MILFORD, Ohio — A new festival will bring live music, food vendors, lawn games and history tours to Main Street on Saturday, Sept. 12, according to the Clermont County Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is helping promote the event.
“Gather on Main” runs from noon to 4 p.m. along a three-block stretch of Main Street and is free to attend, the bureau said in a Facebook post announcing the festival as new to downtown Milford’s fall calendar. Visitors can buy a meal from a participating Main Street restaurant or bring their own picnic and gather to eat as part of the celebration, according to the post.
The festival will also include a Community Canoe Project sponsored by the visitors bureau, along with chalk art and public games, the bureau said.
The Eastside Business Alliance is organizing the event in partnership with the Historic Milford Association and the Greater Milford Area Historical Society, with support from the city of Milford, according to the event’s website, gatheronmainmilford.com. The alliance describes itself as a business association supporting small and medium-sized businesses and nonprofits across Greater Cincinnati’s east side.
Organizers are tying the festival to America250, the nationwide commemoration of the country’s 250th anniversary, describing it as a celebration of “Main Street America” centered on Milford’s own downtown block.
Main Street anchors a city with roots dating to 1796, when the Rev. Francis McCormick, a Revolutionary War veteran, settled along the Little Miami River on a land grant. The settlement, once known as Hageman’s Mills, took the name Milford — a reference to its role as the first safe ford across the river north of the Ohio — and was incorporated by the Ohio General Assembly on Jan. 23, 1836. It became a city in 1982 after its population topped 5,000, according to the city of Milford.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Clermont County Convention & Visitors Bureau.