The 26th annual Eastport Salmon Festival will be held on Labor Day weekend, Friday through Sunday, August 31, September 1 and 2, and will feature two new tasty treats on the schedule.
     "We're having a seafood chowder cook-off from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday under the tent," says organizer Meg Keay of the Eastport Area Chamber of Commerce (EACC). "And we're going to have a blueberry dessert buffet at the salmon dinner on Sunday -- blueberry bread pudding with hard sauce, blueberry tarts with lemon curd, blueberry pies -- just about everything you can think of that has blueberries in it."
      The festivities will begin on Friday, August 31, with the third annual Community Potluck Pie Supper from 5:30 to 7 p.m at the Unitarian Meetinghouse.
     The 15th annual Paint Eastport Day will be held on Saturday, September 1. All artists, young and old, professional and beginner, are invited to paint their favorite scene of Eastport. Registration begins at 7 a.m. at the EAC, and the finished products need to be back there no later than 3 p.m., in time for the silent auction and reception from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
     Food and craft vendors and educational exhibits will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. in downtown Eastport, and a farmers' market will be held from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Sutherland Overlook Park and Amphitheater.
     Everyone is welcome to view the exhibition installation by Andrea Dezso from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Tides Institute & Museum of Art (TIMA) in Bank Square.
     The new Seafood Chowder Cook-off, featuring submissions from local restaurants, will be held from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. under the tent. The EACC will host an Arts and Antiques live auction in the Fish Pier parking lot on Saturday, at 2 p.m. "We've got quite a few really good antiques for the auction," says Keay. "And the local stores have donated merchandise."
     The last event of the day is an Artist in the Streets street dance, from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. in the Fish Pier parking lot. Sponsored by TIMA, it will feature the band Live Bait.
     On Sunday morning, September 2, registration for the Eastport Salmon Festival 5K Run will be held on Sea Street from 7:30 to 9 a.m. The annual Kids' One-Mile Fun Run for youngsters 14 years and younger begins at 8:15 a.m., and the 5K Race/Walk starts at 9:15 a.m.
     Once again, food and crafts vendors and educational exhibits will be open from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. in downtown Eastport.
     The popular Cemetery Tour will be conducted at Hillside Cemetery from 10 to 11 a.m. and feature gravestone symbolism. Participants are asked to park on High Street and meet at the Masonic tomb by 9:45 a.m.
     Once again, the exhibition installation by Andrea Dezso will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at TIMA.
     The second annual George Harris Sr. Memorial Mackerel Fishing Derby will be held, rain or shine, at the Eastport Breakwater. Entrants should bring their own fishing gear and can register from 10:30 to 11 a.m. on the breakwater and fish from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.  Prizes will be awarded by age group in several categories, and the winners will be announced after 2 p.m..
      A highlight of the festival, the salmon dinner, will be served from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. under the Fish Pier parking lot tent. "We're having corn on the cob, boiled red potatoes with rosemary, fresh local greens with vinaigrette, and home baked rolls, along with salmon with Raye's Mustard sauce and the blueberry dessert buffet," reports Keay. "There will be musicians performing throughout the dinner."
     A children's art activity will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Peavey Memorial Library. That is also the hour when fans of Sarah Graves' Eastport-based murder mysteries can have the local author sign a copy of her newest book, Dead Level. She will be in front of S.L. Wadsworth & Son hardware store.
      Anyone wishing to go on the one-hour Architectural Walking Tour is asked to be at Quoddy Crafts by 2:30 p.m. Walking tour maps may be purchased there if walkers would like to continue exploring the city on their own.
     In addition to the Eastport Salmon Festival events, a two-day city-wide yard sale will be held on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This year, look for neon triangles at the ends of streets around town.