Hazel Wildes will forever be the Queen of the Kennebunkport Dump Association. Where Ed Mayo conceived the idea to make littering uncool in Kennebunkport Hazel gave the movement everlasting heart. She was awarded the first Miss Dumpy crown in 1966 at the Nonantum and was mentor to every Miss Dumpy that succeeded her. The Annual Miss Dumpy Competition, often held at the Shawmut Inn, was one of the highlights of National Dump Week.

Hazel was quoted in a 1976 interview for Salt Magazine. “Yeah, I love to perform and if I can look the worst of anybody in town, I’d love to do it. I had a potato sack for a dress. I took some fringe to put around the bottom of it. Then I connected all kinds of cans and I had plastic forks for a necklace around my neck. I had everything twisted with all these twisters, you know. I had this little old hat with a bird’s nest on top.”

I recently gave a presentation about the Dump Association to a fabulous group of people who remembered the parades and competitions well. They shared some trashy stories and some heartwarming memories about Hazel. Among the people at the presentation was Hazel Wildes’ nephew, Billy Cummings. He brought his aunt’s vast collection of Dump memorabilia, newspaper clippings and photographs. Following the slideshow, Billy generously donated the entire Hazel Wildes Collection to the Kennebunkport Historical Society.

Many thanks to Laura Benson Parsons for helping me transport and inventory the “new” collection, which includes a bottle of Eau de Dump Cologne, Bicentennial Dump Medals, pins, patches, bumper stickers, lyrics to the anti-liter protest song, Miss Dumpy sashes, and the pièce de resistance, the actual National Dump Week trophies awarded in 1967 and 1968.