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On a normal day, New Gloucester’s Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village would be quiet and still, with the exception of sheep’s bleat or a bug’s buzz. But during Maine’s statewide Open Farm Day on Sunday, the farm welcomed an estimated 1,500 visitors.
Open Farm Day is an over 30-year tradition, bringing generations together for a free event celebrating agricultural history and the importance of farms in the state. Over 80 farms participate every year, and Shaker Village has been one of them since nearly the beginning.
“We really like to use it as a big community event,” Shaker Village Office Manager Jamie Ribisi-Braley said. “We’ve seen so many families coming year after year, like we could watch their kids grow up. It’s amazing.”
Some of the standout activities at this year’s event were a tin type photo booth, a lineup of local arts and food vendors, animal encounters — including the opportunity to hold a tarantula or a giant snake — and face painting.
The most popular activity, Ribisi-Braley said, is a wagon ride that takes visitors through the nearly 250-year-old village, and up through the herb gardens.
Herb farming is a Shaker specialty. In fact, they have been growing medicinal herbs and tea blends for over 200 years, making it the main product of their farming.
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“It’s just an important part of our economy and we have a rich history here,” Director Michael Graham said as a wagon-load of kids with Frankenstein facepaint claimed their seats for the tour.
The history of the village is one of the biggest draws for visitors, Ribisi-Bradley said.
Lifelong New Gloucester resident Nancy Connolly said her favorite part of the event was feeling the lives that were lived at Shaker Village, which now houses the last three living Shakers in the U.S.
“I just feel that it’s important to embrace that history,” she said. Her friends Mellissa Suit and Nordica Danieli — who decided to celebrate her 70th birthday at Open Farm Day — agreed that the village has been very well-preserved.
For the event’s younger visitors, spending a few moments with a fluffy pre-sheer sheep or a goat were the most exciting offerings.
Laura and Cassidy Holen brought their three children from Portland to New Gloucester for the event. Laura was most interested in the architecture, but her kids — 8-year-old Hazel, 6-year-old Remy and 4-year-old Hunter enjoyed the animals most. Most notably, a tarantula and a scorpion.
“They put a flashlight on it (the scorpion) and it turned blue,” exclaimed Remy.
For Ribisi-Braley, who fell in love with the village after volunteering, celebrating Shaker traditions is another important part of the day. With a small team of seven year-round staff, events at the farm are dependent on volunteers. Open Farm Day relies on about 25 of them.
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“We all get it done. It’s in a traditional Shaker way of just like, everyone working together gets the job done,” Ribisi-Braley said. She added that she enjoys removing barriers in accessibility by making it a free event.
Graham, who came back to the village after studying it for an anthropology assignment in college, agreed and said he enjoys showing people what the village has to offer. He said the village is magical to him.
“There’s one point in the wagon ride when we get to the edge of the apple orchard and you can see the entire village,” Graham said with a soft smile. “I can see all the places that folks are set up, and the crowds, and it usually chokes me up.”