Hometown Royalty

2010 Sea Goddess, Emily Benner

 We all enjoyed watching the royal wedding of William and Kate recently. However, lest we forget, we have our own local royalty in the form of the Sea Goddess of the Lobster Festival. The best part is we get to see a new pageant every year and see the crowning of a new Sea Goddess. 

In 2010, our Goddess was Emily Benner. For a look at a YouTube video of Emily walking on the Festival grounds, copy and paste this link into your browser. If it tells you they can't find it, just hit google search and you will see the listing for the video. The title of the video is "Lobster Festival with the Sea Goddess August 2010."

http://youtube/MrpOlSWV2xg

As far as I know, there is no book, pamphlet or other written history of the Sea Goddess Pageant. Therefore, what you see here will have gaping holes that will need to be filled at a later date. I think this subject deserves a broader look and I will certainly entertain that project in the future. For now, I'll give you what I have and hope that you will help me fill in the gaps.

I believe that this pageant is long overdue for an historical account to be written down about it in some form. That will be a project I may possibly undertake at a later date. For now I will give you what I was able to scrap up from one source or another. You will notice huge gaps that will need to be filled in. I’m hoping you, my loyal readers, will assist me in this task. More on that later.

Let’s start with King Neptune, a focal personage of this pageant and of the festivities over the course of the Lobster Festival, which takes place the first weekend that falls at least partly in August. 

Whoever thought of making King Neptune part of the festivities was brilliant. From the time he comes up from the sea and arrives by boat down at the landing with his most recent Goddess, he is on a big stage that covers the whole city.

Here’s the mythology that goes along with King Neptune, God of the Sea. Neptune is a Roman God, his Greek counterpart is Poseidon. Both have also been called the God of Horses. Neptune is also God of fresh water.

As mythology tells us, the world was divided into three. Zeus was God of the earth and sky; Hades, was God of the Underworld; and Neptune or Poseidon, God of the Sea.

Neptune has been paired with Salacia, possible Goddess of Salt Water. Poseidon’s wife was Amphitrite. Maybe we should therefore rename our Sea Goddess, Salacia. What do you think?

There was a festival called Neptunalia or “Festival of Neptune” which took place on July 23. It was a time of general free and unrestrained merrymaking. That date is not far off from our Lobster Festival celebration. We do partake of much merrymaking, however, our local police force likes to keep the unrestrained part to a minimum. Overall, I think our activities would make King Neptune proud.

2008 Sea Princesses file onto the pageant stage.

O.K. so you want to sign up for this year’s pageant. Unfortunately, deadline for this year was April 15; but keep these guidelines in mind for next year or for any young lady who will be eligible and interested in the coming years.

The pageant accepts 20 young ladies for the pageant. You must submit a completed application with a sponsor contribution of $500. For more information on applications, contact the Maine Lobster Festival, Coronation Committee, P.O. Box 552, Rockland, ME 04841.

Here’s a brief recap of the eligibility rules:

1.    Applicants must be a single lady, a high school (or GED) graduate, not more than 21 years old.

2.    Contestants can only participate in the pageant once.

3.    A Sea Princess is required to volunteer a minimum of 4 hours before the Festival opens on Wednesday.

4.  Sea Princesses must mingle on the Festival grounds a minimum of 2 hours a day wearing appropriate dress and sash.

5.   Explain the benefits of participating to your sponsors and that they are helping pay for your gown and other necessities. Your sponsor will be advertised in everything you are a part of for the Festival. It is suggested that at least one of the sponsors be fish industry-related.

6.    The young lady chosen to be Sea Goddess and Crown Princess have these duties:

a.    Attendance at all hometown affairs representing the Maine Lobster Festival.

b.    If the Sea Goddess cannot appear at any given time throughout the year, the Crown Princess my represent the Festival in her stead.

c.    Daily attendance on the Festival grounds wearing your crown and sash is required. Also mingling with King Neptune and others of his court; having pictures taken; handing out rewards for competitions like the Lobster Crate Race.

(see the video of last year’s Sea Goddess, Emily Benner, above)

The Sea Goddess is also expected to attend other festivities like parades and other Maine festivals and expositions in New England throughout the year. She is also expected to attend opening festivities for the following year and to give a small speech on stage at the pageant; and ride in the next year’s Festival parade.

So there you have it.  Next week I will have more pictures to share and hopefully you can identify some of the people in them. If you think back to the year you graduated from one of the area high schools, see if you can remember who was Sea Goddess that year and send me the name and a picture via email if possible. We’ll all do this together, O.K.?

Thanks for listening.