LIBERTY, Maine — In just a few days, the parking lot next to Lori’s Cafe and John’s Ice Cream on Route 3 in Liberty will fill up with people eager to have their heads shaved.
One of them could be you.
Lori Mayer, the cafe’s proprietor, said when the fifth annual Joy To Be Bald fundraising event begins this Sunday, things can get a little wild. The event is designed to raise money to help people who are fighting cancer. Last year, 18 people — nine of whom were women — sat in folding chairs and waited for the clippers to come their way.
“Every year, I’ve been like, ‘What have I created?’” Mayer said Wednesday. “I didn’t know it was going to turn into this big, amazing thing.”
In fact, it started as a small idea at a scary time. That was five years ago, when her longtime friend Joy Mehuren of Searsmont was diagnosed with lung cancer.
“When you first hear that, you’re scared and you don’t know what to think,” Mayer said. “I got the idea in my head about shaving my head.”
She brought up the idea at the cafe, and her friends and patrons pledged to give her $175 if she followed through.
“It caught fire,” she said of the idea. “Everybody was overwhelmed, thinking that somebody would shave their head for a friend.”
That year, Mehuren was there to smile and laugh with the crowd of onlookers while Mayer got her haircut.
“She just could not believe it,” Mayer recalled. “She was just amazed at the end. She went inside and cried. She was overwhelmed.”
By the next summer, though, the 48-year-old self-taught accountant, who loved her family more than anything, lost her fight with cancer. The second annual Joy To Be Bald event still happened, but it was “very, very hard,” Mayer said. But there were more people in Waldo County who could use some help, and she didn’t want to let them down. Every year, the event has raised about $5,000 for a chosen beneficiary and his or her family. This year, for the first time, there are two beneficiaries: Bruce Lovely of Belfast and Kathleen Schiessl of Brooks.
Mayer said that last year, Lovely’s wife, Cindy, went to the event and shaved her head to raise money for a stranger. A few months later, the Lovelys learned about Bruce’s diagnosis, and Mayer wanted to help them.
“It’s not just about the money,” Mayer said. “It’s about making someone feel special for a day, knowing there are people who care.”
The events will include a walkathon, a chicken barbecue and an auction, in addition to the head-shaving, and will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19. The head-shaving is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. For more information, please visit the Facebook page at facebook.com/joytobebald.