LISBON FALLS — Jill Moxcey came to the Moxie Festival on Saturday seeking a family connection. With such an unusual surname, Moxcey, 61, of Tuftonboro, N.H., figured what better place to bump into a long-lost cousin or distant relative whose name identification would draw them, like her, to this town’s celebration of the soft drink of a similar name?

So, she inked her last name in bold black marker across the back of her bright orange Moxie T-shirt, under the catchphrase, “It’s wicked good!” in hopes of catching the eye of some far-flung aunt or uncle.

As of 2:30 p.m, she was still — to her knowledge — the only Moxcey in this quaint Maine town.

Although this was her first visit to the annual Moxie Festival, Moxcey said she grew up drinking the beverage because her father, Ralph, had given her the choice of drinking Moxie or Cel Ray, a celery soda.

“The Moxie tasted much better than the celery,” she said.

She plans to join the Moxie Congress and return to the annual festival next year.

The New England Moxie Congress, established in 1991, was in presence Saturday seeking refuge from the sun under one of the many tents that dotted downtown Lisbon Falls.

Merrill Lewis, the group’s president, said members entered their Moxie vehicles in Saturday’s parade and held a clambake while selling T-shirts and hats to raise money for the Moxie Museum in Union, where the founder of the then-medicinal tonic resided, Lewis said.

He said the drink as well as the Moxie “mystique” has a unique place in Americana.

The festival, now 33 years old, was launched after the Kennebec Fruit Company, better known as the Moxie store, on the corner of Main and Lisbon streets, held a book-signing for Frank Potter’s “The Moxie Mystique.”

Frank Anicetti, owner of the store, said he’s been drinking Moxie all of his life, beginning when it was a more potent product, back when it was bottled in Auburn.

“It’s not as bitter or heavily carbonated today as it used to be,” he said. “At that time, you would never open a bottle warm. If you opened that bottle warm, because of the carbonation, half of it would be on your ceiling, just that quick.”

His grandfather opened the store in 1913. It became the Moxie store in 1982.

Organizers estimate as many as 40,000 people will attend the three-day event, Lewis said. The festival is part of the annual Moxie Week celebration, he said, noting other destination points in Maine that will pay tribute to the drink as well as the “mystique” surrounding it.

Its inventor, Dr. Augustin Thompson, born in Union, produced the drink in Lowell, Mass., and patented it in 1885 as the country’s first bottled soft drink. He did so under the name Moxie Nerve Food, Lewis said.

Jim Jansen of Shelton, Conn., was on hand at the store Saturday, dressed as “The Moxie Boy” and fielding trivia questions as the official historian of the New England Moxie Congress.

The name Moxie, Jansen said, derived from a lieutenant whom Thompson knew in the Civil War.

“The records show nobody with that name,” Jansen said. Thompson said Lt. Moxie discovered the main ingredient of the elixir, gentian root, in South America, according to Jansen. But that root actually comes from the mountainous region between France and Spain, Jansen said. 

“I suspect Dr. Thompson’s story was all made up to protect his product,” Jansen said. “There were many imitators of Moxie soda in the early days, in the late 1800s. Moxie was so popular, that there were a lot of imitators. There were sodas called Noxie, Proxie, Foxie.”

“It was guaranteed to cure everything from halitosis to hang-nails,” he said with a laugh.

The only other Moxie branded item is Moxie jelly, which was featured at one of the many festival tables lining Main Street on Saturday. Ray’s Mustard in Eastport makes Moxie mustard, Lewis said.

“Over the years, Moxie has tried doing candy in lozenge forms,” Lewis said. “They’ve had bubble gum. They’ve tried other things, but when it all boils down, it’s gotta be the drink. It’s gotta be Moxie.”

For Beau Bradstreet of Bridgewater, it was about the drink.

In fact, the five-time champion gulped three liters of the fizzy stuff in two minutes to best a field of 10 contestants at the annual Moxie chugging contest, netting $50 cash and two cases of the canned drink.

Other festivities Saturday included a morning parade, a road race, book and bake sales and a firemen’s muster.

Anicetti explained the Moxie mystique: “When a kid, 7 years old can sit down with a senior citizen and reminisce and talk about what is going on, it brings togetherness to the people. Peace, harmony and happiness.”