Lobstermen calendar draws more requests

PORTLAND – Will and Joanne Cook underestimated the strong demand for their 2001 calendar featuring photos of the Bachelor Lobstermen of Maine.

The 6,000 calendars the Rockland couple ordered from the printer have been sold out for weeks and there are no plans to put out any more.

“We’ve been amazed,” Will Cook said. “The phone’s still ringing – one of the stores called this morning, one of the major chains called up and the woman was in tears practically – everybody wants them.”

A far cry from the typical male pin-up calendar, the pictures on the $12.95 item are not the sort to leave women swooning or men feeling inadequate.

“They’re all shapes and sizes,” said Lisa Parker, community relations coordinator for Borders in South Portland, which had no more of the calendars in stock. “Most of them are in their gear – they’re on their boat or on their pickup truck.”

Will Cook, whose family has been involved in lobstering, said that was the whole idea.

“We didn’t want to do a beefcake thing – that would have distracted from the whole point. We just wanted to celebrate the lobstering industry.”

The Cooks initially printed 2,000 calendars. They came out July 1 and sold out 11 days later. They printed another 4,000, and those sold out, too.

“Maine’s a popular thing, I guess,” Will Cook said. “Time magazine just selected us as one of the unique calendars of the year … Ladies Home Journal and the “Today” show called us a while back.”