First Laurel Festival fair held at park

WINSTED — On Saturday, June 4, The Laurel Commission and the Recreation Department teamed up to hold their first Community Fair at East End Park. The festival included seven vendors, a bounce house and games, live dancing, tight-rope walking, food and family fun.

“This is the first community fair that we have partnered with the Recreation Department on,” said Laurel Commission co-chairman Lisa Steeves. “All of our Laurel King and Queen contestants are here, except for two who are participating on the Gilbert baseball team.”

Each of the contestants present at the fair organized booths for their sponsors.

“We’re excited, and I’m amazed at how our contestants have taken on this challenge,” Steeves said. “We gave them the idea, and they’re ready to go with it.”

Lisa Cormier, owner and instructor of Dance ’n Beyond at 74 Park Place, was present at the festival and hosted live dancing demonstrations.

Joanne Harrington, Laurel Festival contestant, was present on Saturday representing the Leo Club. She was showcasing sample handmade dresses, reconstructed from pillowcases, which her club donates to children in Africa. 

Harrington spoke proudly of some of the accomplishments of the Leo Club. “We did a blood drive last night, where our goal was to receive 40 pints of blood, and we received 46, so we were very grateful for that,” Harrington said.

Steeves said she hopes to bring more community involvement to the Laurel Festival by giving it a more “festival feel” with the Community Fair event. 

“Back when I was a teenager, we had the Sidewalk Cafe, and that was open to the public,” Steeves said. ”You bought tickets and everything, but it was a fun night, anyone could come. The ball is a little more segregated — its family members and sponsors. There are some community members that participate, but it’s usually an elite group that comes, not that everyone is not welcome to join us. Then, a lot of times people don’t know about the parade, either, so I thought if we can do this and get people more aware, and show them what we are, we can get more participants from juniors and seniors in the future, also get more community knowledge.”