BANGOR, Maine — The official release of a new Maine potato variety, demonstrations of cooking, crafting and farming skills and the chance to sample — and purchase — an array of Maine-made foods, drinks and other products drew thousands of people to the Cross Insurance Center over the weekend.
Now in its sixth year, the Maine Potato Board’s two-day celebration of some of the best Maine has to offer was expected attract some 6,000 attendees by the time it ended late Sunday afternoon.
“There’s a good flow of people,” Norm Barris of Grey Goose Gourmet, a pepper jelly making operation founded by his wife, Sandra Dwight-Barris, said Saturday morning as he handed out samples of brownies topped with one of the company’s spicy-sweet offerings.
“This is our biggest show,” he said, noting that the annual festival is an event geared toward foodies.
On both levels of the Cross Insurance Center, patrons squeezed past each other as they nibbled and sipped food and drink samples, bought products to take home and checked out the wares made in Maine by woodworkers, fiber artists, rug hookers, basket weavers, jewelry makers and more.
Those who were old enough also got to try wine, beer and spirits produced in the Pine Tree State.
Rebecca Pirone of My 3 Sisters Italian Cookies of Portland said the Bangor festival offers opportunities to introduce potential customers to the home-based bakery’s line of cookies made from old family recipes made with no preservatives.
Tiffany Sun, assistant general manager at the Cross Insurance Center, said Saturday that last year’s festival drew 6,000 people and that this year’s attendance appeared to be on track to match, if not surpass, that total.
A highlight of this year’s festival was the release of the Caribou Russet, a potato variety first unveiled last spring by the Maine Potato Board and the University of Maine.
Developed by the University of Maine, the Caribou Russet is a cross between a Silverton Russet and a Reeves Kingpin. It was described as a russet-skinned variety with high yields that not only is suitable for baking and mashing, but also is expected to be useful to processors.
Since it was announced last spring, the Caribou Russet has been developed, planted and harvested, with the first crop being made widely available to consumers this weekend.
Caribou native Sen. Susan Collins dropped by the festival to help celebrate the release of the spud.
“Today’s release of the Caribou Russet is the result of the productive partnership between the Maine Potato Board and the University of Maine. I commend Dr. Greg Porter, his UMaine research team and the Board on their successful collaboration,” Collins said in a statement issued on Saturday afternoon.
Following the Maine Harvest Festival, the Caribou Russet will be available in select stores in Maine. As the supply increases, the potato will be made available in more locations.
Collins said that Maine’s potato industry provides about 5,000 jobs, with an annual economic impact of more than $540 million.