FOLLANSBEE — Citing financial constraints, organizers of Follansbee Community Days have advised the festival might not return next year or at least be limited to a day but they also say they will be celebrating its 30th year in a big way.

Tom Ludewig, who chairs the Follansbee Community Days Committee, said attendees can expect an exceptional fireworks display as well as the variety of entertainment and food it has offered in the past.

“This will be the biggest fireworks display we’ve ever done,” he said, adding a dozen food vendors and 17 craft and other vendors have been booked.

The fireworks will cap off the three-day festival, which will start Friday evening and continue through Sunday night.

Most of the festivities will be held in the parking lot of the Follansbee Community House behind the Bluewave Center on state Route 2 and adjacent to Follansbee Park, where attendees also can cool off under its trees or at its swimming pool.

Children can play at the park’s playground or on the inflatable attractions set up for the festival on the nearby softball field.

Organized by committee member Don Layburn, the musical lineup will include: The Fantasys at 6:30 p.m. and Lights Out! (a Four Seasons tribute band) at 8:30 p.m. Friday; and Pittsburgh dance band New Pure Gold at 6:30 p.m. and Chris Ruggiero, a regular Las Vegas performer who will be singing popular songs from the 1950s, 60s and 70s at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

On Sunday, musicians will take to the stage earlier, starting with local rhythm and blues band Twice as Nice at 5 p.m., Jimmy Ross and the Jaggerz of Pittsburgh at 6:30 p.m. and the Motor City All-Stars, a Motown tribute band, at 8:30 p.m.

There also will be a parade at 1 p.m. Saturday on Main Street (state Route 2), with Victor Ceglie Jr., a Follansbee native who went on to a 40-year career as a firefighter in the Washington, D.C., area, serving as marshal.

After retiring as battalion chief for a district that included the White House and all federal offices, Ceglie served as emergency services branch director for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a position that involved working with state, tribal, local and other federal officials to plan responses to various potential disasters, and organizing COVID vaccination sites and procedures for Albany, Brooklyn and Buffalo, N.Y.

At the festival’s recent kickoff dinner, Ceglie said the influence of his parents and all mothers and fathers in the community while growing up in Follansbee prepared him for the challenges he faced later in his life.

The procession of marching bands, emergency vehicles, floats and other units is slated to be launched with a shotgun fired by the West Virginia University Mountaineer mascot.

On Sunday, Lyle’s Auto, located across the street from the park’s entrance, will host the Howdy Verner Memorial Car Show from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Car owners are asked to arrive at 10 a.m. for the event, which will include a 50-50 drawing, door prizes and food and drinks.

Long a staple of Follansbee Community Days, the show is named for the late Howard “Howdy” Verner, the founder of Howdy’s Dairy Owl, who had organized it. Proceeds from the show will benefit children with diabetes.

The festival will conclude with the fireworks display at 10 p.m. Sunday.