This review first ran on Green Man Review a decade ago. Neither the Maine Festival nor Maine Arts still exist. Even the band featured here, The Beatroots, is long gone.
If you are truly lucky, you too will experience the Maine Festival. The Maine Festival, a production of Maine Arts, a Portland, Maine-based promoter, is held every year on the first Friday to Sunday of August at the Thomas Point Beach in coastal Brunswick, Maine, just twenty minutes north of our home in Portland. Remember the old real estate adage that location, location, location being the most important thing when selling a home? Thomas Point Beach is more than ample proof that location does count for festivals too! Located on the ocean and nestled among a grove of trees, the grassy area that is Thomas Point Beach is perfect for a festival. (The Maine Highland Games and Thomas Point Beach’s own Bluegrass Festival are also held here.) Even the parking is perfect — You park on freshly mown fields just a few minutes walk away from the Festival grounds. There’s even a beach to cool off at if you get too overheated from dancing to the excellent music. Worth noting are the excellent — and clean — bathrooms provided by the exceptionally well-managed Thomas Point Beach organization.
(I should note that Maine Arts produces one of the best program guides I’ve ever seen with everything clearly laid out in grids that tell what’s going on at any given time. I, with my wife Donna, decided to go on Sunday after reading the guide for this, the 24th annual outing, of the Festival. We could have easily gone on the other two days of the Festival as all three days had excellent music programming! Maine Arts also produces Portland New Years, a dead of the winter festival that is more musically centered than the Maine Festival , but every bit as fun to be a part of!)
But what about the music, you ask, how is it? On the day we were there, we started off with an excellent set by folk hipsters Devonsquare who are always entertaining. Devonsquare is an offshoot of Schooner Fare, a local folk group. Devonsquare’s music is rooted the beat tradition with three extremely talented singer-songwriters in Tom Dean, Herb Ludwig, and Alana MacDonald. (The latter is also an accomplished violinist.) Snappy lyrics are their forte as they demonstrated in playing “Mystery Road” — “Oh you think you found love / Think you found happiness / Keep your eyes on the road hands on the wheel” and sharp jazzy playing of their percussion, guitars, violins, and other instruments. Devonsquare will always give its audience good songs delivered in a professional manner. (Conflict of interest disclosure: I’ve liked Devonsquare long before I booked them for the first annual Chebeaque Island Music Festival in ’95.) After taking in Devonsquare, we wondered through the craft tents.
Blessed be, Maine Arts knows who to find the best crafters in Maine! There are many, many well-crafted items to tempt one to part with one’s money. Donna bought a finely-designed belt from Bob and Anne Dickens of Ellsworth, Maine, and I was sorely tempted by Andrew Leck, the Scottish Lion Blacksmith, of Round Pond, Maine who had the most amazing wrought iron sculptures! I swear a saw a violin-playing grasshopper! Almost anything made in maine that your heart desires can be found in the Craft Art Market: wooden salad bowl, sheepskin hats, jewelry — and lots of it! –, sculptures of various sorts, shawls, furniture, mirrors, walking sticks clothing — all of it exquisite –, coffee/tea mugs, baskets, hand-thrown pottery, rugs… You get the idea. And how often do you get to shop for crafts while listening to live music? While browsing these offerings, I heard the ever so sweet sounds of Gospel music coming from a few yards away. It was Aroostook County-based Bonnie Rairdon and the Minutemen, an old-time Gospel group. I’m not a fan of Gospel, but even I was drawn in by their amazing sound. If we had wandered over to the Cafe Stage, we would heard the Old Time Radio Gang perform vintage Country music, and over on the Transitions Stage Andre Lascoutx and Aviator were doing some very tasty guitar playing. Maine Arts has an affinity for picking the very best in Maine performers and this day was one of their best ever!
It was getting on towards noon, so we decided to eat. The program guide describes the Festival Food Court as “… [a] delicious array of fruit smoothies, pizza, hot dogs, ethnic foods, vegetarian delights and desserts by top Maine kitchens.” That description does not do it justice! We were thirsty so we started off getting two Lemonades — freshly squeezed — from Aucoin Concessions. (Don’t miss their Smoothies which are some of the best you’ll have.) We wanted lamb kebobs which we got from Noon Family Sheep Farm — it was as always perfect with tender pieces of lamb nice complemented by roasted peppers, apples, and onions. After stretching our legs, we had spicy meat and veggie pot stickers from Jyang Lee Kitchens. Being full, I skipped dessert, but the cheesecake at Kristina’s Kitchen was being eaten by many of the Festival goers, and Carpe Diem, a Coffee Roasting Co., had awfully good-looking cookies. Oh well, there’s always next year!
It was now time to hear the Beatroots. The Beatroots are, according to their Web site, “…Maine’s Fresh Organic World Gypsy Rock Ensemble…” They are certainly a great jam band who makes full use of Middle Eastern and Central European influences. The band consists of Mr. Bowen (vocals, acoustic 6 & 12 string guitar, bamboo flutes, sax), Mama Miriama- Electric (guitars, violin, vocals), Bruce MacQuaid (bass, vocals) and Mike Bennett (Drums, Percussion, vocals). I’ve heard them at least a half dozen times and they always amaze me with how damn good they are — As Relix Magazine noted “… The Beatroots is a Maine-based band that really stretches the term eclectic. Its Dig The Beat (Huge Records) is a joyous blend of jazz, rock and funk that is immersed with a heavy, Middle Eastern feel. It also sneaks snippets of the Caribbean, Africa and South America into the melting pot.” Whatever you call them, you’ll find it both listenable and dancable.
Oh, did I mention that two very large puppets, courtesy of the Portland, Maine-based Shoestring Theatre company, were dancing very energetically as the Beatroots played? The Shoestring Theatre company is an intrinsic part of the ambiance of the Maine Festival — every year a number of them wander the grounds dressed in giant puppet heads (I love the punk and old lady who were dancing during this performance) or decked out as dragons, mermaids, and other creatures. And the Company provides the immense figures that reside next to the marsh side of the grounds!
We left a few hours later after hearing more great music during which time Donna visited the Fiber Artists tent, so I’ll praise the playing of Celtic Weave, another Aroostook County-based group, the traditional Franco-American music of Lucie Ouellette and her family, and the bluegrass playing of Carter Logan and Jason Phelps. I heard plenty of music during the time we were there — every bit of it, as the Downeasters say, of the finest kind. And I’d be remiss not to mention just a few of the workshops going on as we wandered the grounds — Josie Conti and Baraka provided belly dancing lessons over in the Labirinth area; Michael Lane Trautman provided a primer on vaudeville; the Trickster Fox had a avid group learning juggling, Dennis Sheeby showed how to make gnome homes, and Jeanne Perkins did a collage workshop.
Exhausted but very satisfied, we drove home to Portland in the late afternoon with not a minute of less than fully satisfying time spent there. If you live anywhere within a few hours of Brunswick, Maine, plan on being at the 25th Anniversary Maine Festival as it should be an amazing party! If you live farther than a few hours from there, book your hotel rooms now as you won’t want to miss it!
(Thomas Point Beach, Brunswick, Maine, August 4th to the 6th, 2000)
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