EASTPORT – The Maine Salmon Festival has become one of Maine’s top late-summer festivals for the number of people who attend and the high quality of food, events and vendors – including artisans, crafters and food sellers from all over the state.

A plus this year: Cooke’s Aquaculture of St. George and Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, was there with farm-raised salmon samples that were finger-lickin’ good.

The tidbits were either coated with maple barbecue rub or marinated in wine and herbs. The kebabs were then cooked on the grill.

The company has a plant in Eastport and plans to invest millions of dollars stocking salmon in Maine waters in the next 18 months, creating jobs in the aquaculture industry, which has floundered the past few years.

“We’re promoting Cooke’s Aquaculture,” David Morang, area manager for Cooke’s Eastport operation, said Sunday. “We are putting fish here in Eastport, and we’re giving free samples of fish. Eastport has the largest salmon industry in the United States right now.”

The company is also looking at opening a processing plant in Washington County, either in Eastport or at its facility in Machiasport.

City Manager George “Bud” Finch said Sunday he was pleased with the rebirth of the aquaculture business, which is “great timing for this event here.”