HAMPDEN, Maine — The community’s signature summertime family event is back on track, a former town councilor who helped recruit volunteers for the event said Tuesday.
A shortage of volunteers in recent months prompted discussions about canceling the 2015 edition of Children’s Day, arguably the community’s largest annual family event.
A final call for volunteers last month, however, led to a meeting last week to determine if enough interest existed to allow Children’s Day to go on, former councilor Janet Hughes said Tuesday. Hughes said people involved in past Children’s Days as well as potential newcomers turned out.
“By the end of the meeting, we had a group of 20. We’ve picked up a couple more since then,” Hughes said.
“So we went to the [Hampden Town Council] last night and asked for them to commit to continue supporting Children’s Day by providing public safety [services] during the event and they’ll also be providing liability insurance for the event. It doesn’t really cost that much,” she said.
Hughes said the group likely will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, at Weatherbee School. Notices will be sent out shortly, she said.
“Now all we need is money,” she said. “The organization is not broke. They have about $7.000 in the bank so we’d need to raise another $10,000 in a couple of months in order to make it work,” Hughes said.
Hughes said that organizers should know in about a month what they will and will not be able to offer.
“I think at this point, we’re at least going to have the parade and fireworks,” she said.
This year will mark the 36th so far that Children’s Day has been held. The only year it did not go on, also due to a dearth of volunteers, was 2001, according to Bangor Daily News archives.
For information or to volunteer, email Hughes at jhughes@hughesbrosinc.com or call her at 768-1396 or 942-0292.