This year Octoberfest, a part of the Feed the Need outreach by the Sebago Lakes Chamber of Commerce, moved to Camp William Hinds in Raymond to offer more space, parking and activities on the shore of Panther Pond.
“We see the event as a phenomenal success. We do feel we had
a large increase in participation this year at our new location and feedback
from participants has been extremely positive,” said Sebago Lakes Chamber of
Commerce executive director Amiee Senatore.
It
was estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 people enjoyed time at Camp Hinds.
Feed the Need helps raise money for the
11 food pantries in the 10 communities it serves. Feed the Need encompasses
Octoberfest and the Community Coin Challenge, which raised close to $18,000
last year. This year they plan to reach $20,000 after all of the money is
counted.
“The Feed the Need Initiative has several components to it
from a fundraising perspective...and the Coin Challenge will continue to be a
part of that. We will continue to grow the event and expand our ways to
"give",” said Senatore.
People who attended the event were asked
to make donations for activities and items that were given away. Many things
like food, the helicopter rides and seaplane rides has a minimum suggested
amount. The seaplane and helicopter were donated by Matthew McFadden of Naples
Seaplane Adventures and Dick Dyke from Windham Weaponry.
The Sebago Lake Rotary Club held its
annual chili and chowder cook off at Octoberfest and crowned Rustlers from
Windham the chili winner and Saint Joseph’s College (Pearson’s Café) the
chowder winner. A portion of those proceeds went to Feed the Need. The Rotary
also donated through their Feet for Food Walk.
“The
chamber looks to create a charitable foundation before next year’s event so
that businesses can use charitable funds instead of money from their marketing
budgets. I think that change will allow us to raise a lot more because we can
introduce crowd funding as well,” said Senatore.
Thank yous go out to presenting sponsors
Allen Faraday from Windham Weaponry and Sheri Huff from Lee’s Family Trailer
Sales, Eric Tarbox and Tucker Adams from the Pine Tree Council and Camp Hinds
for their help with the location. Community champions were Pine Tree Council,
DownEast Energy, Mechanics Savings Bank, Gorham Savings Bank, ServPro of
Portland, Tricia Zwirner State Farm, Sebago Lake Rotary Club. Final thanks go
to all the volunteers and exhibitors who worked so hard to make the day a huge
success, said Senatore. 
Visited there last weekend with a group of friends, and had all the fun we could handle. I really like the ambiance at these venues. There's a decent draft beer selection at a reasonable price and the bartenders are good at what they do.
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