Alna’s Brandon Seigars, 8, painted family initials onto a pumpkin Saturday morning inside First Congregational Church of Wiscasset UCC’s fellowship hall. Nearby, Dresden’s Sally Jacobs was checking out the potholders among the items the church's organ society made. Members manned the sale, part of Oktoberfest.

The annual event of sales, food and a silent auction benefits the church. In an indoor yard sale downstairs, Boothbay Harbor’s Clare Francis shopped the tables full of exercise equipment, dishes, Christmas decorations, baskets and songbooks including a 1955 U.S. Armed Forces one. So far, she had picked out baking cutouts and two toys she was thinking of getting for a friend’s dog.

She liked the idea of an Oktoberfest, Francis said about why she came. She had the bratwurst and sauerkraut. It was good, especially the sauerkraut, which she loves, she said.

As Seigars painted, his mother Cindy Seigars said when she was about his age, she lived in Wiscasset and attended the church. She said she goes to Woolwich-Wiscasset Baptist Church now but enjoyed coming back to First Congregational where her sister Marita Fairfield attends. “I know a lot of the people here, and I think community events are important,” she added.

Another First Congregational annual event, Summerfest, benefits area causes.