The Chamber Chatter

With the Fourth of July swiftly approaching, all the final plans for the River Valley Fourth of July celebration are in the wrap up stages. The schedule was decided upon at the last meeting. The gates will be open to the public at 4 p.m., the children’s games will start at 5 or 5:30 p.m. and will go on most of the night. Face painting will also be part of the children’s events, sponsored by Black Mountain of Maine.

Near the children’s game area, the Greater Rumford Community Center gymnastics team will do demonstrations. The team is coached Louanne Thibodeau. Jamie Virgin and Gary Petrie will perform throughout the evening as well as Jimmy Austin and Kenny Chapman. All are well respected musicians from the River Valley area.

Hope Association will have a table/booth with numerous fun items for kids and adults alike. Starting at 6 p.m., Scot Grassette will perform his “Walk of Danger” (to honor the men and women serving in the U.S. armed forces) which will involve broken glass, nails and a blindfold plus other dangerous items that you will have to see to believe!

The RVCC Lucky Duck Race will take place in the Swift River at 6:30 p.m. Make sure you come to the Rumford Information Center (or some of our local businesses) to buy ($5) your lucky duck and have a chance to win $500 if your duck finishes first, $250 for second and $150 for third. At 7:45 p.m., Scot Grassette will present his mesmerizing magic show.

All this is going on plus there will be a 50/50 raffle sales throughout the evening that will be for the benefit of next year,s Fourth of July Fireworks celebration.

At 9 p.m., the 50/50 winner will be announced followed by a moment of silence and the singing of the National Anthem by local performer Elaine Michaud. The fireworks will then commence and should last close to 30 minutes. Atlas PyroVision will produce the fireworks and they should be spectacular!

I hope when you read this that the weather has been good the previous weekend because my daughter was married and it was an outside wedding. I am sure we made the best of such a momentous occasion.

If you would like more information on any of the Chamber’s events, call the office at 364-3241 or email info@rivervalleychamber.com.