Five years ago, organizer Judi Perkins hoped to make the Maine Harvest Festival an annual event. At the old Bangor Auditorium, about 65 farms and producers set up shop, selling everything from locally sourced meats, fruits and vegetables to wine and beer.
As it enters its fifth year, Perkins has worked to ensure the festival takes on the vast landscape of farmers, food processors and fiber artisans of Maine.
Named No. 5 in a list of the top 10 “Best Fall Harvest Festivals” in 2015 by readers of USA Today and 10Best, the Maine Harvest Festival now boasts approximately 200 vendors and will occupy the entire Cross Insurance Center for the event, which will take place 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nov. 14 and 15.
Farmers, food processors, brewers, fiber artisans and chefs will gather in the Cross Insurance Center’s over 49,000 square feet, from the concourse, to the arena, through the ballroom and into the pre-function area, to offer everything from demonstrations and pie contests to a Maine fiber fashion show and bluegrass music.
For $8, attendees can experience fresh food, including granola-coated toffee bars, artisanal mustards and lobster crackers, needhams, hard cider and organic seaweed products. Children 12 and under can attend free of charge.
In addition to the food offerings, fiber artisans will offer organic printed textiles, hand felted items, wool blankets and sea glass buttons, among a myriad other wares.
For vendors like Susan Watson of Midsummer Night’s Meadow Farm, watching the festival evolve under the Perkins’ leadership has been an incredible journey.
“I met Judi through the Maine Harvest Festival when she was brainstorming about the event. I called her and she told me what she had in mind, and I thought it sounded like a great idea,” Watson said. “If she hadn’t had the passion and that intuitive ability to see what it could be, I don’t think the event would have ever happened.”
While organizing the festival, Perkins asked herself a simple question: “Wouldn’t it be great if these folks knew how to find these people year round?”
Connecting vendors of Maine products with consumers was important to her, and featuring vendors from Maine was paramount.
“We’ve done our best to make this a Maine experience. Everyone involved is from Maine, and that makes this special,” Perkins said.
Watson, who has been selling meat and fiber products from her farm at the Maine Harvest Festival since its inception, was blown away by the enthusiasm of customers during their first year. As a vendor, she has seen success at the festival and even took off one year so she could experience it from a patron’s point of view.
As the event has grown and evolved, so has attendance. This year, Perkins expects more than 6,000 shoppers.
“It’s amazing to walk through the doors of the Cross [Insurance] Center and look at that set-up,” Watson said. “Maine has got this amazing breadth and range of producers. It’s a very creative state.”
The festival doesn’t end with the vendors, however. Cooking demonstrations will tackle moose lasagna, seaweed, lamb and New England staples such as fish chowder, yeast rolls and Maine potatoes, among a number of other kinds of fare.
“Folks always like to be shown how to do something with the hopes they can go home and do the same thing. They also love the opportunity to sample once the chefs and educational presenters are done,” Perkins said.
The University of Maine Page Farm and Home Museum will offer educational workshops addressing everything from bees, honey making and holiday wreath making, to shearing rabbits and raising backyard chickens.
With three stages offering varying events — sometimes concurrently — Perkins believes there’s something for everyone this year.
New to the festival is a gathering called “Our Story,” which will be hosted by WVOM’s Deb Neuman. Patrons will have the opportunity to meet farmers, fiber artisans and food processors who will take about their life, farm and business.
“Whether you are a beginning farmer or you’re thinking about being one or you’re a foodie who wants to know everything about where your food comes from, this is an opportunity to talk with them,” Perkins said.
Also new is the Festival Fiber Fashion Show, featuring the work of festival fiber vendors.
The festival will offer a raffle of a stove donated by Dunnett Appliance and Mattress, music by Maine-ly Harmony Chorus and Darlin’ Corey Bluegrass and a “Two-Crusted Apple Pie Contest” judged by Chef Jay Demers, department chair of culinary arts at Eastern Maine Community College; Joy Hollowell, co-anchor of TV5 morning news; and Joshua Plourde, manager of communication for the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center.
For Perkins, being chosen as one of the top 10 best harvest festivals was a surprise, as there had been no nomination process, but she believes it speaks highly of the quality of Maine craftsmanship.
As the organizer of the festival, she doesn’t work for herself — she works for Mainers.
“It’s an honor, and it speaks very well of the vendors who are there with their products. … It’s a privilege to work for them,” Perkins said.
As for the future of the festival, Perkins only sees it getting better.
“Just about every hope I had for the festival has been met. And it’s met every year.“
For more information about the Maine Harvest Festival and for a full schedule of events, visit maineharvestfestival.com.
