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

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, carrying the Alabama colors, was probably the youngest flag bearer. His father, Kevin, carried the Vermont flag.

Sgt. Cunningham’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 told the crowd that the seven large monuments beside him bearing many servicemen’s names are just the start of an array planned for the site. He said there eventually will be 26 monuments with 6,000 names.

Auburn’s Main Street from Court Street to Festival Plaza was closed off and the street was filled with cafe tables and a stage for the Riverfront Blues Fest. Midnight Blues Cafe was presenting several bands from noon through 1 a.m.

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, a 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.”

Larochelle said he has done the Auburn show for the past six or seven years and he rates it among the tops in Maine.

“There’s about 1,000 rounds in this show tonight,” Larochelle said. “They range from three-inch to five-inch shells.”

Larochelle is the licensed lead shooter and he has two crew members who also shoot. Another crewman cleans, two others reload and another watches for possible mishaps or small fires. The whole show is set off manually, Larochelle explained. Fuses are touched off with a road flare.

“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.”

From 6 p.m. until dark, crowds grew on both sides of the Androscoggin. 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 Androscoggin River, Nick Knowlton ran his “Boombox Cafe” at a site near the Peoples Heritage Bank building in Great Falls Plaza. Several food venders also were located there to accommodate thousands of people who lined the Auburn riverbank.

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.”