Summer is a time for festivals, and no festival says “Summer in Maine” like the Yarmouth Clam Festival.

This annual tradition draws visitors from all over the country and the world, who come to enjoy music and arts, events and competitions, and of course, the delicious food.

Sponsored by the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce, 3,000 volunteers organized by more than 35 nonprofit groups prepare food, staff booths, park cars, manage the grounds, and much more.

It’s a celebration for more than 100,000 people who attend the festival every third weekend in July. But the free three-day event also is important to the Yarmouth community. Funds raised through food sales and parking fees pay for student events, scholarships, Eagle Scout projects, contributions to local food pantries and soup kitchens, services for the elderly, maintenance of community parks, and more.

It’s a time for old friends to renew their friendships, and for making new friends.

As a major underwriter of the Yarmouth Clam Festival, Summit Natural Gas will also be on hand to make new friends and to show its commitment to the community. We’ll be a part of the fun. Look for our ice cream truck with free treats and offers for saving on the cost of heating your home.

As Summit continues to build out its network in Yarmouth, Falmouth and Cumberland, providing the potential for thousands of dollars in savings for residential customers, festival goers will get information about rebates of up to $1,500 for residents in Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, and dozens of other communities in Maine who convert their boilers to natural gas.

You’ll see testimonials about the hundreds of Yarmouth-area homeowners enjoying all the benefits of natural gas…. some without paying any conversion costs for a year, others with interest-free loans for converting.

By any measure, the Yarmouth Clam Festival is one of the most impressive summer undertakings in Maine. From July 17 through July 19, more than 80 different types of food and beverages will be served, including more than 6,000 pounds of clams, 13,500 Lime Rickeys, 6,000 lobster rolls, 2,200 pancake breakfasts, 1,500 shore dinners, 400 homemade pies, and 6,000 strawberry shortcakes.

More than 40 musical acts and entertainers will perform on four stages, and 165 crafters, artists, and photographers display and sell their work. Ten miles of electrical wire is run to power the festival. And the event features 10 sporting events and competitions that range from a diaper derby to a world-class professional bike race, plus a parade, fireworks, street dancing and an old school firefighter’s muster that is one of the cornerstones of the event.

That’s an impressive commitment, and in the spirit of the Yarmouth Clam festival, we plan to support the community with not just a taste of Maine, but with our own lasting show of commitment.

We have installed more than 1 million feet of pipe in the state, added 90 permanent jobs and another 400 high paying jobs during construction season, saved businesses and residents more than $20 million per year on their energy costs, injected more than $460 million into the local economy through a five-year infrastructure project, and helped provide a cleaner environment to help preserve the beauty of Maine by cutting C02 emissions 30% compared to heating oil.

That community commitment is what the Yarmouth Clam Festival — and Summit Natural Gas — is all about. Come visit our ice cream truck to learn more about the cool savings that come from heating with natural gas.