Calais cross-border festival fosters friendship

CALAIS – Pack your lunch, pick up the kids and head for the 28th annual International Festival.

The opening ceremony will be 6 p.m. Friday with the International Friendship Handshake Ceremony on the Ferry Point Bridge.

Each year, local, federal, state and provincial officials from both sides of the border demonstrate the friendship between Canada and the United States, as well as the communities of Calais and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, by meeting and greeting one another at the center of the bridge on the St. Croix River. The ceremony is designed to connect with this year’s theme: “It’s Great to Have You Home Again.”

St. Stephen and Calais have shared a common border and an international friendship for nearly two centuries.

The organizers, who are from both sides of the border, work the entire year preparing for the weeklong event that includes pageants, concerts, parades and other events, ending with the traditional fireworks at the close of the show, on Aug. 12.

During the week, the population in both communities almost doubles as family and class reunions revolve around the festival.

And there is a new event this year.

On Aug. 12, Main Street business owner Melissa Royer and her husband, Carl Royer, have planned “Sunday Fun Day.” The eight-hour event will be held at the downtown triangle. R.H. Foster Inc., which owns the land, has agreed to let the community use the site. It will include a day of entertainment with four musicians, as well as games and prizes for youngsters.

Royer explained why she decided to plan the event. She said last year’s events ended early, and people found there wasn’t much else to do as they waited for the fireworks display. It was then that Royer came up with the idea of the Sunday Fun Day. She said she also wanted to do something for her community.

When she contacted the organizers of the festival, they agreed the fun-day concept was a great idea. The Fritz Company, a local export-import brokerage house where her husband works, helped fund the event with a large donation.

The vendors will be on site at noon, and the music begins at 2 p.m. The concerts are free. Musical entertainment will include the Laurie Jones Band, Les Rios, Tommy Gun and Melissa Cushing. Jones is from Lubec; Rios lives in Nova Scotia and Vermont; Gun is from Boston; and Cushing is from Eastport.

“We wanted to get some different styles,” Royer said. “What’s really neat is that Laurie had never met Les and Tommy, and they all decided … they would jam with each other and do some stuff together and do some stuff separately,” she said.

Other festival events will include the Everett Meader Memorial Golf Tournament. It will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5, at the St. Croix Country Club. For nondivot-makers, a kayak and canoe rally will begin behind the Calais Free Library at the same time. The participants will paddle down the St. Croix River.

Additional highlights include the Chocolate Museum Tour and the Chocolate Adventure walk in St. Stephen. The adventure includes a tour of the Chocolate Museum and a guided walking tour of the town’s buildings that relate to the history of the Ganong candy factory. The tour will run all week.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9, the annual Concert in the Park will be held at the Main Street Park. A festival favorite, Shelley King of Austin, Texas, dubbed “Austin’s first lady of song,” will perform.

King grew up singing gospel music and attending church revivals. Today her music is a blend of country and blues.

Saturday, Aug. 11, the events will begin at 6 a.m. with the Calais Street Fair. At 11 a.m. the 28th annual International Homecoming Festival Parade will begin. The event will snake through two countries. This year, the parade begins at the St. Stephen Border Area Arena and ends in Calais and includes a host of marching bands and floats.

The grand finale will be at 8:30 p.m. Sunday with the annual fireworks show over the St. Croix River.