City: Boothbay Harbor, ME

Category: Annual Events & Festivals

Telephone: (207) 633-2353

Address: Route 27

Description: Ever tried to race with a frozen cod in your hands? That’s one of the many challenges facing game participants at this Boothbay Harbor fest. Boothbay Harbor may be better known now as a resort than as a fishing town, but it still has one of the largest fleets of any working harbor in the state, and since the early 1970s, the last weekend in April has celebrated them. There’s the fish relay race, lobster trap hauling contests, shucking, shelling, and filleting events, and lobster trap racing, during which people run across the tops of a string of floating lobster traps. Food, dancing, a Miss Shrimp Princess Pageant, lighthouse tours, church suppers, and more are all tradition. This is Boothbay at its best—before the huge influx of tourists and summer “complaints” arrive to clutter things up.