BROCTON - A long-awaited rain shower threatened but didn't succeed to rain on the Brocton/Portland Community Festival parade Sunday.
An early morning thunderstorm accompanied by rain moved into town, but was gone in plenty of time for sunshine to be present for the beginning of events marking the 7th Annual Brocton/Portland Community Festival.
Festival Committee member Jenean Roth noted, "Everyone is really enjoying the activities we have this year, I think it's gone excellent. The weather this morning happened early enough that there was no interruption of the celebration, and the fireworks display on Saturday night was even bigger than last year so we've had a lot of great feedback on those."
Article Photos
OBSERVER?Photo by Ann Belcher
True community pride was on display Sunday for the 7th Annual Broc-ton/Portland Community Festival par-ade. Girl Scouts from the Brocton and Portland area, accompanied by their troop leaders, Melissa Seavy (right) and Julie Devlin, who led the parade with their 'Brocton Arch' themed float.
Weather and climate conditions did exclude the usual bonfire that is part of the festival.
Because of the lack of rain and high temperatures, festival organizers removed that from the agenda this year.
Attendance numbers were big for the return of the Highlander Games, the I Got It game vendors and the annual karaoke contest, which produced eight final contestants competing on Sunday.
Live music was provided by Willow Creek and Widow Maker this year while pony rides by Spirit Wind Farms made their debut for this year's Community Festival lineup.
The festival is held at the same time as the Alumni Reunion Weekend in Brocton and Portland, and many who were in town to celebrate class reunion gatherings made their way to Community Park to take part in the festival activities. The Brocton/Portland Historical Museum played host to a special "Marmaduke" display of notable native son, Brad Anderson, who attended his class reunion this year and arrived in town to be honored with the official dedication of space for a statue to be placed in his honor at the Portland Town Offices. The dedication ceremony and proclamation of Brad Anderson Day will take place Monday morning.
Roth reminds the community that their 8th Annual Community Fest will be delayed one year, as next year the town will be celebrating its Bicentennial. Many of the members who work year-round to plan the Community Festival also sit on the committee for the Bicentennial Celebra-tion, which is slated to kick off in April of 2013 and full attention will be dedicated to the planning and carrying out of the activities to mark the town's bicentennial.
