MECHANIC FALLS — At first, there is utter confusion. Most remember the band Great White and everybody knows all about Harvest Hill Farms. But how to connect the two in any logical way?

“Great White?” one man asked, incredulous. “Playing here? Hell, yes; I’d go see that. My old man is going to love this.”

In and around Mechanic Falls, it was pretty much unanimous. It might seem an unlikely pairing, this ‘80s hair band and a well-known local farm, but by and large, people are all for it.

“I think it’s a real good idea,” said Mary Partee, who lives just down Route 26 from Harvest Hill. “With everything that’s happened, this is a good way to get things back on track.”

Both the band and the farm have suffered their share of tragedy, it’s true. But at some point, people said, it’s time to move on.

“What good is it going to do if the farm has to fold?” Partee asked. “It would just make people more miserable. People need a place to go for ice cream, to look at the animals and things like that.”

That was the popular opinion outside Sam’s Smoke & Novelty Store, a quarter mile from Harvest Hill Farms. The concert might help the farm owners get back on their feet while making a little noise across the Mechanic Falls-Poland region.

“I’m an ’80s baby,” said 29-year-old Chris Yeaton of Poland. “I’ve been fascinated by Great White. They were definitely one of my favorites.”

Chris White, 38, said he was definitely interested in seeing the band play, but he plans to go to the show in large part to help farm owner Peter Bolduc turn things around.

“He’s a good person,” White said.

A man who identified himself only as Dave was somewhat stunned to hear that Jack Russell’s Great White will be coming to the mostly bucolic stretch of Route 26.

“Great White?” he asked. “Coming here? Oh, I’d go to that for sure.”

When he learned that the band would be playing at the beleaguered Harvest Hill Farms, he saw no issue at all.

“That’s cool, too,” he said. “Great.”

The Harvest Hill tragedy is fresh. The fatal hayride accident occurred in October.

Great White, on the other hand, has been making a comeback for many years following the 2003 fire that killed 100 in a Rhode Island nightclub where the band was playing.

“Good band,” said Pedro Frechette of Lewiston, “just not very lucky. I hope they give a good show.”

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