FARMINGTON — The 47th rendition of Chester Greenwood Day will take place on Saturday, Dec. 2, with lots of old favorites returning along with some new activities sure to provide family fun.
Franklin County Chamber of Commerce presents Chester Greenwood Day each year as a way to celebrate one of the region’s most well-known inventors and businessmen. Chamber Executive Director JP Fortier last week noted there were a few new things happening this year.
Kendrick Charles of Kingfield will be providing horse-drawn wagon rides around downtown Farmington from 12 to 3 p.m., Fortier said. Home Auto Group is sponsoring those, he stated.
“The craft fair at University of Maine at Farmington is coming back,” he said. “The Downtown Business Association will be adding a tree lighting ceremony during the flag raising at the courthouse.” The information became available after the program was printed, he added.
Also new this year, from 12 to 2 p.m. cocoa and cookies will be available outside the Chester Greenwood Estate on Hill Street. Now a private residence, visitors may walk around outside. Or for book lovers, Literacy Volunteers of Franklin and Somerset Counties will be giving away books from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at its location in the Arthur D. Ingalls Center, 144 High St.
A Farmington native, Greenwood invented “ear protectors,” or earmuffs, when he was 15. Those earmuffs will be front and center during the parade and other events around town.
The theme for the day this year is “Celebrate Maine! The way life should be.” Parade lineup starts at 10 a.m. at the Mallett School’s Quebec Street entrance. The parade, which kicks off at 11 a.m. is expected to last about an hour.
Returning again this year, are the fundraising cookie walk at Henderson Memorial Church on Academy Street, Farmington Historical Society wreath sale and open houses, the gingerbread house contest, Taste of Farmington, Polar Bear Dip at Clearwater Lake in Industry and the Festival of Trees.
During the Taste of Farmington, participants receive a passport that can be shown between 12 and 3 p.m. at 14 area restaurants. The passports are marked and samples from each eatery are enjoyed. Completed passports may be turned in at Food City or the Festival of Trees to be entered in a drawing for Chamber Bucks.
“We did increase the price of the passports to $10,” Fortier noted. “Still a great deal.”
For a list of most planned activities, visit the chamber’s Facebook page.
The Festival of Trees is a fundraiser to support Farmington Rotary programs. This will be the 25th edition. Food, festivities and music will be available throughout the day heading up to the 6:30 p.m. auction.
Besides earmuffs, Greenwood invented other useful items during his life — some of which were patented and others not. He was also involved in several businesses.
According to an article Nancy Porter wrote about Greenwood, he ran a bicycle shop and sold Florida boilers. He owned and operated Franklin Telephone & Telegraph, which he expanded east toward New Sharon and north to the Phillips area which he later sold to a competitor, it noted.
Greenwood created a tea kettle with a special bottom, invented an advertising match box, and built and patented a boring machine used in the wood turning industry, Porter’s article stated. It continued, “The last thing he patented was a spring-tooth rake. He invented other things — a pipe vise, an umbrella holder, and a portable camp. These were never patented.”
However, it was for the earmuffs — which he continued to produce until his death in 1937 — that Greenwood is most fondly remembered. Proof of that is visible in the popularity of Chester Greenwood Day — held annually on the first Saturday in December in honor of his Dec. 4 birthday.
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