MADAWASKA, Maine – The Madawaska Beautification Committee’s annual Fall Fest is set to return on Sept. 21, but this year’s event will be set in a new location with some additions.
While the festival is normally held at the town’s Farmer’s Market at the Midtown Plaza, it was relocated due to a large-scale construction project taking place for a new Fish River Rural Health facility.
It was moved this year to the town’s Forever Young Club at the senior citizens center, which is located on 105 11th Avenue. Here, four large tents will be set up and feature several crafters and vendors. The committee will also host its bake sale there.
Committee President Sandra Deprey said the fall fest, in addition to celebrating the town’s scenic locations and local vendors, is also one of the committee’s major annual fundraising events. They raise money through the bake sale and also via $30 vendor and crafter sign-up fees.
Vendors can also choose to set up along Main Street between Valley Pet Grooming on 250 Main Street and the St. John Valley Chamber of Commerce on 356 Main Street.
The committee also hopes to showcase their umbrella sky display across the street from Robert’s Jewelry on 312 Main Street. The project will involve about 32 umbrellas hanging in the air, and encourage people to stop and socialize. Deprey said a similar project took place in Bangor earlier this year.
The committee, through previous fundraising efforts, raised money to buy “rock speakers,” which will be able to connect to wi-fi and bluetooth and allow for music to be played throughout town for the festival. Deprey said the speakers are shaped like rocks, and will be synced together.
At the same time, the St. John Valley Chamber of Commerce will also host a Fall Fest Community Wide Yard Sale on both Sept. 21 and 22. The sale will encompass homes in not just Madawaska, but St. David, Grand Isle, Frenchville, St. Agatha, Sinclair, Van Buren, and Cyr Plantation. Yard sale registration is $20. The deadline for the yard sale registration is Sept. 13.
Fall fest registration ends on Sept. 16. More information, including registration forms, can be found on the committee’s social media at facebook.com/townunited.
“Quite a lot of new things are happening,” Deprey said, “and we’re excited about it.”
