After rain delayed the Gorham Family Fair last year, organizers are hoping sun will shine on the annual event this Saturday.

“The weather is guaranteed to be hot,” said Cindy Hazelton, director of the Gorham Recreation Department.

Sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, a pancake breakfast will kick off a day-long slate of activities beginning at 7 a.m. at St. Anne’s Church, 299 Main St., and the fair will conclude with a family “drive in” movie, which starts at 9:30 p.m. following a fireworks display.

At St. Anne’s, the knights will get fairgoers off to an early start on a full stomach. They’ll be serving pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausages, coffee, juice and milk for breakfast.

Tickets, available at the door, cost $5 for adults; $2.50 for children under 12; and $15 for a family.

Gorham Trails Landtrust will again sponsor two annual road races. There’s a 7:15 a.m. race registration at Gorham High School with an 8 a.m. start time for the 1K race with the 5K getting underway at 8:30 a.m.

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The parade will form at 11 a.m. at the Village School on Robie Street and step off at noon. It will go onto Lincoln Street, onto South Street and then onto Main Street to St. Anne’s Church.

The parade will include something for every age bracket. There’ll be public safety vehicles, the Gorham Police Department color guard, the Kora Renegades with their little Jeeps, antique cars and tractors, and local business floats.

Twin siblings from Gorham will have their first ever float in the parade. Also, petitioners hoping to keep dispatchers in Gorham will turnout with a unit.

Following the parade, a variety of booths will open on the fairgrounds at the Municipal Center lawn and the adjacent Narragansett School grounds. The event will have plenty of food. Hazelton said 50 to 60 booths would serve up a variety of goodies including sausages, hot dogs and burgers.

She said the booths would include the Standish-Gorham ATV Club and the Masons, which will have a children’s identification program.

Free fair entertainment will feature six groups. The Audiologic Band will get the show up and running at 1 p.m. and wind up with Common Ground Band, sponsored by Gorham Savings Bank, playing for three hours beginning at 6 p.m.

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Hazelton said the “Teens and Tweens” activity zone, which will be ongoing from 1 p.m., is an added activity this year. The zone will have karaoke, a batting cage and the always-popular dunk tank.

The Gorham Police Department will have two demonstrations in the afternoon. From 1 to 3 p.m., they will run the fatal vision demonstration. Participants will drive golf carts while wearing special goggles that distort vision. The effects will show the impact of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Then at 3:30 p.m., police will give a canine demonstration.

The Fire Department sponsors the chicken barbecue from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at Central Fire Station. The adult menu will include a half chicken or two hot dogs, two salads, corn on the cob and punch for $7. Kids will have a choice of a quarter of a chicken or a hot dog with chips and punch for $4.

Coupled with revenue from a yearlong bottle drive, proceeds from the barbecue help pay for the fireworks display at 9 p.m. Fireworks this year will cost about $7,000.

Fairgoers can contribute to the fireworks fund by taking bottles and cans to a recycling bin outside the fire station. High school students will circulate with a boot, collecting cash donations.

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At 9:30 p.m., a family movie, sponsored by Nicely’s Video, will wrap up this year’s fair.

This year marks the ninth Gorham fair that Hazelton has organized. “It’s a nice family afternoon,” she said of the event.

Sunday, Aug. 21, will be the rain date for the fair. A pouring rain drove the fair to Sunday last year, but the parade was cancelled.

For those looking for an activity in the morning before the parade, the Baxter Museum on South Street will be open for tours 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday. The museum was the family home of a former Maine governor, Percival P. Baxter.

Built in 1797, the home was a gift to the town in 1908 by Baxter’s father, James Phinney Baxter. Tours of the museum are free, but donations are accepted.


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