Annual summer festival returns to Gilberts

Pushing children in strollers and pulling dogs on leashes, Gilberts families trickled into the village's downtown Saturday to enjoy a new version of a once popular festival.

It has been several years since residents gathered on Railroad Street for Gilberts Days, which had been an annual summer festival where neighbors could meet, munch on street food and watch fireworks. The fest had been discontinued because of budgetary concerns.

This weekend, village hall, local businesses and community organizations sought to re-create the fraternal feel of Gilberts Days with a new festival, Gilberts Community Days, on Galligan Road at Route 72.

"This is a very small startup after a couple-year hiatus," said Brett Coleman, owner of Brett's American Bar and Grill and one of the event's planners. "It's just a matter of trying to get the community back together. It gives people a chance to communicate."

At Coleman's food stand, festival goers ordered pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs and brats, smothered with mustard and freshly chopped onions and tomatoes.

Across Galligan Road, members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles sold sweet corn and talked about the service club's role in town.

"It's all about families and life. It's a great organization," said Scott Heatley, an Eagles member. "It's some of the best sweet corn I've ever had, and I'm an old guy," he added.

Down the street, firefighters from the Rutland-Dundee Fire Protection District dressed up young kids in firefighting gear and watched as they put out fires painted on hinged panels in small, wooden mock houses.

Tetsu Kimora, who has lived in Gilberts for four years, watched his 6-year-old daughter, May, smiling broadly atop a pony as a volunteer led the animal in a circle through the grass.

"This is the first time," Kimora said. "We had nothing else much to do."