ROCKLAND — The Rockland Summer Solstice changed its hours this year to 4 to 8 p.m. and by 4 p.m. Saturday it looked like Mother Nature was going to drop a few buckets of water on us. But the weather held out despite a few minor rain drops and the event was successful, though fewer vendors, merchants and performers attended than in past years.

The Rockland Summer Solstice is a street party when the city closes off Main Street from Park Street to Summer Street. It did not take long for people to be dancing in the street. Halfway down Main Street were the Juke Rockets playing some blues and people were dancing as soon as they started playing.  Up in front of the Key Bank, the local rock band Static Coda was cranking out the tunes and had a good-sized crowd standing and listening. One performer, Autumn, from Oregon, had to move as her acoustic guitar across the street from the Juke Rockets was just not going to work.

There was an abundance of good food available as all the Rockland restaurants were open with some offering sidewalk service. Some vendors brought in a wide variety of food, seafood, health food, sweets, and more.

The Summer Solstice is organized on each year by Rockland Main Street, Inc, and this year the lead sponsor was Camden National Bank. Rockland Main Street, Inc., is one of 10 Main Street Communities in Maine. Affiliated with the National Trust  for Historic Preservation's Main Street Center and the Maine Downtown Center (Maine Development Foundation), it is a national nonprofit program to sustain vibrant downtown's through historic preservation, economic restructuring, promotion, design and organization.

The change in the hours may have been a test to see if the local businesses reaped the rewards of the day. In the past, the event took place after most of the shops on Main Street had closed. By making it earlier during the shopping day it gave the stores an opportunity to present themselves to a much larger audience then is usually present in downtown Rockland.

The downside to the change in hours was that people were still working, so when the event started at 4 p.m. the crowd was small in size compared to past years. By 5:30 p.m. the crowd was much larger and as it got later, the crowd grew dramatically in size.

In future years it would be nice to make the street party later and get the shops to stay open. Organize a Main Street sale, fill the sidewalks with their goods, show the public what they have to offer. People may not buy that night, but many people may see you as a shop for the first time.

The Songo Salon brought its team out on the sidewalk to add streaks of color to peoples' hair with the proceeds going to the reopening of the Hospitality House in Rockport.

Overall, the event appeared to be successful in many aspects. The weather was good, the crowds seemed to grow as the night went on. It could have been even more beautiful had the clouds not obscured the super moon last night. It is good to see a downtown work hard to preserve and protect itself. The city of Rockland is lucky to have an organization like Rockland Main Street, Inc., doing the work it does.

Click here for more photos from the Summer Solstice.

Ron Hawkes can be reached at sports@penbaypilot.com