HOULTON, Maine – New England Odd Fellows lodges from New Hampshire to Maine traveled to an East Hodgdon potato house on Saturday to pick up thousands of pounds of potatoes for their local food pantries.
Members representing 17 Odd Fellows lodges in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, made their 14th annual fall potato run to the County.
“We loaded them into trailers, cars, and pickups,” said Kirk Wilson, of Kirk Wilson Farms in Hodgdon. “Last year there was even a motorhome.”
Each year, the Odd Fellows Grand Lodge in Auburn contacts New England lodges to get a final tally of the number of 50-pound bags needed for the run, Richard McLaughlin, Maine’s Grand Master, who is part of the Houlton Lodge.
“This year it was 442 bags, but last year it was actually 600,” he said.
The lodge members met at the Rockabema Lodge #78 in Houlton for lunch before heading to the potato house to pick up their potatoes, McLaughlin said.
Wilson said he bagged up the potatoes for the run earlier in the week and it took a couple hours to get everyone loaded and on their way.
Wilson’s father has been supplying the Odd Fellows with potatoes for about a decade, said Kirk Wilson who took on the role in the past year or so.
The Grand Lodge pays for the potatoes and Wilson said he gives them a discount on the load that equals about a half a tractor trailer.
McLaughlin said that Odd Fellows contribute to many town needs in addition to the potato run. They recently installed a large downtown clock in Houlton, they offer nursing scholarships and most recently just completed paving the parking lot at Hodgdon elementary school.
