Good Food Store, the Phoenix, Rooster’s Roadhouse, Route 2 Diner, S.S. Milton, Sudbury Inn, and Sunday River Brewing Co. Tickets for the Chowdah sampling will go on sale starting at 11 a.m., and serving will be from noon till we run out.

Sunday River Farms is providing us with freshly dug, locally grown potatoes for our Maine Baked Potato booth. Hot dogs and hamburgs will also be available, as will free samples of Lays Potato Chips and Cabot Cheese. Middle Intervale Farm and the GOT Farms collaborative will have displays and sales of locally harvested foods and their efforts to raise awareness of the benefits of growing and eating them.

We have a tradition of decorating the village and we encourage all to join in by designing with the theme “Four seasons of bounty in the Bethel area – recreation, local food and the arts!” Give us a call at the chamber office, 824-2282, if you are planning to make a scarecrow and we will come and take a photo.

The Chamber is also starting to plan for our 2011 events. We are hosting a Mollyockett Days planning meeting next Tuesday, Sept. 21 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the chamber office. We know this event is a very important community tradition –- so we welcome new ideas. Please RSVP to our office by Monday, the 20th, if you are planning to attend.

Robin Zinchuk

Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce