LEWISTON — An afternoon storm shower persuaded July 4 fireworks organizers in Lewiston, Oxford and Rumford to postpone their shows until Thursday.
Rumford Town Manager Carlo Puiia said Wednesday’s wet storm had passed through Rumford leaving a clear forecast for the rest of the night.
“But it drove so many people home, they figured there wouldn’t be anybody left,” Puiia said. “We only have about 1,000 people out there now. It makes more sense to do it when we can have a bigger crowd.”
Liberty Festival organizers made a similar decision, postponing the Twin Cities program at about 7:35 p.m., as the storm worked its way through Lewiston.
“We had a lot of people leaving already, and we’ve put so much money time and effort in so far, we didn’t want to let it go to waste,” said Cathy McDonald, representative for the Liberty Festival.
Lewiston-Auburn’s celebration will begin again at 6 p.m. Thursday.
“We’ll have everything then,” she said. “Food, music, games and fireworks. We’ll do it all on Thursday.”
Weather forecasts were watching a warm front throughout the day as it passed over Central Maine, bringing rain showers and setting off flood warnings throughout the area.”
Liberty Festival events kicked off at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday with live music on either side of the Great Falls, in Veterans Park in Lewiston and Great Falls Plaza in Auburn.
The storm swept through Lewiston-Auburn on schedule, drenching festival-goers at about 7 p.m. Many gave up and went home, others sought shelter and waited out the storm.
Oxford Plains Speedway fireworks display organizers scheduled July 5 as the rain date. Races also are set for Thursday.
Organizers in the Carrabassett Valley say the weather at show time will determine if they’re display will go off. If it’s raining, there will be no display.
Turner organizers say they’re display will go on, rain or shine.
staylor@sunjournal.com
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