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Loon Crooners Hear Their Calling

August 06, 2008 - BELGRADE LAKES -- Mainers and vacationers alike will croon the sounds of a summer icon today at the Belgrade Lakes Annual Loon-Calling Contest, a summertime fixture here for more than 20 years.

The contest is held at the Belgrade Lakes boat landing at Lake Point Real Estate. Signup begins at 6:30 this evening, with the youngest age bracket beginning the competition at 7 p.m. There is no entry fee.

More than 100 people came to last year's event, and "close to 50 people" participated in the contest, including children as young as 4 years old, said John Rice, the event's emcee for the past seven years.

"I think we had 25 to 30 kids under the age of 12," said Rice, a Belgrade Lakes resident and owner of Castle Island Camps. "And it's just for good sport, a good time."

The event is an anticipated spectacle, he said. "We get calls every year (asking) 'When is it? 'Cause we want to plan our vacation to make sure we're there.'" Although visitors from out of state attend the event, Rice feels the contest has "more of a regional draw."

Loon callers are given two attempts and scored 1-10 by three judges. The first-, second- and third-highest scores receive trophies in three different age categories.

"They have to make their own call and practice," Rice said. "You cannot bring any mechanical devices, but you typically use hands or voice. Some people wet their hands; others use dry hands. Most are just using vocalization."

Rice was unable to offer any tips for creating a convincing loon cry. "I'm horrible at it," he said.

The loon is known to produce multiple sounds: a hoot, a tremolo, a wail and a yodel. "There's three or four different calls," Rice said. "A loon has a distress call, a communication call where they're talking to other loons. That's typically the one that they do, the one at night that you commonly hear on the lake."

"The (contestants) that make it good, actually, they just practice." Rice also attributes an authentic loon imitation to a good voice and natural ability.

Loons occasionally communicate on Long Pond while the contest is under way. "Only by chance. I would not say it was because of our loon calls," Rice said.

"There's a healthy loon population right now," Rice responded to a query on the species' well-being. "There's a least a couple of chicks on the lake this year, so I would say our numbers are good."

The loon-calling event is preceded by the annual bean-hole bean supper fundraiser by the Belgrade Fire and Rescue Association at the Belgrade Center for All Seasons on Route 27. The supper runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.: $7 for adults, $4 for children ages 5-12 and free for children under five. Food includes yellow-eye or pea beans, hot dogs, brown bread, coleslaw, desserts.

"It's just something that's always happened on the same weekend," said Mark Day, of Belgrade, with the Belgrade Fire and Rescue Association.

"For some people obviously it's just like going to karaoke," Day said of the loon-calling contest. "Some people will do a real good job with it, and some people you've got to give them credit just for standing up there and trying it."

"People just sit there and listen to the call and clap," Rice said. "Some are funny, some are great, some kids are shy, but I think the kids are what take the show."

BY ZACH DIONNE, Kennebec Journal, 08/02/2008


Lakes: Great Pond, Long Pond
Regions: Belgrade


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