What's going on in your town this summah? (Portland, Bangor: home, theater)

[deerislesmile]

Festivals? Fairs? Concerts? I thought it might be nice to share some upcoming activities around the state, just in case any of us would like to go wandering towards one!

Down towards Deer Isle...

June 20-22- The Lupine Festival- a variety of events including a craft fair, rummage sale, music concert, art and sculpture show, boat excursions, airplane rides, quilt show, garden tour, children's activities, movies and more.

July 3rd- Blue Hill Pops Concert- Paul Sullivan and others @ Blue Hill Consolidated School

July 4th- Parade and many activities and food offerings in Deer Isle, fireworks over the harbor in Stonington (fog cooperating!)

July 13th- Stonington Lobster Boat Races, Stonington Harbor

July 20th- 19th Annual Fisherman's Day on the Pier in Stonington

July 25-27- 8th annual Deer Isle Jazz festival

July 26-27- Full Circle Summer Fair at the Blue Hill Fairgrounds
WERU Full Circle Fair

August 1,2,3- Shangri-la Music and Arts Festival at the Blue Hill fairgrounds in Blue Hill

August 8th- Richie Havens at the Reach Performing Arts Center at the Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School

Labor Day weekend- The Blue Hill Fair
The Official Blue Hill Fair Web Site

As well as the many goings on at:

The Stonington Opera House:
Stonington Maine Opera House

Kneisel Hall:
Kneisel Hall

Haystack School of Arts and Crafts:
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is an international craft school located on the Atlantic Ocean in Deer Isle, Maine

[dmyankee]

Togue Tournament next weekend in Greenville with Ricky Craven. All kinds of prizes.

Take all you want, any size you want. They (the biologists want 'em weeded out.)

[RANGER.101ST]

not alot going on up here.some out of townes come through last week it was a big event (4 cars in a row) it was like a parade.some times when the street light goes out. (50 watt bulb at the chirch)we will go down and wach them change it .big fun

[forest beekeeper]

Wish we had a stop light, that could burn out from time to time. That would give us a big excitement as they changed the bulb.

We like to watch the weeds grow.

Sometimes between the T-storms we get in some gun practice, sometimes we fish.

[island mermaid]

Goings on in my town.... (island)

The BIG parade for the 4th...

Every year we also have a silent auction to benefit our one room school house.There are lots of great things auctioned off. Everyone donates something, whether it's a nice piece of artwork or even a dinner party for 8, a day out to haul with your favorite lobsterman, #20 of lobster, a sunset cruise on a sailboat, paint your shed...

The most popular event is the pie auction, this one also benefits the school. This one is a blast, we have some wonderful cooks out there! Sometimes it gets a little heated as people bid against each other for that special pie made by so and so. I've seen summer residents bid up to $50 for a homemade peach pie. Of course it's not about the pie, it's about supporting the school.

We have contra- dances on the town landing a couple times each summer. Usually twice each summer we'll get a big band, ie; 4 piece from the mainland to come over for a dance in the town hall.

The end of year event is the one my family hosts, a Pig Roast over Labor Day weekend. We organize lots of events for the little kids, like scavenger hunts and special prizes for best costumes, lots of different age appropriate contests for all the kids. We start roasting the pig the day before. Everyone brings a special dish and their favorite beverage. Last year we had well over 300 people attend. It's like a big good bye farewell for the summer residents as the island will then become a very small population of about 35 people.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

If you go through Springfield on a Thursday you might notice a sign that says simply, "Music". Thursday nights they get together and some play guitars and fiddles, some sing and sometimes everybody sings. They are classic old country songs for the most part, but there are some surprises. Yuri played with the Moscow Philharmonic. He'll get up and some folks from out of town don't know who he is. He'll take his violin and pick it like Lester Flatt or Earl Scruggs. Then he'll look around and find his bow. He'll break into some old country song and transition it into Tsaikowski. Next he'll arrange it right back into Flatt and Scruggs. It's amazing.

There are two more Thursdays to enjoy this. The town voted to close down their only school building. The school district intends to cut off power, water and board it up starting on July 1. Why would they do this? The state said they were going to close down two schools and send the kids here. The state reneged on that plan.

- - -

There is a popular event in Lakeville. The date varies. It's called a barn roast and pig dance. No, that isn't a typo. That's what it is actually called. Dress is informal.

[starwalker]

From another group I frequent...

Fair Dates for 2008

Athens Fair Aug 1-3
Union Fair Aug 16-23
Acton Fair Aug 21-24
Piscataquis Fair Aug 21-24
Windsor Fair Aug 24-Sept 1
Blue Hill Fair Aug 28-Sept 1
Harmony Free Fair Aug 29-Sept 1
Springfield Fair Aug 29-Sept 1
Topsham Fair Aug 3-9
Skowhegan Fair Aug 7-16
Ossipee Valley Fair Jul 10-13
Waterford World's Fair Jul 18-20
Pittston Fair Jul 24-27
Northern Maine Fair Jul 25-Aug 2
Bangor Fair Jul 25-Aug 3
Houlton Fair Jul 3-6
Monmouth Fair Jul 30-Aug 2
New Portland Lions Fair Sept 12-14
Farmington Fair Sept 14-20
Common Ground Fair Sept 19-21
Cumberland Fair Sept 21-27
Fryeburg Fair Sept 28-Oct 5
Clinton Lions Fair Sept 4-7
Litchfield Fair Sept 5-7
Oxford Fair Sept 7-13

Non-Licensed Fairs

Cornish Horsemen Fair Sept 6

That ought to keep us busy, if we can find the gas to get there!

[Asta]

Has anyone ever been to the Stonehenge Country Festival in Gray? One of my favorite country singers, Hal Ketchum, will be performing there.

[mollysmiles]

when I start thinking about everything going on it boggles my mind....
Canada Day is July 1--there are a couple of hills in Eastport that if the evening is clear you can see the fireworks from St. Andrews, Deer Island, and Saint John all at the same time. Pretty cool

Eastport 4th of July/Old Home Week--lasts about 5 days Eastport 4th of July

International Festival--about a week long event, maybe ten days
The St. Croix Valley Chamber of Commerce - International Festival

The Chocolate Festival--yum!! New Brunswick's Chocolate Fest - TasteTrip: Canadian Geographic Travel Magazine

The Folk Festival at Grand Lake Stream
The Grand Lake Stream Folk Art Festival Cobscook Community Learning Center


Wild Blueberry Festival Machias Maine Wild Blueberry Festival - Machias Bay Area Chamber of Commerce

Salmon (Pirate?) Festival
Eastport Area Chamber of Commerce

of course, that's the busy "more people" stuff We still have the whale watching, kayaking tours (lake, stream, and ocean), art shows, local theater, gardens tours (oh Kingsbrae in St. Andrews is amazing) and you'll often see signs for dances and dinners too.....and the history and beauty here is stunning....you can be off doing the festivals and fairs every weekend or you can just do the quiet things like sitting in the bay in a kayak with the porpoises

OH, and geocaching!!

[deerislesmile]

Also the North Atlantic Blues Festival in Rockland on July 13

North Atlantic Blues Festival

As well as the Maine Lobster Festival, also in Rockland, on July 30th-August 3rd:

Maine Lobster Festival | 61st Annual Maine Lobster Festival - July 30 - August 3, 2008 in Rockland, Maine