What I quickly learned on the job was
trust your volunteers, trust your gut and
pray for good weather. The Maine Potato
Blossom Festival Organizing Committee was
invaluable in guiding me as we looked at what
is working and at what could be improved.
There were numerous offers of support, and
a formidable team of event organizers in
place willing to make sure their component
of the Festival is taken care of. We made
some changes, invested in the infrastructure
of the event and added more performances.
The results were larger crowds and building
momentum since the fireworks finale echoed
through the river valley.
We’ll have even more new offerings this year,
like the first-ever International Tater Tot
Eating Competition, and a slew of bands
from throughout Maine and New England
will take the Festival Main Stage for four
nights this year, but many things will also
remain the same. Friends from far and wide
will return to their roots, visit like no time has
passed, and town will become a city – if only
for a week. We’ll enjoy traditional events like
potato picking or mashed potato wrestling.
We’ll eat too much fried dough and sample
some of the creative new potato-based menu
items in the food court. And, without trying,
we’ll create new memories that will be sparked
by a smell or a sound in the distant future,
and wonder why something so simple made
such as lasting impression.
Each Festival is different, but it is up to us to
determine our role in the event. That may be
the biggest lesson I’ve learned from my years
as an attendee and my brief stint as director,
the level of engagement and effort you put
into something directly impacts what you
get out of it. I have now experienced the
Maine Potato Blossom Festival as a child,
as an adult, as a parent and as the event
director – and my love for the Festival only
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SUMMER 2016
continues to grow. I certainly put more into
the Festival now than I ever did, and while it
leaves little room to relax, I reap the rewards
of that effort knowing that all that hard work
is influencing how others enjoy the event and
view our community.
Maybe that is part of growing older, gaining
perspective on who I am, and what I am
interested in at this stage in my life. As
a parent, I get to relive the wonder the
Festival instilled in me as a child, and to be
goofy and silly and ingest way too much
sugar. As an adult, I get to enjoy some of
my favorite bands with some of my favorite
people. As the Festival Director, I get to see
a year’s worth of work and planning put into
motion, building in intensity over nine days,
yet over in just a blink of an eye. Much like
the parade that passes by my parent’s house,
full of noise, color and fun, each Maine
Potato Blossom Festival leaves its imprint on
the past. Knowing that is good for my soul,
and why there is no better week of the year in
our community than the one which ends on
the third Sunday in July.