Washburn will welcome alumni and visitors this weekend for its 44th August Festival.
The Washburn Rotary Club organizes the event, slated from Friday to Sunday. This year’s theme is “Neighbors Creating Community Spirit.”
The annual parade on Saturday will have seven grand marshals this year, a first for the town. All received the club’s first Citizen Appreciation Award. They are Mike Umphrey, Larry and Linda Bragg, Alan “Butch” Thompson, Rodney Corey, Charlie Durost and Lavina Corey.
Robin and Darlene Paradis of Perham are the festival’s king and queen, and will have places of honor at several events. Both attended Perham and Washburn schools. Robin served in the Air Force, spending most of his career at the former Loring Air Force Base.
Early in Robin’s career, the couple moved back to Perham, where the Paradises have raised their family. They were founding members of the Washburn Trailrunners Snowmobile Club.
Robin serves as a Perham Select Board member and was road commissioner. He is a 25-year member of the Maine Powerchute Association. His hobbies have included snowmobiling, RVing and building their summer camp.
Darlene worked in insurance and at the Washburn post office, and also served as a Perham school board representative. Her hobbies are reading, flower gardening and birdwatching.
They enjoy traveling and wintering in Florida.
Festival events will kick off at 5 p.m. on Friday with the annual Washburn High School potluck alumni banquet. Anyone who attended the school and their guests are welcome. Social hour starts at 5 p.m. and the dinner at 6 p.m.
Mill Pond Park will host activities also starting at 5 p.m., including a free hot dog roast, a beer garden and a concert by the Presque Isle Community Band. A community glow walk and run for all ages will start at 8:30 p.m. Registration begins at 7.
Saturday will start with breakfast at the Trailrunners Clubhouse from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. A craft fair is slated at the elementary school parking lot, and the annual quilt show is at the elementary school gym. Both open at 8 a.m.
The 4th annual Dana Woodman Classic/Vintage/Antique Car and Truck Show is in the school parking lot from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the Salmon Brook Historical Society Museum also opens at 9 a.m.
Lineup will start at 8:30 a.m. at the high school parking lot for the parade, which will get underway at 10 a.m.
After the parade, activities will include a pinewood derby for all ages, kids carnival, music from The County Folk and the World War II Traveling Museum.
The Washburn Memorial Library’s Books and Baskets fundraiser will raffle off baskets donated by local businesses. People can visit the library to buy tickets on their favorites, with winners drawn at noon on Saturday.
A 1 p.m. ceremony at Washburn’s Veterans Memorial Park will mark the installation of the park’s newest monument, a bronze German shepherd statue that will pay tribute to the military dogs of Loring.
The Methodist Church will host a pig roast from 4 to 6 p.m., and on Main Street Washburn band Crimson Hearts will play at 5 p.m. and Star City Syndicate will perform at 6 p.m.
Events will end with a fireworks show at 9 p.m.
The historical society museum will be open for visitors on Sunday.
For a complete schedule and information, visit the Washburn August Festival on Facebook.
