Enjoy Rockland this Summer

I invite all of our summer travelers to visit Rockland and the mid-coast this summer and especially to enjoy one of our many special events. If you have an out-of-town friend who would like a schedule of events this summer, print this report out and send it to them or better yet, just email it to them.

For those of you who will come to us by boat and are mooring in our harbor, know that your mooring spot will most likely be within walking distance of these events.

Here’s a highlight of the many events we have planned for you this summer.

June

12^th Annual Summer Solstice Street Fair

June 22, 5-9 pm

Main Street

A street fair to celebrate the summer season, sponsored by Rockland Main Street, Inc., Main Street will be closed for the period from Park Street to Summer Street. Fun family activities center on food, sidewalk sales, entertainment and activities. There will be a “Whoopie Pie” eating contest.  Paul Benjamin, of the North Atlantic Blues Festival will bring music to Main Street featuring a wide variety of music for your enjoyment.

July

12^th Annual Summer Solstice Street Fair

June 22, 5-9 pm

Main Street

 A street fair to celebrate the summer season, sponsored by Rockland Main Street, Inc., Main Street will be closed for the period from Park Street to Summer Street. Fun family activities center on food, sidewalk sales, entertainment and activities. There will be a “Whoopie Pie” eating contest, Maine’s official dessert. Paul Benjamin, of the North Atlantic Blues Festival will bring music to Main Street featuring a wide variety of music for your enjoyment.

July-August

66^th Maine Lobster Festival

July 31-August 4

Public Landing and other sites

This 5-day event in Rockland is the biggest festival of the summer. This is the 66^th annual Festival. You will find it featured in many magazines and newspapers reporting on and advertising summer festivals. The event is known nationally and internationally as one of the prime festivals of the summer season and not to be missed.

The main attractions are featured in a midway at the Public Landing. There is something for everyone: from rides for the kids; to tours of Navy vessels in the Harbor; to every seafood and other scrumptious food you can imagine, including our famous Maine Lobster dinner which you can eat in a tent overlooking Rockland Harbor.

There is a Maine Sea Goddess coronation on the pier at the Landing and a big parade down Main Street on Saturday.

Shuttle buses travel between school parking lots and the Festival throughout the 5 days from both Rockland District Middle School on Broadway in the South End and Oceanside High School in midtown on Broadway.

People with the best accommodations will most likely be those lucky enough to moor their boats in the harbor near the Landing. They will have the best view of the goings-on and have easy access to everything. If you need motel or hotel accommodations, it’s best to take care of that now. There are also several camping areas in the mid-coast area you might want to take advantage of. See your favorite camping guide site to pick one close to the Festival.

Music

There will be live music at the North Tent and the Main Stage throughout the festival. On Saturday, August 2, there will be continuing music on the Main Stage:

2:00-4:00pm-Pete Kilpatrick Band from Portland, Maine

5:00-7:00pm-Lyle Divinsky Band, soul

7:00pm-Don Campbell Band

8:30pm-Jonathan Edwards and Band

Admission to the grounds are $5 for adults and $2 for children

August

11^th Annual Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Show

August 9-11

Public Landing in Rockland

Fast becoming a favorite summer event, the show is presented by the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine, a national magazine whose offices are but a few steps away from the show in the South End of Rockland.

Here you will see every boat imaginable displayed in the water and out. It’s an event everyone can enjoy from boat builders, sailors, boat owners, artists, craftsmen and designers.

Along with the boat displays are home furnishings vendors who display some spectacular pieces of furniture along with marine-related décor.

Events during the weekend event include activities for children; a Stand-Up Paddleboard Jousting Tournament and the World Championship Boatyard Dog Trials.

Food vendors feature a delicious fish chowder and other seafood specialties. Music will be provided by musical groups along the midway. Admission is $12; kids under 12 FREE.

September 8-14

Rockland, Camden, and surrounding towns

Lobsterpalooza was the brainstorm of the four Historic Inns of Rockland (Berry Manor Inn, Captain Lindsey House, Limerock Inn, and Granite Inn) who then enlisted support from the Maine Lobster Promotion Council and the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce to raise enthusiasm for eating lobster and supporting Maine’s lobstermen.

In an effort to promote the Maine lobster and its lobstermen many lobsterpalooza events will be the specialty of this week.

Included are:

Lobster cash mobs at local fish markets

Special lobster dishes at local restaurants in the area including dishes for morning, noon and night.

Lobster and wine tasting tours.

Lobster and olive oil tastings

A chance to vote in the “Best Lobster Roll” Contest

A visit to the “Lobstacle Course”

A chance to pull traps with a real Maine lobsterman

A lobsterman’s talent show

Children’s events and activities

Discussions, workshops and learning opportunities

The climax of the week will be a “Lobster in The Street Party” complete with lobster tastings, live music, games and fun for the family, a lobster meat picking contest and much more!

Come and enjoy the fun.

I hope our summer visitors will have the chance to enjoy at least one of these events when they visit Maine. Have a good vacation everyone!

 

 

 

Sail, Power, and Steam Museum

 

 

 

Join the Museum

Volunteer

Help build a sailing ship or a work building.

Call 701-7627

For more information

MidCoast Has Talent!...or Not 2013

 

Talent Show at the Strand Theater

May 23, 6:00 pm

Produced by The North Atlantic Blues Festival

To Benefit Rockland Main Street, Inc.

“All types of music, dance and comedy”

Tickets:

$10 Adults/$5 Students under 18

For information on performing:

Call Paul Benjamin at 207-596-6055

Or go to:

bluesman@midcoast.com

 

By Ted Sylvester

 

 

One of Ted’s recurring themes for Fish and Chips—Do-It-Yourself projects.

 

 

There is nothing quite so humbling as the belief that a task can be accomplished easily, and then be caught up short by our own stupidity. The Friendly Do-It-Yourselfer found that out, much to his dismay and an affont upon his ego.

The job was simple. After all, DIY had completed similar tasks before. No problem. The task at hand was to close in a closet space in the spare room and install double louver doors. A simple, easy project. Two hours tops he told his wifemate, who by this time always is skeptical of such confidence.

So it was off to the neighborhood lumber companies to fetch the proper materials.

All that was needed was construction of a small wall to close in the door opening to the required 80-by-48-inch openings. DIY drew out the proper measurements on the floor. He even made allowances for the finish boards that would be nailed outside of the 2-by-4s. I told you DIY knew what he was doing. The wall went up easy. Plumb, square and all. The finish boards likewise were fitted and placed. Perfect. Before DIY installed the trim boards on the front, he decided to open up the louver door hardware to see how much leeway he had when installing the slide bar at the top. Guess what? The opening was three-quarters of an inch too narrow. Scratching his head, DIY grabbed for the level. He found that the existing wall was not quite plumb. The opening at the bottom was all right. But at the top…forget it.

So DIY ripped out his new wall. He started over with the measurements taken at the top this time. After some grumbling, and the ruining of some finish boards, he re-erected the wall. All the while he kept measuring the opening. Yep. It was 48 inches. Right on target.

After fetching some new finish boards and installing them, he finally could get to the trim and begin sanding and staining. But to make sure he set the slide rail in place again. Guess what? The opening was still three-quarters of an inch too narrow. What happened? DIY was beside himself. Had his trusty Stanley tape let him down? He finally figured it out. When he re-measured the opening for the second wall, he neglected to make the ¾-inch allowance for the finish board. Talk about frustration. This project was beginning to turn into a personal thing between DIY and the wall.

So for the third time he set out to correct the error. This time he decided to pull out the existing wall and make it plumb as he should have in the first place. After pulling out nails and screws that were meant to be permanent, he finally got the thing done. Finish boards in place. This time the rails fit the 48-inch opening. Great. So it was on to staining and the trim…

When it came time to install the 21/2-inch trim over the top of the doorway, it was a little too wide. To correct this DIY simply installed a double finish board. Perfect.

With the staining finished, it was time to install the doors. The hardware was put in place and the doors placed. But wait a minute. The doorway now was not high enough. That double finish board at the top had cut down the necessary 80 inches to 791/4 inches.

But DIY was too smart this time. Since the carpet had about an eighth of an inch thickness, he thought that if he cut it off at the pass he could squeeze out enough room to install the doors. No way. It was impossible to gain enough clearance.

It was back to ripping out the added finish board and sanding off the one under it. Restain the thing. Reset the slide rail. Finally the thing fit. But this time the clearance gained by cutting off the carpet, came within a hair of making the opening too large. By letting out the clearance screws all the way, it worked. Whew.

So this simple two-hour job, plus staining time, turned into a project that lasted—get this—four days.

Wifemate now is talking about a new doorway installed on the back of the house to the outside. DIY’s role in this little dandy will be easy. He will only have to locate one thing. The telephone number of Wayne Tibbetts.