After a nine-year run, there will be no Harpswell Festival this year.

The Harpswell Festival Committee announced online recently that the festival will no longer take place, and that the festival committee “is sorry to disappoint all the wonderful folks who supported the event through the years — visitors, donors and volunteers.”

The festival, held at Mitchell Field, has included fair food, a parade, displays, a touch tank by Fishing Families of Harpswell, lots of crafters, live music and fireworks, Allen said. The event drew as many as 4,500 people and well over 2,000 even in bad weather.

The halt came about because over the years, the Harpswell Festival Committee has suffered attrition in some key positions, “and we didn’t have new people stepping up to fill those positions, and it was getting to the point where it was asking the same people to do it again and again,” Harpswell Festival Executive Director Tom Allen said.

“When we began,” Allen said, “we probably had 30 people working on this project. That was part of the fun.” But over the years the committee dwindled to 12 and then to eight people last year who were doing everything as volunteers.

“And it wasn’t even so much that we were complaining about being overworked, it just wasn’t as much fun,” Allen said.

The first festival was held the summer of 2004 after two energy companies proposed building a liquefied natural-gas terminal at George J. Mitchell Field, the site of a former U.S. Navy fuel depot. Residents voted March 9, 2004, against leasing the property to the companies.

Following the divisive issue, Allen said a group of people emerged who said “we need to do something fun and lighten the mood.”

While not a cure-all, Allen said the festival was a step in the right direction.

Allen said the decision was made provisionally in January and became more concrete in March or April. But still there was hope something might happen to keep the festival going.

The absence of a festival this summer doesn’t mean there will never be one again. Allen said a number of core veterans would be willing to stick around to help or at least consult.

Allen highlighted the attention he believes the festival drew to Mitchell Field, starting with the 8-foot-high chain link fence with barbed wire that blocked off the waterfront, which volunteers got permission to remove.

“All of a sudden there was a beautiful waterfront with public access, and then people wanted to use the space,” he said.

So now the town has a budget for mowing the property, “and it has become this beautiful, beautiful spot for people to drive in and walk in and enjoy.”

The improvements would have happened eventually, Allen said, but “I don’t think it would have happened as fast without the festival.” There is also a bandstand on the property which Bob Modr and Dan Huber, who headed the festival’s entertainment committee, raised money for and built.

This summer, there will be a community potluck at Mitchell Field sponsored by the Harpswell Festival Committee for the community and especially for festival volunteers and supporters. The event is 5 p.m. Aug. 31 and will include music and fireworks at dark.

Fishing Families for Harpswell and Harpswell Coastal Academy are bringing back the Shore Dinner Fundraiser to raise money for educational purposes in Harpswell, which is Aug. 17, Allen said.

“Several groups in town are now going to be using that property regularly,” Allen said.

dmoore@timesrecord.com