LEWISTON – Thousands of people, including the family of an American soldier killed in Iraq, were on hand Sunday for the 8th annual Liberty Festival in the Twin Cities.

Several spectators said crowds seemed bigger than at past festivals, including last year’s event when attendance was said to top 20,000.

A half-hour fireworks display with a thunderous finale brought cheers that could be heard nearly a mile from the Great Falls. Maybe the best seats were in private planes that circled residential areas round and round the falls throughout the show.

In the late afternoon, volunteers of all ages carried 50 state flags in a parade around the Veterans Park monuments. Several members of the family of Army Spc. Daniel Cunningham Jr., who grew up in Lewiston and died in Iraq in April 2003, took part in the parade.

Six-year-old Joel Cunningham of Lewiston, his nephew, carried the Alabama colors. Joel’s father, Kevin, Daniel’s brother, carried the Vermont flag.

Daniel’s mother, Nancy, also was present.

Armand Bussier, co-chairman of the Lewiston-Auburn Veterans’ Council, told how the efforts of Joseph Paradis, a council member, and numerous veterans’ organizations resulted in development of Veterans Park at the Lewiston end of the Longley Bridge in 2002. He said the seven large monuments beside him bearing many servicemen’s names are the start of an array planned for the site.

Auburn’s Main Street from Court Street to Festival Plaza was closed off and filled with cafe tables and a stage for the Riverfront Blues Fest.

As the crowds gathered on both sides of the river, the crew of Blue Hill Pyrotechnics of Hampden worked at West Pitch on the Auburn side of the falls. The area was the launch site for a $20,000 display or color and noise.

Greg Larochelle, lead shooter for Blue Hill Pyrotechnics said, “There’s a 24-foot box truck that’s sitting up there on the hill and it’s full of equipment and fireworks. We get here about noon and we’re usually busy right up to the shooting time.

“There’s about 1,000 rounds in this show tonight,” Larochelle said.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 25, and I’m 42 now,” Larochelle said. “Actually,” he added, “I started before that when my dad was doing this and I was 7 or 8.”

In addition to throngs of people lining Longley Bridge and the riverbanks for the fireworks, there were families in lawn chairs and on blankets in nearly every neighborhood yard. On Turner Street and Center Street in Auburn, viewers filled every spot beside business locations, a funeral home parking lot and as far away as the Coastline Inn and Ground Round Restaurant.

Goff Hill on Court Street in Auburn, a favorite vantage point each year, was closed to traffic, as were locations in Lewiston.

Michael Cyr, who has seen all of the Liberty Festival shows, staked out a 10- by 10-foot plot on a front point of the park. He said family and friends have the same spot every year.

Main stage music on the Lewiston side included Gypsy, a rock and roll band, the Liberty Festival dancers, and the Mike Willette Swing Band.

On the Auburn side of the river, Nick Knowlton ran his Boombox Cafe near the Peoples Heritage Bank building in Great Falls Plaza. Several food venders also were there.

Peter Bushway, director of the Auburn Parks and Recreation Department and a member of the Independence Day Committee, worked through the afternoon at the large parking area in front of the Auburn Esplanade. The $5 fee at the site, which was made available by owner and developer Tom Platz, goes to the committee for festival expenses, Bushway said.

Dick Martin, president of the Independence Day Committee of Lewiston-Auburn, said, “The Liberty Festival as we now do it has become a tradition, and it’s pretty much an automatic success. We can always count on 10,000 to 30,000 people.”