Milo will be abuzz this Saturday for Black Fly Festival

    MILO — Just like the event namesake, the annual Black Fly Festival returns this year with a day of events scheduled for Saturday, June 8.

    The Black Fly Festival begins on June 8 with a sprint triathlon at 8 a.m., registration will be beforehand from 7-7:45 a.m. at the Milo boat landing. Individual or group entrants will run from the boat landing to Main Street and then loop around Penquis Valley High School before returning after the mile run. The next leg will be a 1.5-mile bike ride through town, and the sprint triathlon will conclude with a mile-long kayak/canoe paddle up river and back with the finish line near the registration table.
    The festival parade starts at 11 a.m., participants will line up at the industrial park at 10 a.m., and the procession travels from JSI to Penquis Valley High School. Both vendor and craft fairs start at 9 a.m. at the waterfront on Water Street, and the American Legion on West Main Street will be the site of a yard sale beginning at 9 a.m.
    The week leading up to the Black Fly Festival will feature both a scavenger hunt and a Milo trivia game, with information available at the town hall. At 9 a.m. on June 8 children are invited to a duck hunt from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Water Street waterfront. Starting at 2 p.m. kids ages 10-14 can take part in a free throw contest at Penquis Valley High School.
    The festival will also include a dessert contest at 4 p.m. at the town hall, featuring pies, cookies and dessert bars, and then a lighted boat parade at dusk with the crafts traveling from the boating landing to the high school.
    For more information on the 2013 Black Fly Festival, please see the event’s Facebook page at “Black Fly Festival (Milo, Me).
    Coinciding with the 2013 Black Fly Festival, a celebration of the coaching career of recently retired Penquis Valley boys basketball head coach Tony Hamlin will be held at the high school from 4-6 p.m. The celebration includes a social hour at 4 p.m. catered by Hobnobbbers Pub and then awards and recognitions from 5-6 p.m.
    Fans, friends, family and community members are invited to recognize the student-athletes, managers, coaches and everyone involved in the Patriots winning Class C state championships this past winter and in the 1999-2000 season and to congratulate Hamlin on all his career accomplishments.