Music, in fact, is one of the staples of the festival, and one of the things that has drawn more than 100,000 people to the site of the former Savin Rock Amusement Park, and keeps the coming back each year. Several area bands and several well known entertainers will find their way to the Grove stage during each night of the festival.

Vinnie Carr and the Party Band will reprise a concert they have scheduled this Friday on the Green as the opening act of the festival on Thursday, July 26. The concert is sponsored by ShopRite Supermarkets.

Friday, the musical choices take on a Country-Western flavor with the Trail Riders taking the stage. The group has a large area following, and is expected to pack the grove with music lovers.

The major schedule of the festival begins Saturday, according to co-chairmen Ed O’Brien and Jane Heffernan. Many city civic and fraternal organizations, as well as non-profit groups will fill parts of the Old Grove Park with tents and tables.

The West Haven Volunteer Firemen as well as the Junior Woman’s Club will have booths set up along the midway. The Juniors, a founding organization when the festival was begun in 1981, has sponsored the annual Baby Contest. Votes will be accepted for the contest during the final two days of the festival all the way up to one hour before the winners are announced.

The West Haven Band Parents Association has planned a craft fair with many exhibitors and crafters taking part. The food court, meanwhile, will feature many city restaurants at various booths. The Savin Rock Festival Committee will be selling polo and tee shirts in the hospitality tent to help defray the cost of the event.

Adding to the excitement will be the return of the Connecticut State Police helicopter, the Farmers Market is vacating the Green next weekend to take up residence on the grounds, and the popular Volleyball Tournament makes a return with winners getting trophies to display in their businesses. Last year’s winner was the team representing the Downtown Merchants Association.

Marenna Amusements is handing the rides for the midway.

Mayor John Picard thanked the committee for taking the time to make this year’s festival schedule full of events.

“I would like to thank the committee, which worked diligently throughout the last several months organizing this year’s event,” he said. “No only did members volunteer their time, but they stepped up to the plate and got many corporate sponsors.”

The Savin Rock Festival was the brainchild of the West Haven Chamber of Commerce. It was hoped the many organizations, clubs, businesses and residents could get together for a weekend festival celebrating life in this shoreline community.

The first festivals were conducted at Ken Strong Stadium and the West Haven High School grounds. When the stadium and surrounding areas were to undergo renovations into the present Fitzgerald Sports Complex, the festival was moved by the Guerra administration to its present location.

The Chamber, under the direction of the late John and Mary Perrone, shepherded the event through its infancy, and through times that threatened to see the event discontinued. Through the work of the chamber the festival continued and grew. It grew so much, the event was too much for the chamber and its committee, and it was taken over by a larger group and under the aegis of the city in the early 1990s.