Navy ship arrives for lobster fest

ROCKLAND – An 840-foot Navy ship has dropped anchor at this midcoast city to herald the start of the 58th Maine Lobster Festival, one of the most popular events of the state’s summer tourist season. Organizers, along with hundreds of volunteers, were preparing for more than 90,000 people to attend the five-day festival at Harbor Park.

“I have never missed one. I just love it. It is so good for Rockland,” said Alice Knight of Rockland, regarded by many as the unofficial festival historian.

The USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship with a crew of 1,200, arrived Tuesday, the day before the start of the festival that continues through Sunday.

The William Atwood Lobster Co. of Spruce Head, the festival’s sole supplier of lobsters, has set aside about 30,000 pounds for the event, General Manager Shannon Kinney said.

The company also sponsors Sunday’s Great International Crate Race, in which competitors struggle to keep their balance while running over partially submerged wooden lobster crates without falling into Rockland Harbor.

The record is held by Susan Lundquist, who was a local high school student about 15 years ago when she ran over more than 3,000 crates.

Festival highlights include performances by country music star Jo Dee Messina on Thursday night and comedian Don Rickles on Friday night. There also will be a cooking contest involving professional chefs, a children’s lobster eating contest, a radio-controlled lobster boat race, a diaper derby, a codfish carry for young children, a children’s parade and visits to the Wasp.

The festival started in Camden in 1947 and was shifted to Rockland the next year, Knight said. What started as a single tent and some lobster crates for festival-goers to sit on is now a popular attraction that drew about 95,000 people last year.