Pages

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Maine's Wild Blueberries; a Celebrated Heritage

Photo © Copyright Gail J. VanWart All Rights Reserved
Fresh Organic Wild Blueberries at Peaked Mountain Farm

Anyone, who knows me personally, knows I grew up in the middle of a Wild Blueberry field in Maine and wear the badge of being the fourth generation to oversee the family farm, plus, its Wild Blueberries nature endowed it with. Though my farm is very small compared to larger names in Maine’s Wild Blueberry industry—such as Merrill, Wyman, and Cherryfield Foods—it really pleases me to be one of the few people in the entire United States, perhaps the entire world, who can actually claim to be a producer of a Wild Blueberry crop. The state of Maine is also quite proud of its unique Wild Blueberry crop as it can rightly boast, overall, to be the largest producer of blueberries.


Just so there's no confusion, Maine’s Wild Blueberries are just that, wild plants native to Maine’s soils, containing twice as many antioxidants as larger cultivated blueberries grown elsewhere. Nature also gave these small Wild Blueberries a special flavor causing people to flock to Maine each summer in search of them. While Maine celebrates its agricultural heritage with fairs and festivals throughout the summer months, it’s no wonder three are especially devoted to the Wild Blueberry.

LL Bean visits 30th Annual Blueberry Festival in Wilton, Maine August 3-4, 201230th Anual Blueberry Festival, Wilton, Maine 2012 The L.L. Bean bootmobile will be rolling into Wilton on August 3rd to kick off its 30th annual Wild Blueberry celebration. The iconic boot, touring in honor of L.L. Bean's 100th anniversary, will be standing outside the Western Maine Expo building to greet festival goers from 11 am to7 pm. As a first in a chain of festivals paying tribute to Maine’s official berry across the state, Wilton’s Blueberry Festival will take place August 3-4. If you get there early on Saturday, you can start the day off with a traditional Blueberry Pancake Breakfast. Both days are jam-packed with events, some of which you may never encounter anywhere else, such as the 6:30 pm parade of boats on Wilson Lake prior to the fireworks display.
37th Annual Machias Wild Blueberry Festival, Machias Maine 
Union FairThe annual Blueberry Festival musical will be front and center at the 37th Annual Wild Blueberry Festival in Machias, August 17-19. In the heart of Downeast, where Maine’s unique Wild Blueberries grow best, the Machias festivities include everything from an old fashion pie-eating contest to blueberry farm tours. But, five nights, August 14-18, its air will be filled with sounds of a musical written and performed by local talent in the sanctuary of Centre Street Church.

Friday, August 24, will mark the 53rd Wild Blueberry Festival Day at the Union Fair. In 1959, the Union Fair introduced the State of Maine Blueberry Festival as a special featured attraction. Nowadays, people travel from all over the world for Union Fair’s Wild Blueberry Festival Day. Each year a new Blueberry Queen is selected and fair goers enjoy Wild Blueberries as only Maine can dish them out. Wild Blueberry pie is actually free at The Wild Blueberry Hut and attendees can even score a free poster or t-shirt by visiting Wild Blueberry Corner in the Blueberry Acres pavilion.










Learn more about Wild Blueberries:
  
Learn more about organic farming: 

Check out my family farm:





Wild Blueberry Heritage 
Video provided by the 
Wild Blueberry Association of North America



You can read more about Maine events 
and attractions in an issue of 
an entertainment magazine published monthly by 
Courier Publications LLC in Rockland, Maine.

Nosing Around Maine  © Copyright 2012 Gail J. VanWart  All Rights Reserved

No comments:

Post a Comment