Somerset County Maine Madison Anson Days Festival
Madison and Anson sit on opposite banks of the Kennebec River in Somerset County, and for one weekend each late August the two towns shared a celebration across it. Madison Anson Days, also billed as the Madison Anson Days Festival, ran Thursday through Sunday with events spread across both towns: a parade that rolled along Main Street from Anson into Madison, fireworks launched from the Anson side of the river on Saturday night, a carnival in Anson, an antique tractor show, a farmers market, a craft and vendor show, a charity cook-off, a Family Fun Day in Madison, a book sale, a five-kilometre run and walk, a smallmouth bass fishing derby, a golf tournament and evening dances. Three editions are documented in town flyers, in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and the 2019 edition earned the committee a marketing award from the regional tourism council. There was no single gate admission; visitors paid only for individual elements, such as Family Fun Day bracelets and the charity cook-off. Neither Madison nor Anson is the county seat — that honour belongs to Skowhegan — but together the twin towns built a festival that belonged to both banks of the river at once.
About
Madison Anson Days was a twin-town festival that needed both towns to work. Madison supplied Main Street Park, the Madison Public Library and the parade’s finishing stretch, while Anson supplied the Town Office, the Garrett Schenck School, the carnival grounds and the riverbank from which the fireworks were fired. Craft and vendor shows were held at the Skowhegan Savings bank site. The Madison Anson Days Committee organised the weekend, and the programme was deliberately wide, mixing a parade and fireworks with a tractor show, a farmers market, a book sale, a fishing derby, a golf tournament and dances in the evening. The river set the shape of the whole event, with the parade crossing from one town into the other and the fireworks watched from both banks. The festival’s own billing shifted between the shorter “Madison Anson Days” and the fuller “Madison Anson Days Festival”, and both forms are carried here as printed. No founding account appears in the layers read: no first year is stated, and no origin story is told. What they do give is a clear picture of a late-August weekend in 2017, 2018 and 2019, growing year by year in the words of a committee member quoted in 2019, and recognised that same year with a marketing award.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Fact |
| Published name | Madison Anson Days / Madison Anson Days Festival |
| Host towns | Madison and Anson, Maine |
| County | Somerset County |
| County seat | Skowhegan |
| Venue | Main Street Park and Madison Public Library in Madison; Anson Town Office and Garrett Schenck School in Anson |
| Organiser | Madison Anson Days Committee |
| Documented editions | Thursday 24 August to Sunday 27 August 2017; Thursday 23 August to Sunday 26 August 2018; Thursday 22 August to Sunday 25 August 2019 |
| Parade | Along Main Street from Anson to Madison |
| Fireworks | Saturday at nine in the evening, from the Anson side of the Kennebec River |
| Admission | No single gate admission; element charges only |
History
No founding account for Madison Anson Days appears in the layers read, so the history of the festival as documented begins with the town flyers for three consecutive late-August weekends. The first, Thursday 24 August to Sunday 27 August 2017, set the pattern: four days, events in both towns, a parade from Anson to Madison, fireworks on Saturday night, and a mix of carnival, market, craft show, cook-off, Family Fun Day, book sale, run and walk, fishing derby, golf tournament and dances. The second, Thursday 23 August to Sunday 26 August 2018, followed the same shape a day earlier in the month. The third, Thursday 22 August to Sunday 25 August 2019, was confirmed by the regional tourism council as well as by the town flyer, and the council’s layer records that the committee won a marketing award for that edition. A committee member quoted in a tourism-council layer in 2019 said the festival “is growing each year”, and the three flyers bear that out in the breadth of the programme. The layers read document editions only through 2019 and give no account of what followed; that silence is not treated here as evidence that the festival ended. One earlier Madison event must not be confused with this one: Madison “Old Fashioned Days”, billed the forty-fifth in 2007, was a different, earlier Madison event, and it is kept separate throughout this article.
What to Expect
A Madison Anson Days weekend opened on Thursday and ran through Sunday, with the two towns sharing the programme. The parade was the centrepiece of the street programme, travelling along Main Street from Anson into Madison, and the fireworks on Saturday at nine in the evening were fired from the Anson side of the river so that crowds on both banks could watch them over the water. The Anson carnival ran alongside an antique tractor show, a farmers market and a craft and vendor show, while the Backyard Farms charity Dynamite Cook Off gave the food programme a competitive edge. Family Fun Day took over Main Street Park in Madison, and the Madison Public Library held its book sale. Sporting events spread across the four days: a five-kilometre run and walk, a smallmouth bass fishing derby on the river and a golf tournament, with evening dances closing the days. Visitors should expect a small-town, two-town festival rather than a single-site fair: events were scattered across Main Street Park, the library, the Anson Town Office, the Garrett Schenck School and the bank site used for craft and vendor shows, so moving between the towns was part of the experience. The river was the thread that tied the weekend together, from the parade crossing between the towns to the fireworks reflected on the water on Saturday night.
Planning Your Visit
Plan for a four-day weekend in late August, Thursday through Sunday, with events in both towns, and expect to cross the Kennebec River more than once. The documented editions fell on 24 to 27 August in 2017, 23 to 26 August in 2018 and 22 to 25 August in 2019, each on the last full Thursday-to-Sunday stretch of the month. Base the visit in either town and walk or drive between the two: Main Street Park and the Madison Public Library in Madison, the Anson Town Office and the Garrett Schenck School in Anson, and the craft and vendor shows at the Skowhegan Savings bank site. There was no single gate admission to budget for. Element charges were small and were priced by year: Family Fun Day bracelets cost five dollars in 2018 and 2019 and three dollars in 2017, the charity cook-off cost three dollars in 2018, and a family movie under the stars cost two dollars in 2017. The parade runs along Main Street from Anson to Madison, so pick a viewing spot on either side of the route, and the Saturday fireworks are fired from the Anson side at nine in the evening, which makes both riverbanks good vantage points. Because the layers read document editions only through 2019, confirm future dates with the organising committee before travelling.
For a useful comparison, see the Somerset County Maine Skowhegan River Festival for another county festival.
Sample Itinerary
Arrive on Thursday and start in Madison, walking Main Street Park and the library area before the weekend fills up. On Friday, cross to Anson for the carnival and the craft and vendor shows, then return to Madison for the evening dances. Saturday is the fullest day: watch the parade along Main Street as it travels from Anson into Madison, spend the afternoon at Family Fun Day in Main Street Park and the book sale at the library, and take a place on the riverbank well before nine in the evening for the fireworks. Sunday can be given to the quieter events — the farmers market, the antique tractor show, the fishing derby and the golf tournament. A visitor who wants the whole picture should cross the river at least once a day, since neither side on its own shows the full festival.
Comparison
Madison Anson Days differs from a typical single-town summer festival in one obvious way: it had two host towns instead of one, with the Kennebec River running through the middle of it. A single-town street fair keeps its parade, market and fireworks in one place; here the parade crossed from one town into the other, and the fireworks were fired from one bank for audiences on both. The breadth of the programme also sets it apart from a narrowly themed event: a tractor show, a fishing derby, a golf tournament, a book sale, a cook-off and a carnival all shared one weekend, so the festival read more like a county-wide celebration in two small towns. Madison “Old Fashioned Days”, billed the forty-fifth in 2007, was a different and earlier Madison event and is not part of this history, while MadFest in Madison, Alabama, is a different event in a different state with only a shared town name in common. The closest comparison in spirit is another twin-community celebration that splits its venues across a river or a town line, where moving between the two places is part of the day.
Checklist
- Plan for Thursday through Sunday in late August, with events in both Madison and Anson
- Cross the Kennebec River between the two towns at least once a day
- Pick a parade viewing spot along Main Street between Anson and Madison
- Be on the riverbank well before nine in the evening on Saturday for the fireworks
- Visit Main Street Park for Family Fun Day and the Madison Public Library for the book sale
- Allow time for the Anson carnival, the antique tractor show and the farmers market
- Budget for element charges only — Family Fun Day bracelets, the charity cook-off and the family movie — since there was no single gate admission
- Check the craft and vendor shows at the Skowhegan Savings bank site
- Confirm future dates with the organising committee, since the layers read document editions only through 2019
Beyond the Festival
The Kennebec River is the reason the two towns share a festival, and it rewards a longer stay. The river that carried the parade route and the fireworks display also shaped the towns’ mill and farming past. Skowhegan, the Somerset County seat, lies nearby along the river and offers a natural extension to the weekend, with its own downtown and riverfront to explore. The library’s book sale and the Garrett Schenck School in Anson show the civic side of the two towns, and the farmers market and craft shows point to the small farms and makers of the surrounding countryside. A visitor with an extra day can follow the river north or south through Somerset County, where the same mix of small towns, farmland and river views continues past the festival weekend.
Significance
Madison Anson Days mattered because it made two small towns act as one place for a weekend. Madison and Anson are separate municipalities on opposite banks of the Kennebec, and the festival’s parade, fireworks and scattered venues turned that separation into the event’s defining feature. The committee’s marketing award for the 2019 edition shows the effort was noticed beyond the two towns, and the committee member’s remark in 2019 that the festival “is growing each year” suggests a celebration still finding new energy in its third documented year. The programme itself tells the same story: a tractor show and a fishing derby beside a book sale and a charity cook-off is the programme of a community drawing on everything it has, from its farms and its river to its library and its school. That breadth, spread across two towns and four days, gives Madison Anson Days its place among the county’s summer celebrations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which towns host Madison Anson Days?
Madison and Anson, Maine, host the festival together, on opposite banks of the Kennebec River in Somerset County. Events are split between the two towns: Main Street Park and the Madison Public Library in Madison, the Anson Town Office and the Garrett Schenck School in Anson, and craft and vendor shows at the Skowhegan Savings bank site. Neither town is the county seat; Skowhegan holds that role.
How did Family Fun Day bracelet prices change across the documented editions?
Family Fun Day bracelets cost three dollars in 2017 and five dollars in 2018 and again in 2019. There was no single gate admission for the festival as a whole; the bracelets were one of several small element charges, alongside the charity cook-off at three dollars in 2018 and a family movie under the stars at two dollars in 2017.
When do the fireworks go off, and from which side of the river?
The fireworks are set off on Saturday at nine in the evening from the Anson side of the Kennebec River. Crowds on both banks can watch them, and the Anson riverbank and the Madison side both serve as vantage points.
Was Madison Anson Days still running after 2019?
The layers consulted here document editions only through 2019 and give no account of what followed. That does not mean the festival ended; it means no later edition is documented in the material read, so future dates would need to be confirmed with the organising committee.
What to Expect From the Next Somerset County Maine Madison Anson Days Festival
How often is Somerset County Maine Madison Anson Days Festival held?
The three documented editions fell in consecutive years — 2017, 2018 and 2019 — each on a Thursday-to-Sunday weekend in late August. The pattern in the material read is a yearly late-August weekend, with the dates shifting a day earlier each year.
When is the next Somerset County Maine Madison Anson Days Festival?
The layers consulted here give no date beyond the 2019 edition, which ran Thursday 22 August to Sunday 25 August 2019, so no next date can be stated from them. Anyone planning a visit should confirm dates with the committee before travelling.
Will the dates change?
The documented editions all fell on the last full Thursday-to-Sunday stretch of August, but the exact dates moved from year to year: 24 to 27 August in 2017, 23 to 26 August in 2018, 22 to 25 August in 2019. A future edition would most likely keep the late-August Thursday-to-Sunday shape while the calendar dates shift, as they did across the three documented years.
Madison Anson Days joined two towns across one river for a late-August weekend, and its parade, fireworks, carnival, markets, cook-off, book sale and sporting events showed what the two towns could do together. The three documented editions, from 2017 through 2019, grew into a celebration recognised with a marketing award, and the river that divides the two towns remains the thread holding the festival together.
