Maine Stories

Why only pick a pumpkin from a field when you can bowl with one? And why dine at one restaurant when you can sample the favorite dishes from dozens under one roof? Fall harvest festivities in Maine celebrate the bounty of the season with fun and filling events.

Camden hosts the 4th Annual Maine Fare culinary celebration Sept. 11-13. The event begins with the Grand Tasting on Camden Harbor with Maine chefs, wine makers, distillers and brewers, and continues with cooking classes, demonstrations, guided tastings, and a marketplace of artisan and organic foods, and hand crafted beverages.

The town of Monmouth’s historic apple orchards will be feted during the 21st Annual AppleFest on Sept. 26. The community festival on the grounds of the Monmouth Museum will have cider pressing, apple arts and crafts, children’s games, pies and pastries, and historic artifacts associated with apple harvesting and processing.

Maine’s largest grape harvest celebration happens Oct. 2-3 during VinFest at Cellardoor Winery in Lincolnville. Toast the harvest at an outdoor wine dinner and dance on Friday, then try grape stomping, take a hot air balloon ride over the vineyard, tour the wine cellar, enjoy live music, or enter the homemade wine competition on Saturday.

The best of the Blue Hill Peninsula is presented on a plate at the 4th Annual Foliage, Food & Wine Festival on Oct. 15-18. Attend wine dinners or a wine and cheese tasting, browse at the Blue Hill Farmers Market, or sample the creations of more than 40 food and beverage vendors at a giant tasting event.

There’s a Colonial feel to the 25th Annual Harvestfest in York and York Beach on Oct. 16-18. Watch the kick-off parade, and enjoy pumpkin carving, a craft fair, children’s activities, an ox roast and bean hole baked beans, live music and fireworks.

Downtown Waterville is the scene for the city’s 7th Annual Harvest Fest on Oct. 18. There will be scarecrow building, pumpkin bowling, candy apple making and a chili cook-off.

The 2nd Annual Harvest on the Harbor happens in Portland on Oct. 22-24. Reserve a spot at the Grand Tasting on the Harbor with Maine chefs and dozens of wine, beer and spirit makers; learn at cooking demonstrations, order from a special harvest menu at local restaurant, and indulge at a food and wine marketplace.

It’s all about the apple at Great Maine Apple Day on Oct. 24 in Unity. See cider pressing, sharpen your orchard tending skills at workshops and talks, see and taste heirloom apples, take an orchard tour, and purchase apples, pies and cider.