Beyond the South End

Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors

Show Report

 

The Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors Show, by all appearances, was a big success despite some rainy weather occasionally. I had planned to bring you my own video and photos via my Blackberry, but, unfortunately, I’ve had technical glitches I can’t seem to handle. Therefore, I bring you David Dunkle’s video on the day of the Boat Yard Dog competition, which is on You Tube and appeared in the Village Soup online. He did a much better job than I.

 

I received an email just before I came home for vacation from the Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors (MBHH) folks asking for volunteers. As I wouldn’t be home for the festival to volunteer I thought, why not? The lady I spoke to on the phone was Stacey Palmer, who had a dog in the show named Duff. She said, “He doesn’t like water, so I don’t know if he’ll swim or not.” As it happened, Duff was fine paddling around in a boat with Stacey, which you’ll see on the tape, but he was having no part of going into that cold water down at the Landing.

As part of the rewards for my volunteer work, I received a volunteer tee shirt, a subscription to the magazine, and two tickets to the show. As I already have a subscription, I gave the one they offered to my brother, Ted. I’m sure he’ll enjoy it as much as I do. I gave my extra ticket to my friend, Bobby Zimmerman, who was itching to get into the show to see all the boats. I used my ticket to go see the dogs compete.

I volunteered on Saturday for four hours with a very nice lady, whose name I can’t remember, unfortunately. She was a dedicated volunteer as she was there for the entire show. We sat in the “Will Call” shed checking in people who were given complimentary tickets by the vendors at the Landing. The most I did was look up a few people in a book and give out day stickers to put on their clothing.

My partner and I could have sold the shed we were in, which was erected by another vendor for the show, several times. Many perspective carpenters and do-it-yourselfers came in and admired the shed. We directed them all to the vendor who built them. I hope we gave him some business.

The next day, Sunday, which was the last day of the show, I came down to watch the Boat Yard Dogs perform on a rainy misty day. There was a great story, also in the Village Soup online, but here are the highlights. I must first of all thank the two men who picked me up off the ground after I fell backward from the wall at the Landing. I was late in coming and while trying to get a vantage point from which to take pictures, I fell right off the darn wall. I was fine, just shaken up. I decided to try to find another spot out on the wharf instead.

The dog show benefits the humane society in the area by giving a donation of $1 to the society for the dog you pick as your favorite in the show. Most of the dogs in the show were in fact rescue dogs.

All dogs and owners were asked to go through a routine which consisted of a small obstacle course on the wharf; do a trick or two with a hula hoop; get in and out of a boat docked at the wharf with their owner; and either the dog or owner or both had to get into the water at some point. Bribes for the judges were encouraged and each owner did coax the judge’s boat into the wharf so they could do just that. Some of the bribes were tee shirts, lobsters, and other gift bag stuff.

The only dog who actually went into the water to fetch a stick was Otter, who was handled by two adorable girls. In fact, they had trouble getting him out of the water. Otter is a Labrador, a natural fetcher.

One dog actually had been rescued from the New Orleans area I believe. The announcer said he acquainted water with swamps and the alligators within. Naturally he would not want to enter into any water, swamp or not.

I found it ironic, however, that two Portuguese water dogs in the show did not want to be water dogs on that particular day. Guess who won the whole shebang? Yep, Otter. He deserved the honor along with his two girl handlers.

Two things I have added to my Maine wish list are two things I saw while wandering around the show on Sunday.  One is the beautiful posters of some of the major lighthouses in Maine done by Alan Claude. You will see them on the video. Someday I would like to have the Rockland Breakwater, the Marshall Point Light, and the Pemaquid Point lighthouse posters. The other thing is a “Tide Clock” by Alan Winick. The device, when set properly, will tell you when the tide will be low or high. They are very unique. My office is loaded with Maine pictures and other “Maine stuff” and these things will be a welcome addition to any future office I might have. I have both their business cards in a safe place for that reason.

I would like to thank the volunteer who drove me back up to my brother’s truck via a golf cart. My poor bad legs had about had it by that time and the ride sure was appreciated.

So that’s the report of the Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors Show for this year.

Thanks for listening.