As our front page story indicates this week, Olde Bristol Days in Pemaquid felt a little off this year. Historically a crowded, festive event, this year’s attendance and, it seems, enthusiasm for the whole affair, were down, both depressed in part, no doubt by the weekend’s gloomy weather.
We don’t think this one weekend is near enough to draw any long-term conclusions about the future of the event. Let’s string a few more years together and see where we are.
We have no doubt that had we been blessed with a beautiful summer weekend for the occasion, our impressions could be drastically different.
Still, Olde Bristol Days is a 60-year tradition.
Taking the temperature of the proceedings this year was enough to make us worry about other traditions.
It’s not news that each year the people attending town meeting get a little older; our local volunteers, firefighters and committee members get a little longer in the tooth, and the young blood needed to revitalize and re-energize these local efforts is not coming in anywhere near the levels needed to sustain the current status quo.
All this brings us to our local lobsterman. While Maine is arguably a bigger producer of vacations and potatoes, it is our iconic fishing industry the state is known for. When the last independent lobster boat ties up for the last time, we will truly have lost a part of our heritage.
We are cheered to hear the rumblings about the need and possible future development for an instate processing plant, but such a plant is not going to come fast enough to alleviate our current situation.
Our lobstermen still need help. There are still many lobsters at the dock. While this current crisis lasts, we plan to do our part to keep the tradition going and we encourage you to do so as well. Eat a lobster, save a tradition.
