Maine's First Lobster Festival Was A Total Financial Disaster
Few food lovers will need to be reminded of how deeply the lobster is intertwined with the image of the state of Maine. The Pine Tree State's tourism promotion gives a prominent place for lobster rolls, fresh-caught lobster, and all other things crustacean. And the lobster fishing industry itself is an economic boon for the state; in 2021, it brought in $725 million.
So it may surprise you that the annual Maine Lobster Festival — Maine's leading event for lobster lovers — held every August in Rockland for the past 75 years that attracts an estimated 70,000 visitors — was not initially successful. In fact, it was, financially anyway, a downright disaster.
The story of the first Maine Lobster Festival is that it was first held on August 16, 1947. Though only lasting a single day, it attracted attendees by promising all the lobster you can eat for a very reasonable price: $1. Reasonable, however, is a relative term. What seems reasonable to the consumer may be a bad decision business-wise. That's exactly what ended up being the case for what was initially called the Camden-Rockport Lobster Festival.
Sink, then swim
Even in the economic landscape of 1947, this entrance fee to the Lobster Fest was an insane deal. And the lobster provided to attendees was no scant amount. The event featured a parade in which whole lobster crates were literally given away to those who had paid the dollar entry fee. Considering that the festival intended to boost the lobster industry economically, this was a real problem.
To put things in perspective, $1 in 1947, inflation-adjusted, comes to about $14 today. For that price today, you will be hard-pressed to find even the most meager lobster meal — let alone an all-you-can-eat deal. You'll easily pay double that for a basic lobster roll in Maine's most popular seafood eateries.
"Turns out," reads the Lobster Fest's website, "while [the $1 entry fee] was a phenomenal deal for the festival's participants, it sank the festival financially, so the Rockland Junior Chamber of Commerce took over the festival the next year as its club project."
The results the following year were far more sustainable. In fact, they were quite impressive. The $1 entry fee isn't mentioned, though we can assume that this part of the business model was scrapped.
Becoming a world-famous event
Today's Maine Lobster Festival is a success on many fronts. Not only does it support the state's lobster fishing industry, the entirely volunteer-run event has become internationally renowned, attracting visitors from dozens of countries worldwide. It has also expanded from a two-day event to a five-day one, featuring seafood cooking contests, plenty of beer and wine, arts and crafts, children's events, and other entertainment acts. Of course, there's plenty of fresh Maine lobster to eat.
And though the fest no longer hands out huge crates of lobster for a $1 entry fee, it does feature something called the International Great Crate Race, in which participants try to run across a long string of floating crates anchored between two different floating piers in the frigid bay waters. According to the festival's website, it is the original crate run race, added to the event in the 1970s.
The two years during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 and 2021, are the only years in the festival's history that it has ever been canceled. This year's Maine Lobster Festival is scheduled for August 2-6 in Rockland's Harbor Park.