It’s another stellar one for the books as we wrapped up the 77th annual Maine Lobster Festival on the harbor grounds of Rockland, Maine, in August 2024. We greeted tens of thousands of guests from every state in the U.S. –including Alaska and Hawaii — and from more than 40 countries around the globe.

Here’s what folks had to say:

“This was our first year! What an amazing adventure!”

“Went the last two years — we plan on going again. It’s fun for all ages!”

“Had a great time! Thanks so much for your support and work.”

Lobsters

Let’s talk about the star of the show. Did you know we served more than 20,000 pounds of lobster in the shell, plus thousands more pounds of cooked-and-picked lobster meat for rolls? Our famous lobster cooker — the largest cooker in the world that can steam more than 3,000 pounds of lobster per day — was working overtime this year!

2024 MLF Delegate Winners

Last year’s Delegate Adelaide Hendricks of Cushing handed her crown over to Caitlyn Lamb, a recent graduate of Oceanside High School who will be attending Maine Maritime Academy this fall to study Marine Engineering Operations. The Second Delegate designation went to Chelsea Gaiero, who graduated from Kents Hill School in 2023. In the fall, she will be a sophomore at Northeastern University, where she is majoring in chemical engineering.

Lastly, the Most Congenial award went to Jillian Barnard, a recent graduate of Oceanside High School, who also took Firefighting and EMT classes with the Mid-Coast School of Technology. She is now a certified firefighter working for the City of Rockland Fire and EMS. Read about all of this year’s enterprising young candidates.

Seafood Cooking Contest

One of the most popular events of the Festival is the Seafood Cooking Contest, where amateur chefs compete to win over a panel of experts with fresh and original seafood recipes. Afterward, the contest audience gets to sample a taste of the delicious dishes. The final five recipes chosen are based on creativity, suitability of the seafood to the recipe, and simplicity.

Susan Lewis Baines took First Place this year with her Lobster Wedge Salad With Blueberry Ginger Kelp Dressing. Talk about hitting all of the coastal culinary notes!

Here are the other winners and recipes:

The Big Parade

The Big Parade historically has drawn the largest crowd of the Festival week in Rockland as Main Street closes to traffic and the sidewalks fill with people to watch parade participants march or drive by. This year’s theme was “Through The Years.” The weather decided to throw a curveball with a rain delay, but by 11 am the parade was underway with participants including bands, stilt walkers, Navy and Coast Guard members, floats, pirates, visiting royalty, the New England Patriots Cheerleaders and Pat Patriot, community organizations, and more.

10K Road Race and 5K Walk/Run

The starter pistol went off at 8 am Aug. 4, and 300 racers took off through the streets of Rockland. It’s always a fun day for the community, and all who crossed the finish line received a finisher’s medal. See all the race results and winners. Not to be outdone, the kids (up to age 12) got to run their own race for 1 mile after the 5K & 10K runners took off.

International Great Crate Race

The ultimate fan favorite, the “Crate Race” got some live video coverage this year. The docks and wharf were crammed with spectators cheering the runners, and this year’s winner was Mave Poland, age 11 from Cushing, Maine, having run a total of 1,999 crates. Another crowd favorite was Det. Sgt. Max King of Rockland PD in full uniform. Here are the results of all 77 participants.

We’d like to thank the hundreds of community and visiting volunteers this year for their tireless work and dedication to our annual Festival, along with a huge thank you to our sponsors for making it happen.

Join us for the 2025 Maine Lobster Festival! It’s never too early to plan your visit to Maine. For more information visit: https://mainelobsterfestival.com