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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing Article Summaries |
A Summer Full of Festivals
by Esther J. Perne 2009: This is the summer to take in a festival, to join all, some or simply one part of an annual tradition that unites businesses, volunteers, communities and guests, to relax in the celebration of the day, to enjoy the spirit of sociability. What better reason to plan an outing, to collect family or friends or take time alone to visit a setting devoted to festivities but also with other discoveries to offer. What better reason to pack a picnic, pocket the ice cream money, park and walk. It's mid-June aleady. Some of the season's festivals — National Trails Day, Maine's Fiber Frolic, the Kennebec River's celebration of Spring Running, Memorial Day observances, the Mount Vernon Car Show are past — and well worth remembering for next year's calendar. 
But, look what's yet to come! Whatever Family Festival starts in Augusta, Gardiner, Hallowell — and lasts two weeks! The Smithfield Fire Department holds its annual Chicken Barbecue. Skowhegan stages Riverfest '09. July arrives. The 4th is a holiday of great celebrations everywhere, especially Winthrop and Winslow and Augusta and Belgrade Lakes. Food, fun, a 5K and much more mark this special day. Waterville festivities begin: the Maine International Film Festival, the downtown Sidewalk Art Show, the "Taste." Mount Vernon holds its Craft Fair, Hallowell — Old Hallowell Day, Farmington its Art in the Park, Vienna its famous One Act Plays, and the popular Open Farm Day statewide. August: it's blueberry time — a festival in Wilton, Old Home day in Mercer, a summer festival in Readfield, Bean Hole Beans and Loon Calling in Belgrade, Maine Farm Days (usually in Clinton) — the list goes on and on, and on. There are other celebrations, too, throughout the summer — weekly free concerts, town by town and at New England Music Camp in Sidney, weekly free horse shows at Skowhegan Fairgrounds, free art shows everywhere in galleries and restaurants and stores. And almost everywhere, children are welcome — welcome, too, to romp in the open spaces and playgrounds near many of the festivals. Free is great; it is a trademark of the area's summer festivities. But, there is also the reward of the splurge. The small splurge — car shows, museum admissions, The festivals do not end; the season does. Now, while the weather is gracious, the attending easy, it is time to join a summer full of festivals. | ||