LEWISTON – An estimated 40,000 people filled Lewiston and Auburn’s downtown Monday – packing riverbanks, rooftops and three parks – as the cities celebrated Independence Day.
It started slow, though.
At 4 p.m., as the Liberty Festival kicked off with the band Specter, fewer than 1,000 people were present. Diehards began setting up chairs and laying blankets in the warm sun and waiting for the inevitable crowds.
Clarice and David Tapley, ages 76 and 81 of Lewiston, gathered with a dozen family members in all, including children, grandchildren and in-laws. The couple were the first to park in the Great Falls Plaza.
“Where is everybody?” asked Clarice Tapley around 5 p.m. Three hours later, she and her family were surrounded.
Police estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 people had arrived by 8 p.m. Then, the numbers doubled.
People packed Veterans Memorial, Bonney and Railroad parks and filled the Veterans Bridge.
Among the crowd were local Hells Angels and two young Mormon men looking for people to save.
“I was called here,” said Marcel Henriksen, standing in the center of the bridge. The Norwegian Mormon and Bryce Topham of Utah walked through the T-shirt-and-shorts crowd wearing pressed white shirts and ties.
“We spoke with one woman who listened to us,” said Henriksen. “But I don’t think people want to think about such things tonight.”
Following a quiet afternoon, police were busy during the fireworks.
Calls included a frantic cry from a woman whose baby fell near the stage at Veterans Memorial Park. The boy seemed to be all right, police said minutes later.
When the fireworks ended around 10:15 p.m., the calls for help increased. Police answered calls to stop arguments and fights.
“When you get this many people together, the hard part is getting them to leave,” police Officer Robert Ullrich said.
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