News Feature
Originally published in
Castine Patriot, July 16, 2020
and Island Ad-Vantages, July 16, 2020
and The Weekly Packet, July 16, 2020
Fish For Everyone to celebrate local seafood
by Leslie Landrigan
The Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries is sponsoring a week-long seafood celebration on the Blue Hill peninsula and the island from August 1-7, Paul Anderson, executive director, has announced.
The festival, dubbed the Fish for Everyone: A Seafood Celebration, has two tracks, according to Bobbi Billings, MCCF’s administrative director.
On one track, the MCCF will donate money to local nonprofits such as the Healthy Island Project, the Island Nursing Home, the Tree of Life and Island Food pantries. They can then buy local seafood with it, Billings said. On August 6, the nursing home will serve lobster and crab rolls and HIP will hold a seafood picnic for Salt Air Seniors.
On the second track, MCCF is encouraging local seafood dealers and restaurants to serve locally sourced seafood, and it will help promote those activities through social media and print, Billings said. A brochure will list where people can buy locally sourced seafood.
MCCF has contacted 32 seafood dealers and restaurants on the island and peninsula. “They will all likely be listed in the brochure,” said Billings.
The celebration came about as a result of an unexpected $10,000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation’s emergency response fund to help address food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Billings.
The “Fish for Everyone” name is a play on MCCF’s long-established slogan, “Fish Forever,” she said.
Billings said that if anybody hasn’t been contacted yet and wants to be part of the brochure, they should call MCCF at 367-2708.
