WATERFORD — To celebrate Maine’s Bicentennial, even a year later, the Waterford Historical Society will host a musical performance, descriptive talk, and traditional contra dance featuring Greg Boardman and Friends, well-known traditional music performers. It will take place on Thursday, July 8 from 6:30-9 p.m. in the Dance Hall on the Waterford World’s Fair grounds in North Waterford. The event is free, and the public is enthusiastically invited to attend. Free will donations to support the World’s Fair Association will gladly be accepted.

This joyful musical celebration will appeal to an audience of all ages. Featured musicians – fiddlers Greg Boardman and Steve Muise, and cellist Elsie Gawler – are widely recognized for their musicianship, knowledge, and creativity. In the first half of the event, the performers will discuss, demonstrate, and play music with which citizens of Maine would have been familiar around the 1820’s, when the state was founded. The musicians will then lead the audience in a traditional New England contra dance, an activity not only typical of that period but still widely popular today. No previous dance experience is required.

This festive evening of music and dance is presented by the Waterford Historical Society in partnership with the Waterford World’s Fair Association, and serves to extend the celebration of the fair’s 170th anniversary, in addition to the state Bicentennial. It is also supported by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission.

For further information, contact: Andrew H. Dabczynski, Ph.D. – Trustee, Waterford Historical Society, adab@byu.edu,  801-318-8368.

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