RevFest 250 takes over The Park on Bartlet Street on Saturday, Oct. 3, with Revolutionary War reenactments, colonial artisans, live music and Andover's first drone show.
The Andover 250th Anniversary Committee meets Thursday, Sept. 24, to finalize logistics for the all-day festival, officially named RevFest 250: Andover's Great American Gathering. The committee agenda lists votes on municipal lot closures, signage and wayfinding, a rain date plan, food and beverage operations, an opening ceremony and the drone show.
The event is hosted by the Andover Celebrates America 250 Committee and co-sponsored by the Andover Center for History & Culture.
Committee Chair Susan McCready told the Eagle-Tribune on Saturday, Sept. 19, that she joined the committee to give back to the town. "I feel like Andover has led in a lot of ways," McCready said, pointing to the town's ties to the Revolution.
The daytime program runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A Colonial Artisan Fair will feature blacksmithing, gunsmithing, broom making, woodworking, lacemaking and leather working demonstrations. The Cowasuck Band of the Penacook/Abenaki will display artifacts, toys and furs. Continental and British Army reenactors, including the Danvers Alarm List Company and His Majesty's Royal Artillery, 7th Company, will drill on site. Prescott's Battalion will perform 17th- and 18th-century music.
Historic walking tours will take visitors down Chestnut Street to the Rose Cottage, South Church and Bicentennial Park. A scavenger hunt rounds out the family programming.
The old Abbot Tavern on Elm Street will be recreated in The Park, serving craft beer, wine, snacks and trivia about Revolutionary-era cocktails. Main Street merchants plan to participate as well, according to the town's official announcement posted Sept. 22.
The evening starts at 4 p.m. with a free concert by Them Apples. At 7 p.m., 300 synchronized drones will light up the sky. The committee's Aug. 6 meeting minutes estimated the show's cost at roughly $10,000.
An estimated 700 Andover men served in the Revolutionary War, the Eagle-Tribune reported. The town's gunpowder mill produced ammunition for the Continental Army, and "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" was written here.
If rain forces the event indoors, the committee has discussed using the Andover Youth Services building as an alternate venue, with a final call expected by the Wednesday before the festival. Those details are on the Sept. 24 agenda.
The Andover Farmers Market shares The Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. that morning before RevFest's daytime program begins.
Upcoming dates:
- Thursday, Sept. 24 — 250th Anniversary Committee meeting, 2 p.m., The Park then Select Board Room, 36 Bartlet St.
- Thursday, Oct. 1 — Final committee meeting before the festival, 2 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 3 — RevFest 250, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., The Park on Bartlet Street
