RUMFORD – The holiday season will kick off in the River Valley this weekend with a craft fair and Christmas parade through three towns.
The two events, sponsored by the River Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Christmas in the Valley Committee, have spread holiday cheer for at least a dozen years, said Tammi Lyons of the Chamber.
Both are among the largest in the history of Christmas in the Valley events, she said.
Saturday’s craft fair features more than 60 craftspeople from the River Valley and surrounding towns offering homemade jams and jellies, driftwood ornaments, woodworking and knit and crochet work among other items.
Along with tables of handmade items set up in the gymnasium and cafeteria of Mountain Valley High School will be a cookie walk with dozens of decorated, filled, and drop cookies, a light breakfast, and a luncheon menu made up of open-faced hot turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry sauce, apple crisp, vegetarian chili, hot dogs and soft drinks.
A children’s corner staffed by volunteer students from Dirigo High School and Mountain Valley High School will give youngsters a chance to create a Christmas craft and play games.
Lyons said Santa is rumored to appear at some point during the day.
The committee is offering raffles of items created by many of the crafters as well as a 50/50 raffle. Sweatshirts from past Christmas in the Valley events will be on sale, as well as the new “Uniformed Men of the River Valley” calendar. Lyons said some of the men featured in the 2004 calendar will be available to autograph the calendar from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The craft fair runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Money raised from the event helps fund next year’s Christmas in the Valley events and provides scholarships for Dirigo High School and Mountain Valley High School students.
Parade plans
The parade theme is Disney in the Valley. Nearly two dozen floats scheduled to participate will focus on something related to a Disney character.
The annual event kicks off from Dirigo High School at 4 p.m. Sunday.
From there, the parade will proceed down Weld Street, then onto Route 2 where the group will disassemble at the King Hiram Lodge just across the bridge in Mexico. Participants will travel by bus to Labonville where they will reassemble and continue the parade.
The route progresses through Mexico, across the Red Bridge, up Lincoln Avenue in Rumford to Waldo Street, onto Rumford Avenue, around the rotary, across Veterans Bridge, then down Congress Street. Santa will then flick the switch to light the Christmas tree in Veterans Park.
Children are invited to meet with Santa after the parade at the Hotel Harris where Santa and his elves will pass out small gifts.
Lyons said judging of floats will take place prior to the start of the parade so all onlookers will know who placed first, second and third in the business and non-profit/civic categories.
Trophies will be awarded to business participants. Cash prizes will be awarded to non-profit/civic participants.
The parade takes places regardless of sun, snow, cold or rain.
eadams@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.