FARMINGTON — Dig out your earmuffs and plan to join the festivities on Saturday, Dec. 7, as a full day of activities pay homage to Chester Greenwood – one of the town’s most well known citizens.

This photo and caption is from the first annual Chester Greenwood Day held on Dec. 21, 1977. It was one of the biggest news events in Maine that year. Photo and caption from the Dec. 22, 1977 Morning Sentinel

The first Chester Greenwood Day was held on Dec. 21, 1977. An article in the Dec. 17, 1977, edition of the Lewiston Evening Journal Magazine Section written by Edith Labbie said of the new celebration, “Hold everything! Put away the Christmas wrapping paper, gift lists, tinsel and evergreens and prepare to observe a brand new anniversary in Maine. On Dec. 21st, the opening day of winter, the first annual Chester Greenwood Day will be officially observed here.”

The article shares how Farmington citizens “beat the drums” before the 108th Legislature the previous year to keep Greenwood’s memory green. It goes on to describe Greenwood’s invention of the earmuffs when he was 15 years old and that he “liberated unwilling fireside huddlers so that they could enjoy our invigorating winter sports.”

The headline of an article in the Dec. 22, 1977, edition of the Waterville Sentinel proclaimed: Overnight, Farmington Had Become An ‘Event’. The article starts, “It was what is generally called a “media event,” one of the biggest the state of Maine has ever hosted.”

The article shared how just weeks before, no one had thought of such a celebration but when the day arrived, “the doings in Farmington received perhaps more attention than has been given to anything in Maine this year.”

Rep. Richard Morton sponsored the bill that created Chester Greenwood Day. His son, Selectman Richard Morton spoke with The Franklin Journal on Nov. 21 about how it came to be.

“My father was in the Legislature, Longley was governor,” he said. “The idea was Micky Maguire’s and Myron Starbird’s. There must have been a festival somewhere and one of the two of them said Farmington should have a festival, we should celebrate Chester Greenwood.”

Morton said Maquire ran Micky’s Variety where his father got his newspaper and the idea was shared. “Dad or dad and the folks in Augusta drafted the bill,” he noted. “Gov. Longley didn’t want to sign it. He was a real serious guy.”

Morton said Longley didn’t think his father’s bill was the type of thing the Legislature should be involved with. “My dad worked on him, got some senators to work on him,” he noted. He couldn’t remember if Longley signed the bill or let it become law without signing it.

“Chester Greenwood Day was held on Dec. 21 for a number of years,” Morton said. It was cold and snowy, the downtown merchants thought it might be better as a promotion at the start of the season, so it got moved, he noted.

Morton was overseas during the first Chester Greenwood Day. “Friends of mine from all over saw it on the news and called my dad,” he said.

“The year Gov. McKernan was here, the CBS morning show was here, interviewed my dad,” Morton said. “During the interview he said he didn’t think of it, didn’t come up with the idea but was the midwife.”

The Great Gingerbread Contest is the new name for the contest held during Chester Greenwood Day in Farmington so that anything made with gingerbread may be entered, not just houses. Farmington Rotary is collaborating with Franklin County Chamber of Commerce on the contest and entries may be dropped off at the Community Center Friday night, Dec. 6, or Saturday morning, Dec. 7. Submitted photo

Earlier Thursday JP Fortier, executive director of Franklin County Chamber of Commerce said one thing new for this year’s Chester Greenwood Day involves the gingerbread contest name. “It is now the Great Gingerbread Contest,” he noted. House was taken out of the title so anything made with gingerbread can be entered, he noted.

“We are collaborating with Farmington Rotary which is hosting the Festival of Trees,” Fortier said. “People can drop of their entries Friday night or Saturday morning at the Community Center. They can register then.”

There will be horse drawn wagon rides, most other things are similar to prior years, Fortier said.

In information provided later, it notes the parade theme this year is Music Through Time. Parade setup is at the Mallett School starting at 10 a.m. with parade kick-off at 11 a.m. The top three adult floats and top two youth floats will be awarded prizes. There will also be a walker category.

A flag raising and tree lighting ceremony will take place at the Franklin County Courthouse after the parade and businesses will offer special events and promotions throughout the day. There will be a craft fair at Roderick-Crosby American Legion Post 28,

Farmington Historical Society will have an open house and wreath sale at Titcomb House and there will be ornament decorating at the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The Taste of Farmington passport program is returning [with a chance to win Chamber Bucks] and the Festival of Trees live auction starts at 6 p.m.

The annual Polar Bear Dip will take place at Clearwater Lake in Industry at 3 p.m.

Fortier said, “We are holding any new big things for a couple of years until our 50th anniversary.”

For more information about Chester Greenwood Day, visit the Chamber’s website at Franklin County Chamber.