Liberty Festival organizer Cathy McDonald, right, talks with friends on the Fourth of July during the festival at Veterans Memorial Park in Lewiston. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — Cathy McDonald has been helping put on Fourth of July celebrations in Lewiston-Auburn since 1979.

Now, 45 years later, she led the first three-day Lewiston/Auburn Liberty Festival, which featured fireworks Thursday and live entertainment, including Maine’s “American Idol” star Julia Gagnon, into the weekend.

This year, because of her extensive experience organizing the annual festival, McDonald was also tapped to help the cities pull together a balloon festival after the organizing board initially canceled it.

“I got involved and I stay involved because it’s my way of giving back to the community I grew up in,” she said.

She also believes the Liberty Fest celebration is a way to “give back to those who have served our country.” The festival always tries to highlight the Fourth of July as much more than a summer fireworks display, she said.

McDonald, who worked for years as a purchasing agent before retiring, said she first got involved long before the Liberty Festival existed. In 1979, it was simply referred to as the Fourth of July celebration. But, in 1996, the Twin Cities went without fireworks due to funding. The following year, McDonald and others formed the Liberty Festival.

The festival has a committee of five who make it happen. Now that it is over, McDonald said they will finish some needed paperwork and then take a couple months off before the preparations start all over again. That includes securing the live entertainment.

The first day of the festival and the fireworks display went off without any hiccups, she said Friday. For a short time, she and vendors were concerned about a slow start to the day, but McDonald said a lot of people arrived at once, “and they came hungry.”

The festival is normally just one day on July 4, but McDonald said the committee had talked about making it a weekend for years, and finally made it happen this year.

“It’s a lot of work, but we’re like a well-oiled machine now,” she said. “Even though we’re a very small committee, we know what our jobs are and how to get it done.”

That mentality is likely why McDonald is now helping the cities of Lewiston and Auburn organize the Lewiston/Auburn Balloon Festival, which will be held the weekend of Aug. 16-18.

After the Great Falls Balloon Festival board of directors announced it would not be putting on this year’s event, the cities began organizing their own version of the popular festival. Like many others, McDonald believed that Lewiston saw too much heartache over the last year to not have it this summer.

When she heard about the troubles facing the board, she called to offer assistance. Then when the cities took over, she got involved.

“It’s not the year to cancel the balloon festival,” she said. “We had a rough winter.”

McDonald and others have been somewhat scrambling to put it together, now closing in on a month until it kicks off. But, she said, they’re optimistic.

“I think because we’re a new group we’ve got a lot of new energy,” she said. “I think it’s going really well.”

Mayor Carl Sheline, who was at the Liberty Festival on Thursday, said McDonald is “a committed resident who has served her city for decades.”

“Her passion for the people of Lewiston cannot be overstated and I’m grateful for her endless energy for this community,” he said.

McDonald has also spent time volunteering with Androscoggin Home Healthcare + Hospice, recently renamed Andwell Health Partners.

Know someone with a deep well of unlimited public spirit? Someone who gives their time to make their community a better place? Then nominate them for Kudos. Send their name and the place where they do their good deeds to reporter Andrew Rice at arice@sunjournal.com and we’ll do the rest.