Janice Fogg made the cole slaw; Sandra Winters, the egg salad. “And I vacuumed,” said Winters, of Wiscasset, smiling. The sergeant at arms for American Legion Post 54 of Wiscasset’s auxiliary has been a member nearly half a century. She, Fogg, Wiscasset-raised and now of Freeport, and other auxiliary members joined the Legion’s veterans in putting on an open house and cookout Saturday at the post’s hall on Bath Road.

They got a beautiful day for it. “I can’t even see a cloud,” Post 54 Commander William Cossette Jr. said, looking up.

“It’s fabulous,” Winters said.

The event had two goals, Cossette said inside the hall later. One was to continue to try to attract new members; the other involved all the improvements the post has made to the hall, including a new metal roof he said Brunswick Steel provided at a big discount. The event showed the public the building and thanked all the members who spent years working on it, he said.

Cossette said they broke out an interior wall, put in new sills, windows and doors, partitioned off the kitchen, replaced a spiral staircase with a regular one, put on vinyl siding and got a Home Depot grant for a new, hardwood-looking laminate floor, including installation. “That was a huge help for us because we were out of money,” he added.

“I think after 10 years of work, all the guys are pretty happy with it,” he said about the hall. Next is the storage building, including all the sorting of its contents, Cossette said.

Cossette’s son Warren Cossette of Wiscasset is not a member but turned out in support. “I think everyone should support the Legion. They’ve done everything for us, serving their country, and now it’s our turn to honor them. All these people are hometown heroes.”

Post Chaplain Dale Skillin, tongs in hand grilling hot dogs, said the Legion needs new members statewide for their fresh ideas. “And we need to reach out to our newer veterans, who just got out ... so they can understand their VA benefits, and how the Legion can actually help.”

Dresden’s Diane Munsey, secretary-treasurer of the post’s auxiliary, said its dues are $22 a year. The Legion’s are $40, Cmdr. Cossette said. Members said later, they picked up a new member at the open house and a prospective auxiliary member.