BUCKFIELD — After a two-year hiatus, Community Day will return next month, and organizers are looking for people to participate in and help with the festivities.
Community Day Committee Chairwoman Eileen Hotham said recently that the six-person committee was re-formed in March and has been ironing out the details.
The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7.
The last Community Day was held in 2012.
“In 2013, it got rained out, and in 2014, there wasn’t enough (people) on the committee — there was just me,” Hotham said. “I decided I couldn’t do it by myself. And then when people saw there wasn’t one because of that, that’s when everyone had a bird and decided to step up.”
Hotham said a few volunteers, including a town employee, have come forward to help this year.
A parade will kick off the day’s festivities. Assembly is at 9 a.m. at the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, 160 Morrill St. The parade steps off at 10 a.m. and will travel down Morrill Street, left onto Turner Street and end at the Municipal Building at 34 Turner St.
“The parade is the big thing and we have floats that we judge,” Hotham said.
Organizers will also judge horses in the parade.
New this year, children of all ages are invited to decorate their bikes and ride in the parade. The parade will pick them up at the John D. Long American Legion at 90 Morrill St.
There’s no fee to participate, she said.
Afterward, parade vehicles will be on display on the ball field behind the Municipal Building. Attendees may visit the food and craft vendors set up in the field, and DJ Frosty Fever will spin tunes throughout the festivities.
Hotham wanted to focus on children’s activities for the celebration.
“It was getting to the point where kids wouldn’t come because there was nothing for them to do,” she said.
This year, there will be a bouncy house and a pinata for children.
Selectmen appropriated $2,500 early this year to put on the festival. It was money left over from years past, Hotham said.
A Chinese auction will also be held to raise money for the festival. Hotham and committee members have been securing donations from local businesses to raffle off.
A duck race in a duck pond will be a fundraiser to keep Community Day alive.
Hotham is also seeking volunteers to help set up on Sunday, Sept. 6.
“The day before, we have to line the field where the different vendors are going to be,” she said.
Volunteers and vendors may visit the Municipal Building or call 336-2521 for more information.
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