Oysters, best known for their reputed aphrodisiac powers, have been a favorite of food lovers throughout the centuries, beginning with the Roman emperors who paid for them by their weight in gold.
Oysters have always been linked with love. When Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, sprang forth from the sea on an oyster shell and promptly gave birth to Eros, the word “aphrodisiac” was born. The dashing lover Casanova used to start a meal by eating a dozen or more oysters.
The Damariscotta River’s Pemaquid oyster beds are farm raised and produce what are considered some of the best tasting oysters in the world. To celebrate our valuable crop and to benefit the Edward A. Myers Marine Conservation Fund and Maine’s working waterfront, the community throws an annual fundraising event that shouldn’t be missed.
At the Pemaquid Oyster Festival visitors can enjoy food, music, historical displays, educational exhibits, and boat rides out to the oyster beds. If you’ve never been to the Oyster Festival and would like to get a feel for this annual event, just view the short video below.
To see the recent New York Times slide show entitled, “Maine on the Half Shell” click here.
To see the related NY Times article entitled, “Where Maine Comes Out of Its Other Shell” click here.
Want to enjoy one of the country’s preeminent fairs? Visit the agricultural fair in Fryeburg, and experience this 150+ year-old extravaganza of rides, livestock, entertainment, shows, bands, prizes, racing, special events, food and so much more.
It was a chilly day in March of 1851 when a few local farmers and merchants got together and decided to show off their produce, cattle and wares to the community. Since those humble beginnings, the Fryeburg Fair has grown to become Maine’s largest agricultural fair complete with six days of harness racing, a farm museum second to none, the world’s largest steer and oxen show and a reputation known throughout North America.
The 8-day Blue Ribbon Classic has flourished since that first fair when William Walker of Lovell won $3 for the best acre of corn and William Spring of Brownfield earned $1 for the best seed wheat. Today, the early October fair boasts Maine’s largest agricultural event held on 185 acres in the Saco River Valley in the foothills of the White Mountains. The fair also normally takes place during the height of Maine’s Fall foliage season. The Fryeburg Fair attracts more than 300,000 people annually.
If you’ve never been to the Fryeburg Fair, you can get a feel for the agricultural fair experience by viewing the short video below.
Voted one of the top 10 Great Streets in America for 2008, by the American Planning Association (APA), “Commercial Street stands out for its unique character, strong sense of place, and mixture of uses involving marine and fishing industries, tourism, retail trade, commercial offices, and residential housing.” The street “…blurs the distinctions among working waterfront, downtown Main Street, and historic tourist district. It is a place where moored fishing boats, lobster pots and fishing gear, and crying seagulls mix with downtown office employees going to work, residents living in dockside condominiums, and tourists visiting restaurants and boutique shops. It’s a dynamic yet precariously balanced amalgam crafted through years of debate and compromise.” For more on the APA’s review click here.
I live here, so it’s hard to maintain a detached perspective. The success of Commercial Street, the Old Port shopping district, and the cities reputation as one of the best cities for foodies in the northeast has made life in the warmer months seem a bit like living in DC, where I lived before returning to Maine. The difference is the exciting mix of sophistication and downeast authenticity, with it’s concomitant lack of pretense, makes this a wonderful and comfortable place to live, work, and vacation. All of this probably explains why Portland has been among the choicest ports of call for cruise lines. On the day I was filming the Queen Victoria (the newest of the Cunard liners) was in port. As you’ll see in the video below, she’s a great looking ship. For more on The Queen click here.
Belfast has been voted one of the ten coolest small towns in America in a Budget Travel Magazine survey. The towns listed in the top ten have fewer then 10,000 people, but can rival larger cities when it comes to good food, culture, and quality of life. Belfast sits at the northern tip of the western shore of Penobscot Bay, and is about a 20-minute drive north of Camden. The town is just off of Route 1 and many tourists miss it, giving the town a very laid-back feel. The relative lack of tourists during the prime season combined with lower real estate prices is helping to create an artist’s enclave in Belfast – and not just painters, but jewelry makers, glassblowers, and weavers. Every Friday morning from May through October there’s a farmer’s market that attracts a wide variety of local organic farmers, bakers, artists, and musicians.
If you missed Belfast during your travels in Maine, you can get a sense of this picturesque village by viewing the video below. We hope the video will entice you to stop by on your next visit to the mid-coast.
I’ve been up the Songo River before, but the last time was in 1983 (over 25 years ago) and I wanted to see if anything had changed. The river connects Sebago Lake to Brandy Pond*, the Bay of Naples at the southern end of Long Lake, and the whole of Long Lake, which is navigable all the way to Harrison, Maine. The Maine Central Railroad (in a summer brochure from 1929) describes the Songo River Excursion from Portland to Harrison as traveling “Through the Crookedest of All Rivers”. The price was $2.38 round trip. The trip was made possible by the construction of the Songo River Lock built in 1830 to allow for the easy transportation of agricultural and wood products from as far away as Bridgton and Harrison to Portland by barge, and later by rail and steamship.
For the trip, I hitched a ride on the Tykona, an antique Chris-Craft built in 1936. We left from Migis Lodge, which sits perched along 3500 feet of pristine shoreline at the northeast corner of Sebago Lake. Sebago Lake itself is like a secret handshake among boaters who have been there. When you meet another Sebago boater there’s sort of a subtle smile and a nod. They know, and you know, how special the lake really is.
The trip took a total of two and a half hours, and we learned something about a milfoil infestation in the Songo, but you can do a virtual trip in just over 7 minutes by viewing the video below.
Enjoy!
* A “Pond” in Maine would surely be designated as a lake in almost any other state in the U.S, as you will see.