Branford Festival Attracts Thousands to Green

The 32nd annual Branford Festival brought thousands of residents and out-of-town guests to the Branford Green this past weekend to hear the music, feast on delicious food and shop, shop, shop among the scores of vendors displaying their wares on Saturday. No question, the perfect weather also had a lot to do with the large crowds.

Dennis Nardella, who served as festival chairman for the third consecutive year, said, ​“When you’re planning a three-day weekend like this we hope for perfect weather and we couldn’t have been happier with the way it turned out.” Last year rain cancelled Friday’s schedule.

Road Race Mix-Up

On Sunday, the big attraction was the 36th Branford Father’s Day Road Race. Over 3.000 runners and walkers competed in three events with 500 children in the 1‑mile fun run, 500 walkers in the 2‑mile health walk and 2,000 in the 5‑mile race.

The finish of the race resulted in a route mix-up by the leader at the time. Frisco Poole of Branford had pulled ahead of Matt Chaston from New York City, but instead of turning left off Montowese Street onto Main Street, with the finish line only 200 feet away, he turned right on Main and followed the police motorcycles, who typically pull off the route just before reaching the finish line. Onlookers yelled to Poole to turn around but by the time he did Chaston took the lead and won the race.

Chaston finished at 27:44 and Poole at 27:51. Kate Pallardy also from New York City was the top female finisher at 28:40. 

On hand for the race were Ray Figlewski, the founder and chairman of the race and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, long a fan of Branford’s road race. The funds raised from the race are given to charitable organizations.

Friday on the Green

Festivities began at 5 p.m. Friday with the Branford Choral performing. They were followed by the always popular Branford High School Concert Choir.

The Governors Foot Guard raised the festival flag.

The last two groups to perform on Friday were ​“Turbulence,” a local cover band, followed by ​“Zoso,” a popular Led Zeppelin tribute band.
Volunteers were on the Green early Saturday helping the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce set up the 100-plus vendors and organizations offering their products and services.

While the front section Green was busy with the vendors, there was continuous entertainment on Main Street and in back of Town Hall from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. And for the youngsters, kids’ activities included a slide, swings, a rock wall, face painting, and a variety of rides.

media_5}For all three days and nights the Food Court was a busy place, serving pancakes, French toast, fried dough, hotdogs, burgers, French fries, sausage and pepper subs, lobster rolls, pizza, chicken wings, chowder and gyros. And you could top it off with ice cream, funnel cakes, cheesecake and delicious strawberry shortcake.

On Saturday, festival master of ceremonies Bill Keane requested the audience to stand for a moment of silence for the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting as wells as for Festival board member John Donegan, former probate judge for the towns of Branford and North Branford, who passed away on Thursday.

The Branford Lions were recognized on their 65th anniversary.

Four groups performed on the main stage, including ​“The Locomotives;” ​“Hitlist;” and ​“Supernatural,” a Santana Tribute Band; and ​“China Grove,” a Doobie Brothers tribute group.The turnout was grand.

A full moon shines over ​“China Grove,” a Doobie Brothers tribute band.

In addition, Ken Bjork was named ​“Father of the Year” winner, and the Branford Lions Club was honored for 65 years of service to the Branford community.
 
The festival concluded with music by ​“Pocket Full of Soul” and the ​“Branford’s Got Talent” contest.

Festival corporation president Dale Izzo praised chairman Dennis Nardella and his committee for a great festival, saying, ​“We all know how much goes into this weekend and we thank you (Dennis) and your committee for a job well done.” 

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