NEWCASTLE

Salad Days will benefit center for ceramic arts

If you love salad, this is the summer event you can’t miss: the 16th annual Salad Days to benefit the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts.

This year’s salad extravaganza will be held from 10 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the center, 19 Brick Hill Road.

For $30, guests get to pick out an earthenware salad plate and load it up with a variety of salads made with produce from local farms along with bread and dessert.

There will be local beers and handcrafted sodas to wash it all down.

Salads have been donated by local inns and restaurants such as the Newcastle Inn, the Rocktide Inn and Restaurant, Paco’s Tacos, Sarah’s Cafe, the Damariscotta River Grill, the Snow Squall Inn and many others.

The Jerks of Grass will provide live music, and there will be plenty of ceramics at the annual Invitational Pottery Sale. Entry to the pottery sale is free.

Plate selection for lunch starts at 11 a.m., and the buffet begins at 11:30.

For more information, call 882-6075 or visit www.watershedceramics.org/saladdays.php.

OWLS HEAD

Vineyard will offer tours, free tastings this weekend

Jeanne Johnson says she and her husband, Bill, are following a dream.

The couple, both in their late 40s, moved to Owls Head from Cape Cod to start their own winery, and will hold a grand opening this weekend.

There are 2,500 grapevines already in the ground at the 32-acre Breakwater Vineyards, which overlooks Rockland Harbor, but until the fruit matures, the Johnsons are making wine with grapes from Long Island and the Finger Lakes in New York.

You can sample their first four wines during the open house from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday – a Riesling, a pinot noir and two chardonnays.

There will also be tours of the vineyards and the winery, which is located in a renovated horse barn and will normally be closed to the public. The tastings and the tours will both be free this weekend, Johnson said.

Breakwater Vineyards is at 35 Ash Point Drive in Owls Head. For more information, call 594-1721.

PORTLAND

Evangeline hosting events to celebrate Bastille Day

Avez vous faim?

Oui? Then get yourself to Evangeline on July 14 to celebrate Bastille Day with a delicieux French dinner that will benefit Share Our Strength, an organization that fights childhood hunger.

The event will begin with an open house/wine tasting from 4 to 6 p.m. featuring Devenish wines. The three-course dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. The open house costs $20 per person, and the dinner is $55. Attend both and pay $65.

There will also be a silent auction where diners can bid on overnight stays at Portland hotels, dinners for two and a private wine tasting.

Share Our Strength Maine will receive 20 percent of the proceeds from the wine tasting and dinner, and 100 percent of the proceeds from the silent auction. The money will go to local anti-hunger organizations.

For reservations, call 791-2800.

CASCO

New stand sells meats smoked in clay vessel

If you’re heading out toward the Casco/Naples area this summer, there’s a new spot to stop and grab a bite.

The Fire and Spice Trading Co. is a new roadside takeout stand at the intersection of Route 302 and Hillside Avenue in Casco that’s serving Kamado-smoked beef, smoked pork and smoked chicken. Kamado is a cooking method that uses a clay vessel.

Also on the menu are hand-cut fries, chicken bites, “puffy tacos,” burgers, wraps and clam cakes.

Fire and Spice Trading Co. is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Monday. The owners are Scott and Eleanor Walsh. Scott Walsh is the former cafe manager at St. Joseph’s College in Standish.