ROCKLAND, Maine — One of Maine’s favorite summer events opened Wednesday, with a few changes.
The 72nd Maine Lobster Festival welcomed King Neptune, Sea Goddess Erin Dugan, and thousands of lobster lovers to Rockland for the start of the five-day event. The crowd was more than ready to gobble up hot lobsters, and the volunteers at the lobster cooker and the serving tent were kept busy.
One of the signature events of the Festival occurred Wednesday evening, as Makalla Hickey of Rockland was crowned the 2019 Maine Sea Goddess. The ceremony marked the start of a new era for the popular pageant.
Last year’s festival ran into a major public relations problem, after the 2018 Sea Goddess was removed because of a social media photo showing her holding a marijuana joint. The decision caused a tremendous public outcry.
Celia Knight, the new Festival president, says last year’s decision was a mistake, that they learned from it and made changes.
"Obviously social media, in this day and age, is a big thing, (so) they’ve made changes on the application. This year, unless something very drastic happens, after you’re Sea Goddess, nobody is going to take anyone’s title away," Knight says.
Besides that policy, Knight says contestants were advised to check their social media pages, and pageant officials did the same.
She says there has also been a strong show of support for the Festival from local people. She says there are lots of new volunteers, and they are inviting all veterans to be grand marshals for the big parade this Saturday. Knight says they’re hoping to feature hundreds of veterans in the parade, along with community floats and other attractions.