GORHAM – The annual summer festival honoring Gorham’s founding families looks like an event of the past.

The Westbrook/Gorham Community Chamber, which sponsored the Gorham Founders Festival in 2013 and 2014, will not back it next year.

“The chamber has decided not to move forward with the Founder’s Festival in 2015,” Darryl Wright, chamber treasurer and festival director, said in an email last week to the American Journal.

The 2014 founders festival, perhaps overshadowed by other area celebrations, appeared to have a sagging turnout.

“Attendance would be the biggest reason,” Wright said about the chamber’s decision.

The festival began in 2011 to commemorate the 275th anniversary of the town’s settlement in 1736. That first festival included tours of the town’s historical sites.

The Town Council in 2013 turned over managerial reins of the founders festival to the chamber. Festival features have included amusement rides, bands, vendor booths, fireworks and a reception each year honoring descendants of a specific founding family.

The chamber decision not to sponsor the Gorham festival marks the area’s second community event left in jeopardy. The chamber’s announcement in October about bowing out of Westbrook’s annual Halloween on Main Street event drew some public reaction, leaving the chamber to re-assess its involvement.

Andrew Cook, chamber president, could not be reached by the American Journal deadline on Wednesday and he did not respond to an email on Monday seeking comments about an event for Gorham and the status of the Halloween event in Westbrook.

The possibility of a Gorham event replacing the festival could have come under discussion at the chamber’s meeting on Wednesday.

The chamber recently notified Gorham Town Manager David Cole of its decision not to hold the festival in its current format.

“The chamber is going through the process now of how we would like to move forward with an event in Gorham and as soon as we have more details we will make sure that you are aware,” Wright emailed Cole.

Phil Gagnon, a former Town Council chairman and a volunteer who helped launch the festival in 2011, said he hasn’t heard of anything surrounding the founders festival.

“I would like to thank those who did work hard to put it together over the last four years, and thank the chamber for its commitment to the Gorham community,” Gagnon said.

Suzanne Phillips, a School Committee member also involved with the festival, said on Wednesday there is an idea afoot to have some sort of historical event involving Gorham schools.

Tabitha Swanson, a Gorham resident and a chamber board member, said on Wednesday an alternative celebration for Gorham would be a possibility. One could involve schools and local farmers, in addition to reinstituting a parade.

“I don’t think there would be amusement rides,” Swanson said.

An autumn date following Columbus Day could be chosen for an event but Swanson said nothing is definite now. Swanson is working on developing plans and will address the Gorham Town Council in January.

Capt. John Phinney was the first settler in Gorham, a land grant first known as Narragansett No. 7. According to Phillips, a Gorham reception for founding families could take place next fall.

The founders festival was initially held over Memorial Day weekend, but the chamber in 2013 switched the Gorham festival to July. This year, the festival was the weekend of July 25 and 26, following the Yarmouth Clam Festival and Buxton’s Community Days on July 18 and 19.

The Westbrook/Gorham Community Chamber also sponsors Westbrook Together Days, usually the first weekend in June, but was held this year over Memorial Day weekend in conjunction with the city’s bicentennial celebration.

Buxton’s annual celebration will continue as usual on the third weekend in July next year.

“We were pretty successful last year (2014) and we look forward to another year,” Tasha Pinkham, director of Buxton Recreation Department, said on Wednesday.