GRAND LAKE STREAM — The community that is home to one of Maine’s premier landlocked-salmon fishing areas is celebrating its 100th birthday, and residents plan a huge party. The Grand Lake Stream Folk Art Festival is scheduled for July 26 and 27.

Set in one of the most pristine and picturesque wilderness areas of the northeast, Grand Lake Stream is famous for its fishing and unspoiled wilderness charm.

The legendary Grand Lake Stream flat stern canoe will be featured at the event with the largest gathering of antique and vintage canoes ever assembled in Maine. Cathy Shamel, event coordinator, said canoes dating back to the 1800s and made by some of the community’s premier craftsmen would be on display.

People like Herbie “Beaver” Bacon, who created the Beaverbuilt Canoe, Arthur Wheaton, Pop Moore, and Bill Sprague are to canoes what Cartier and Tiffany are to jewelry.

“These are the canoe builders whose work throughout the last 100 years evolved into the Grand Laker,” she said.

The canoe display also will include a variety of traditional, double end and square stern canoes, along with paddles, setting poles, seats and other handmade items for sale by canoe builders from throughout Maine and New Brunswick. Many canoe builders will be available to answer questions.

A Centennial Canoe, built by John Houghton, a summer resident of Grand Lake Stream, will be raffled off. “It is a one-of-a-kind canoe,” Shamel said.

More than 50 nationally recognized folk artists and craftsmen will be on hand to offer everything from folk art to functional hand crafts such as pottery, spinning and weaving, braided and hooked rugs, sweet grass, traditional and ash baskets, and forged iron works.

Mary Gabriel, of Indian Township, one of the premier Native American basket makers will demonstrate her craft. Gabriel recently was recognized as a National Treasure by the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work is displayed nationwide.

Another major attraction will be the quilt show. “There will be a century’s worth of quilts, from antique to modern contemporary quality,” Shamel said. A centennial quilt made by Louise Moore of Grand Lake Stream, will be raffled off.

To top off the celebration there will be plenty of foot stomping folk and bluegrass music. Grand Lake Stream’s own Randy Spencer, who immortalized Maine’s public enemy number one with his hit song, “Blackflies,” will perform.

“The theme of this event is non-consumptive uses of the natural environment,” Bill Shamel said of the two-day event. “That is what we are focusing on in addition to the town’s heritage.”

Corporate and private donations, and a $1,500 grant from the Sunrise Economic Council helped make the two-day event a reality.

The celebration will be held rain or shine, and delectable food will be provided by the St. Croix Regional Family Medical Center in Princeton. All proceeds from the food sale will benefit the clinic’s new-building fund.