Olde Bristol Days, the annual festival featuring fireworks, lobster boat races, live music and other attractions, will likely move from Colonial Pemaquid to Pemaquid Beach next year.
“It’s a drastic change, because that’s where it all started – at the fort,” Gordon Benner, Chairman of the Bristol Parks Commission said at the Oct. 6 meeting of the Bristol Board of Selectmen.
Benner cited multiple reasons for the impending move. Because Colonial Pemaquid is an important archaeological site, the state strictly regulates Olde Bristol Days vendors. Tent stakes, for example, can only extend six inches into the ground.
“I do know that they want us out of there,” Benner said.
“I think it’s better that we move out on our own than get kicked out a month before [Olde Bristol Days],” Selectman Robert Tibbetts said.
This year, the Bristol Parks Commission took charge of Olde Bristol Days for the first time in the event’s history. In the past, volunteers ran the event.
Benner said he was pleased with the Commission’s handling of the event last year and wants to start planning early this year.
Spectators will still watch the Merritt Brackett lobster boat races from the Fort William Henry lawn, Benner said, and vendors may have the option to move to Colonial Pemaquid for the races Sunday morning.
A message left at Colonial Pemaquid was not immediately returned.
