Milbridge Days planners predicting big crowds

MILBRIDGE – As many as 10,000 people have attended Milbridge Days on the last weekend of July for nearly 30 years, but this year organizers predict a new event will bring even larger crowds.

A Renaissance Fair will accompany the usual draw of vendors, parades, boat rides and fireworks over the weekend of July 26-27. Organizer Brenda Duggan of Milbridge said she has brought groups from throughout Maine and other parts of New England to give visitors a taste of Europe in the period from the 1300s to the 1700s, with language, acts, costumes and music of the era. Jugglers and magic shows, knights and royalty, Vikings and a Shakespearean performer will be part of the theme, she said.

Duggan’s husband, Phil, chairman of this year’s Milbridge Days, said that more than 50 vendors would feature a wide array of foods, crafts and artworks.

The festivities will begin with a pancake breakfast Saturday morning, July 26, followed by a parade at 11 a.m. showcasing the winners of this year’s Washington County beauty contest for teens and preteens which was held last week.

A highlight will be the codfish relay race Saturday afternoon, in which teams dressed in full foul-weather gear carry marinated codfish as they are sprayed by a fire hose. Sports Illustrated featured the race several years ago as the event of the month.

The Milbridgedays.com Web site says this year’s weekend will “honor our veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan” and their families for the sacrifices they have made, and the parade will include Bangor’s 195th Army Marching Band. A long list of businesses and individuals have contributed to planning and financing the event, Duggan said, especially the Saturday night fireworks.

Because of the renovation work on the bridge over the Narraguagus River, visitors coming from east of Milbridge may want to use Route 1 through Harrington and Cherryfield, rather than Route 1A, to avoid a bottleneck at the single-lane construction site, Brenda Duggan said.