Westbrook Hospital Days

Between 1968 and 2001, supporters of Dr. Henry Schmidt Memorial Hospital in Westbrook combined work and pleasure to organize Hospital Days, an annual public event that raised money for hospital equipment and community amenities. People of all ages were invited to attend, participate in activities, and enjoy good food.

Fundraising for Westbrook’s Schmidt Memorial Hospital did not end on January 23, 1951, when doors opened to patients for the first time. The hospital’s auxiliary volunteers, divided into twenty units, continued working together to assist their hospital.

The first “official” Hospital Benefit Days, held in September 1968, was organized by the hospital auxiliary and the Community Club. Festivities began on a Friday with auxiliary volunteers serving lunch in the city’s fire hall. Prior to the event, industrious women cleaned the hall to make it suitable for a lunchroom after fire trucks and equipment found a temporary home elsewhere.

On Saturday, the event’s second day, volunteers served food, including grilled burgers with all the trimmings in the fire hall at noon and a catered evening meal in the city park. An auction brought in $1,500, a sale of promotional buttons raised one dollar per button, and a rummage sale netted $1,000. In total, the hospital received $5,000 from the weekend’s activities.

By 1971, when the event was officially named Hospital Days, the gathering had become a rite of summer that people looked forward to. The auxiliary’s food stand became, and remained, a mainstay. Flies, oppressive heat, and humidity did little to hamper the spirits of those enjoying delicious meals topped off with pieces of home-made pie at the fire hall.

In 1991 the auxiliary food stand found a new home in the Community Center: no flies, no adverse weather conditions, and ample air conditioning. The Sanford Westbrook Health Center provided a free picnic of grilled burgers and hotdogs on the eve of Hospital Days to show appreciation for the support it received from the community.

In about 2000, organizers introduced a new Thursday-evening event to Hospital Days: Night of Praise, in which the local Kiwanis organization sponsored an inspirational music presentation from individuals, ensembles, or choirs. After an hour of entertaining music, Kiwanis members served pie with ice cream and coffee. The social hour, like the health center picnic, gave people a chance to socialize with neighbors and friends.

Parades were one of the most appealing elements of Hospital Days. Military veterans led the route carrying the American flag as well as American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VWF) flags. Spectators rose to attention as the flags passed by. The next unit was the noisemakers—fire trucks and ambulances. Individuals and married couples were honored for their service to the Westbrook community and invited to ride along the parade route in a vintage convertible. For many years, bands provided festive marching songs for the parade, but organizers removed them from the event’s schedule when the cost became prohibitive.

Some Hospital Days attractions appeared for a few consecutive years before disappearing. A partial list of by-gone entries includes mud wrestling, dunk tanks, rummage sales, one-act plays, and a comedy variety show patterned after the television show Hee Haw. Most Hospital Days included a pageant that named a young contestant “Miss Westbrook” or a similar title.

The last Hospital Days took place in 2001, after which organizers renamed it Westbrook Fun Days. The Westbrook Women’s Club sponsors the event and donates the funds it raises to maintaining community amenities like city parks and swimming pools.