The city’s annual festival is shaping up to be another memorable weekend.
The 36th annual Westbrook Together Days festival returns next weekend, and organizers are hoping it will again attract large crowds to Riverbank Park for the two-day event.
Kicking off Friday, May 29, Westbrook’s annual prelude to summer will have all the usual events – live entertainment, a carnival, parade, 5K run, and more – culminating with fireworks Saturday, May 30.
The Westbrook-Gorham Community Chamber, which organizes the event, is pulling together last-minute details this week for the 15,000-20,000 people the festival usually sees.
Dennis Dalton, the president of the chamber, said Tuesday that the chamber has tried to emphasize the live entertainment at the festival for the last few years. This is Dalton’s first Together Days as chamber president; last year he was vice president.
Headlining this year’s festival are the Bob Charest Band on Friday and Motor Booty Affair on Saturday.
“We wanted to make sure the entertainment is as impactful and exciting as it has been in previous years,” he said, adding that the Saturday finale of Motor Booty Affair and the fireworks is possibly the largest draw.
Dalton said this year’s fireworks display will also be even larger than last year. Idexx Laboratories has partnered with fireworks company Atlas PyroVison Entertainment Group.
“It will be a huge display,” he said.
Westbrook Together Days moved its date last year to the last weekend in May in response to Portland Old Port Festival schedule changes. However, Dalton said, there was no impact on attendance.
For this years’ parade, taking place Saturday at 10 a.m., the emphasis will be on well-known Westbrook faces.
Parade organizers are calling the theme “Famous Westbrook,” and are inviting participants to design floats, costumes, signs, or banners celebrating well-known Westbrook residents, from esteemed authors to musicians or even a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
The theme of the parade, said, Dick Durgin, who has been on the parade committee for three years, but has volunteered for Together Days much longer, celebrates the people of Westbrook and also Westbrook’s revitalization. Durgin said that as the city goes through a facelift, organizers want to recognize those who have given the city a good name.
“The city seems to be alive with activity, and seems to be rediscovering itself,” he said. “So it’s a celebration of not just the public face, but the face of the city itself.”
Durgin said Tuesday that the parade feels “light” compared to past years, but is looking for more applications to come in this week. He said there is always a strong core of participants, such as the Westbrook School Department, which make the parade special.
Durgin said it may also feel light because last year’s parade was combined with the city’s annual Memorial Day Parade and a special parade celebrating the city’s bicentennial celebration. This year, the Memorial Day Parade is separate, and will be held Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m.
Former longtime City Clerk Lynda Adams will be serving as the grand marshal for the parade. Durgin said her work for the city as well as her involvement in Together Days has been “outstanding.”
“We’re pretty excited to have her as grand marshal this year,” he said.
Parade line-up will begin at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday. The parade begins on Lincoln Street, heads down Bridge Street and continues up Main Street, where it ends at Riverbank Park.
?Westbrook’s Together Days parade – this is from 2013 – is always a crowd?-pleaser. File photo
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