Museum considers lobster races for future

SEARSPORT – Smaller sometimes means bigger fun.

That’s what the Penobscot Marine Museum has learned in the wake of the miniature lobster boat races it sponsored at last week’s Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland.

The races were such a success that the museum is considering hosting a series of races next summer, perhaps organized around the state’s full-sized lobster boat races.

The miniature, remote control races were conceived by David Blanchard, the museum’s development director. Mac Deford, the museum’s executive director, said Thursday that Blanchard has been building the model boats for years.

The races were a natural promotional tie-in with the museum’s summer exhibit, titled “Lobstah!”

Hoping to get two or three entrants at best, museum officials were thrilled when “all of a sudden the idea caught on,” Deford said, and more than a dozen boats were entered.

Since the races, which seemed to be a big hit at the festival, “people have called and said, ‘I hope you’re going to do this again,'” he said.

Deford compares the boat races to watching trained dogs – some perform as they are taught, others seem to have a mind of their own.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said.

Deford envisions organizing model lobster boat races in conjunction with two or three of the full-sized lobster boat races. Searsport, where the museum is located, hosts one of the lobster boat races in September.