VAN BUREN, Maine — Hundreds came out to Van Buren’s boat landing last weekend for the town’s third annual Christmas in July festival — the town’s largest annual event.
The event, which mostly took place on Saturday, kicked off with a 5K glow run/walk and cornhole tournament on Friday night. The glow run benefited the Van Buren Class of 2028 and the Austin James West Memorial Scholarship fund, which helps Aroostook students attend college in Maine.
Volunteers in golf carts helped drive guests under the international bridge to the boat landing, which overlooks the St. John River and Canada. The area was set up with a plethora of activities including food trucks, bounce houses and live music throughout the day.
Lori Ouellette, secretary of the Van Buren Revitalization Association — the group behind the festival — said that each year they try to make the event a little bigger. Ouellette said some of the new additions this year include free horse rides and a craft fair near the town’s music park.
Guests also had an opportunity to get their picture taken next to a Gypsy Vanner horse, a breed that looks similar to a pony due to its smaller size.
Jacqui Reach, who moved to Van Buren from Washington State with her family last year, decided to bring Hope — their Gypsy Vanner horse — to the festival.
“When I lived back in Washington state, we used to do a little Christmas thing in front of the farm store I worked at, and we’d put her in a little crown and let people come up and pet her,” Reach said.
It made sense for Reach to bring Hope up and take her to another Christmas-themed event on the east coast.
She said she moved from the west coast to the east coast to be closer to family, and also because housing in Washington was becoming unaffordable. Reach said she enjoys the peace and solitude of rural Maine, but also enjoys giving back to the local community through volunteer work.
Van Buren Town Manager Luke Dyer said that everyone is excited about the nice weather, which has so far been cooperative for all three festivals.
“We’ve been pretty lucky with that,” he said, “and we’re all like weathermen; we’re watching the weather all the time.”
He said the event is continuing to grow, and that while at first it mostly drew in local residents, it is now drawing in many people from outside the community. Some guests, he said, grew up in Van Buren but moved away, and are planning vacations around the festival to meet with former classmates and friends they grew up with.
Scott Schmidt, a professor at Drexel, Georgetown and Clemson Universities who has worked with Van Buren on several projects, drove up from Philadelphia to see the town for the first time during the weekend festival.
“There’s a real air of something happening here in the town,” he said of his first in-person visit to Van Buren. “There’s forward progress and hope and development. You can see it when you’re driving right through Main Street.”
Schmidt met with several residents and officials who he had formerly only interacted with remotely, and used the opportunity to meet several community members in-person. He said Van Buren sets itself apart with its strong sense of community and Acadian heritage.
“From the foods and the accents to the history itself,” he said, “it’s something unique and it stands out, especially if you’re not from here. And it’s something I hope everyone else would get to experience at some point, because it’s so unique, not only in the state, but in the United States itself.”
