Pancake Breakfast!

The Lebanon Academy has agreed to host a pancake breakfast the morning of the Lebanon Festival. As some of you know they have been very busy raising money to make repairs to the bell tower that the historic academy building needs. This pancake breakfast is another way to raise the funds they desperately need. Things such as raising the bell from it's cradle and replacing rotten cradle beams are just a couple of the things that need to be repaired and all of these repairs are very costly.

We are encouraging our community to come out and show their support of this effort by attending the pancake breakfast, which will take place in the Hanson School cafeteria. The time is still to be determined as are a few more details we are working on. One thing the Academy committee has generously agreed to do is offer a free breakfast to the first 20 finishers of the 5K race, also taking place the morning of the festival! 

We will continue to keep our community posted as events are coordinated, confirmed and details are finalized. We are so excited for this day and hope you have already marked your calendar! 

To follow the Lebanon Academy and it's progress you can find them on Facebook: Lebanon Academy

The Lebanon Festival Committee is excited to let our community know that we will be having our first ever 5K event the morning of the Festival on Saturday, May 20th! Geneva Nice and the Lebanon Lady Runners group have been working very hard to put all the details in place in order to make this happen. They have spent a lot of hours researching in order to provide a fun and safe event! More details about time and how to register will be available here on our website as well as on our Facebook page shortly so be sure to check back in. We are also asking our community to spread the word to any runners you know. 

As you may know, anytime a group attempts to host an event like this many needs and costs are associated with it. We will be looking to our community for help and we will let you know what the needs are as the date nears. If you have an interest in helping and can offer a skill please contact us at lebanonfestival1@yahoo.com! 

Hilton Park is coming to the Lebanon Festival!

The Lebanon Festival Committee is happy to announce that we have booked the band, Hilton Park for May 20th! Native to Southern Maine, this band has received accolades such as "Roots Act of the Year" in 2016 at the New England Music Awards. According to their official website, www.hiltonparkband.com:

"HILTON PARK is known in the Northeastern U.S. for earthy, emotionally expressive and superbly crafted Americana, Folk & Blues. Every song tells a story, and there’s a story behind every song. The HILTON PARK sound is authentic and endearingly classic, with enough modern grit to captivate today’s audience."

We are very excited they will be with us and we hope you can make plans to be there with your family to hear them! The Lebanon Festival voted at the last meeting to extend the day of the Festival by 2 hours. The community will be allowed into the Festival at 9am, following our first ever 5K event (more details to come!) and we will close our doors at 5pm. Hilton Park will play at the festival from 3pm-5pm. Take some time to visit their website, listed above, and listen to their music!

Who Are We?

The Lebanon Festival is fairly new to our little community. Four years ago the Lebanon Festival was started by Rebekah Thompson out of a desire to provide something that would bring the community together for one day! Back then she was basically a committee of one and worked very hard to bring people out. She continued her efforts for three years! Rebekah has since stepped down as the Festival chair and we were all sorry to see her go. It is because of her that we have the Festival today;  it is because of the foundation she laid and the fundraising she did that those of us following in her steps can bring you a bigger and better Festival in 2017!

It is our understanding that there is possibly some confusion in the community as to who we are and what our purpose is so we want to take some time and fill you in! One misunderstanding is that The Lebanon Festival and the Historical Society are one in the same. Though the Lebanon Festival feels it has a very good working relationship with the Historical Society and both groups have agreed to help one another out on their respective events, they are not the same. The goal of the Lebanon Festival has been and will continue to be to bring the community together. It's a day where local residents can showcase their talents, abilities and missions to the community. It's a place where new families can come and meet other families. It's a place where moms and dads can bring their kids for a day of fun and it's hopefully a day where people can leave feeling good about where they live! The purpose of the Historical Society, as we understand it, is to keep the heritage of Lebanon alive! Their work is so important in order for the future of Lebanon to know how our town was founded and all that took place 250 years ago! As one member shared with us, "If we don't tell the younger generation then when we are all gone, no one will know the history and there wont' be anyone to pass it on."

Lebanon is celebrating it's 250th Anniversary in 2017! The Lebanon Festival met with the Historical Society back in January of 2016 to talk about what each committee's plans were to honor the year. Each group is planning their own event, the Lebanon Festival in May and the Historical Society in July. We have been and will continue to be in touch about what each of us is planning so that we don't overstep one another but it's important to know that we are united in our efforts and are doing all we can to support each other's events. The Lebanon Festival is using "250 Years" on it's advertising this year, not to cause confusion but rather to remind the town of this very important milestone for Lebanon.

We are asking the community to get behind both of these events and support the efforts of both committees in bringing the community together and recognizing our town and it's history! The Lebanon Festival plans to keep the community abreast of all we are planning as we finalize things right here on our website, as well as on our Facebook page! We welcome any questions or comments you have for us and you can leave us a message here, on Facebook or by emailing us at lebanonfestival1@yahoo.com.

Over the years Lebanon has had a lot of negative press; so much fighting, backbiting and slandering. We believe Lebanon is ready to move past those days into a future that shows surrounding communities that we are united and we support each other! Won't you join us?

Planning for 2017 in Full Swing!

The date has been set! May 20th, 2017 will be the next Lebanon Festival! Are you interested in helping? Contact us at lebanonfestival1@yahoo.com. Our next meeting will be Thursday, Sept. 15 at 6:00 at the Martha Sawyer Community Library. If you have ideas and want to help please consider attending this meeting.

Do you know of a musical group looking for a venue to play? Do you know people who are looking for opportunities to share their talents with the community? Please contact us! We are looking for several performers to fill out the day and we encourage local talent to contact us.

If you are someone interested in being a vendor at our May festival it is not too soon to sign up! We just redid our registration forms for 2017 and can get one out to you. We will also be making the registration forms available at the Lebanon Town Office. Our prices remain the same. $25 for a 10X10 foot space and $40 for a 10X20 foot space. Lebanon residents do not need to pay this registration fee. We are adding a late fee this year. Any registration forms received AFTER May 1st will be charged a $10 late fee; this fee WILL apply to Lebanon residents.

We look forward to hearing from you! Don't forget to to help us get the word out by "liking" us on Facebook and sharing our posts!

Planning for next year!

The Lebanon Festival Committee would like to thank every person who supported this year's festival. From the volunteer who mowed the soccer field to each vendor who set up a booth and especially to each community member who attended and supported the day by attending the activities we planned for you and purchasing from our vendors! For a better feel for the day, take a look at the article Harrison Thorpe of the Lebanon Voice wrote: Picture Perfect Lebanon Festival. (click on the link)

The planning does not stop just because the Festival is over! Are you aware that next year marks Lebanon's 250th Anniversary! The Lebanon Festival committee as well as your Lebanon Historical Society has a lot of great plans in store to celebrate Lebanon in 2017 with three events planned so far. These things take a lot of time and effort however so we are reaching out to our community and asking you to consider getting involved and volunteering your time to help pull off these events. We were very encouraged that several approached us at the Festival this past Saturday, expressing interest in helping! As a committee of three we are hoping that more in the community will want to be involved, even if it is just the day of the event to help set up! The more hands involved the better these events will be. Please contact us at lebanonfestival1@yahoo.com for more information if you are willing to help us out!

In closing I would like to make those of you reading aware of another great event taking place in Lebanon. On September 10th the the Lebanon Academy committee is having a Founder's Day Celebration at the Lebanon Academy from 9-3. There will be all sorts of activities from a silent auction to a tour of the Academy and lots of good food and local vendors! Please mark your calendar and take some time to stop in and support their renovation efforts! You can learn more on their Facebook Page! (click on the link)

Thank you again from the Lebanon Festival for another great year! We look forward to hearing from you with any suggestions you have to make next year bigger and better and we encourage those of you wanting to help to reach out to us!

***Don't forget to "like" us on Facebook and share our posts so we can get the word out to as many people we can about the great things happening in Lebanon!***

Who's Who at the Lebanon Festival!

We are just a few short weeks away from our 2016 Lebanon Festival and we are so excited to share with you all the awesome vendors we have coming!

Lebanon and the surrounding area is filled with talented people who make jewelry, like Beth Goody, a Lebanon resident who will be selling the silver jewelry she makes! As a satisfied customer myself, I can testify to the quality and beauty of her craftsmanship! You can also stop by Melissa Wentworth's booth to check out her hand-sewn and embroidered crafts. She comes to us from North Berwick and we are so anxious to see her creations! We also have vendors who will provide our guests with fun and entertainment like Back to Basics Childcare who will have a craft that the children can do and the North Lebanon Second Baptist Church who will once again provide free balloon animals to all the children! And don't worry if you get hungry we are prepared for that too! We are so thrilled to have the Ripcord Cafe back with us this year. Be sure to stop by a new vendor to the Lebanon Festival, Dough You Didn't, who will be selling pizza! Representative Karen Gerrish will be back again this year and her booth is always a lot of fun for the family! Deb Wilson with the Lebanon Truth Seekers will be holding a photo contest at her booth so be sure to check it out! Have you been looking for an Usborn or Tupperware consultant...you can find one at the Lebanon Festival! I know I personally can't wait to see the Henna Tatoo Art by Cammie Waterhouse!

We have a lot of great vendor's and to see the complete list and what will be offered, visit the website. We still have some space left if you want to get in on the fun and register! For $25 you can get a 10X10 space and remember: we are waiving the fee for Lebanon taxpayer's!

Be sure to mark your calendar's and join us August 20th! There will be fun for the whole family!

Scavenger Hunt!

We are excited to share with you a fun game we will have going on throughout the day of the Lebanon Festival! In an effort to get our vendors and our guests connected we will be having a scavenger hunt where our guests must visit different vendors in order to win prizes! The Lebanon Festival will provide the vendors with everything they need...stamps, prizes, etc. As a guest, upon arrival you will receive instructions on how to participate...young and old are encouraged to join in the fun. At the Lebanon Festival we are so thankful for each vendor that chooses to participate in our event and we want to do all we can to help them have a successful day! Our hope is by drawing our guests to the vendor tables we will not only provide fun for our guests, but networking opportunities for our vendors.

We hope you are planning to attend our festival this year. It's a great way to bring the community together. We have several vendors who reside right here in Lebanon so let's show them our support by coming out and visiting them...and maybe even plan to make a purchase or two!

Your Lebanon Festival is Coming Together!

Photo Credit: Wildlife
Encounters

The Lebanon festival committee has a great day of fun planned for our August 20th festival! From live music to exotic animals presented by Wildlife Encounters to the bounce house for the kids and a martial arts demonstration (with audience participation) from Master Richard Smith's Martial Arts Center. We also have a real cannon that will fire throughout the day and a historical corner featuring our own Fire Chief Dan Meehan and Master Cooper Ron Raiselis. There are still many activities in the works and we will update this blog with events and times once we have confirmed everything.

While we have received several vendor registration forms, we are still

Master Cooper Ron Raiselis

looking for more! Do you have a business you'd like to promote? A skill you'd like to share? Are you a group who would like to share your mission with the community? We would love to have you! Keep in mind that Lebanon residents may have a vendor booth at no cost! All other's may purchase a space for $25 or $40 depending on the size space you choose. If you are interested in more information or would like us to get you a registration form email us at lebanonfestival1@yahoo.com. 

We are excited that  The Ripcord Cafe from Skydive New England will be at the festival selling food from their cafe! If you have not yet made it out to Skydive New England to eat at their cafe we encourage you to do so! It's such a fun experience for the family. Click on the link we provided and watch the video clip and view their menu! We would love to be able to offer more food at the festival so if you or someone you know would be interested in this, please contact us at the email above.

Your festival committee is working hard to make this a fun day for the whole family and we appreciate so much those of you who have made donations to the Festival, who have offered your help, kind words and support. It means so much to us. We would like to give a special shout out to Carroll and Grace Leone who sent the committee a donation to be used towards this years festival! This was an unexpected gift and came with no return address for us to send a thank you to them. If you are reading this and you know this couple, please extend our sincere thanks to them!

Lebanon Festival 2016

Your Lebanon Festival committee has begun planning this year's event and things are really shaping up! The date is set for Saturday, August 20th from 9am-3pm, rain or shine! We are always in need of more help in the planning process. If you are interested in helping or if you have any ideas or suggestions you would like to share with us you can reach out to the committee here on the blog, through our Facebook page or you can email us at lebanonfestival1@yahoo.com. We'd love to hear from you! We had some activities and entertainment that were very well-received by the community last year, which we hope to bring back this year. We are always looking to make things better and more fun for everyone so if you have a talent you would be interested in sharing, reach out to us!

If you or someone you know would be interested in having a vendor or informational table at the Festival this year please let us know and we will get the information out to you. Lebanon residents will receive a FREE table this year!

We will continue updating the blog as we finalize details of the Festival so be sure to check in with us often and please help us get the word out and share our blog posts! Also, if you haven't already, "like" us on Facebook!