Fall Business Expo Coming Saturday

It's almost here.

One of Merrimack's biggest events is just two days away and this year the Merrimack Fall Festival and Business Expo is welcoming businesses from out of town.

On Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., businesses from Merrimack and surrounding towns take center stage as thousands of people are expected to descend on the center of town to attend the festival that gives attendees a fun place to meet business owners of small and large companies.

In its fifth year, the Fall Festival and Business Expo almost didn't happen this year.

Festival organizer Dave McCray told the Town Council in December that he wouldn't be able to plan this year's event after he had surgery that kept him down for the count longer than he'd expected.

In June, he met with the Council to talk about planning a blowout festival for 2012, but weeks later, he was putting out feelers for interest in having one this year after several people expressed disappointment that the festival would be absent this fall, McCray said.

McCray said there's no way he'd have been able to pull this together in just three months had he not had the help of the people working with him, or the contacts he's maintained over the last five years for entertainment purposes.

McCray and his crew went door to door talking to businesses in Merrimack, Amherst, Bedford and part of Nashua, he said, telling them about the festival and seeking interested businesses to participate.

What resulted is more than 150 businesses, community organizations and crafters coming together with food vendors and various entertainment to create a family-friendly event that will cost attendees nothing if that's what they want.

“People often ask me what we do with the money we raise,” McCray said. “We don't raise money. We do it for a free event. I just think there's not enough free events sometimes.”

Businesses and crafters pay for their spaces at the expo and all of that money goes into advertising and entertainment for the following year, McCray said.

That said, this year there is a fundraising aspect to the festival, he said, as organizers will be placing jugs around the event raising money for the Super Coop Fund to help Nashua teen Cooper Doucette's family pay medical bills associated with a football accident last year that left the 16-year-old paralyzed.

“We're just putting jugs out. We're not selling anything, there's no requirement, we're just asking people to throw in some change or whatever they can,” he said.

People are free to roam the sprawling event, which has entertainment, vendors, businesses and crafters from Abbie Griffin Park through the parking lots of the and into the , out onto the school's front lawn and across the street onto Legion Field where the Merrimack All-Stars and the Merrimack Police Department will square off in a softball game.

Red Sox mascot Wally the Green Monster will make a return visit to the expo this year, as will McDonny's Petting Farm. There will be demonstrations by the police and fire departments, , Master An's Tae Kwon Do and FIRST Robotics, music by DJ Bernie D and more. There will also be free face painting and food will be for sale from a variety of local eateries.

McCray said he looks forward to the event every year, but he is especially excited to have new businesses this year, both from in town and out, and he thinks people will especially enjoy the craft section, which is new this year.

“We've had a few crafters here and there in the past, but this year we have a whole new category for them,” he said. “Having a whole craft area is something I think the people will take to.”

McCray estimated they had more than 7,000 attendees last year and this year, he's expecting at least as many, but he's hoping for closer to 10,000.

Should weather not cooperate, outside vendors will be moved into J

“In the fifth year, I think it's really growing its own soul,” he said. “If we can have an event that benefits businesses, give families something fun to do for free and can help a young man in need, how can you ask for a better event?”