YARMOUTH — The Yarmouth Clam Festival parade always has a grand marshal. One grand marshal.

This year, with a theme of “Famous Mainahs,” there will be eight honorees.

The 49th annual festival will feature a variety of famous Mainers in its Friday night parade, including ultimate “Survivor” Bob Crowley, stars of Animal Planet’s “North Woods Law,” Steve Thomas of PBS’ “This Old House,” Olympic luger Julia Clukey, the Freeport Flag Ladies, “Marden’s lady” Birdie Googins, journalist Shannon Moss and local TV news reporters.

“It’s such a great spread of personalities,” Chelsea DiConzo, administrative assistant for the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce, said. “There’s something for everyone.”

The parade will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday and last for an hour as it makes its way down Main Street. The famous Mainers will be interspersed throughout the mile-and-a-half route, either riding in convertibles or on floats.

“Survivor Bob” will be riding on a Hannaford Bros. float, which will be decorated with a “Survivor” theme. According to Crowley, the supermarket chain was already planning this float design before the theme of the parade was decided. He said this made it easy to decide which float he would ride.

“If there was gonna be a ‘Survivor’ float,” Crowley, of South Portland, said Monday, “I might as well be on it.”

Crowley said he is looking forward to participating in the parade because it will give him a relaxing day of meeting people and enjoying the festival. He said he’s excited to meet not only the spectators, but the other famous Mainers as well.

“It’s always fun meeting interesting Mainers,” he said.

According to DiConzo, residents of Yarmouth are looking forward to the new approach as well.

“We’ve got great feedback,” DiConzo said. “People are so excited because they know who (the famous Mainers) are.”

The number of chairs already lining the parade route on Monday suggested DiConzo’s remarks were on target. According to Yarmouth resident Debbie Godowsky, there were 852 chairs on Main Street as of 6 p.m. on Sunday, five days before the parade.

Godowsky, owner of Cookies Direct, held a contest for the second year in a row to determine how many chairs were set out in advance. She asked people last week on her company’s Facebook page to submit their guesses by the end of the day. The winner would receive a gift basket of cookies.

“It’s a fun way to make the Clam Festival a little more fun,” Godowsky said.

The winner was a Pownal resident who guessed 842 chairs. Godowsky said only five people’s guesses, out of 90 entries, were too high, and that most people’s guesses were in the 400-500 range. She said that made sense, since at the same time last year there were 472 chairs along Main Street.

Godowsky said setting the chairs out early gets people excited for the festival, and that it speaks to the nature of the town.

“Only in a town like Yarmouth can you leave your chairs out all week long and no one will touch them. That’s Maine,” Godowsky said.

DiConzo said focusing on Maine and its spirit was a reason behind choosing the parade’s theme.

“Why not focus on people from Maine who have had greatness or made an impact?” DiConzo said.

The festival’s three-day run will also feature all of its usual activities: crafts, a carnival, races, fireworks, musical acts, pancake breakfasts, a firefighters’ muster, and a clam shucking contest. The full of schedule of events can be found online at clamfestival.com/schedule/.

DiConzo said she hopes the famous Mainers will attend some of the other activities at the festival and meet people in attendance, but that it will depend on their schedules. She said she’s just happy to have found that so many of them were available and excited to be part of the parade.

DiConzo said the people chosen by the chamber will highlight many aspects of life in Maine, as does the Clam Festival itself.

“We wanted a good representation of all things Maine,” she said.

Kate Gardner can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 125 or kgardner@theforecaster.net. Follow her on Twitter: @katevgardner.

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Yarmouth residents began placing chairs along Main Street more than a week before the annual Clam Festival parade. By Sunday, more than 800 chairs lined the street for the event that officially launches the three-day festival on Friday, July 18.

Artist Catherine Breer’s “Waiting for the Parade” is captured for the official poster for the 49th annual Yarmouth Clam Festival.

Yarmouth road closures

Several streets in Yarmouth will closed at various times for the 49th annual Clam Festival:

• July 16-17: School Street, 6-10:30 p.m.

• July 18: School Street, noon-11:30 p.m.; Main, West Elm, Portland and McCarthy streets, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

• July 19: School Street, 6:30 a.m.- 11:30 p.m.; Main, East Elm and Bridge streets, 6:30-9 a.m.; Main Street between York and School streets, 12:30-3:30 p.m. and 8:30-9:45 p.m.

• July 20: School Street, 6:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m.; Main Street and East Elm Street to Main Street, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

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