Title: Maine Brewer's Festival…read more Location: Portland, Maine Number of craft brewers in Maine: Over 50 Number of Brewers at this festival from Maine: About 10 Cost: About 60$ a person I was super excited to try out this event. I love Maine, I love beer, and I love trying out new things... This should have been a huge win for me, but I wasn't sold. For 60$ I was expecting a much bigger turnout from the local crowd, but upon arrival I realized that only the bigger names in Maine craft brewing were there: Shipyard, Baxter, Gritty's, and Allagash (to name a few). Then you had Long Island (NY), Massachusetts, and New Hampshire represented. Strange. With all the micro breweries in Maine why are we inviting other states to the "Maine Brewers Festival"? There must be some politics behind this event. There were a few gems. The Ginger Libation and the Boom Sauce were nice surprises. Full disclosure, I scored some free tickets and was able to get in early. This was key. If I had had to wait in lines at the beginning of doors opening, I would have been very sad. If I had paid for this event at all, I would have been very sad. I won't go back unless my luck continues with free tickets. I can go out, in Portland, to the breweries on any other day, spend less than 15$ and try just as many, if not more, types of local brew. The variety would be better, there would be more options for food along the way and I wouldn't be in a sweaty gym with 500 people with pretzel necklaces... Although I may wear a pretzel necklace to some other event because I love pretzels. Save your money. Go to breweries on a Saturday with your friends and then grab lunch in town. Ps. DO Be on the lookout for that Ginger Libation deliciousness at RSVP!

This year I felt the brew fest was not as organized as pervious festivals. Not all of the brewers…read morewere from Maine breweries, very disappointing. That's the point - MAINE BREW FESTIVAL = MAINE BREWERS. Additional out of state breweries are fine but not the point. There were some critical in Portland and in Maine Brewers missing. Bissell Brothers and more were not here. Very disappointing. The locals are the reason I come. It was great to have Saco, Maine represented by Hidden Cove - excellent beer and I had not heard of them until now. A baby brewing company established in the past two years. The t-shirts from the company "Live ME" in my opinion, should all be sewn in Maine or New England (or at least the US) and printed in Maine. Some were made in the US, but not all. The directory printed by the MBF was disappointing. The booths had numbers but not prominent signs to indicate the company so in some cases you didn't know which line you were in. Very discouraging. I do not care for IPAs and stood in line at a brewery I was not familiar with only to find nothing other than IPAs available. :( Points of pride: a little addition of different types of "brews". Ginger brew, mead and ciders. Well done. A food truck, add more! Points to improve: have at least 95% Maine breweries. Do not advertising breweries that were NOT IN ATTENDANCE. Improve labeling of booths: as shown by pics. Improve accuracy of lists breweries and beers, label breweries with coordinating booth numbers. It's hard to tell where you are unless the signs are high above the tables. If it is Maine Brewers week and the Brew Fest is competing choose a weekend that is not competing - PLEASE! Overall it's a good time. The music is not always my first choice but the website didn't give details about the music either. The Brew Fest needs to invest more in LOCAL music that appeals to more people, have the fest during a weekend without as much competition and get it together a little more. So that's my opinion. For year 23 I hope LOCAL is the theme and as much as possible is from Maine, New England and the US. Truck food is good, spread it to the parking lot? Good luck in 2016 and I will attend hoping for Fests more similar to the mid 2000's. Cheers!

I always LOVE this festival and parade, but it seemed like the "energy" was different this year…read more Too much talking on stage and not enough live music. Love the elaborate costumes as much as ever though. Missed the lack of a beer garden this year too

Excited will definitely add to my review later just wanted to start it off with 5 stars!! Already…read moregot my bracelet and necklace to show my support! Much later.. A parade.. Lots of awesome rainbow outfits.. Bands in the park. Bands and BBQ at a Church on Cumberland.. And BEAUTIFUL weather..!

Very small festival but fun for the south Portland area. I learned a lot about seaweed, I…read morepersonally don't like the taste but I learned about all the different ways you can eat seaweed.

Or me the Highlight of this year's art walk was either the stand offering awesome framed pictures…read moreof Jack Russells or the man who mad Art it of drift wood, left over pieces of chopped wood etc. From it's houses to jewelry boxes to wooden gift boxes hs stuff was amamzing.. But I LOVE art walkregardless because everyone stuff is amazing. Part of Portland's summer fun and festivals, Art Walk is a unique classy and fun way to spend a Saturday..

I have gained even more respect for those people who are in the wine retail business. This is a…read morevery unique event, put on by one of Maine's most respected distributors, SoPo. After they have their annual tasting event for Maine restaurant owners and retail sales people, SoPo runs this charity event in coordination with the Cancer Community Center. The event is staffed by volunteers, SoPo staff, and many of the wine merchants that worked the retail event. There were 26 tables, with several types of wine at each table. You bring your glass to the tables and get a good splash of the wines that you choose. Choose carefully, because after about 15 tables and trying 2-3 tastes at each table my wife and I were ready for a break. These wine people must really have endurance! Tables have water to rinse your glass and buckets to spit and pour out unwanted wine. We probably should have done more of the spitting, but the wine was just too delicious! The event is held at Grace restaurant, which is a beautiful building and worth going to see the inside. The Grace staff provided water and food, which were delicious, and a welcome break from the grueling (kidding) tasting. The number of people at the event was such that we could always get to a table for tasting with very little wait. I also want to thank all the people who volunteered to man the tables. We learned a lot about wine that night, and we also learned a lot about the Cancer Community Center. Everyone was welcoming, and no one minded answering our novice questions.

I literally based my trip around this festival. I flew in from Austin Texas just to come to the…read moreYarmouth Clam Festival. I'm not even joking. I'm a native Mainer, and I've always loved the Clam festival. Where people put their camping chairs out along the side walk reserving their spot to watch the parade. I came on Thursday for the farmers market, and chairs were already set up for the parade on Friday. No one touches them or steals them, talk about a beautiful small community where everyone is family. I got off at exit 15 and followed the signs for the park n ride share parking lot. You can park for free and a school bus will shuttle you over to the festival. Busses run about 15/20 minutes. So you won't have to wait long. I got there early morning, 10am, they had 2 busses running the route. I walked around all the venders selling their arts and crafts and homemade desserts. It's in the grass, and in the shade. Today was just such a gorgeous Maine day. Nice breeze. Lots of shade, and the friendliest kindest people. In the other section if you go under the over pass, there's the whole tent where they do the clam shucking contest and all the seafood. That whole area is all tented so again, more shade available, lots of tables and chair to sit and eat your seafood. So much work and effort goes into planning this and the Yarmouth chamber of commerce has it down! As I walked along the seafood venders of fried clams, French fries, lobsters, fried dough, etc. I was trying to figure out what's the best way to go about this. It's 10am, I just ate breakfast, and am I really ready for seafood right now. So I walked away to give myself some time. And that's when I saw a police K9 demonstration. So I found a shaded area, and sat down on the ground and watched how they train a dog to attack the bad people. That was pretty cool to watch. It was a little hard to hear the police officers speak but you could catch a few key words and understand what they were saying. It was fun to watch another police office who was very well padded, get attacked by a dog. After the demonstration I wondered over to the rides area. Lots of rides I loved as a kid. The zipper, the Ferris wheel, and a few others. Lots of carnival type foods on that side. Cotton candy, candy apples, fried Oreo cookies, and fried dough too. The rides take tickets and it's cash only. And I believe rides cost a couple tickets each. By the time I walked around and saw everything I was ready for some Maine seafood. I decided on the shore dinner platter. A whole soft shell lobster. Steamers, small corn on the cob and potato salad. They give you a small container of hot water and butter. And a bundle of lobster bib, knife fork and wet nap. That was only $40.00 I thought that was a steal, and I was getting all the best of Maine seafood. Clams were outstanding. I haven't had steamed clams in forever. Lobster was sweet. Perfectly cooked. Corn was great. Potato salad was great too. I was so happy in my Maine heaven taking pictures like I was a tourist. I am, but not really. After eating I sat a little and then decided to head back up to the venders and look around some more. Then I caught the bus back to the park n ride share parking lot. Wonderful time. Perfect weather. Maybe I'll start coming every year for the Yarmouth clam festival. This year marks 57 years! Way to go Yarmouth.

2026 seemed a bit quiet this year. Maybe it was the weather being overcast, but the energy was…read morelower than in previous years. The prices of food and merchandise was crazy high, but you know that going in. I did not visit the rides. The crafts are always a treat for me.

Honestly, the Portland Club is a special spot. Filled with history, great times, and the best…read morepeople who care immensely. I always leave with a smile on my face:) I highly recommend anyone who's looking for a fun time and great company to check it out.

We were very excited for a New years Eve Celebration at The Portland Club. It was advertised as a…read more"Studio 54" Disco themed party, with prizes and giveaways. It said to dress to impress for a disco, when we arrived we were greeted by a host that was there to check you off the list and make sure you paid your $120. Which covered some cocktails, cookies, fruit and finger sandwiches. The hosts stayed by the door and didn't really check to see how the party was going. There were a few streamers and balloons. No party favors or noise makers for midnight. A very small disco ball over the empty dance floor. (We thought we were early) The lights were never dimmed throughout the night so you couldn't see the disco lights. The DJ refused to play any music the guest requested for the Disco effect and got upset when asked. People complained and left by 10:30pm. The DJ was terrible and kept his head down and continued playing through the stroke of midnight with the few remaining guest counting down on their own, when he finally realized it he played some lame new year's celebration music too late. It definitely was not what they advertised at all. Sorry to say someone dropped the ball that night and it wasn't the new years ball. Maybe miscommunication or lack of planning? Hopefully next year will be better for those who do go back. Happy New Year .

This place was awesome. Would hit it again. End of day hardly anyone to fill up the tour so you…read moreget a nice personal tour. Our group only had 3 people in it. So much info on this Civil War general. Close to Boidin College to complete you Chamberlain experience. Inexpensive museum fee.

As a history lover, this was a dream come true! Troy Ancona took me on a tour, it is so worth it to…read morehave a docent. Learned so much as we walked through the house which is now a Museum. We also were allowed to record a podcast for my podcast in the Library of General Chamberlain's home, what a treat! This is a must if your into history!