NORWAY – The annual Mellie Dunham snowshoe and string festival starts Thursday evening with a presentation about the master fiddler and snowshoe maker by the Norway Historical Society.
The presentation begins at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at the society building at Main and Whitman streets.
It will showcase the new Mellie Dunham exhibit on the Maine Historical Soicety’s online archive called the Maine Memory Network. The Norway Historical Society has prepared the exhibit, which will be introduced by Network curator Candace Kanes.
The festival continues Friday and Saturday with exhibits, snowshoe races, contradances and a supper sponsored by the Western Foothills Land Trust and the Norway Downtown.
Two exhibits will open downtown Friday, Feb. 8. A storefront exhibit of historic Norway-made snowshoes, including HH Hosmer, Mellie Dunham, Nat Noble, Tubbs, and Snocraft, will be in the former Red Beard Antiques windows on Main Street.
An exhibit at the Fare Share Gallery will honor local stories, photographs and locally-made snowshoes beginning at 6 p.m. with a reception. At 7 p.m., Lee Dassler will talk about the history of the Norway snowshoe industries. All lectures and exhibits are free of charge.
From 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 9, free snowshoe games and races, including the world’s only snowshoe wife carry, will be held for all ages at the Roberts Farm Preserve, 64 Roberts Road. Prizes will be awarded for those in historic woolen outfits wearing wooden snowshoes.
To honor Dunham’s musical talent, two contradances will be held Saturday, Feb. 9, at the Norway Grange on Whitman Street. Bill Olson and Pam Weeks on fiddle (with Olson calling the steps) will offer an introduction to contradancing from 4 to 6 p.m. It will be followed by another contradance from 7 to 9 p.m. featuring the nationally famous duo Perpetual e-Motion. A donation of $5 includes both contradance sessions.
Norway Downtown will host a meat and meatless lasagna supper from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Grange. The supper costs $7.
The festival is supported by Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Historical Society.
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