ROCKLAND, Maine — When four college buddies planned their road trip north, one of the major stops was “crustacean nation.”
Memphis, Tenn., residents Joe Hooker, Scott Nanney, Travis Littlefield and Shawn Rowland said they decided to head for the Maine Lobster Festival after reading about it on a concert Web site. As it turned out, they were unable to fit a concert into their schedule, but made sure to hit the festival.
“We couldn’t go to a concert so we came to the lobster festival,” Hooker said as he and his pals feasted on lobster Sunday afternoon, the last day of the five-day event. “This festival is awesome. It definitely met our expectations.”
They were not alone as thousands descended on the city for the 62nd annual festival that celebrates all things lobster. The festival also has room for hot dogs, sausages, chowder and other exotic cuisine, but it’s lobster that is king of the festival.
Maine Lobster Festival president Tammy Kolmosky estimated that 20,000 pounds, or 10 tons, of lobster would be consumed by the end of the festival. The festival’s World’s Greatest Lobster Cooker is able to cook 1,600 pounds of lobster every five minutes, and it was running full-blast on more than one occasion.
“The cooker is a show in itself,” Kolmosky said Sunday. “We can cook lobster faster than we can move the feeding lines, and we’ve been doing that a lot this week.”
Kolmosky said the only hitch in the event was Friday evening when a downpour cleared the festival grounds and thinned out the crowds for that night’s entertainment — Celtic rockers Enter the Haggis and fiddler extraordinaire Natalie MacMaster.
“We had a great opening day, but the weather on Friday didn’t work in our favor,” she said. “The die-hards came out for Enter the Haggis and Natalie, but it wasn’t the crowd we anticipated. We followed it up with a great parade and great attendance on Saturday, which was a beautiful, beautiful day. The lines for lobsters were backed up all day long.”
For Jack Heikens, 11, of Ames, Iowa, visiting the festival was a rewarding experience. Jack took part in the Children’s Lobster Eating Contest and wound up winning the title. Although it was his first time in Maine and only the third time he had eaten a lobster, Jack managed to gobble his down in two minutes and three seconds. When he was asked why he signed up for the competition, he replied, “I was hungry.”
Other popular attractions at the festival were the Great International William Atwood Lobster Crate Races, Children’s Cod Fish Carry and the “Little Lobster” Diaper Derby where crawling babies “race” across the stage.
Cooking the lobsters and moving the lines wouldn’t be possible without the more than 1,000 volunteers who dedicate the first weekend in August to the festival. Kolmosky, who has been with the festival for 16 years, said many volunteers have been helping out much longer than that. She said the festival board and its commit-tees start planning for the next year’s festival almost from the moment the festival ends.
“It takes a virtual army of volunteers to put this on year in and year out. They really are the core of the success of this festival,” she said. “We had people who were camping in Camden come in this year and volunteer. We have a lot of volunteers from out of state who plan their vacation around the festival and return every year.
Kolmosky said it is never hard rounding up volunteers because the work is fun and people get to meet visitors from all over the world.
“Who wouldn’t want to volunteer and support the community they live and work in and the place they are proud of?” she asked. “We’re right here in Harbor Park and it’s a beautiful venue to serve delectable Maine lobsters that everybody loves.”
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