Opening day of the 78th Maine Lobster Festival

ROCKLAND, Maine (WABI) - For 78 years, the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland has been bringing in thousands of people from all over the world. Wednesday was the Opening Day of the annual tradition.

The party officially started on Wednesday in Rockland with the arrival of King Neptune for the five-day Maine Lobster Festival. The traditions are strong but even nearly eight decades in, they are introducing brand new things like a dog show and a cornhole tournament.

“This is our 78th year of the Maine Lobster Festival and some things will never change,” said Director Shannon Kinney. “Our food tent, the exciting experience of having a lobster dinner, but other things do evolve with the times.”

Staff says throughout the week, they sell up to 20 thousand pounds of lobster, which attracts people from all over.

With people coming from all over the nation and the world, the Lobster Festival is seen itself not only as a representation of Rockland but the state as a whole.

“When people think about Maine, they think about summertime, a picnic table and lobster and we’ve got all of that in one package for five fun days here,” added Kinney.

“I always wanted to come up here,” commented Don Stevens, who traveled from Pennsylvania. “We’re from Scranton, it’s cold, kind-of mountainous. We heard about Maine and the lobsters like the best in the world.”

“I just come to meet the people. It don’t matter to me, I’ll just travel anywhere and lay my head so, I’ll go all the way South and I’ll come all the way North. I’ve never been to Maine and really kind-of looking forward to enjoying the people,” said Buzz Smith, who came from Tennessee alongside Brian and Virginia Bird who came from Virginia.

The event is entirely run by volunteers, and to get in, it’s free.

“The Maine Lobster Festival really supports this community in two ways,” stated Kinney. “The first way is the powerful positive economic impact. We bring visitors from all over the world who are filling the hotels, the inns, the restaurants and the shops here and they’re so excited to be here and having such a great time and the second way is that we are a non-profit and we give back our profits and proceeds to the local community.”

Until the last day on Sunday, events are each day including live music, a parade and more.

For a full schedule of events, head to this link.