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!

Just a Few More Days!

We are days away from the Lebanon Festival and we hope you are planning to be there. We have worked hard to bring you a day that your whole family can enjoy so please stop by! We will start off the day at 8:45 am with the National Anthem and a Flag Ceremony lead by the Cub Scouts!

We want to remind everyone about the Bike Decorating Contest/Parade for the kids. For more details and information, click on the flier. We have some great prizes for the winners and can't wait to see all the "Lebanon Pride"!

Take a look around this website for times of each event and to get a glimpse at all the great vendors we have coming. One change in our day is that there will not be a Chili Cook-Off due to a lack of participation, but the Fire Dept. will be serving up hamburgers and hot dogs so we hope you will show them your support and stop by their booth!

Can't wait to see you all on Saturday!

The Montsweagers!

We are excited to have with us this year The Montsweagers! They will fill the 11:30 - 1:30 time slot and we hope you will plan to be there. The Montsweagers are are a group of musicians from Midcoast Maine who play traditional music, including Celtic, folk, sea shanties, and originals. As one fan says on their Facebook page:

"It's well worth your time to catch the heartfelt/authentic music of the Montsweagers wherever and whenever they play. 

They are FOR REAL !!"

To see more pictures or view some videos of their music click on the link:

The Montsweagers!

We hope you will plan to join us! 

The Cooper is in Town!

The Lebanon Festival Committee is excited to announce that we will be having Ron Raiselis, the cooper for Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, NH with us all day at the Lebanon Festival! Ron is one of the few active cooper's in New England and is a wonderful addition to our festival.

"Ron started his journey as a cooper in Sturbridge Village in the 1970's and trained with cooper Lenny Julian. Ron has gone on to become a master cooper himself and is an expert at making barrels for dry goods and barrels that can hold liquids, called tight kegs or wet cooperage." ~NH State Council on the Arts

We hope you will plan to bring your family to this fun demonstration! For more information on Ron and his work visit him on Facebook!

Chili Cook-Off!

We are excited to add to the Festival this year, a Chili Cook-Off. We are thankful to the Lebanon Fire Dept. for hosting this event; We know it's going to be a fun addition to the day!

Do you know someone who makes "the best" chili? Send them our way. All community members are welcome to enter, for a small entry fee of $20. Don't cook? Stop by anyway and join in on the fun!

For more information or for an application to enter, visit the

Lebanon Fire Department website at:

http://www.lebanonmefire.org/

Why YES on Question 1?

It was brought to our attention last night at our planning committee meeting that an article was recently published, which encourages voters to vote "NO" on a referendum that would allow $1500.00 of town appropriated funds to be used for the Lebanon Festival.

The article, which you can read HERE, was written by someone who did not take the time to speak to a committee member to find out why we are asking for these funds. The author instead accuses us of not understanding "volunteerism" and not utilizing our community teens in need of community service. Unfortunately, some of you may have read that article and taken his advice and voted "no" on referendum 1.

If you have not yet voted, I ask you to listen for a moment, and understand why we are asking for the funds. The committee is made up of a very small group of residents in Lebanon who are VOLUNTEERING their time to put together a family-friendly festival that will provide fun for the community. We do not get paid, nor do we expect to be paid. We have been, from the beginning of planning for the 2015 festival (which began back in February), in the process of coordinating with the high school to get students to come and volunteer their time while earning some community service hours. Since February we have been working very hard to bring in donations from our community businesses and have been very successful. We are so thankful to live in such a generous community. We are also working very hard to bring in vendors and help local business owners promote their businesses.

Our reason for asking the town to set aside money is so that we can begin lining up our entertainment early, before they become booked up for the season. If we wait on the money from donors to come in, we run the risk of not being able to book people. For instance, we would love to reserve a band for next year's festival but without the money for a down payment, we can't do that. If we had $1500 in the account we would be able to reserve them. We have lots of ideas to make the day a day that the community looks forward to but entertainment is rarely cheap and almost never free. As it stands, what we are able to raise in a year, goes toward the cost of that current year's expenses, leaving us with very little in reserve for the following year.

We want the Lebanon Festival to be a day that is positive for our community; please join with us in spreading that message! Help us out by voting YES on 1 if you have not voted already.

Sincerely,
Your Lebanon Festival Committee

*** While you are reading, I want to take a moment and clear up a lie that has been going around. Recently we received an email from a vendor attending this year's festival that she was not pleased to hear we were charging ALL vendor's $40 to come to the festival. This is just not accurate at all and whoever is spreading this around is not linked to the festival or it's planning. What is accurate is that vendors can reserve space for the festival at a cost of either $25 or $40, depending on the size space they choose. All Lebanon municipalities are FREE. It's unfortunate that our vendors are reading things about the festival on Facebook sites that are not linked at all with the Lebanon Festival. We are asking you, our community, to please come to this website to get your factual information about the Lebanon Festival. You can reach any of the committee members by using the email address at the top of the page. We will respond and answer any of your questions and clear up any misconceptions. ***

The Musical Medic

The Lebanon Festival Committee would like to take some time and highlight one of the musicians who will be at the festival this year. The Musical Medic, as he is called, comes to us out of Limerick and has 'Answered the Call'. We are so pleased that he will be a part of our festival so to get you acquainted we've taken some of his information from his website to offer you a background on what he does and why.

'Answering the call? Over the years, Brian sang and played songs which touched his heart. These songs served as personal solace but were never performed publicly. Answering the call in the firehouse was a way of life with demands many cannot imagine. As a decorated firefighter/EMT, music served as a therapeutic tool to sooth his mind, his soul. Ultimately, his heart was full of gratitude and his skill as a musician was refined.'
It goes on to say on his website, The Musical Medic (click link):

'Brian brought his talents to Maine Medical Center, in Portland, Maine. There, his abilities and willingness to share were embraced. Brian has performed regularly for patients on the Cardiac Recovery floor, the Behavioral floor in group settings, and the Specialty Care Units, also known as the I.C.U.'s.
Brian soon came to realize the gifts and blessings for him came in the form of profound experiences during his service there. Patients smiled, families cried, children danced.

We know the Musical Medic will be a great addition to our festival and we encourage all of you to plan to attend his family-friendly performance, which is scheduled for 2:00 pm and will last until 3:00. Take some time to visit his website and learn more about his "call". If you think the Music Medic would be perfect for an event you are planning then you can reach him at 207.651.7803 or send an email to: saulnier.emtbasic@gmail.com.