Nance Parker, creator of the Shoestring Theater, which has provided colorful characters for the Old Port Festival parade over the years, coordinates the parade on Sunday.
Greg Frangoulis, wallking on stilts in Sunday’s Old Port Festival parade, reaches down to shake the hand of parade spectators on Exchange Street in Portland. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer
Spectators on Exchange Street watch the Old Port Festival parade. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer
A man on stilts and colorful characters from the Shoestring Theater walk in the parade Sunday. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer)
This will be the last year of the festival. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer
Spectators watch the parade. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer
A crowd congregates on Fore Street during the Old Port Festival on Sunday. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer
Nicki Dansereau, left, and Nick Dipietrantinio, both of Wiscasset, sign petitions Sunday to keep this from being the last Old Port Festival. Dock Fore owner Shaun McCarthy, in pink at left, initiated the petition drive. His employee Ben Hodgkins, sitting second from right, gets passers-by to sign.
Fore Street is jammed with people attending Sunday’s Old Port Festival. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer
As Cherie Meyer of Gray watched the last Old Port Festival parade, she said, “It makes me want to cry." Her family has been coming to see the parade every year since they moved to Maine from Virginia 23 years ago. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer
Life & Culture 
