HOULTON, Maine — A picture-perfect day drew a good crowd to downtown Houlton Saturday morning for the fifth annual Harvest Festival celebration.
Typically organized by the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce, the Harvest Festival was turned over to the Community Market group this year and was held in conjunction with the that group’s “Customer Appreciation Day.”
“We really felt that it was a better fit for the Community Market so the Chamber turned control over to them,” explained Jane Torres, chamber director. “As a Community Market event, it was decided to hold all of the activities right here in Market Square, as opposed to down in Riverfront Park.”
A pie raffle was held to benefit Riverfront Park and featured a variety of tasty pies, including raspberry, apple, pumpkin and an apple-blackberry pie. Proceeds from that sale will go toward funding projects in the park, such as the wind spinner sculpture that was erected in the park this past summer.
An open-air market featuring locally-grown-and-produced items, including vegetables, meats, cheese, baked goods, plants, and crafts, the mission of Houlton’s Community Market is to provide the local community with high quality products and to offer market members a venue for marketing and selling their goods.
Founded in 2009, the Houlton Community Market provides an opportunity for residents and visitors to northern Maine to purchase locally-grown-and-produced items, ranging from veggies, baked goods, and cheese to starter plants, jewelry.
This summer, thanks to a federal grant, debit/credit card and EBT purchases were made possible through the addition of an online payment device.
Angie Wotton, one of the many vendors with a booth Saturday, has been selling products at the Community Market all summer and said business has been brisk.
“It’s been a wonderful summer,” Wotton said. “We’ve had quite a variety of vendors and there has been some really great music. Weather wise, I think there was only one Saturday that it rained.”
That Saturday was back during the Fourth of July weekend when a freak hail storm rolled through Aroostook County.
The event was not entirely without issue as the Houlton Police Department was called to the festival after one local business owner complained about traffic being closed on one side of Market Square.
According to Torres, the Harvest Festival had obtained all the necessary permits to close that portion of the street, which allowed for customers to roam freely and for children to be able to do activities such as pumpkin painting and chalk artwork on the road.
“For the most part businesses, downtown businesses were supportive,” Torres added. “Temple Cinemas is letting us use their parking lot and the other businesses have also been supportive because it is bringing people downtown.”
The final day for Houlton’s Community Market is Saturday, Oct. 8.
