At Founder's Day fete, the clouds hung around, and so did the crowd

Academy Lane was blocked off for the Founder's Day party, providing for a relaxing backdrop for a successful event. (Lebanon Academy Trustees photos)

CENTER LEBANON -

Dan Woodman provided some authentic old-timey tunes.

The cheeseburgers were to die for, the rain held off and the bands played on at Saturday's Founder's Day Celebration at Lebanon Academy.

A couple of hundred folk showed up to celebrate the 200^th birthday of school founder Orin B. Cheney and also to buy raffle tickets, wagon rides and barbecue to help fund repairs to the belltower that will allow the academy's bell to ring on Sundays once again.

Guitar-playing Dan Woodman of Center Lebanon closed out the entertainment portion of the festivities with his signature Appalachia-inspired country twang, finishing up with an improbable rendition of Bob Marley's "Stir it Up" and an Irish jig.

The hamburgers, hot dogs and grilled cheese were flying off the grill.

Lebanon Academy Board of Trustees treasurer Shelley LaPanne said she was overwhelmed by the turnout and excited about the prospects of the fund-raising effort.

LaPanne said the estimate trustees got to fix the beam and stabilize the bell and bell tower was about $25,000. She said on Monday the festival raised some $1,600 toward its repair.

Cheney, who founded the academy around 1850, later went on to found Bates College. He was widely regarded as a champion of racial equality and women's rights.

The Lebanon Academy, located in Lebanon's historic district at Five Corners on Academy Lane, no longer has students, but it does provide space for the town's Historical Society and Bible study classes.

Other attractions at Founder's Day included Steve Collins of Belgian Meadows Farm who offered wagon rides, food cooked up the Lebanon Ladies' Circle and old-timey children's games that harkened back to yesteryear.

Standing guard over the celebration was Steve Wanager and his authentic vintage cannon.

After Woodman had completed his set, festival organizers set about doling out the scores of penny sale gift cards and other items, conscripting youngsters who drew the winners' numbers than delivered the winnings to the lucky festivalgoers, first, of course, seeing that their tickets matched.

The festival was such fun that one band member promised to be back for Cheney's 300^th.

Might need another bell tower by then, too.