The cozy town of Grand Lake Stream has a fine reputation as a destination for anglers looking to wade the nearby stream, troll West Grand Lake for togue, or try their luck at any number of other waters known for world-class bass fishing.

But on one weekend each summer, the quaint sporting town welcomes in a different flock of travelers, including many who would never consider a vacation trip to a “fishing” town.

Over the past 12 years, that event – The Grand Lake Stream Folk Art Festival – has evolved into the busiest weekend of the year in a town with about 200 year-round residents.

This year’s event, sponsored by the Cobscook Community Learning Center, is being held today and Sunday.

“The original thought behind it was to bring people into town in the slow fishing time,” said Bill Shamel, who helps organize the festival with his wife, Cathy, and a dedicated committee of volunteers. “The fishing kind of tapers off near the end of July.”

Kurt Cressey, who along with his wife Kathy owns the Pine Tree Store (just look across the road from the festival grounds, and you’ll see it), said for one weekend each summer, the fishermen tend to stay home, relinquishing the village to festival-goers.

“It isn’t what I’d consider a big fishing weekend,” he said. “I almost think people avoid this place when it comes to fishing [on festival weekend].”

The festival not only spurs business during its run, but also serves to jumpstart the late-summer traffic as some visitors stay for the entire week.

“We seem to feel the following weekend is the big fishing weekend,” Cressey said. “People come into the sporting camps, stay, and that next weekend can be almost as big as this weekend. And that crowd tends to be a fishing crowd.”

This weekend, however, belongs to the festival. And Shamel said the committee is prepared for the influx of people.

“Our high [attendance] has been about 5,500,” Shamel said. “Our average has been about 4,000.”

And visitors are sure to find something to pique varied interests.

Live music will be featured all day each day – “blue grass, folk, not so much country, and no rock n’ roll,” according to Shamel – and performers will take the stage for hour-long sets beginning at 10:30 a.m.

And Shamel said about 60 artists, craftsmen and craftswomen will display their wares, in a large variety of mediums.

Cressey said one neat thing about the festival is that no matter which artisans show up, the displays are top-notch.

“It’s a little bit for everybody,” Cressey said. “It’s all good stuff. You won’t find an Eiffel Tower built out of Popsicle sticks.”

Shamel said a big attraction this year will be an expanded canoe display.

Canoes, he said, are always a key part of the festival, owing to the popularity of the Grand Lakers which have been built here.

This year, in cooperation with the Maine Folk Life Center, that canoe tent will be even more informative.

“We’ve got at least one canoe by all the builders who ever built a canoe in Grand Lake Stream,” Shamel said. “And we’ve got the first Grand Laker.”

In addition, a collection of old motors will be on display.

Those interested in festival food won’t be disappointed, as Shamel said plenty will be available across the street from the main displays. And on Saturday evening, a lobster feed will be served by the area guides in the parking lot overlooking Dam Pool on Grand Lake Stream.

If you’ve been to Grand Lake Stream before, you may realize that the town isn’t overloaded with parking lots. But Shamel and Cressey say that isn’t a problem.

“There’s plenty of parking,” Shamel said. “The town fills up with cars, but that’s no big deal.”

For Cressey, the owner of the only store in town, the weekend will continue what he says has been a solid season.

“We have had a good summer. We never gassed up a snowsled all winter,” he said. “But the ice went out on April 2 and [business] has kicked into high gear ever since.

“I always say, one good week in July makes up for four bad months in winter,” Cressey said with a laugh.

Any-deer deadline approaches

It may be a bit early for hard-core scouting, but if you’re planning on deer hunting this fall, now is the perfect time to increase your odds of success.

In fact, if you don’t act now, you’ll automatically eliminate yourself from consideration for one of the state’s any-deer permits.

Commonly called “doe permits,” those tags allow a hunter to shoot an antler-less deer. Without a doe permit, you’ve got to hunt bucks … and we all know how challenging that can be.

The mail-in deadline for any-deer permits was July 17, which only leaves the on-line, Internet option. Luckily, prospective hunters have until 11:59 p.m. on Friday to log on and fill out the application.

This year a total of 67,725 any-deer permits will be allotted in 24 of the state’s 29 Wildlife Management Districts. Due to limited herd size in certain areas, the state does not allot any permits in WMDs 1, 3, 19, 27 and 28.

The zone with the most any-deer permits available is WMD 17, which includes Newport, Dover-Foxcroft and Hermon (13,725 permits). Second on the list is WMD 23, which includes Unity, Winslow and Brooks (11,250).

For more information or to apply for an any-deer permit on-line, go to the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife’s Web site at www.mefishwildlife.com.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.