FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 8, 2004
Contact: Suki Casanave
603.659.5588

GREAT LINE-UP PLANNED FOR NEWMARKET HERITAGE FESTIVAL
Best little international block party on the Seacoast: September 17, 18, 19

NEWMARKET- It's been called "the best little international block party on the Seacoast"and you're invited. Visit historic downtown Newmarket for a weekend of music and dance, arts and history, fun and food on September 17, 18, 19. The line-up for the seventh annual Newmarket Heritage Festival includes West African drumming and Latin rhythms, French Canadian clogging and Irish Ceili dancing, Polish music and Gospel sounds, sea shanties, bluegrass tunes, and barbershop harmonies it's all on the festival stage!  The festival also features great activities for kids, artisans at work, boat tours, kayaking on the river, a model railway, talks on Black history, and more.  And there are plenty of tents‹so the show goes on, rain or shine! Don't miss it. For complete details, visit www.heritage-festival.org.

New Entertainment
The festival welcomes a slew of new performers to the stage this year.  
Purly Gates offers upbeat rhythms and a sing-along celebration of diversity ideal for families (Saturday, 10:30-11:15). French Canadian step-dancer and clogger Ann Whiting kicks up her heels in Amazing ≥"Feets≤" (Saturday, 11:45-12:30). Jay Rosenberg of the nationally acclaimed ≥"Voice of the Turtle≤" and friends sing songs and stories of immigrant Americans in a performance by Promised Land (Saturday, 1:00-2:00). The Black Bear Moon Drumming and Dance Ensemble celebrates the musical traditions of West Africa (Saturday, 2:15-3:30). Acoustic bluegrass band American Flyer generates some fast-paced musical fun (Saturday, 4:00-6:00). Jeff Warner sings sea shanties and more (Sunday, 4:30-5:30).
The Saturday night dance party features the high-energy Afro-Cuban music of the Boston band Amazing Mambo Combo (Saturday, 8:00-11:00)‹plus salsa and cha-cha dance workshops (Saturday, 7:00-8:00 pm and during the bandπs break.) The festival closes Sunday night with a musical extravaganza, the award-winning 60-voice Granite Statesmen Barbershop Chorus singing American favorites.

Back by popular demand
The festival is also delighted to welcome back to the stage a host of popular returning performances. Gary Sredzienski and Bill Zecker break out the fiddle and the accordion for Music of the Old Country‹and Beyond (Friday, 7:00-9:30 ). The ever-popular Jim MacDougall and the Funky Divas of Gospel (Sunday, 12:30-2:00) threaten to bring down the tent with their joyful sound. Regina Delaney and her Irish band Reaganta (Sunday, 2:30-3:30) is back‹with a Newmarket Elementary School childrenπs troupe of Irish dancers, on stage for a premier performance. And Newmarket's own childrenπs dance troupe performs Laotian Folk Dances (Sunday 3:45-4:15).

Special Events
Special events at the festival include kayaking on the Lamprey (new this year) and the return of the popular S-gauge model railway, plus scenic river tours and the historic gundalow. In keeping with this yearπs focus on Black history, the festival features a talk by Abe Lincoln (aka Steve Wood), and Valerie Cuningham offers a talk about Black Yankees in New Hampshire. Rich Alperin discusses one of Newmarketπs founding fathers in the Cheswell Burying Ground Tour. The weekend also includes the popular historic mill tours, led by former mill worker Mike Provost, as well as downtown tours led by long-time residents Phil LePage and Mitch Warren.

Children's Activities
The festival includes loads of great activities for kids: beading, basket-making, clay play, African Kufi hats, weaving, horseshoe crabs, face painting, live lampreys, bunnies, goats, chickens, ducks, and more!

Great food!
Don't miss the great community suppers throughout the weekend: the Friday night Soup and Chowder Fest, an All-You-Can-Eat Sunday brunch, and a Sunday night Community Church Harvest supper. Plus, visit a slew of great food vendors selling everything from Italian ziti to Asian egg rolls, spare ribs to crab cakes.

Hours and location
Location: The festival will be held rain or shine (there are lots of tents!), in downtown Newmarket (across from the Post Office and by the river). Hours: Friday: 5-9:30; Saturday: 10-10; Sunday: 11-8.
Admission Button Purchases
Admission buttons are available at the following locations:
Crackskull's Bookstore: 659.8181
Fleet Bank: 659.3378
Newmarket Public Library: 659.5311
Newmarket Town Hall: 659.3617
Marelli's Fruit and Real Estate: 659.3252
Wadleigh Falls Driving Range: 659.4444

Sponsors
Produced by the Newmarket Main Street Corporation, the Heritage Festival is made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, including our Festival Partners: Greater Piscataqua Community Foundation, New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, Town of Newmarket; and our Program Partners: Anonymous, Bottomline Technologies, Chinburg Builders, Develco, Doucet Survey, Fleet Bank, Hutchinson Sealing Systems, Newmarket Polish Club, and the Stone Church. Thanks also to our Festival Supporters, Festival Friends, and Community Partners, including local businesses, organizations, and individuals.
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PHOTO CAPTION 1: AMAZING MAMBO COMBO DANCE PARTY. The Saturday night dance party at the Newmarket Heritage Festival features the Amazing Mambo Combo. Comprised of some of the best musicians in Boston, this band plays to packed houses in the New Hampshire seacoast, moving audiences with music steeped in the Afro-Cuban tradition. Their repertoire includes compositions that range in style from Cha-Cha to Danzon, from Bolero to Salsa and Latin jazz‹stamped with their special formula of exciting jazz solos layered over relentless, energetic dance rhythms. The dance party kicks off with a Salsa workshop at 7 pm; the band starts at 8 pm. Admission to the entire festival, including the Mambo Combo dance party, is $5 (excluding meals); children under 12 are free. For more info: 603.659.5588 and www.heritage-festival.org. Click here for photo.

PHOTO CAPTION 2: LEAPIN' GOOD TIMES. French Canadian step dancer and clogger kicks up her heels in Amazing "Feets" at the Newmarket Heritage Festival (September 17, 18, 19): www.heritage-festival.org. Click here for photo.

PHOTO CAPTION 3: ABE LINCOLN SPEAKS. Abraham Lincoln, portrayed by Steve Wood, will recount his early life and discuss his 1860 visit to New Hampshire, as well as his views on slavery and abolition at the Newmarket Heritage Festival (September 17, 18, 19): www.heritage-festival.org. A member of the national Association of Lincoln Presenters, Wood will speak Saturday, September 18, at 10:30. A second talk on Black history will be presented on Sunday, September 19, at 11:30, by noted local scholar Valerie Cunningham. Both talks are sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council. Click here for photo.