Jun 5, 2008
Georgetown Day
Annual street festival is Sunday
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by Susan Wolf
pilot@thereddingpilot.com
Discover Georgetown’s Main Street this Sunday. The street will be teeming with people, activities, entertainment, and lots and lots of food.
The Sixth Annual Georgetown Day Street Festival kicks off at noon on June 8 and continues until 7 p.m. Main Street will be closed to cars to create a pedestrian walkway and to provide a venue for a variety of attractions, everything from inflatables like a Bounce House for kids, along with other activities, to the Lions Club beer tent, to a Chili Cook-off, to some 70 vendors, as well as raffles, and music. Add to that the local restaurants that will be open for business, many offering streetside food, and a chance to see A Georgetown Story.
“It’s a little taste of what Georgetown used to be,” said Ralph Bosch, Georgetown Village Restoration Inc. president, about the festival. “It’s people getting together to do things. It’s an attempt to recapture some of this.”
Georgetown Day is sponsored by Mr. Bosch’s group along with the Georgetown Volunteer Fire Department, the Georgetown Lions Club and, for the second year, the Georgetown Community Association. Sponsoring the Chili Cook-off for the first time is the Joel Barlow High School wrestling team, which took over this event from the Mark Twain Library.
The festival draws people from the area, “and it is good for merchants,” said Mr. Bosch.
Vendors
Susan Jackson, who owns Paint, Draw and More!, oversees the vendors. About half are returning from last year, she said, adding she now has a waiting list for space.
Among the items for sale are jewelry, clothing and hair accessories, doll clothing, pottery and hand-blown glass. Organizations like the YMCA, the town’s two political parties, New Pond Farm, dance studios, a martial arts studio, a travel agency, photographers, and more will have booths at the festival. A returning attraction is the Adopt-A-Pet van, courtesy of Georgetown Veterinary Hospital.
Ms. Jackson and her crew will offer face painting, and the Georgetown Fire Department will have a truck on display. The dunk tank returns for another year as well.
Besides the food offered by local restaurants, there will be kettle corn for sale, shaved ice treats, Swirl’s ice cream, cotton candy, and cheesecake on a stick, to name a few. The Georgetown Lutheran Church will be selling coffee cake and cookies.
Music, music, music
Adam Lubarsky has once again come up with musical entertainment for the day with a stage on each end of the street. The main stage is on the north end toward the liquor store, where bands will play from 12:30 to 6:45. The acoustic stage is on the south end, across from Rancho Allegre, where music starts at noon and continues until 6:30 (see separate listing of musical performers).
“All of the entertainers are performing for free,” said Mr. Lubarsky, “thanks to the generous donations of Fairfield County Bank, Bruce Bennett Nissan, Events Party & Tent Rentals, and many more.
“I am very excited about the music this year,” he said. “We have great acts, including Doug Wahlberg, who is now on national radio with his record, Broken.”
Chili Cook-off
The Chili Cook-off is from noon to 3, or until there is no chili left, said Sandee Zurzuski, who is organizing it for the high school wrestling team, of which her son Andrew is a member. The team needs equipment, she said, like new mats, so the cook-off is a way of raising money for them, for a digital scale to make sure each player can make his weight class, and to help start a feeder program.
There are now more than 20 chili competitors signed up, but Ms. Zurzuski hopes to have 30. There will be three prizes — gift baskets — for first-, second- and third-place winners of the People’s Choice awards, as well as a prize for the Cooks’ Choice.
For $10, chili tasters get a bowl, a spoon and a People’s Choice ballot.
“We are looking for sponsors to help defray the cost of the cook-off so all of the profits don’t go to the tent rentals, etc.,” Ms. Zurzuski said. To sponsor or to be a competitor in the cook-off, call her at 938-9342.
Movie showing
The Georgetown History Project is giving festival-goers the opportunity to see its 52-minute movie, A Georgetown Story, at the Georgetown Bible Church, 5 North Main St., at 1, 3 and 5 p.m.
The group also has a booth at the festival where the documentary may be purchased, along with the history project’s “544” T-shirts and framed prints of scenes from Georgetown.
Parking
According to Mr. Bosch, Weir Farm is loaning the use of its bus to provide a shuttle service from Caraluzzi’s Market off Route 7 to the festival. There is also parking on North Main Street and in the various parking lots surrounding Main Street.
Members of the town’s Community Emergency Response Team will be helping with traffic control this year, said Doug Hartline, the town’s health officer, who oversees the program. These will be CERT members who went through a course on traffic control.
“We are asking CERT members to get experience at traffic control, and the police department is allowing members to shadow them during Georgetown Day,” said Mr. Hartline.
5K race, Fun Run
Before the start of the street festival, the Wilton Chamber of Commerce will sponsor the Georgetown Gallop 5K Road Race and Fun Run at 10:30 on June 8. The course goes down and back along Old Mill Road, with check-in at 9:30. The first 100 participants will receive a T-shirt. To preregister online for the Gallop, go to www.active.com or call the Chamber office at 762-0567.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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