Eastport Salmon Festival expands regional food offerings on menu

Salmon and seafood take center stage on Eastport dinner plates as a special culinary festival celebrates the bounty of the ocean off the Downeast coast on Labor Day weekend. This year, the 37th year the city hosts the Eastport Salmon and Seafood Festival, features an expanded repertoire of regional foods. In addition to the crab rolls and grilled salmon traditionally offered, festival organizers also plan to plate up freshly shucked Maine oysters, Maine wild blueberry cake and Maine smoked salmon.

"It's Eastport's only real food festival," says event organizer Joan Lowden. "It's very community focused and so very special in that we'll have 600 people coming together under a big tent to have dinner."

Lowden is speaking in particular of the grilled salmon dinner that's served on Sunday, August 31, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. along with roasted Aroostook County potatoes, bean salad, homemade rolls and a Maine blueberry dessert. As always, diners will have the option to top off the salmon with a special sauce prepared by the folks at Raye's Mustard. "It's made with our Winter Garden mustard -- and it's amazing," says Karen Raye, co-owner of Raye's Mustard. "We're the last people still making mustard the old‑fashioned way, so it's definitely a local specialty."

But Sunday isn't the only day for regional cuisine. On Saturday, August 30, beginning at 11 a.m. festival‑goers can purchase crab rolls and blueberry cake with proceeds going respectively to the Eastport Senior Center and the Peavey Memorial Library. They can also buy freshly shucked oysters and smoked salmon. All items will be available until they run out.

The entire festival is a fundraiser for the Eastport Area Chamber of Commerce, its biggest money‑maker of the year. "The money goes to support a lot of things from our holiday lights to our downtown banners to our baskets of flowers," Lowden says.

One of the festival's other supporters, Steven Hedlund of Cooke USA, which donates all the salmon for the festival, says the event celebrates the connection of the sea to local communities. Although historically wild salmon coursed along Maine's coast, their dwindling numbers today prevent harvesting, he notes. For many decades, offshore pens operated by Cooke have provided the bulk of Atlantic salmon.

"Salmon is great for you," he says. "That's why it's moved up to second place in the United States as far as seafood popularity, right behind shrimp."

In addition to the culinary satisfaction provided by the weekend festival, participants will also be invited to take part in a number of other activities ranging from historic building tours to oyster shucking.

It all begins Friday, August 29, with music at 5 p.m. at the downtown amphitheater from the Cipelahq Ehpicik drummers followed by rapper Undeniable the Native.

On Saturday and Sunday, dozens of vendors and crafters will be on display on the downtown streets. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both days, live music will be playing while on Sunday during that same time a chance auction will be held under the tent downtown.

The Eastport Historic Building Tour will be held Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lowden urges people to purchase their tickets ahead of time. Both historic tour and Sunday salmon dinner tickets can be purchased online at <www.eastportchamber.net/salmon>.

Lowden urges festival attendees to peruse all the festival offerings beforehand online at the same website. There are also fun activities for children, events sponsored by local businesses, more music, an evening outdoor movie and boat tours to see the salmon pens.

"I just love this festival," Lowden says. "You have people coming together to sample both community offerings and regional food. It'll be fun."