Festival schedule
7 a.m.: Pancake breakfast at St Anne’s Church
8:30: Gorham Trails 5K Road Race
9 a.m.-5 p.m.: Yard sale at St Anne’s
10: Parade
11: Festival opens
11:30 Sign up for frog jumping contest at the gazebo
12 p.m.: Frog jumping contest
1: Centre of Movement, drumming, jazz demo, tap show
2: Dance Studio of Maine, Hip hop
3: Mike Silvestri, instrumental guitar
4: Bill Malloy, Sierra House Band
4:30-7:30: Chicken barbecue
5: Cow chip bingo
8-9: Street dance, in parking lot of Narragansett School
9:15: Fireworks
9:30: Family movie near gazebo
9:30-11: Street dance, in parking lot of Narragansett School
Rides only Sunday, noon-12-4 p.m.
Gorham Recreation Department will accept registrations for the parade or for a booth on Friday. Those interested should call 222-1630.
For those who like food, fun, fireworks and frogs – and who doesn’t – Gorham’s Summer Festival is the place to be.
A full day of festivities on Saturday begins early. Fairgoers can fill up with a pancake breakfast before watching the parade and attending the festival.
The festival events will be held at St. Anne’s Church, 299 Main St.; lawn at the Public Safety Building, 270 Main St., and the adjacent Narragansett School. There’ll be dancing in the street in the evening and fireworks, along with a film that winds up festivities.
The festival is known for some unusual events. Last year, nearly 1,500 people donned Groucho glasses, eyebrows, noses and mustaches, earning a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. This year, a frog-jumping contest with prizes will be a festival highlight. The contest even has its own arena. Registration of frogs will be at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and the frogs will jump at noon.
“Bring your own frog,” Gorham Recreation Director Cindy Hazelton said Tuesday.
Festival activities are sandwiched by a variety of festival food. Two full two meals will be served – one at the church and another at Central Fire Station.
The Knights of Columbus sponsors the pancake breakfast served 7-10 a.m. at the church, kicking off the festivities. The menu includes scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage, coffee, juice and milk. Cost is $5, $2.50; or $15, family.
Besides plenty of food in booths at the festival, which opens at 11 a.m., Gorham Fire Department serves up a chicken barbecue dinner 4:30-7 p.m. at Central Fire Station. The menu includes chicken or two hot dogs, cole slaw and pasta salad, corn on the cob and beverage. Cost is $8, $4; child under 5 with a paying adult, free hot dog, chips and drink.
Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre, who will help grill, expects about 500 people for the barbecue. “It’s something the department does for the community to show appreciation,” Lefebvre said.
The bulk of the proceeds from the barbecue goes toward funding the fireworks at 9:15 p.m.
The festival parade will form at the Village School on Robie Street at 9 a.m. and starts one hour later. Units include public safety color guards, fire trucks, tractors and Scout groups. Hazelton said decorated bikes for the parade would be judged at 9:15 a.m. Hazelton said the Gorham softball team for ages under 16 that will play next month in the Babe Ruth World Series in Texas will be in the parade. The parade finishes at the Public Safety Building.
About 45 vendors are expected at the festival, which features continuing entertainment at the gazebo. Other Saturday activities include a yard sale at St. Anne’s, a 5K road race and a wiffle ball home run derby in the teen activity zone.
Sponsored by Gorham Savings Bank, Common Ground Band will rock ‘n’ roll for a street dance 8-9 p.m. and 9:30-11 p.m. in the parking lot at Narragansett School. A family “drive-in” movie, courtesy of Nicely’s Video, will be shown at 9:30 p.m. near the gazebo.
Hazelton said the festival is taking shape and her department was a flurry of activity earlier this week. “We need a little weather cooperation,” Hazelton said.
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