OPINION: Those were the days . . .

By RANDY SEAVER, Editor

How do you know you’ve been covering Biddeford news for a long, long time?

I have covered the city’s annual WinterFest celebration since — well – since before it was called WinterFest.

Biddeford’s annual downtown winter celebration was the brainchild of newly elected Mayor Alan Casavant in 2012.

Casavant — who was also serving as a state representative back then –had attended a community dog-sledding event and celebration in Fort Kent.

“I was really impressed by the community turnout,” the former mayor said during a recent interview. “It wasn’t just dog-sledding and races, they had lots of different activities. It really brought people together.”

Casavant returned home full of optimism and ideas about how Biddeford could do something similar.

The city was in the early stages of a downtown renaissance, and Casavant was eager to draw people back to the downtown area — even though MERC was still burning garbage roughly 1,200 feet away from the first man-made sledding hill on Adams Street and the fact that there were then fewer than 438 places in downtown Biddeford to get gourmet coffee, craft beers and specialty pizzas.

Casavant enlisted the help of resident John Maxson who jumped into the project with both feet and a smile that never faded until his passing several years ago. Maxson’s memory and community service is enshrined by a bronze plaque that was placed on the outside wall of City Hall near Adams Street.

Originally, the celebration was called La Fete d’ Hiver, a nod to the city’s then dominant Franco-American heritage.

The first festival exceeded expectations for community turnout, and the weekend celebration was later expanded and became more popular with each passing year and a growing base of volunteers.

But by the third year, the name La Fete’ d’ Hiver was dropped and replaced with a more inclusive moniker: WinterFest, much easier for most of us to pronounce and spell.

Look, my family attended Mass at St. Mary’s, not St. Andre’s or St. Joseph’s.

When my parents bought their first home in Saco, I served as an altar boy at Most Holy Trinity, not Notre Dame.

I graduated from Thornton Academy, not St. Louis High School.

I knew just enough French to get in trouble and flirt with local girls. Et, pourquoi  pas?

I’m not trying to position myself as the defender of Biddeford’s Franco-American heritage. Growing up in Saco, we made jokes about French people.

It should also be noted that Biddeford’s cultural roots are not just pure-bred French Canadian. Our community was also built by immigrant factory workers who came here from Ireland, Greece, Albania and numerous other countries, including Syria, Russia and Italy.

When it comes to cultural diversity, Biddeford pretty much knocks it out of the park.

But I do feel sad and a bit troubled by the gentrification now taking place in my community.

What’s next? Are we going to rename the city’s annual La Kermesse celebration as SummerFest?

I think the Lincoln Hotel lobby is fantastic and a wonderful place to meet friends. I enjoy hanging out at Element’s and drinking really good beer at Sacred Profane.

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But I do feel sad and a bit troubled

by the gentrification now taking place

in my community.

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But like many other people, I do so sometimes wax nostalgic about getting new school clothes at Butler’s, eating at the Woolworth’s lunch counter or browsing the vast collection of records at Murphy’s Music.

The once vibrant shoe factory on State Street is now an apartment complex. You no longer get your local groceries at Sevigny’s Market and charge your purchases to your weekly slip.

You blissfully ignored whatever it was that would periodically spew forth directly into the river from the Saco Tannery.

There was no Home Depot. You went to McKenney & Heard Hardware on Main Street, You got your prescriptions at Doyon’s Pharmacy not Wal-Mart.

If you lived in Biddeford, your furniture came from Warren’s. If you lived in Saco, you probably bought your new dining set at Atkinson’s.

With each passing day, it is getting harder and harder for longtime residents to keep pace with soaring rental costs and restaurants that now cater to a younger, more affluent clientele.

People tell me all the time that they miss print newspapers like the Journal Tribune or the Biddeford-Saco Courier.

I shrug and say, “Oh well. Times change. Now you have the Biddeford Gazette and Saco Bay News.”

Change is the only constant . . . that and the joy that can be found in community events like WinterFest. Enjoy!

For more information about this weekend’s events, please visit: WINTERFEST | 2026

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Randy Seaver is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette. He may be reached by email: randy@randyseaver.com

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