Harvest Festival blends family fun with historical significance

By Ed Pierce

As the season changes to autumn and crisp fall temperatures arrive in the Lakes Region of Maine, Village Green in Windham Center will be alive with the sights, sounds and flavors of fall during the annual Harvest Festival hosted by the Windham Historical Society on Saturday, Oct. 4.

Contestants compete in the sack race at last year's Harvest
Festival, sponsored by the Windham Historical Society at
Village Green in Windham. This year's festival will run 
from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4.
COURTESY PHOTO 

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Village Green, 234 Windham Center Road in Windham and is jam-packed with fun, activities and something for everyone.

“It really is a family-focused day where people can have fun while learning a bit about Windham's very rich history,” said Haley Pal of the Windham Historical Society.

Among things to do this year are to view an antique car show with Model Ts and Model As, take a tour of Community Booths sponsored by Age-Friendly Windham, Windham Parks and Recreation and the Windham Public Library.

Pal said for children there will be old-fashioned relay races including a potato sack race, an eggs on a spoon race, and a three-legged race. Kids will be able to guess how many candy corns are in a jar, participate in a coloring contest and bob for donuts.

Both adults and kids can take part in the Harvest Festival’s annual Pie Eating Contest, which is among the event’s most popular activities year in and year out.

Participants can also compete for prizes in Pumpkin Bowling, and the entire family can join a Scavenger Hunt to locate one or two clues in each Windham Historical Society buildings that are situated on the grounds of Village Green. Pal says that members of the Windham Parks and Recreation Department have partnered with the historical society in helping to stage all the games at this year’s Harvest Festival.

There will be a Vendor Fair at the festival where a variety of crafters and other vendors will be selling goods they have made.

“Among the makers, we have a potter, a jewelry maker, a woodworker, and a doggie treat company,” Pal said. “There is a rock artist, a sign-maker, a card/paper product maker, a woman specializing in wreaths and wind chimes, and one who makes sewn products.”

One of the vendor booths will be reserved for Maine Authors Publishing and three authors are scheduled to be on hand to meet the public and discuss their books including Dr. Nancy Creighton Collins (“The Perfectly Impatient Potter”), Edith Netter (“The House of Schumannstrasse 7”), and Kathy Eliscu (“Brain Tumor: A Love Story.”

“Friends Church will also have a booth filled with nostalgic favorites like baked goods, pickles, relishes, jam, jellies, handsewn products, and more,” Pal said.

The festival will have a White Elephant Sale featuring gently used items such as housewares, jewelry, and holiday decorations up for sale and food will be available all day long.

“We will be cooking and selling burgers and hot dogs,” Pal said. “This year, Poppies Kettle Corn will be on hand as well with snacks and we also will have a dessert table where we're selling cookies for just $1 each.”

Musical Entertainment in the morning will have the Lakes Region Strummers performing. The Stummers are a ukelele group who play casual, feel-good tunes that invite folks to gather, tap their toes, and enjoy the moment.

At noon, the Windham Middle School Eighth Grade Orchestra will take the stage under the direction of WMS Orchestra and Band Teacher Morgan Riley. Band members earned the highest rating of “Superior” in competition at the Trills & Thrills Music Festival in Nashua, New Hampshire in June.

During the afternoon, the Saco River Jazz Band, a group of volunteer musicians, will perform classic tunes from the “Big Band Era,” of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s and sure to please all who attend the festival.

Tours of Historic Buildings located on the Village Green grounds will be conducted by Windham Historical Society members and will showcase The Old Grocery Store displaying authentic rural mercantile of the late 19th century, The Village School, a one-room schoolhouse with the historical society’s schoolmarm, Miss Hawkes (Paula Sparks) doing lessons, and The Hearse House where an old horse-drawn town hearse is housed. There will also be tours available for The Windham Center Library and The South Windham Library and Railroad Museum.

“The Windham Historical Society’s Blacksmith Shop is not quite finished inside, but our resident blacksmith, Sam Simonson, will be doing demonstrations at the festival,” Pal said.

Festival participants will also be able to visit and tour the Old Town House which once served as Windham’s Town Hall.

“People can step in and take a look at the renovations done to date there,” Pal said.

Currently the historical society is organizing a capital campaign to seek donations for further renovation work on the Old Town House, which was not only Windham’s original Town Hall, but also served as a school for many years, and is now the historical society’s headquarters building.

The Old Town House building was remodeled about 60 years ago to address cosmetic and structural issues with the building. At that time, a raised floor system was installed with a wood-framed suspended ceiling and wall paneling. It covered up some issues with the building things up but didn’t fit the ambiance of an 1833 structure. Planned renovation work will restore the original 19th century structure and create a building consistent with that era.

In the event of rain, the Harvest Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. <

Windham Summerfest returns June 22 for 34th year

By Kaysa Jalbert

Summerfest makes its way back to Windham on Saturday, June 22 taking on the theme “Summerfest Turns Back Time.” New to this year’s Summerfest is an updated parade route designed to give participants the best views and the best parade experience from start to finish.

The parade route for this year's Summerfest is different and
starts at noon June 22 from Stadium Drive at Windham Center
Road, proceeds up School Road, turns right onto Route 202
and finishes on the Windham High School grounds.
FILE PHOTO

This year’s Summerfest is a free event for everyone to enjoy live music and activities, to support local vendors and non-profit food booths, and is packed with many more features to bring the community together.

Parade floats will be based on this year’s theme. Float-makers can be as creative as they choose, but will be judged on specific criteria such as, best depiction of the 2024 theme, best depiction of Summerfest principle of “Bringing Unity to The Community,” most creative, most entertaining, and the judges’ choice.

The parade kicks off at noon on June 22 from Stadium Drive at Windham Center Road and will proceed up School Road to take a right onto Route 202. Staging areas will be at Public Works and Stadium Drive Parking lot. The parade finishes at 1 p.m. on the Windham High School grounds.

“We are excited about this new route and feel it will make it easier for our guests to enjoy every aspect of this exciting parade,” says Windham Summerfest committee co-chair Deb Matthews.

In addition to announcing the new parade route, Matthews said that this year’s Summerfest Grand Marshal will be Rich Drummond, the athletic director for RSU 14.

All the Summerfest booths will be open for the parade and continue into the evening. There will be community booths for local non-profits to share their good works, and the food booths operated by non-profits as a means of fundraising.

The Summerfest business expo is mostly local, and they provide fun activities for attendees while the crafter vendor area provides a wide variety of items for purchase.

“We have so many amazing sponsors that have provided us the ability to offer this event to our community for free,” said Matthews.

More fun and active features included will be a rock wall, two escape rooms, and an inflatable village.

For special guest entertainment, juggler Jason Tardy will perform and address topics such as what is bullying, the roles bystanders play in bullying, how to become an upstander and help fellow students, and what to do if you are bullied. He will also describe his own personal struggle with bullying and how he overcame it.

Other Summerfest performers will include a magician, balloon twisting, Mad Science, and tons of music. Musical performances include Jimmy Macisso playing on the Main Stage at 1 p.m., the Get on Up Band on the Main Stage from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Dave Debree performing on the George Hall Memorial Stage from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

An Amateur Radio Relay League will be appearing at this year’s Summerfest in which members from the Wireless Society of Southern Maine, WSSM, will be setting-up field day operations in the ballfields directly behind the main Summerfest event venue. Throughout the day and evening, anyone, young or old, is welcome to join the team of ham operators to learn more about Amateur Radio and participate in making radio contact with operators in other distant locations.

Summerfest 2024 will also host a 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament that starts at 2 p.m. and is open to anyone between the ages of 5 and 18. In addition, the Golf Ball drop sponsored by the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce will start at 5 p.m. To end the evening, fireworks will be launched at 9:30 p.m. from the Main Stage.

“I feel all our events connect with our attendees. It is so important to the Summerfest Committee and me that we offer this to our community as a free family friendly event,” says Matthews. “I want your whole family to attend with you. I want you to spend the day, and if you cannot afford to spend any money pack a picnic lunch and relax. Watching the kids’ faces, seeing how happy the grandparents are to wave to grandchildren while they run and play, seeing Mom and Dad and the joy they get from these sweet moments.”

Every year presents a new challenge to the Summerfest Committee whether in booking all the acts or coordinating with the town, police, fire department and schools, or just hoping for good weather. According to Matthews, however, the biggest challenge remains in fundraising.

“We changed our sponsorship model last year and had great success,” she said. “We also keep an eye on the sky, fingers crossed and pray for sunshine.”

Matthews says the event will be full of vendors and booths and that annual public attendance for Summerfest runs between 2,500 to 4,000 people.

The Windham Summerfest Committee has been working on this year’s celebration since last June and its members include Deb Matthews, Tommy Matthews, Barb Maurais, Jacob Chouinard, Karen Rumo, and Camille Swander. <