Think of any iconic Maine product, and there’s a good chance someone has started a festival to celebrate it: lobster, wild blueberries, Moxie, whoopie pies.
But there’s a more humble Maine export that hasn’t gotten its due: the worm.
This year, Wiscasset aims to change that with an inaugural event it’s calling Wormfest. The daylong shindig on June 8 will celebrate the town’s heritage of marine worm harvesting, two decades after National Geographic declared the midcoast community the “worm capital of the world.”
Wiscasset has been a focal point for the harvesting of bloodworms and sandworms since the 1960s. The mudflats of the Sheepscot River have been a prime place for wormers to don their waders and rake through the mud for the live bait that’s used across the country for saltwater fishing.
Now, Wiscasset diggers ship their bloodworms all over the world, said Wormfest organizer and Town Council Chair Sarah Whitfield. Many residents are generational wormers who still make a living off it, she said.
The festival, though partially to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the superlative bestowed by National Geographic, is also an opportunity to bring Wiscasset residents together, Whitfield said.
Several divisive events have made headlines in the town during recent months, including the ousting of a local principal, the slow repair of a downtown building facade and negotiations with the owner of the former Maine Yankee nuclear plant over taxes.
“With all the division in our community today, we really wanted to do something that would be very unique to our town, something that will be fun, bring people together and be something that would be affordable for families to do, and just celebrate an industry that sometimes doesn’t get a lot of credit in terms of how hard it is to work in,” Whitfield said.
Though it’ll be at the start of tourism season, the festival will be geared toward locals. It’ll include vendors, carnival games, a relay and a performance by a cover band called Something Stupid.
Whitfield hopes the event will get residents into local businesses as well, through a “passport” program where they can enter a raffle after getting a ticket punched at downtown establishments.
While entry to the festival will be free, some of its activities will raise funds for a scholarship for a Wiscasset High School senior, who will be selected based on their community involvement and can use the proceeds for college or other future plans, Whitfield said.
“The whole goal behind this is to put the money back into the community,” Whitfield said.
Beyond the history and the community support, organizers also expect the festival to offer plenty of fun.
It will feature a mud-pie eating contest, a relay in waders, hand-made carnival games and a historical exhibit on worm-digging.
The festival will be June 8 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. in downtown.
