For a Quarter of a Century, Bob Collier Led the Hayseeders
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.
BAR HARBOR—Bob Collier stood in front of the crowd at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel, Friday night, surveying the people gathered, microphone waiting in front of him, and seemed like he was taking it all in.
Beyond the dance floor, people dressed in flannels and sequins waited to see what Collier might say. They wore hats that came out of bins and closets. Art deco jewelry hung from necks and ears. Suspenders held up many trousers. Dried bits of salt cod waited by a bar next to the more popular donuts.
Collier took in a breath.
And he said goodbye.
Collier handed over the reigns as president of the Hayseeders to Seth Libby, a third-generation Hayseeder, who profusely thanked Collier for taking care of the more than hundred-year old organization for the last 25 years. Both men live in Bar Harbor.
Libby joked that he didn’t think he’d last a quarter of a century himself as he spoke of the history of the group and the event and Bob’s devotion to it, his persistence in keeping it going, and his work ethic.
“It was meant to bring some levity into the middle of winter and it was also an event to let your hair down before lent,” Libby said of the event. “Hayseed is the longest running event in Bar Harbor, if I’m not mistaken and it may also be the longest running event on MDI.”
At one time there was a Hayseeders’ ball in Hull’s Cove, Seal Cove, and Northeast Harbor.
Once billed as one of the two major social events for Bar Harbor’s year-round residents, the event had been on hiatus, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, until 2022. It’s come back with a bit of a boot-stomping, skirt-swirling vengeance.
At the event, numbered badges adorn forty men’s suspenders or hang from their pockets and their guests must show an invitation or they aren’t allowed inside, but there’s still a spirit of community that blossoms past nostalgia and into the smiles, goofiness, and discussion that mark the annual ball.
A guestbook and invitation checker is usually stationed at the front door. Part barn dance, part social affair, part homage to the past, the event typically begins with a grand march across the dance floor and introduction of new members.
In a 1916 Bangor Daily News, the regular correspondent detailed the ball writing,
“Bar Harbor has one institution peculiarly its own, which has never been quite duplicated by another place, although some colorless imitations have tried from time to time. This is the annual Way Back or Hayseeders’ ball, when costumes of a bygone day resurrected from the garret, when the met get out their farm clothes and old-time rigs, and the girls hunt up the prettiest of the old-time styles and spend the evening in an all-around good time.”
Back then, the event was held in the Bar Harbor Casino and seven hundred tickets were snatched up and many were left wanting. It’s not quite the same now. But there are still only 40 members of the Hayseeders and all are still men. They each have a badge. Some badges have been passed down through the generations of Bar Harbor men. Many of the current Hayseeders come from outside of Bar Harbor and they meet as a group once a year prior to the event, mostly to force Collier into another year of service and to plan the event where nominations for president usually last less than a minute: all the time it takes for someone to say, “I nominate Bob Collier for president,” “I second,” “All in favor?”
Yay.
This year, Libby agreed to take the top badge spot and give Collier a well-deserved break.
For those who don’t know, a “hayseed” is an unsophisticated person, a bumpkin, someone who is not considered elite, unintelligent, a dolt, someone who has seeds of hay in their hair, on their clothes, maybe even in their teeth.
“The 40 Hayseeders” was formed in 1894 in an attempt for residents to have their own fancy parties as a bit of a spoof of the wealthier summer visitors. The food was and is not amazing unless you like a lot of plain donuts and salted cod. The dress is meant to be outfits prior to the 1960s, hence the events’ other name the Wayback Ball. Many deliberately dress up like “hicks” and farmers to show the contrast from the summer visitors in the Gilded Age. Similarly, the invitation and signs are full of intentional misspellings.
The Bar Harbor Historical Society is working to preserve a Hayseeder’s banner from 1950 as well as other elements of its history in Bar Harbor.
The current list of Hayseeders is Enoch Albert, Tommy Allen, Josh Bloom, Steve Boucher, Earl D. Brechlin, Jon Carter, Kenneth A. Colburn, Robert V. Collier, Bob Davis, Jeff Dobbs, Shaun Farrar, Marc Fine, Richard R. Fox, Michael Gurtler, Sean Hall, Dale W. Harding, Robert Higgins III, Ed Jawarski, Robert L. Jordan, Jr., Seth E. Libby, Joel Linscott, Tim Machri, Jeff Miller, Edward Monat, Gordon Murphy, J.C. Neel, Robert B. Packie, Joe Pagan, Paul Paradis, Rob Pollien, Steve E. Powell, Roger Samuel, Charlie Sidman, Kenneth E. Smith, Tim Smith, Mike Staggs, William C. Townsend, Carl Wehrfritz, Chris White, (Gus) Mayna Young.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
The video below is provided (kindly) by Neil Needleman, it’s of the grand march, part of the tradition. Hayseeders and partners march across the dance floor.
Check out a video prior to 2023’s event by Steve Peer, Katina Anne Stanwood, and JC Neel.
Link to MDI Historical Society image.
The Bar Harbor Historical Society donation page.
Portions of this article appeared last year.
Shaun Farrar, one of the two current contributors to the Bar Harbor Story (and my husband) is a member of the Hayseeders.
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Always good to see Bob Collier get a little pat on the back. He is one of those quiet, modest, locals who has over and over served the citizens of Bar Harbor in so many different capacities as to be dizzying...always with a commitment to getting the job done without any effort towards self aggrandizement. I had the pleasure of working with Bob in researching the complex and often ignored importance that marine resources play in the town's economy. Our committee spent many months gathering data to be used in formulating the Marine Resources section of Bar Harbor's 1990's Comprehensive Plan. He was an excellent committee chair and a pleasure to work with.
A great view of the history of the Hayseeders. The photos are excellent.