ALLAGASH, Maine — Over the years, the forests of northern Maine have produced a fair amount of legends. Tylor Kelly certainly counts among them.
The octogenarian has pretty much seen and done it all — from harvesting timber using horses to working the river logging drives to navigating ice choked waters to rescue stranded townspeople during a spring flood.
But Kelly outdid even himself this week when, after years of declining all attempts to throw any sort of party in his honor, he decided to have his first-ever birthday party at age 80.
Everyone was invited.
“If he lets us do a 90th [birthday party] we are going to need a bigger venue,” said his daughter Darlene Kelly Dumond as friends and family from as far away as Kittery packed into Two Rivers Lunch, a cafe in Allagash, last Wednesday afternoon. “No one could believe Daddy agreed to this.”
Sitting in his usual spot in the cafe his wife opened more than 40 years ago and now run by their daughter Darlene Kelly Dumond, Kelly greeted a stream of well wishers and friends amid constant banter, joking and reminiscing.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Northern Maine legend celebrates first birthday party — at 80,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Julia Bayly, please follow this link to the BDN online.
