Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Maine Minutiae : Oh, Little Town of Bethel...

One thing I like about living in Maine is that are not a lot of people here. There are only about 1.5 million people in the whole state, leaving lots of room to get away from the grind of daily life...and kids. :) Based on that population figure, it's only natural that there a ton of small towns up here and nearly every town or community in Maine has at least one big festival a year, kind of like all the rural areas of East and West Texas. Bethel, Maine is one of those small towns. Bethel is a town of 2400 folks and is 63 miles due west of Augusta in Oxford County. This weekend is a big deal for Bethel and the surrounding communities. On Saturday, September 18, Bethel will host the 13th Annual Harvest Fest and Chowdah Cookoff. This shindig marks the beginning of the foliage change in New England and there are some neat events for the whole family. And all good celebrations have a liberal quantity of food for your culinary enjoyment. As the name of the festival indicates, the main dish to be served is chowder and some of the best chowder cookers from around New England will compete in the big Chowdah Cookoff. For my amigos in Texas, think chili cookoff. This chowdah cookoff stuff is serious business. Also on tap will be some more serious business, an apple pie bake off! I'm not much for chowder, but homemade apple pie is another matter all together. Just writing about it, I can almost smell a fresh, succulent, homemade apple pie cooking in the oven. Is it just me or is anybody else hungry right now? The schedule of events for the 13th Annual Harvest Fest and Chowdah Cookoff can be found here. OK, Mainers and neighboring staters, you've got the scoop on this hoedown (there will be music, too) and the time to make plans for this weekend...the 13th Annual Harvest and Chowdah Cookoff in Bethel awaits you! One more thing, will somebody save a piece of apple pie for me? Thanks. :)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Copyright ©

All Original Material © Toby Shoemaker