Summerfest to be called Molly Ockett Day again

An antique car passes a porch filled with people on Main Street at the 2022 Bethel Summerfest. Rose Lincoln photo

BETHEL — Bethel’s summer festival will be called Molly Ockett Day again, after changing from Molly Ockett Day to Summerfest in 2020. The 68th annual gathering will move to Fri. night, Aug. 8 and Sat., Aug. 9 this year. Traditionally it had been celebrated every third Saturday of July.

Since 1958, the Town of Bethel has held a summer event. It was initially called the Bethel Bazaar. According to the Molly Ockett Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution of Bridgton Maine, “In 1970, the Bethel Area Summerfest name was changed in honor of the Indian woman whose generosity and self-reliance have become legendary.”

Mali Agat or Molly Ockett, was a Native American woman of the Abenaki nation who lived in western Maine from the early 1700s to 1816. She died in 1816 and is buried in Andover.

The Bethel Area Business Association (BABA) took control of the event from the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce this year. The Chamber had rebranded the celebration to Summerfest five years ago, although because of the COVID 19 pandemic, the event was not celebrated for two of those five years.

BABA President Danny Whitney said, “There is no political or ulterior motive behind the name change. The goal is to once again create a day all about the local community and kids and honor a Bethel tradition. Some of the events are going to include a parade, bounce house, corn hole tournament, dunk tank, and much more. A full events schedule will be posted soon.”

Whitney restarted BABA six months ago. Secretary Mike Pelletier, Vice President Dennis Doyon, Treasurer Rebecca Record, Heidi Godomski, and Ron Savage are on the Molly Ockett Day committee. They have started planning the event.

Whitney said, “The focus of this year’s event, which will be held on August 9, is to return it to a community festival with an emphasis on kid’s events and the feel of an old town ‘reunion’. To help bring back this feeling and return it to a day that many locals have expressed missing, the event will return to the name ‘Molly Ockett Day.'”