Damariscotta residents will notice a special element to their Fourth of July celebrations this weekend in events planned around town to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the town’s incorporation.
An ad hoc planning committee was assembled earlier this year with members from local mainstays including the Damariscotta Chamber of Commerce and Information Bureau, the Damariscotta Historical Society, the town of Damariscotta, its fire and police departments, and interested residents.
“We were a small but mighty committee that spent months just throwing ideas out there to see what we could to do to celebrate 175 years,” said Lisa Hagen, executive director of the Damariscotta Region Chamber of Commerce and Information Bureau.
Damariscotta was officially incorporated out of the towns of Nobleboro and Bristol in March 1848, a date celebrated earlier this year with a reading of the act to incorporate the town at a select board meeting.
Long before, the area was once inhabited by Wawenock Native Americans, who left behind the oyster shell middens on the banks of the Damariscotta River. European colonists arrived in 1640, when some moved from Pemaquid to the Damariscotta region.
Multiple wars during the following decades disrupted the settlements, but toward the end of the 18th century, the town found peace and grew as a trade center in the Midcoast.
Damariscotta became known for the brickyards which were established along the Damariscotta River and for the shipbuilding industry that supplied much of the town’s wealth in the 1800s.
Today, it is a service center for neighboring Lincoln County towns, supports tourism, and is home to a visible aquaculture industry.
Anniversary celebration organizers said the July celebration date was chosen as a time when people were already gathered in town and able to celebrate outside.
“We wanted to tie it in to a grand celebration,” Hagen said.
As part of the grand celebration, festivities begin Friday, June 30 and continue until Tuesday, July 4.
John Roberts, Damariscotta fire chief and planning committee member, said the long weekend’s events pull some inspiration from the 100th and 150th anniversary celebrations with the hope to provide a basis for future planners of the town’s bicentennial celebration 25 years from today.
“It’s a quirky number, but we thought it was worth it,” he said of commemorating 175 years.
Throughout the weekend, Hagen said, downtown businesses will offer some sidewalk sales for a “street fair atmosphere” to be enjoyed by visitors.
Many of the quartoseptcentennial’s events have a historical focus, such as the historical floats and classic cars expected in the parade. Weather permitting, a historic photograph will be recreated outside the old firehouse at 1 Bristol Road at noon on Saturday, Roberts said.
A Maurice “Jake” Day Art Show will be held at the Damariscotta Historical Society from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, June 30 and July 1, celebrating an important local artist with history in the town.
Dioramas created by Day, typically enjoyed on display at Christmastime, will also be on view at the town office from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Monday.
Day grew up in Damariscotta, attended Lincoln Academy, and went to college in Boston to study art. He went on to become one of the first animators to work for Walt Disney, and is most famous for creating the animation on Disney’s film “Bambi.” He was also well known for his painting, drawing, and sculpting.
Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust will host a 5K trail run, walk and fun run around its Round Top Farm at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 1. The race will consist of two loops of a 1.5 mile course and will be professionally timed.
Following the race, children’s activities, a bounce house, and more will be enjoyed at the farm.
Later that day, Lincoln County Historical Association’s garden tour includes a map of special gardens in Damariscotta, among other towns, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Damariscotta Historical Society’s self-guided historic building walking tour will take celebrants around town from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The historic Chapman-Hall House will be open noon to 4 p.m. with free admission to a special exhibit on the Chapman and Hall families, who owned the house in the 18th and 19th centuries.
For more information on both tours, go to lincolncountyhistory.org.
Festivities continue into Tuesday, July 4.
To commemorate both the town’s anniversary and the Fourth of July, a parade will be held on Main Street starting at 5 p.m., followed by fireworks and music in the municipal parking lot after sunset.
