The city of Berlin will host its eighth annual ATV festival this weekend, a celebration of the sport and its importance in the local economy.
Festival-goers can take a spin on their ATVs through a mud pit at Jericho Mountain State Park, or catch live music on Main Street in Berlin.
When the Jericho ATV festival first started in 2010, it attracted a couple hundred people. Now it draws around 6,000.
Paula Kinney, Executive Director of the Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce, is one of the organizers and she thinks this year will be the largest festival to date. “Every hotel within a thirty, thirty-five mile radius of here is full right now, and campground. So they’re staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants, going to our gas stations,” Kinney says.
It’s an economic lift, especially in a region no longer supported by paper mills. For ATVs that need a lift, a tractor will be on standby to rescue them when they get stuck in the mud.