HOULTON, Maine — Houlton’s 66th Annual Potato Feast Days will kick off on Friday with the town’s famous Lobster Feast in downtown’s Monument Park.
Each year The Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce expects thousands of people for the two-day – Aug. 15 and 16 – event featuring lobster feast dinners, baked potato bar, live music, the nostalgic doll parade, touch a truck and candy drop for kids.
Like many towns around the state, annual August potato festivals historically mark the transition from summer into a new school year and the upcoming September potato harvest.
Friday’s lobster feast, from 4:30 p.m. to sold out, is cooked by the Chamber of Commerce. The meal includes a whole lobster, local corn on the cob, Fitzpatrick/Peabody Farms baked potato, Houlton Farms Dairy butter and lemonade and dessert. A single lobster meal is $25 and a double lobster is $39. Pre-orders are recommended by calling 207-694-3414 or email, director@greaterhoulton.com.
The dinners can be take-out or eaten in the park.
On Wednesday, the orders were coming in non-stop, said Chamber Executive Director Jane Torres, who will bake her famous chocolate chip cookies, known county-wide, for the lobster meal again this year.
According to Torres, what makes the weekend great is the tradition of celebrating The County’s agricultural heritage.
The Houlton Community Chorus along with local musician Bertrand Laurence and his students will perform in Monument Park’s amphitheater from 5 to 7:30 p.m. during the lobster feast.
The historic doll parade with decorated doll carriages and wagons is also on Friday, starting at 5 p.m., followed by the kids candy drop at 6 p.m. Also on Friday, kids can experience the Touch-a-Truck from 4 to 6 p.m.
The doll parade has been going on in Houlton since the 1940s, Torres said.
The Friends and Needle Quilt Guild’s Annual Quilt Show runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at 23 Main St., the Houlton Rec Center, a new location this year.
The always popular baked potato bar during the community market on Market Square runs from 10 a.m. until sold-out on Saturday. Every year, lines for the loaded potatoes packed with Houlton Dairy Farms butter, chili, sour cream and cheese snake down through Market Square. But it’s important to get there early because they often sell-out before noon.
The feast has evolved over the years. During the Chamber’s 15th annual Potato Feast festival in 1973, local stores moved merchandise out on the sidewalk and the salespeople dressed as farmworkers for the event. There were games in Community Park and Miss Houlton was crowned at a Potato Feast tea, according to a story in the Houlton Pioneer Times.
Saturday’s craft fair in Monument Park runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
