LEWISTON – Political celebrities from both political parties keep coming.

New York Republican Gov. George Pataki will visit Auburn today, as part of a “Halloween Victory Festival,” to campaign for President Bush.

The festival will be held at the Apple Ridge Farms, 80 Perkins Ridge Road, near where Elizabeth Edwards campaigned for the Democratic ticket last weekend. The festival begins at 5 p.m. with pumpkin carving and hayrides. The Republican program begins at 6 p.m.

On Monday, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a longtime friend of Kerry’s and the senior senator from Massachusetts, will speak at rallies in Portland and Lewiston.

Kennedy’s Lewiston rally will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Franco-American Heritage Center on Cedar Street. More information about that event may be obtained by calling the Lewiston Democratic headquarters at 689-2140.

“It will be open to the public, and it will not be a ticketed event. We want as many people who want to attend to be able to,” said Kerry campaign spokesman Jesse Derris.

Appearing with Kennedy will be U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine. U.S. Dick Gephardt, D-Missouri, will also campaign Monday for Kerry in Bangor.

Kennedy’s visit comes 44 years after his brother, John F. Kennedy, visited Lewiston in what turned out to be Lewiston’s biggest political day. On Nov. 6, 1960, a crowd of 8,000 waited hours in the park in drizzle and cold to see Kennedy.

Finally, at 11:52 p.m., his motorcade arrived. As he emerged from his car, “it was pandemonium … the applause was like thunder,” recalled people who were in the park.

The next day, Kennedy was elected president. After he was assassinated, the Lewiston City Council renamed the park Kennedy Park.

– Lindsay Tice also contributed to this report.

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