A Kora Karts driver zooms through the intersection of River Road and Main Street Saturday during the Richmond Days Parade. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
RICHMOND – Under the heat of the late July sun on Saturday, Harley Warner adjusted her grip on the mallet to take another shot at the established High Striker game on Richmond’s waterfront.
Harley Warner, 15, takes another swing at the High Striker match at Richmond Days on Saturday, finally ringing the buzzer after several attempts. Jessica Lowell, writer for Kennebec Magazine
Around Warner, the afternoon sights, sounds and smells showed that Richmond Days, the annual summer celebration the city has hosted for decades, was underway.
With successive hits, the 15-year-old Warner was able to get the puck higher up the court until finally, after about 10 tries, he rang the buzzer.
“You’re the second girl to do this today,” the operator said, pointing her in the direction of the prizes she could choose from.
Warner, who chose a large, puffy Crayola pencil, grew up going to Richmond Days before moving to Oxford. This summer, she is at Chop Point Camp in Woolwich and her grandparents took her to meet her friends in town. I planned to try old-school roller skating, the forerunner of roller skating, at the roller rink being set up not far away on Front Street, and later watch the fireworks over the Kennebec River.
Riding on a float, the conductor encourages spectators to clap along with the Hallowell Community Band on Saturday during the Richmond Days Parade. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
After a two-year hiatus, Richmond Days returned this weekend with a “Fabulous 50s” theme that brought out the poodle and chiffon skirts among the most daring, the “Whatever Derby Races” that invoke the races of soap and a Frank Sinatra impersonator. to recall the heady days of the middle of the 20th century for choir singers.
In 2020, Richmond Days was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on public gatherings. Last year, the municipality opted for a smaller event, with a later start time.
But this year’s event, which began Thursday with the Police vs. Fire softball game and cookoff, and continued through Saturday with a parade, games, food trucks, bounce houses and a nostalgic theme, drew the people on the city’s waterfront, where most of the afternoon’s activities were centered.
Although the lobster box races, something Warner was hoping for, were canceled, that didn’t stop dozens of people from jumping off the city’s docks into the Kennebec River to cool off.
As Courtney Hinkley waited with the eagerness of the very young on their way to do something fun, Jennifer Saxon stopped for a moment on Front Street to say she was looking forward to the fireworks later.
“She’s expecting everything,” Saxon said, gesturing to Hinkley. “I know they haven’t had it in a few years, so this year it’s probably a bigger deal.”
A group from the Richmond Summer Rec program rolls from Main Street to River Road during the Richmond Days parade on Saturday. Spectators lined the route that started near Richmond High School and then went around town and back there to finish. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
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