This was a very different year for the Maine Lobster Festival and its traditional pageant for the Sea Goddess and Sea Princess, but 18-year-old Chloe Blake is part of a generation that has learned to be resilient. Crowned the 2020 Maine Sea Goddess, Chloe is now a freshman at the University of Maine at Farmington.

“I’m very excited to be on campus, as I wasn’t sure this summer if they would change the curriculum to all online classes,” she said.

When she was a little girl growing up in Warren, Maine, she always looked forward to attending the Festival with her family and with relatives from out of state. “I remember it was a lot of fun,” she said. “My favorite part was the rides. I remember the first time I was really scared to go on The Zipper—my friends finally convinced me to go on it, so now I love scary rides.”

All throughout high school, Chloe strove to be a hard worker. “I didn’t have a lot of time to go to the Festival in high school because I worked 40 hours a week at the YMCA summer camp,” she said. “And in addition to managing that, I also did three sports, so we’d have practices and games every day after I got out of work –sometimes an hour and a half away.”

Knowing that her schedule would be freed up this summer, she decided to try out for the Maine Lobster Festival Sea Goddess competition. The pageant is based on knowledge of the Midcoast area, elegance, volunteerism, and other skills and attributes. To apply, each young woman must study the area and its history, go to practices, take local tours, and prep to become the Maine Lobster Festival Representative as the Maine Sea Goddess. 

When Chloe found out she’d won, she recalled, “I was really excited; I didn’t know how to react; I couldn’t stop smiling.” [Watch the video here]

The coronation was held on August 3 before a small but enthusiastic crowd to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Standing alongside her was newly crowned Crown Princess Julia Paige Clough.

“I remember the night before watching the 2016 coronation on YouTube where there was this huge crowd, so it was really different this year,” said Chloe.  “But it was also really fun; I got to meet new people, including the three girls who were competing from different schools.”

Chloe is majoring in secondary education science and is just as busy as ever with academics. “It’ll be a difficult schedule; with bio and chem lectures three times a week and three-hour long labs for each one every week, along with one Honors English class that doesn’t get done until 9:30 at night. But,” she added, “I’m used to running on no sleep—it’ll be worth it.”

Chloe is just happy to be in school and an ambassador for Maine. “I’ve been trying to tell people who are from out of state on campus how great Maine is and what the Maine Lobster Festival is like.”

Look for Chloe’s sunny, smiling face as she attends to her Sea Goddess duties throughout the year. “I’m really looking forward to next year’s Festival, volunteering and being part of it. I really hope we get a really big crowd next year and everyone is able to come see it.”

For more information on what goes into becoming a Maine Sea Goddess and what they do to be ambassadors for Maine, follow our blog.