The eighth annual Eastport Pirate Festival will be held on Friday to Sunday, September 6, 7 and 8, and will feature food, fun, fireworks and lots of family-friendly entertainment.
     "We are offering some new and different activities, especially on Sunday," says Chris Brown, Eastport Pirate Festival co-chair. "That day is going to include more piratey events than we'd been sponsoring in the last couple years. The Pirates of the Dark Rose offer a pirate invasion or a Redcoat invasion, so we decided, since we had been invaded in the War of 1812, we'd plan the Redcoat invasion this year. Also, Stage East is staging a play that afternoon."
     "We are also working on a Bounty remembrance ceremony," adds Brown. The HMS Bounty had been a participant in last year's Eastport Pirate Festival C just weeks before the ship sank with the loss of the captain and a crew member in waters stirred up by Hurricane Sandy. One member of the crew, who had been in Eastport and now lives in Maine, has been invited to return.
     "And we're going to have activities for kids every day, including Rockin' Ron, who has been interested in coming here for years. He does improvisation and is a highly thought-of kids music musician and singer."
     A boat from Key West, Fla., is already on its way to Eastport so the crew and passengers can participate in the Pirate Festival, and the Pirates of the Dark Rose will be coming in their 55' gaff topsail yawl S/V Must Roos, which carries three cannons.
     The always exciting invasion of Lubec will be held on the weekend before the Eastport Pirate Festival. The town will attacked from land and sea on Saturday, August 31. Pirate events in Lubec begin at 9 a.m. and include street games and pirate fun.

Friday, September 6
     On Friday, September 6, events in Eastport include foot-tapping entertainment at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on the downtown stage with Breakwater Revival and Live Bait, respectively. The public can meet artist Vivian Taylor, who will be at the Eastport Gallery from 6 to 8 p.m. with her dye sublimation photos of the HMS Bounty. A puppet show will be staged by the Pirates of the Dark Rose at 6 p.m. in Bank Square, and Rockin' Ron, "The Friendly Pirate," will perform at 6:30 p.m. in the same place. The pirate king and queen will be crowned that night during the annual Pirate Ball at the Eastport Chowder House. Best dressed business, window, employee, home and yard awards will be presented all day.

Saturday, September 7
     Rockin' Ron will make another appearance from 8 to 10 a.m. outside Moose Island Bakery, and the Suddy 5K Run/Walk begins at 9 a.m. Games for young children will be held on the library lawn from 10 to 11 a.m.; author Reggie Baskerville will autograph copies of his book from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in front of Neptune's Den, and Ruth Dunfield will perform songs from her CD "Saltwater Woman" in front of The Commons from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. A pirate gold and silver doubloons scramble is planned for 11:30 a.m. in front of the Breakwater Gallery, and Patricia Hughes will tell stories about lost loot at 12:30 p.m. on the downtown stage. The Pirate Parade begins at 1 p.m. and will be followed at 2:15 p.m. by a performance of the Maine Saint Andrews Pipe and Drum Band at Sutherland Overlook Park. Pirates of the Dark Rose will be recruiting for the Hellion Brigade at 2:15 p.m.; the Pirate Bed Race begins at 3 p.m., followed by a children and youth Pirate Pageant at 4 p.m. Rockin' Ron will perform at 5 p.m. at Bank Square, and Fishwhistle will perform from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on the downtown stage. Children's games are planned from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Bank Square, and a fireworks display is planned for 7:30 p.m. It will be followed by a performance by Fishwhistle on the stage at 8 p.m.

Sunday, September 8
     Rockin' Ron will make a final appearance from 10 a.m. until 12 noon downtown, and a Pirate Pet Pageant will be held at 10 a.m. on the downtown stage. A children's treasure hunt will begin at 11 a.m. in front of the T-shirt store, and this year's Pirate Boat Parade begins at 11:30 a.m. More children's games will be held from 11 a.m. until 12 noon in Bank Square, and the Redcoat vs. Pirate Invasion will begin at 12 noon in the stage area.
     Stage East is presenting the play The Pirate Princess at 2 p.m. on the downtown stage, and the day will end with a lobster crate race at 3 p.m. by the fish pier.