Puritan Medical Products will be lead sponsor of 2026 Piscataquis River Festival

GUILFORD — Puritan Medical Products — America’s swab experts — announced that the company is the lead sponsor of the Piscataquis River Festival, an annual day of celebration for the local community. Known as “Riverfest”, the festival is held on the last Saturday of July, starting with a 5K run, a community breakfast and a parade through Guilford. Made possible by sponsors like Puritan and hundreds of volunteers, Riverfest will be held on Saturday, July 25this year.

A staple of the Guilford community since 1919, Puritan first moved to Guilford in search of plentiful white birch, allowing the “Made in Maine” manufacturer to expand its product line. In the following decades, Puritan grew into not only one of Maine’s most important manufacturers, but also a global leader in swabs and other products. Today, Puritan — a family-owned business — is known worldwide as the most trusted manufacturer of swabs and single-use specimen collection devices for healthcare, diagnostics, forensics, controlled environments and environmental sciences, employing hundreds of workers in Guilford and across Maine.

While Guilford has changed over the past century, Puritan’s core values have stayed the same. The company is still proudly family-owned, with third- and fourth-generation members of the founding family work alongside their Guilford area neighbors — some whose families have answered the whistle of Puritan’s Guilford mill for decades. Puritan customers include local family doctors, local public health labs and local police departments, in addition to customers outside of Maine and around the world.

Puritan also remains a firm believer in corporate philanthropy. From donating critical medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic to funding local initiatives in Guilford, the company knows that there is more to business than the bottom line, especially in Piscataquis County. Puritan has received the Spirit of America Foundation Tribute Award from the town of Guilford, recognizing the company’s diverse and extensive contributions to the community as a leading employer.

“We are honored to serve as the lead sponsor of the Piscataquis River Festival, an annual celebration of our wonderful community in Guilford,” Virginia Templet, marketing director at Puritan, said. “Puritan has called Guilford home for more than a century, and we are more committed than ever to the people of Piscataquis County. Riverfest is about so much more than the 5K run, food trucks or fireworks; it is about Mainers coming together with a sense of spirit and pride in where we live and work. Thank you especially to the Riverfest volunteers who give up their time to make this special day happen. We hope that everyone experiences the festivities responsibly and celebrates like only Mainers can, enjoying the day and looking forward to the future of our home.”