Last weekend in Lewiston-Auburn, the inaugural Auburn Summer Festival was held, and what a show many residents missed!

The three-day festival included food, music, games and activities for the kids, at several venues around the city. Saturday night also featured a fireworks display over the Great Falls that rivaled many witnessed on the Fourth of July in L-A.

The Sun Journal broadcast the fireworks live on its Facebook page. Many commenters praised the sharing, while others expressed bewilderment at the fireworks happening at an unexpected time of the summer.

At Lewiston’s Veterans Memorial Park only a handful of families set up on blankets to enjoy the show. The Auburn side of the river appeared to have about the same draw of people.

For the families that did turn out, the screams of joy and excitement from the children could be heard on the Sun Journal’s live video feed. One person watching on Facebook commented, “Nice! TY 🙂 Love the kids and the audio …”

The festival’s organizer said a committee of 10 people put together the weekend festival, funded roughly 80 percent by local business sponsorships and the reminder from the Auburn Recreation Department.

Organizers said attendance numbers were a little lower than they would have hoped — expectations for a July 4th-sized turnout would have been shortsighted, particularly for a first-time event — but with so many private and public dollars put into the show, it would have been nice to see more people.

Just the same, organizers already anticipate this will be an annual event that complements Auburn’s Winter Festival. Plans are to add a fireworks display to that festival as well.

Organizers will assuredly spread the word about next summer’s second annual event as it nears, and the Sun Journal will again publicize it to help get the word out. Feel free to spread the word, too.

Lewiston-Auburn is home to so many well-supported and well-attended free events — let’s make sure that come this weekend next year the efforts by so many in the community to put on this fantastic show are rewarded by a large turnout of families, enjoying each other’s company at the various festival events and under a fireworks-filled sky.

lgilbert@sunjournal.com

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.