ROCKLAND, Maine — Something happens to Brian Messing this time of year.
A few weeks before the Maine Lobster Festival, the middle-aged, mild-mannered man starts dreaming of plunder and booty.
“I start thinking pirate,” said Messing of Rockland.
Dressed in a tri-corner hat with bright red feathers, a white ruffle shirt and a long black velvet coat, he roams the festival grounds. Entering with guns blazing and a flashing sword at his hip, somehow he always manages to slip by security.
Messing is Blackbeard, the notorious pirate who storms ashore from the Seven Seas to the Maine Lobster Festival every year.
This year he walks the plank. The volunteer buccaneer, who delights children and flirts with ladies, is brandishing his sword for the last time.
As a festival ambassador, he takes his role seriously.
“I make little children feel welcome,” said Messing.
But it goes deeper than that.
Anyone who has set foot on the festival grounds knows that Messing, who has been doing this for 12 years, is nearly irreplaceable. This Blackbeard is bona fide.
Unlike some mascots who don a suit and go through the motions, Messing plays the part of a jovial pirate to a T. Like a method actor immersed in a role, he leaves nothing to chance.
“It’s a lot of work. I am down there from open to close every day,” said Messing, who awakens early in the morning when the festival is in session to get into character. “I start getting ready very early. I spend an hour on my face.”
His look has changed through the years. He now dolls up his eyes like Johnny Depp in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” But one thing hasn’t changed: his plucky, salty spirit.
Announcing the King’s Court, including King Neptune, the Sea Goddess and various clams, lobsters and mermaids, in the hot sun all day is not everyone’s cup of grog. But Messing has grown to adore the role, and it shows.
Cruising in on a boat Wednesday to christen the 66th festival, Messing was in full Blackbeard mode.
“Argh, make way, stand to the side for the King’s Court,” he shouted, firing off a gun as King Neptune and the outgoing Maine Sea Goddess paraded in his wake.
Like a good mall Santa, the former school committee member relishes the magical role.
“I give gifts to adoring little children. The kids, they want to be entertained, let them have that fantasy. Who knows, maybe they will go off and find that treasure,” said Messing.
Speaking of treasures, Messing, who volunteers for the role, puts his own resources into his hand-made costume. He also supplies the coins he hands to those who are enchanted.
“I’ll ask little kids, have you ever seen pirate treasure? I pour out the treasure and jewels and they walk out with a couple.”
But not everyone gets the booty. Just those who believe.
“If I get a kid looking at me with big, wide eyes, they know I am real. They will walk away with a treasure,” he said. “My real focus is on the kids. I want them to really have a good time.”
Children who test his mettle end up believing he scours the deep sea looking for plunder. He grows his beard and hair all year long to prove it.
“I am the only one in Maine that grows a beard in the middle of the summer,” he said. “I will let them pull it.”
Theodora Zarrow, 5, of Owls Head, was impressed.
“He was cool,” said the fest-goer at her parent’s side Wednesday.
After delighting tykes for more than a decade, Messing fears he’s lost his bounce.
“When I started this I had this spark that was 6 inches high, now it’s 1 inch high. I’m not quite as enthused,” Messing said earlier this week. “If there is somebody out there more psyched than I am, they should be the one, not me. It’s time for them to try it.”
Being on for five days summer after summer comes with setbacks
“It does kind of trap you. You are always stuck being here in the middle of the summer,” said Messing, who takes a week off from his security job to be Blackbeard, sometimes forfeiting his vacation time.
But the volunteering spirit of the festival is what motivates him. He starting helping when he first moved to Rockland.
“I thought because I was new to the area it would be a great way to learn about the community,” he said.
Lobster Festival president Tim Carroll said Messing will be “absolutely hard to replace. Somebody coming in will have to take it as seriously. He’s done an outstanding job. The years that he’s put in, he becomes a central part of the festival.”
“Not only does he do a great job as Blackbeard, he’s a very good guy. The local communities come out to see him.”
When asked how he will feel on Sunday when he slips into Blackbeard for the final time, his tough pirate demeanor softens.
“I’m probably going to cry. It’s been a big part of my life for a good portion of my life,” he said with a shaken voice. “I will miss it … I will miss it.”
Kathleen Pierce can be reached at kpierce@bangordailynews.com and on Twitter at @Piercenews
