The best male legs expected at Medway’s Rivah Day

MEDWAY, Maine — A good pair of male legs is hard to define, until you see it, Jolyane DiCentes says.

Often the guys who have the shapeliest calves, the most bodacious thighs, or the sleekest knees aren’t really aware of it until they enter the Medway Rivah Day “Best Male Legs” contest, she said.

“You wouldn’t know who has good legs around here until they actually got behind the curtain. Lots of people don’t wear shorts,” DiCentes said Friday. “When they get behind the curtain, and their faces are obscured, then they feel confident.”

“You have to have just the right amount of hair, the right amount of muscle. It is up to the female judge,” she added, calling whatever standards employed “totally superficial. It is just what attracts the eye. We just want perfection. That’s all.”

DiCentes said she hopes to see plenty of contest entrants at Rivah Day, which will be held Saturday at the Roy Powers Recreational Area off Route 157 on the Penobscot River from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The event is free and the public is invited.

Sponsored by Medway Community Association, Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce and Hannaford Supermarkets, Rivah Day features a pancake breakfast at 9 a.m., a children’s parade at 10 a.m., plus children’s games, trolley rides, kayak races, pro wrestling, a best-pie contest and live music before a fireworks show caps the evening at 9 p.m.

Once a multiday event called Rivah Days, the celebration was cut down to a single day due to a lack of organizer interest and public participation, DiCentes said. The Board of Selectmen wants to put life back into the event, voting to include $3,500 for the fireworks show in the town’s 2012-13 budget.

The event will be moved to Medway Middle School if the rain expected on Saturday is too fierce. Anyone looking to attend the fireworks show can call DiCentes at 447-1799 on Saturday to learn whether the show has been canceled by bad weather.

DiCentes said she doubts it will be. Officials from the company doing the fireworks told her they thought the weather would be good enough for the show.

The event will feature plenty of tents for those looking to stay out of the rain, she said.

Besides giving neighbors a chance to catch up with one another, Rivah Days allows Medway to enjoy its recreation complex and gives families a free activity, DiCentes said.

One of her personal favorites within the event, she said, is the best legs contest. Meant to be good fun, the contest puts contestants behind a curtain, and their legs are numbered to keep contestants anonymous and protect any delicate sensibilities, she said.

“Still, we have had many, many people who are offended by it,” DiCentes said, recalling how one year, “Somebody got the chicken legs award and he thought he had good legs.”