YARMOUTH – The concession stands are up, the carnival rides are ready and hundreds of lawn chairs line the parade route for the 46th annual Yarmouth Clam Festival.
Eager spectators started setting up chairs along Main Street on July 7 — eight days before today’s parade, which will start at 6 p.m. and feature floats celebrating this year’s theme, “Great American Inventions.”
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“Only in Yarmouth can you put your chairs out a full week ahead and expect them to be there for the parade,” said Ben McNaboe, assistant festival director. “It’s one of the things that’s special about this town and this festival. Everybody does their little part and cooperates and it all falls together.”
One of Maine’s premier summer festivals opens at 10 a.m. today and runs through Sunday afternoon, offering plenty of new and traditional attractions, including more than 165 crafters and artists and 40 free musical performances. While traffic promises to be a challenge, especially with road projects slowing travel on Interstate 295, the sunny weather forecast is encouraging.
“We’re going to have a great weekend,” said Carolyn Schuster, managing director of the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce. “It’s summer in Maine. Road construction is everywhere. There are a million ways to get here.”
The festival is a carefully planned, well-organized event that draws more than 100,000 people each year, from as far away as Sri Lanka. It also raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for about 35 nonprofit school, civic and church organizations.
The free-admission festival takes over the downtown, where many businesses along Main Street close and surrender their parking lots to nonprofits, which charge $8 to $10 per car.
“More than 3,000 volunteers work on this festival each year,” said Mark Primeau, the festival’s director. “Some start planning as early as six months in advance, some even earlier.”
The chamber budgets $350,000 to put on the festival, which in turn generates an additional $300,000 to $400,000 for nonprofits that operate a circle of concession stands in front of Town Hall. Traditional offerings include fried clams, lobster rolls, strawberry shortcake and lime rickeys.
“The festival has a significant economic impact on our community and beyond,” Schuster said. “It’s a good weekend for hotels, convenience stores and other businesses throughout the region, and most of our local nonprofit groups rely on the festival for most of their funding.”
One of those nonprofits is the Yarmouth Little League. Board member Michele Amoroso was helping to set up the group’s concession stand Thursday morning. The group will sell lobster rolls for $12 each and shore dinners for $16 each.
“We started planning in January,” Amoroso said. “It’s a lot of work because we’re basically opening up a restaurant for the weekend. But we’re feeling really good about supporting each other and allowing everyone to make money. It’s why we don’t have to do bottle drives and calendar sales all year, and we put the money right back into the community by improving field facilities.”
One new feature of this year’s festival is the wiring of the concession stands so operators can accept debit and credit cards, Primeau said. Several plan to take advantage, including the Yarmouth Little League.
“We have to adapt to changing times,” Amoroso said. “A lot of people don’t carry a lot of money anymore. We’re absorbing the cost (of the debit and credit card service) as a convenience to our customers.”
Also new is a Free Kids Zone, with no-cost activities sponsored by L.L.Bean; a raffle of a 2012 Ford Focus, sponsored by Ford Dealers of New England; a free sunscreen station near Merrill Memorial Library, sponsored by Mercy Hospital in Portland; and Little Neck, a new sidekick for festival mascot Steamer the Clam.
For the 30th year in a row, Pat’s Pizza will sponsor the festival’s five-mile road race at 8 a.m. Saturday. The festival’s 31st annual professional men’s and women’s bike race will start at 9 a.m. Sunday, sponsored by TD Insurance.
Among the many Yarmouth natives who are returning home this weekend is Donna Owen Stokes, who was crowned the first Miss Clam Queen in 1965. Stokes, who lives in Virginia, will sing the national anthem at a few events and sing an original song during the festival parade.
While the festival no longer includes a beauty contest, it remains a major draw for many people who grew up in or near Yarmouth.
“People come home for it,” Schuster said. “They often schedule high school reunions and family reunions this weekend. It’s a community event, put on by the community, for the community.”
Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at kbouchard@pressherald.com
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