Seaplanes, Miss Grease Pit, and the Little Stories of a Town

September 1976 found America heading toward a presidential election between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. On September 23, the two met in Philadelphia for the first presidential debate in sixteen years. On the radio, the Bee Gees opened the month at number one with “You Should Be Dancing,” followed by KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Shake Your Booty” and Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music.”

Here in Greenville, there was serious news too. The larger Maine newspapers were following the continuing problems with the Moosehead Sanitary District, including the possibility that the troubled $4 million treatment plant might have to shut down.

But the local papers were recording another side of life.

During the 1970s, Rosemary Poulsen published a weekly local paper called The Greenville Calendar — 15 cents a copy, or $10 for the year. Rosemary typed the pages herself and had them run off and stapled together, with Bertha Cook as art editor and most of the ads hand-drawn. The paper existed because some people felt Greenville wasn’t getting enough truly local news in the Moosehead Gazette. I always enjoy finding an issue of it — fifty years later, those homemade pages are wonderful to read. They tell us not only what happened, but what people here were actually talking about.

Seaplanes Take Over Greenville

The International Seaplane Fly-In was only in its third year in September 1976, but it was already becoming something big. The Moosehead Gazette announced the Third Annual East Coast International Seaplane Fly-In for September 10 through 12, with contests, air races, demonstrations, and an awards banquet at Squaw Mountain. The Greenville Calendar called it what promised to be the largest gathering of pilots and seaplanes this side of Alaska — and when the weekend arrived, nearly 90 aircraft and more than 150 pilots had made their way to Greenville.

Rosemary Poulsen put it simply: if you lived in Greenville that weekend, you couldn’t help but enjoy the Fly-In. A crowd gathered near the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife building on Village Street to watch a Tiger Moth loop and roll, a plane towing water skiers, and a Forestry Service Huey making a water-bombing pass close enough to spray spectators on shore.

But one of the most dramatic aircraft that weekend was Quebec’s huge Canadair CL-215 water bomber, which skimmed Moosehead Lake, scooped up a tremendous load of water, climbed away, and dropped it over a simulated fire. The photographs are remarkable — one shows the CL-215 passing low over the lake with thousands of pounds of water pouring from its belly.

Fifty years later, the Fly-In is still one of Greenville’s signature events. The 2026 Fly-In is scheduled for September 10 through 13, with a 1947 Grumman Mallard coming north from Connecticut — only 59 were ever built, and only a handful of the original piston-powered examples are believed to still be airworthy. In 1976, people lined Moosehead Lake to see airplanes they might never see again. Fifty years later, they still do.

A Thrift Shop Opens

On September 3, a much quieter Greenville institution began. The United Methodist Church at Greenville Junction opened the “We Care” Thrift Shop in its basement, offering clean, good used clothing at prices Moosehead-area families could afford. Sandra Beckwith headed the effort, and the shop opened every Friday afternoon — children’s clothing, winter coats, sweaters, pants, and household goods, all donated.

What could easily have been a short-lived church project wasn’t. A thrift shop continues serving the Greenville community today, now at the Union Church. The location and volunteers have changed, but the idea remains the same: useful things passed along to people who can use them.

No one made a fuss over it at the time. It was just a few racks of clothing in a church basement.

More Than the Water Company Manager

September also marked the retirement of Ernest “Ike” Harrington after 23 years with the Greenville Water Company. The Gazette reported that Ike retired on September 1 and was replaced by Ronnie Jones. A retirement party had been held for him at the Hilton Hill Inn in Skowhegan, and the company planned to give him a color television — still a pretty impressive gift in 1976. The newspaper said Ike planned to keep busy doing odd jobs around his home.

Anyone who knew Ike probably smiled at that. Calling him simply the manager of the water company never came close to describing him. A Greenville native, Ike had also been a Maine guide, woodsman, deputy sheriff, welder, and an inventive man who could build or repair almost anything. Years before snowmobiles became common around Moosehead, Ike had built one himself from old motorcycle and automobile parts. He was also well known for the brown-ash pack baskets he made by hand, a craft he’d begun during the Depression to bring in extra money.

Ike was a good friend of my family, so finding his retirement story and photograph meant something to me personally. Sometimes the people we remember most clearly weren’t the ones making headlines. They were simply people who were around for years, did their jobs, helped their neighbors, and became part of what made the town feel like home.

A Young Teacher Comes Home

Greenville schools opened September 8, with new principal Philip Blood welcoming junior and senior high students and laying out his expectations for the year. Among the new hires was Stephen Lizotte.

Steve had graduated from Greenville High School and continued at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, majoring in physical education. In September 1976, he came home to begin work as a special education teacher. Later that fall, the Gazette featured him as one of its “Teachers of the Week.”

I’ve always liked that photograph — a young teacher at the beginning of a career, taken years before anyone knew how long it would run. Steve went on to spend his career in education and remains in Greenville today. There’s a nice connection to the Historical Society, too: his wife, Rocky, is now one of our staff members. In September 1976, though, all of that was still ahead of him.

Pioneer Days — and Miss Grease Pit

The month ended with Greenville finding one more way to celebrate the nation’s Bicentennial. The week of September 26 through October 2 was designated “Pioneer Days,” with old-fashioned church services, a box social, a hymn sing, historic-home tours, a harvest supper, square dancing, antique automobiles, a bake-off, a beard contest, and a kangaroo court on the schedule.

But one event stole the show. On Monday, September 27, the first annual Miss Moose contest was held at the Community House. According to The Greenville Calendar, the little theater was packed, with people standing in the back, and the contestants were greeted with “resounding laughter and applause.”

Dwayne Lander was Miss Ski Bum. Tony Bartley appeared as Miss Mobil Fuel Oil. Dick Ross was Miss Front Loader. Barney Keenan was Miss Ink Spot. And Terry Beckwith — crowned the winner — was Miss Grease Pit. There was a bathing-suit promenade, music, escorts, judges, flowers, and enough pageantry to make the whole thing respectable, or at least respectable by Greenville standards in 1976.

Some photographs preserve important buildings or major historical events. This one just reminds us that people knew how to have fun.

The Stories Between the Headlines

The larger newspapers that September were focused on Greenville’s struggling treatment plant — real news, with real consequences. But in the pages of the Moosehead Gazette and The Greenville Calendar, another Greenville was visible at the same time — quieter, harder to headline, but just as real. None of it changed the world. But taken together, it tells us quite a bit about the community people lived in. The big headlines tell us what a town was facing. The little stories tell us who the people were.

 

A Canadian CL-215 water bomber demonstrates its firefighting capabilities over Moosehead Lake during the 1976 International Seaplane Fly-In.

Ernest “Ike” Harrington at his retirement party in September 1976. Harrington retired after 23 years with the Greenville Water Company.

Greenville native Steve Lizotte was featured as the Moosehead Gazette’s “Teacher of the Week” after beginning work as a special education teacher in Greenville in 1976.

The 1976 Miss Moose contestants, from left, Terry Beckwith, Barney Keenan and Dick Ross. Beckwith, appearing as “Miss Grease Pit,” was crowned the winner during Greenville’s Bicentennial Pioneer Days celebration.