Check out our Auction Center for more details, and start bidding. Auction ends May 21.

The Lake Gardner Classic, a family oriented boat race from the beach to New Hampshire and back, takes place on Saturday, June 23. Depending on how fast you are, the paddle takes between 30 minutes and an hour to complete. Bring your canoe and kayak to compete for fun and trophies!

If you’re interested in learning about kayaking, Plum Island Kayak will be on hand to provide first-timers with technique and safety tips and rentals. Maggie Sundae will have a cart full of yummy summer treats.

Race categories include Racing Canoe, Racing Double, Men’s Double Canoe, Women’s Double Canoe, Youth/Adult Canoe, Women’s Kayak, Men’s Kayak, and Double Kayak.

Cost:
Pre-registered: $10 per racer
Day of race: $15 per racer

Registration begins: 9:30 AM
Race time: 11 AM

For more details, photos, online registration, entry forms, and names of last year’s winners, visit the LGIA website.

The singers will perform a few songs at noon, 1pm and 2pm, with breaks in between for tours of the Meeting House, which offers one of the best preserved examples of an original eighteenth-century meeting house interior. It was built in 1785, replacing a c. 1715 meeting house for the West Parish of Salisbury. Located at the crest of Elm Street, the Rocky Hill Meeting House was strategically placed along the only road that crossed the swift Powow River (via ferry) and led travelers to the Salisbury Point area, and then onward toward Portsmouth. In fact, George Washington paused here to greet the townspeople on his northward journey in 1789.

Admission is free for Amesbury residents and Historic New England members; $5.00 for all others.

Learn more about the Rocky Hill Meeting House here.

NOTE: The Rocky Hill Meeting House is just off Elm Street next to the Sparhawk School. Please park along the driveway but do not block traffic.

The Amesbury Days Committee welcomes inquiries from other businesses and organizations who wish to assist in our fundraising drive. Learn more about how you can help by visiting our “Contribute” page.

PS – Mark your calendar for these upcoming fun fundraising events to benefit Amesbury Days:

Every Week! – Online Auctions – A great way to grab some bargains and help Amesbury Days at the same time!
May 16-20 – Carriagetown Carnival – Rides, food, fun and games for the whole family.
June 29 – 3rd annual Amesbury Brewfest – Featuring a discriminating roster of craft brewers, and a chance to sample the first “Amesbury Days Ale,” a collaborative creation by Sean Cody (Cody Brewery) and Steve Sanderson (Riverwalk Brewery).
June 30 – Riverfront Dock Party hosted by Larry’s Marina.

We welcome inquiries from any and all vendors who had booths during Amesbury Days. We have a number of high-traffic opportunities for you between June 23 and July 4, 2012, so please use our contact page to let us know that you’re interested. We’ll be in touch shortly.

The auction ends Monday morning, so place your bid now to snag a gift certificate for any Kookie Clothing item in the shop’s collection. Hurry! Time is running out!

From Wednesday, May 16 to Sunday, May 20, Fiesta Shows of New Hampshire will be bringing rides, games, and festive food to Amesbury for a five-day stretch. It’s all part of a fundraising effort for the 2012 Amesbury Days celebration.

“Our committee is working hard to get the word out that Amesbury Days costs are a big challenge,” explains committee chair Kate Broughton.” Fireworks alone cost at least $15,000, and we can’t expect the business community to shoulder the bill. Since it’s important that members of the community pitch in as well, we wanted to come up with a fun way to enlist their support.”

And what could be more fun than a carnival? The event will be staged in the playing fields located at the Sparhawk High School at 196 Main Street (formerly the site of Amesbury Playhouse), and will include rides and attractions for all ages. Sparhawk has generously donated use of the fields to help Amesbury Days, and will also be an active participant in a number of Amesbury Days activities. Carnival gates open at 6pm on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evening, and at noon on Saturday and Sunday.

More fundraising fun

As part of its “put some fun in fundraising” campaign, the Amesbury Days Committee has also launched an online auction featuring goods and services donated by local businesses. Currently up for grabs are $100 gift certificates from Crave Restaurant and Wine Bar and The Custard Shoppe fashion boutique for kids; a $70 gift certificate for a holistic therapeutic massage from Muscle Ministry; and a $45 consultation from home organizing expert Heather Clow-Ryan. New items will be added every week, with most bidding cycles completing within 14 days.

To participate in the auction, click here. If you would like to donate an item for the auction, an easy-to-use donation form is available online. Businesses donating goods or services valued at $100 or more will receive plenty of online visibility including a free one-year listing in the Amesbury Days “Awesome Amesbury” business directory.

Sneak peak at Amesbury Days 2012

There’s plenty to be excited about when it comes to this year’s Amesbury Days celebration. The annual Strawberry Festival sets the table on Friday, June 22, and the official kick-off gets underway on Saturday, June 23, with a full slate of activities and attractions including “Amesbury Moves!” Field Days at the Town Park, the Lake Gardner Canoe and Kayak race, and the Melting Pot cookoff. The grand opening ceremonies — including a concert by the Essex Chamber Music Players and a “creative black-tie” dress-up option for the audience — take place in the Millyard later that evening.

“This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of the Millyard,” says Broughton. “In 1987, Amesbury Days held its kickoff there to celebrate the completion of the pivotal downtown renewal project which created not only the Millyard amphitheatre but also the walkways and landscaping around it. We think it’s a fitting time to remember the massive undertaking the first Millyard project represented, and also to look ahead to the next phase of development in the lower Millyard.”

During the following week, Amesbury Days will keep the community hopping with diversions including family trivia night, bluegrass and R&B concerts, the annual Chamber of Commerce block party, a riverfront “dock” party, the 3rd annual Amesbury Brewfest sponsored by HEAT Event Management (a portion of the proceeds benefit Amesbury Days), and much more … including, of course, July 4th fireworks.

New events and details are being added to the website daily. “If it’s not listed on our site, or on the schedule we’ll be printing in late May, then it isn’t an official Amesbury Days event,” Broughton notes. “It has taken many months to coordinate an itinerary that is fun, affordable, and inclusive, and we appreciate the generosity and civic spirit of the businesses and organizations that have cooperated with us to assemble our calendar. Our way of thanking them for their cooperation is to give them ‘official event’ status, and we hope the community will thank them as well.”

To place your bid, visit the Amesbury Days Auction Center. And be sure to tell your friends about the auction. It’s our fun way to fundraise for Amesbury Days!

Choose from $100 worth of trendy girlie fashions for infants to age 12 from The Custard Shoppe. You’ll be just in time to place your order for a custom-designed outfit for the Cashman School Disco Dance. Or choose from dozens of other great outfits for fun or frills.

Athletes, gardeners, over-zealous spring cleaners, or anyone else suffering from aching muscles will appreciate the $70 gift certificate from Muscle Ministry. And speaking of spring cleaning, who wouldn’t appreciate a little advice on how to de-clutter and organize the house? Efficiency expert Heather Clow-Ryan has donated an hour of her consulting time, plus a basket of organizing goodies,valued at $45.

What are you waiting for? Click here to learn more, and start bidding. New auction items will be added every week!

We’re putting some “fun” into fundraising by providing an easy way for you to grab some bargains donated by local businesses, while also helping enhance the Amesbury Days fireworks and entertainment budgets.

Check out this direct link to see our first items up on the block! (Auction items will not be visible until 9am.) New items will be added daily and weekly, so be sure to return to this page frequently so that you don’t miss out on any of the great deals being offered.

All auction sale revenue goes directly to cover Amesury Days expenses, so please tell your friends by clicking one of our sharing buttons below, and be generous with your bids. Thanks!

QUICK LINK: How to bid, how to donate