ROCKLAND, Maine — Wednesday kicks off the 77th annual Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland.
There's free admission for anyone who wants to attend this five-day event. Parking is limited, so any visitors should consider the free shuttle buses being offered.
Each day offers plenty of food, including pancake breakfasts, drinks, desserts, and of course, lobster.
"We expect to sell 20,000 pounds of lobster by the end of the day Sunday," Buddy Carleton, executive director of the food tent, said.
The Maine Lobster Festival wouldn't survive without the many volunteers who come together year after year to put on the event.
"This event takes 1,200 volunteers to make possible," Shannon Kinney, director of the Maine Lobster Festival, said.
Several of the volunteers say they come back year after year to help because of the community spirit they feel and benefit the event gives to the community.
"It's a community event that we could not open without the help from our volunteers and all the proceeds that we make is given back to the community. We have donated to many causes such as scholarships. We've donated to the fire department and the police department," Carleton, who's been volunteering for 28 years, said. "And being a nonprofit, we donate 100 percent of our proceeds back to the community. That’s why I come back year after year."
The Maine Lobster Festival has teamed up with the Maine Lobstermen Association and the Maine Lobster Community Alliance this year to honor all the hardworking people in Maine's lobstering industry.