LISBON — Three days of peace, love and Moxie drew thousands to Lisbon’s annual celebration over the weekend.
Moxie Festival events included a parade, fairground rides and a 30-foot climbing wall and featured nearly 40 vendors with food, concessions, games, mementos and other wares. Live music included Sylvain Leduc’s Elvis tribute show, Skosh, The Smith Collaboration and Studio Two Beatles tribute band.
Onlookers were drawn Saturday to the famed Moxie chugging contest as Beau Bradstreet of Bridgewater claimed his 11th straight championship. Bradstreet, who donned a Moxie T-shirt with “Bradstreet Chugging Company” printed on the back, downed seven cans of Maine’s official soft drink in under two minutes.
Asked how he felt, Bradstreet laughed, “Bloated! … I’ve always liked Moxie. I try to drink it every night with dinner. It’s a unique drink. I pull antique tractors, and I get three cans, poke the bottom out of them and stack them on my air cleaner. I like to call it my Moxie-injected tractor.”
Moxie is basically a tradition in the Bradstreet family, he said. His grandfather would drink it with his father when he was a kid, his father with him and now him with his sons. He said the festival is a great chance to take the family on a small vacation.
“We have a good time here, and there’s something for everybody. The kids get to play games and walk around the fair,” Bradstreet said.
Everly Cromwell watches a float pass Saturday during the Moxie Festival Parade in Lisbon. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Jenna and Ed Pfueller of Cape Elizabeth brought their young children Jack and Gus for the family’s first Moxie Festival experience. The kids were having a great time, the parents said, from soft pretzels to ice cream to lobster grilled cheese.
“And Moxie!” Gus interjected.
Moxie Chugging Contest emcee Jonathan Jones, a Moxie committee member, said he has come to or worked at the festival for 18 of the past 19 years.
“In my opinion, it’s one of the best hometown festivals,” Jones said. “It’s so unique and not just because of Moxie, but these (events). … We’re having a blast.”
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