Special EventsEastport's Old Home WeekJuly 1 to 5. Eastport wishes America a very happy birthday. The nation's easternmost mini-metropolis fetes the Fourth with contests, races, fireworks, and food. 207-853-2930.
www.eastport4th.com Sunset Puffin Cruise on Muscongus BayJuly 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. With its colorful, clown-like face and oversized bill, the Atlantic puffin is a most charismatic seabird. This ever-popular evening boat ride, sponsored by the Maine Audubon Society, sails out of New Harbor to Eastern Egg Rock, the southernmost and most accessible puffin breeding colony in Maine. Led by Pete Salmansohn. Limited to seventy-five participants. 207-781-2330, ext. 215.
www.maineaudubon.org Maine Bike RallyJuly 8 to 10. Three days of biking, food, and camping for all ages and skills levels. Includes sunrise and stargazing rides, family rides, the Maine Bike Expo, the infamous Hill Climb Race, evening slide shows, and an ice-cream social. Belfast. 207-623-4511.
www.BikeMaine.org Rockport Antiques Art ShowJuly 9. The midcoast town next door to Camden hosts this one-day show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring more than fifty dealers. Admission is $6. A preview takes place July 8 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.; admission $15. Midcoast Recreation Center Ice Arena, Route 90, West Rockport. 207-563-1013.
www.pauldavisshows.com Salad DaysJuly 9 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. An old-fashioned picnic social with a twist (of lemon and art) and a pottery sale. 19 Brick Hill Road, Newcastle. 207-882-6075.
www.watershedcenterceramicarts.org Western Maine Gem, Mineral, and Jewelry FestivalJuly 9 & 10. A little gem of a show featuring a wide variety of mineral dealers from Maine and across the United States. Sponsored by the Oxford County Mineral & Gem Association. Crescent Park School, Bethel. 207-665-2759.
Tenth Annual Arts in the ParkJuly 9 & 10. Juried arts and crafts show with music at Heritage Park, Belfast. With seventy-plus fine artists and artisans displaying and selling their work. Sponsored by Friends of Belfast Parks as a fundraiser to support the town's nine parks. 207-338-5900.
www.fobp.org Lovell Antiques Show and SaleJuly 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This western Maine show has a gathering of twenty dealers offering a wide range of antiques. Admission is $3. Lovell Historical Society, Route 5. 207-925-1238.
Maine Antique Paper ShowJuly 10 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. From throughout the Northeast, dealers of old maps, antiquarian books, trading cards, letters, and photographs bring their collectibles and treasures to Maine. Admission is $3. Governor's Restaurant, 700 Main Street, Route 1, South Portland. 207-828-8065.
Downeast Antiques FairJuly 16. Perambulate this huge indoor and outdoor show and inspect wares brought by dealers from across New England and as far away as Texas and Florida. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. General admission is $3. Early buyers can find a deal at 7 a.m. for a $20 fee. Blue Hill Fairgrounds, Blue Hill. 207-469-0909.
Mollyockett Day FestivalJuly 16. Named for a legendary local Indian princess who lived near Bethel, this one-day festival includes the five-mile classic road race, a parade down Maine Street, the eleventh annual Duck Race, arts and crafts, frog-jumping contest, bed race, fiddler's contest, lots of grub, and fireworks at dusk. 207-824-3575.
www.bethelmaine.com Living History DaysJuly 16 & 17. Step back in time to the 1790s as Leonard's Mills' colonial village comes alive. Colonial era spinning, candle making, woodworking, trapping, blacksmithing, and many more traditional activities are demonstrated. Admission is $7 for adults and $2 for children two to twelve. Bradley. 207-581-2871.
www.leonardsmills.com Harbor Arts Juried Arts & Crafts ShowJuly 16 & 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. More than eighty fine artists and craftspeople display and sell their work in scenic Camden for this twenty-ninth annual show. 207-236-4404.
www.VisitCamden.com Camden-Rockport Historical Society Antiques ShowJuly 23 & 24. This summer show is sponsored by the Camden-Rockport Historical Society. Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Camden Hills Regional High School. Admission is $5. 207-284-8657.
Bar Harbor Antiques Sale and ShowJuly 26 & 27. This show has been held since 1932 (making it something of an antique itself) and features dealers who like order to their presentation, thus the handsome, roomlike settings. Tuesday 5 p.m. until 8 p.m., and Wednesday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $6. Mount Desert Island High School, Eagle Lake Road (Route 233), Bar Harbor. 207-563-1013.
www.pauldavisshows.com Maine Craft Guild ShowJuly 29 to 31. This crafty show features more than eighty of Maine's professional artisans who work in fiber, clay, glass, gold, silver, wood, and more. Mount Desert Island High School. 207-763-3433.
www.mainecraftsguild.com Maine Quilts ShowJuly 29 to 31. The Augusta Civic Center will be filled with more than 400 quilts on display, including judged and display quilts, forty-five vendor booths, free demonstrations, a mini-quilt silent auction to benefit research of heart disease in women, and lectures. 207-577-0648.
www.mainequilts.org Rangeley's Sesquicentennial Anniversary CelebrationJuly 29 to 31. Celebrate Rangeley's 150th birthday with music, a parade, a fly-in and aircraft display, a lobster cookout, tours of local buildings, and much more. 800-MT-LAKES.
www.rangeleymaine.com/150th.shtml Boothbay Harbor Antiques ShowJuly 30 & 31. Thirty exhibitors from several states offer jewelry, Oriental rugs, furniture, books, prints, paintings, pattern glass, china, and silver - all at the Boothbay Harbor YMCA. Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Route 27, Boothbay Harbor. 207-284-8657.
Fairs and FestivalsMoxie FestivalJuly 8 to 10. A festival in honor of Maine's official odd-tasting soft drink. Lisbon Falls.
www.moxiefestival.com Annual Greek Heritage FestivalJuly 8 to 10. A big fat Greek festival in downtown Saco celebrating homemade Hellenic food, pastries, music, and dance. St. Demetrios Orthodox Church in Saco. 207-284-5651.
Maine Potato Blossom FestivalJuly 8 to 17. Aroostook County celebrates the spud in Fort Fairfield with a parade, music, fireworks, and lots of starchy food. 207-472-3802.
Norway Summer FestivalJuly 9 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (rain date July 10). A celebration of the arts, including a fine arts show with more than eighty exhibiting artists, as well as music, dance, poetry, and, of course, yummy food. Free. Main Street, Norway. 207-739-2215.
www.downtownnorway.com Native American FestivalJuly 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This free event celebrates Maine's Native American culture with a variety of programs and demonstrations, arts and crafts, and a silent auction of items donated by master craftspeople. Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor. 207-288-3519.
www.abbemuseum.org Yarmouth Clam FestivalJuly 15 to 17. This celebration of the delectable mollusk includes a parade, amusement rides, entertainment, games, craft booths, and of course lots of clams, steamed, fried, and chowdered. 207-846-3984.
www.clamfestival.com Maine International Film FestivalJuly 15 to 24. Cannes, Sundance - and Waterville. Movie buffs descend on the Railroad Square Cinema to watch more than fifty films from around the world, representing the best of American independent and international cinema. Waterville. 207-861-8138
www.miff.org Full Circle FairJuly 23 & 24. Sponsored by community radio station WERU, this alternative fair features open drum jams and workshops, contra dancing, artists, crafters, and a wide variety of foods and nonprofit exhibitors. Blue Hill Fairgrounds, Blue Hill. 207-469-6600.
www.weru.org The International Homecoming FestivalJuly 29 through August 7. Calais, Maine, and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, join at the hip (or, in this case, the border) for an international festival that includes a street fair, horse show, golf tournament, musical concerts, Rotary Club auction, garden tours, and a whole lot more. 207-454-0320.
Bangor State FairJuly 29 through August 7. An old-fashioned summer fair with spectacular entertainment, livestock, and sinful food in Bangor. 207-947-5555.
www.bangorstatefair.com TheaterThe Canterville GhostJune 30 through July 9. Who's afraid of the big, bad ghost? Not the new owners of Canterville Castle. Based on Oscar Wilde's novella of a hardheaded American family (is there any other kind?) that buys a British manor - complete with an English ghost. Lakewood Theater, Skowhegan. 207-474-7176.
www.lakewoodtheater.org Silent LaughterJuly 14 to 20. Performed in black and white with title cards projected over the actors' heads, and a live theatre organ accompanying every double take, this comic tour de force stars a dashing hero who overcomes jail, poverty, World War I, and a dastardly villain to win the girl of his dreams. Lakewood Theater, Skowhegan. 207-474-7176.
www.lakewoodtheater.org The Taming of the ShrewJuly 8 through August 27. Shakespeare's age-old battle of the sexes. The Theater at Monmouth. 207-933-9999.
www.TheaterAtMonmouth.org Music and DanceHello Dolly!June 29 through July 16. It's so nice to have you back where you belong - at the Arundel Barn Playhouse. 207-985-5552.
www.arundelbarnplayhouse.com Miss SaigonJune 29 through July 16. It's love on a grand scale when a stripper falls in love with a GI in war-torn Vietnam. Maine State Music Theatre, Brunswick. 207-725-8769.
www.msmt.org How to Succeed in Business Without Really TryingJune 30 through July 9. The Paris Hilton story? Hardly! This irreverent satire of big business and all it holds sacred comes from the authors of Guys and Dolls. Gaslight Theater. Hallowell. 207-626-3698.
www.gaslighttheater.org L-A Arts Music in the ParksJuly 5 through August 25. Hear everything from bluegrass to jazz to Celtic to Somali-American music at these free noon concerts. The musical bonanza kicks off with country singer Don Campbell. Shows are held either at Festival Plaza, Main Street, Auburn, or Courthouse Plaza, Lisbon Street, Lewiston. L-A Arts. 800-639-2919 or 207-782-7228.
www.laarts.org Kingfield POPSJuly 2. The summer fun begins in Kingfield. The Western Mountain Trash Can Band (steel drums) plays at 5 p.m. and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra performs at 7:30 p.m., with fireworks at 9 p.m. to finish off the day. Kennedy Farm, Route 142, Kingfield. 207-942-5555 or 800-639-3221.
www.bangorsymphony.com Bar Harbor Music FestivalJuly 2 to July 31. Everything from classical to jazz in Bar Harbor. 212-222-1026.
www.barharbormusicfestival.org AidaJuly 5 to 23. Broadway's new blockbuster, with a pop-rock score by Elton John and Tim Rice based upon Verdi's Egyptian opera, has won four Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, and a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album. Ogunquit Playhouse. 207-646-5511.
www.ogunquitplayhouse.org Summer Organ Concert SeriesJuly 5 to July 26. A series of forty-minute recitals by outstanding organists. July 5 at Woodford's Congregational Church, Portland; July 12 at the First Parish Church, Brunswick; July 19 at the Unitarian-Universalist Church, Waterville; and July 26 at St. John's Catholic Church, Bangor. Admission is a donation at the door, $3 suggested. 207-729-7331.
Summer Music FestivalBay Chamber Concerts presents award-winning international artists every July and August. Concerts are performed at the historic Rockport Opera House on Thursday and Friday nights and also a Wednesday night series at the newly renovated Strand Theatre in Rockland. The festival kicks off with Manhattan Nights on July 6 at the Strand Theatre and features music by Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, Ellington, and Bernstein. Bay Chamber Concerts. 207-236-2823 or 888-707-2770.
www.baychamberconcerts.org The Singing BridgeJuly 8 to 10. An original chamber opera commissioned by the Stonington Opera House to capture the voices, stories, and sounds of life in Down East Maine. Based on the oral histories from residents of Stonington and Hancock County and collected by award-winning poet and librettist Beatrix Gates. 207-367-2788.
www.operahousearts.org North Atlantic Blues FestivalJuly 9 & 10. Blues is big news in Rockland's Harbor Park. Bring a blanket and lawn chair and soak in some tunes from Little Milton and the Fabulous Thunderbirds with Kim Wilson. 207-593-1189.
www.northatlanticbluesfestival.com Roll and Go
July 16. Shiver your timbers for a night of sea chanties at the Waldo Theatre, Waldoboro. 207-832-6060. www.waldotheatre.org
Arcady Summer Music Festival
July 18 through August 25. This roving summer festival, with performances in Orono, Dover-Foxcroft, Bucksport, and Bar Harbor, features the Shanghai String Quartet, Vienna Piano Trio, a Ragtime Revue, and others. 207-288-2141. www.arcady.org
Cats
July 20 through August 6. Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the show by the national touring company features twenty of Webber's melodies, including "Memory." Maine State Music Theatre, Brunswick. 207-725-8769. www.msmt.org
Bluegrass Festival
July 22 to 24. The grass is always bluer in Aroostook County when Wilf Clark & The Misty Mountaineers, Rustic Harmony, Aroostook County Bluegrass Band, Bob & Dan Paisley & The Southern Grass play at Heritage Park. Fort Fairfield. 207-472-3802. www.countybluegrass.com
Portland String Quartet
July 23 at 7 p.m. The internationally renowned quartet performs at the 1794 Shaker Meetinghouse at Sabbath Day Lake in New Gloucester. 207-926-4597.
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
July 25 through August 6. Singin', dancin', and gut-bustin' laughin'. Ogunquit Playhouse. 207-646-5511. www.ogunquitplayhouse.org
Carmen
July 27 & July 29 at 7:30 p.m. and July 31 at 2 p.m. The Portland Opera Repertory Theatre (PORT) performs Bizet's classic tale of Spanish gypsies, smugglers, cigarette girls, soldiers, and matadors and is filled with love, lust, rage, and revenge. Merrill Auditorium, Portland. 207-842-0800. www.portopera.org
The Sleeping Beauty
July 29 to 30. Beautiful costumes, breath-taking effects, powerful music, and feats of physical prowess by the Bossov Ballet Theatre. Waterville Opera House. 207-873-7000. www.operahouse.com
Saltwater Music Festival
July 31. Solas, G.E. Smith, The Samples, Chris Smither, and Johnny Hiland are among the acts at this one-day music explosion, now in its third year, at Thomas Point Beach in Brunswick. 207-873-2663. www.saltfest.com
Bowdoin International Music Festival
Through August 6. The Friday evening MusicFest series features the Aeolian Chamber Players, The Ying and Cassatt string quartets, distinguished guest artists, and members of the festival faculty in performances held each week during the festival. Bowdoin College, 6300 College Station, Brunswick. 207-373-1400. www.summermusic.org/concerts.htm
Kneisel Hall Festival Concerts
Through August 28. On Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons, classical music students and faculty from some of the finest musical institutions in the world delight Blue Hill audiences with Kneisel Hall's summertime concert series. 207-374-2203. www.kneisel.org
Museums
Portland Museum of Art
Kelpra Studio and the Art of the Screenprint showcases thirty screenprints from the museum's permanent collection that demonstrate the wide range of the medium - though all employ the intensely bold, flat colors, and minimalist compositions typical of Pop and post-Pop art. Through June 26. ? Rockwell Kent: The Mythic and the Modern is the museum's summer blockbuster celebrating the 100th anniversary of Rockwell Kent's arrival on rugged Monhegan Island. June 23 through October 16. ? Bold, expressionist landscape imagery is the stuff of John Walker: Works on Paper. In addition to large, nearly abstract oils, Walker's large-scale watercolor and oil monotypes and inventive etchings embellished with Carborundum aquatint reach well beyond traditional graphic techniques to suggest the powerful forces of natural elements: waterfalls, rocks, and tidal estuaries. July 2 through August 28. 7 Congress Square, Portland. 207-775-6148. www.portlandmuseum.org
Farnsworth Art Museum & Wyeth Center
An instructor of photography at the School of the Visual Arts in New York City and a longtime summer resident of Mont- ville, Bob Brooks has photographed many noted art colleagues including Alex Katz, Lois Dodd, Yvonne Jacquette, Rudy Burkhardt, Anne Arnold, and others. Artists and Architecture - Portraits of the 1980s: Photographs by Bob Brooks runs through July 24. ? The Maine master was once a gifted novice: Andrew Wyeth: Early Watercolors runs through September 18. ? American painter, sculptor, and printmaker who studied in New York and Skowhegan, Alex Katz is one of the most important American artists of his time, and his impressive body of work constitutes a unique aspect of modern realism [see page 90]. July 2 through October 16. Rockland. 207-596-6457. www.farnsworthmuseum.org
Ogunquit Museum of Art
Reopening for the summer on July 1, the museum presents Edward Hopper: The Ogunquit Paintings. Four of Hopper's finest paintings from his summers spent painting the southern Maine coastline - The Dories, Ogunquit; Cove at Ogunquit; Rocks and House, Ogunquit; and Sea at Ogunquit - are included here on loan from the Whitney Museum of American Art, as are others by the master. ? The Art of Emily Mason features the abstract expressionist paintings of a contemporary colorist who divides her time between New York and Vermont. Both shows run through August 24. 543 Shore Road, Ogunquit. 207-646-4909. www.ogunquitmuseum.org
Bates Museum of Art
Tired of Hartley? Had enough Homer? Off the Coast: A Landscape Chronology explores innovations in contemporary Maine landscape art. Where once the Pine Tree State was defined by mostly male artists who glorified it with picturesque archetypes, today a growing and diversifying number of resident artists, such as the photographers Jocelyn Lee, Elke Morris, and Scott Peterman, are changing how people "from away" perceive Maine. Through May 30, 2006. 75 Russell Street, Lewiston. 207-786-6158. www.bates.edu/museum.xml
Center for Maine Contemporary Art
Unreal Estate is an exhibition of mixed-media sculpture by Diana Cherbuliez and works on paper and canvas by Alison Hildreth. The artists share a fascination with literature, biology, and the nature of man's memory. Through July 24. ? Cuban Connections showcases photographs taken by Mainers in Cuba and also features examples of significant contemporary Cuban art from private Maine collections. Through July 24. ? In Transcribing Time, three artists - Grace DeGennaro, Gail Spaien, and Alice Spencer - present diverse works sharing the common theme of creating work in series. Through July 24. 162 Russell Avenue, Rockport. 207-236-2875. www.artsmaine.org
Abbe Museum
An essential tool of Native Americans, the crooked knife has been developed into a work of art. Mocotaugan: The Story and Art of the Crooked Knife includes historic examples from the Jalbert Collection as well as a selection of contemporary crooked knives and objects created with crooked knives. Through December 31. Bar Harbor. 207-288-3519. www.abbemuseum.org
Owls Head Transportation Museum
See the magnificent workhorses of yesteryear in northern New England's largest gathering of commercial vehicles - more than 250 antique Macks, Kenworths, Sterlings, Internationals, Jimmys, Peterbilts, Whites, Freightliners, and more at the Trucks, Tractors & Commercial Vehicles & Antique Aeroplane Show. July 23 & 24. 207-594-4418. www.ohtm.org
