ROCKLAND, Maine — The owners of two seasonal food trucks are sharply critical of what they say were heavy-handed tactics by the Maine Lobster Festival.
The owner of Mac Attack said his food truck was moved to a far end of Harbor Park behind a large bounce house and next to portable toilets after he refused to take lobster off his menu during the five-day festival.
And the owner of Amato’s food truck said he had to pay the festival $8 for every lobster roll he sold or a large obstruction would have been placed in front of his truck.
Richard Curtis, who operates Mac Attack for the fifth year at Buoy Park, said he refused the festival’s directive to stop selling lobster during the Festival.
“I’m a generational fisherman. Lobster is our mascot and lobster is a big item on our menu,” Curtis said.
“Siearra [Cook] and I decided to stand up for ourselves,” he said and they refused to sign an agreement sought by the festival to not to sell lobster during the event.
There are three vendors — Amato’s, Mac Attack, and Tuck & Roll — that are at Buoy Park from April 1 through Nov. 30. They each pay Rockland $3,000 to operate for the season.
Omar Hadjaissa, who has operated an Amato’s food truck at Buoy Park for nine years, said he was told by Avi Good of the Festival that he could not sell lobster rolls for less than the $30 per roll that the festival charges. He was also told the festival wanted $8 for every roll he sells (which he sells for $22) or they would have placed a large obstruction in front of his truck so that his business would not have been visible to people attending the festival.
Hadjaissa said he agreed to the arrangement but was not happy with it.
“How is that fair? I’m a small business trying to survive,” he said.
An email was sent Aug. 5 to Good. Festival President Celia Crie Knight said she had no comment at this time on the matter.
The city manager said in an email to Good that the festival has the right to move Amato’s but could not make him cease operations.
“I told him that when an event has exclusive use of the park, the City does not overrule the organization with vendors and it is the unwritten rule that vendors follow the organizations wishes,” City Manager Tom Luttrell said to Good in a July 24 email.
The festival is allowed to relocate seasonal vendors during the festival but the agreement with the city does not give it the authority to dictate food items of the seasonal vendors. The festival had considered contacting its “legal team” to make the Amato’s truck comply with the festival’s demand not to sell lobster rolls or pay a per roll charge.
The City Council agreed in May 2024 to allow the Maine Lobster Festival to use Harbor, Buoy, and Mildred Merrill parks for six years at no cost in exchange for granting the city ownership of 239 Main St. which is 0.03 acres located between the paved path leading to the park and the privately owned 235 Main St. building. The city had been charging the festival about $16,000 annually for use of the three adjacent parks prior to that land deal. The festival still pays for public safety costs associated with the annual summer event.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.