BRUNSWICK

Food, drink, music featured at Taste of Brunswick event

The third annual Taste of Brunswick will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Seventeen local restaurants will showcase their food with tastings that include chowder, sushi, Belgian waffles, lobster Newburg, pulled pork and desserts. Sea Dog Restaurant will provide a separate beer and wine tent that will serve a selection of locally brewed beers.

Live music will begin in the gazebo at 10:15 a.m.

The annual “Wait Staff Challenge” will also be held again this year, with a prize of $100. The race tests restaurant staffs’ ability to “wait” on tables while maneuvering through a challenging obstacle course. Preliminary races will be held at noon, followed by the finals at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets are $5 in advance or $7 at the gate. Children ages 12 and under get in free. Advance tickets are available online or at the College Store, the Brunswick Downtown Association office, the Midcoast Hunger Prevention office, Key Bank, and the Brunswick Visitor Center at Brunswick Station.

Food tickets will be sold in $1 increments at the event.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit two nonprofits: the Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program and the Brunswick Downtown Association.

For more information, go to brunswickdowntown.org.

KITTERY AND YORK

‘Feast for Firefighters’ raises money for safety equipment

More than 20 local restaurants and businesses will participate in the first “Feast for Firefighters” June 23.

The event is a fundraiser to benefit the York Village and York Beach fire departments and the Kittery Fire Association. If you eat at one of the participating restaurants, the restaurant will donate a portion of its proceeds to the cause.

Raffle tickets for a number of prizes – including Patriots and Bruins tickets, golf and ski packages, and restaurant gift certificates – will be on sale at all of the restaurants.

All of the proceeds from the “Feast for Firefighters” will be spent on fire-and-rescue equipment.

For a list of participating restaurants, go to FeastforFirefighters.com.

PORTLAND

Sample products, take tour at local Standard Baking Co.

Standard Baking Co. will be one of 53 bakeries joining an international Bakery Open House on June 25 sponsored by the Bread Bakers Guild of America.

Bakeries in 25 states, Canada and Ireland will be participating in the event, which is part of the guild’s 2011 series “Breadville USA: Exploring Local Baking in America.”

Standard Baking, 75 Commercial St., will be holding its free open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Behind-the-scenes tours will be offered at

11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., and there will be samples available.

Registration is required for the tours, and can be done in person the day of the event.

Visitors are asked to park on the street, because parking at the bakery is limited.

 

Taste wine, see a show to benefit Lucid Stage

Enjoy a twist on a traditional wine tasting at Lucid Stage’s “Theater Tasting.”

The July 8 event is a benefit for Lucid Stage, 29 Baxter Blvd. It begins at 8 p.m. and costs $25.

Performances will include stand-up comedy from Mike Sylvester, burlesque from Dark Follies and belly dancing from Naya’s trance. Between acts, the audience will be invited into the lobby for a wine-and-appetizer pairing chosen to go with each performance.

For more information, call 899-3993.

 

Vegan dishes get spotlight on the Whole Foods grill

Whole Foods Market will host Summer Vegan Fest from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

During the event, the outside grill will be cooking veggie burgers and vegan hot dogs. For $5, people can purchase a burger or hot dog with a side salad, a bag of chips, a cold drink and a cookie. The money raised from the food sales will be donated to Cultivating Community.

The store is also holding its summer beer tasting the same day from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., and will be pouring at least one vegan beer.

Whole Foods Market is located at 2 Somerset St. For more information, call 774-7711.

 

Gallery auctioning prints to raise funds to feed hungry

The June Fitzpatrick Gallery, 112 High St., is holding a special event focused on food and hunger Monday through June 26 to benefit Cultivating Community.

Seven boxed portfolio prints titled FOOD/HUNGER will be up for silent auction, and an eighth portfolio will be sold by raffle.

The artists participating are Adriane Herman, Ashton Ludden, Damir Porobic, Jeff Badger, Jonathan Stewart, Justin Richel, Lis Janes, Sara E. Worden, Sarah McNeil, Gretchen Schermerhorn and Tyson Jaques.

For more information or to view the works being auctioned, go to eatedibleart.blogspot.com.

 

Farmers market in Portland is closing early for festival

The Portland Farmers Market will be closing about an hour early Saturday because of the Southern Maine Pride Festival. The Farmers Market is located at Deering Oaks Park in Portland. Normal hours are 7 a.m. to noon.

UNION

Cars, wine, cheese, grilling – it’s a celebration of dads

Two local wineries are teaming up with the Maine Cheese Guild to celebrate dads on Father’s Day.

Sweetgrass Farm Winery & Distillery and Savage Oakes Vineyard and Winery will offer wine and spirits paired with local cheeses from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The owners of Savage Oakes will be hosting State of Maine Cheese, and also will be grilling samples of their own farm-raised pork sausage. Sweetgrass Farm will host Appleton Creamery and Crooked Face Creamery.

Both locations will be hosting antique cars, classics and hot rods in the first Union Wineries Car Show.

For more information, go to savageoakes.com or call 785-2828. Sweetgrass Winery can be reached at 785-3024 or at sweetgrasswinery.com.

SOUTH PORTLAND

Benefit to fight child hunger draws top chefs, mixologists

The Sixth Annual Taste of the Nation benefit to fight childhood hunger will be held June 26 at the Leavitt & Parris Tent Pavilion on the campus of Southern Maine Community College.

Since it began in Maine in 2006, Taste of the Nation has raised $215,000 in grants for anti-hunger programs. This year’s recipients will be Preble Street Teen Center, the Good Shepherd Food Bank, Cultivating Community and East End Kids Katering.

Taste of the Nation will feature food from some of the state’s best chefs as well as more than 20 spirits, liqueurs and beers served by Maine’s best mixologists. There will be a DJ and live music from the band Now is Now.

General admission tickets cost $125 each, and allow entry to the event from 4:30 to 8 p.m.

A $200 ticket includes a Spirit Tasting Welcome Reception at 3 p.m. as well as admission to the main event. All tickets may be purchased at tasteofthenation.org/maine.

 

New farmers market opens in park by end of the month

South Portland city councilors have approved a new farmers market that should be open by the end of the month.

The market will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays in Thomas Knight Park at the end of Waterman Drive.

YARMOUTH

Tales of New England food, with a big helping of humor

Learn how food has shaped New England on Monday, when author Edie Clark delivers a humorous presentation, “Baked Beans and Fried Clams: How Food Defines A Region.” The talk is sponsored by the Yarmouth Historical Society at the Log Cabin, 196 Main St.

Clark is the author of “Saturday Beans and Sunday Suppers: Kitchen Stories from Mary’s Farm” and “The Place He Made.” During her talk, she’ll discuss many distinctly New England foods, including Indian pudding and lobster rolls, and the region’s famous food enthusiasts, including Julia Child, Fannie Farmer and Hayden Pearson.

The Yarmouth Historical Society will ask for donations at the event, with a suggested $3 donation from members and $5 from nonmembers. For more information, call 846-6259.

 

Farmers market opens Thursday at Town Hall

A revamped Yarmouth Farmers Market will make its debut Thursday from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m at the Town Hall Memorial Green.

Nine farms, including several that are certified organic, will be there: Dancing Cricket Farm, Deri Farm, Eastern River Cattle Co., Hayward Farm, Milkweed Farm, Potts Harbor Lobster, Stonecipher Farm, Sunny Acre Farm and Swallowtail Farm and Creamery.

The farms will be selling beef, chicken, pork, eggs, veal, lobster, kefir, yogurt, cheeses, honey, vegetables, berries, seedlings, cut flowers and garden products.

There will also be two food vendors. Tulips Cupcakery makes harvest-inspired cupcakes with no chemical food colorings. Kamasouptra will be serving organic soups to eat on site or take home.

Every week there will be a jam band led by students and teachers from the 317 Community Music Center. Anyone who plays an instrument is invited to join in.

The market will run through Halloween week. Parking is in the rear of Town Hall, at the Log Cabin, or on Main Street.

Find the market on Facebook under “Yarmouth Farmers Market.”

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