The inaugural Harvest on the Harbor Festival in downtown Portland gave Mainers one more reason to wear their Maine badges proudly.  Move over, Boston!  Portland, with its famed chefs and picturesque waterfront, has become a food destination.  Ads for the event boasted 100+ food experts, celebrity chefs, cookbook authors and a wide-ranging tasting menu that included local vegetables, herbs, seafood, spirits, meats and cheeses.  There were various scheduled events from Thursday through Saturday and I was fortunate enough to make it to the Culinary Marketplace on Saturday.  There were three main areas –the Marketplace Tents, the “Lifestyle Lounge” and the Chef Demonstration Tent. 



The lively Marketplace consisted of twelve tents, each tent housing several exhibitors.  Exhibitors ranged from caterers and restaraunteurs to…

retailers and distributors.  The tented area reminded me of an outdoor wedding reception – guests with wine glasses, chatting and sampling foods (and to complete the comparison, an overserved cousin or two).  While some of the food was quintessential Maine – whoopie pies and clam chowder – other samples such as fresh crepes with maple syrup and butter or pulled pork with a variety of sauces were big hits. I was particularly impressed with DennyMike’s BBQ sauces , which are handcrafted in small batches in Maine, are all-natural and contain “no junk.”  Taja Dockendorf, who handles DennyMike’s advertising, said that their booth was a big hit.  “There has been a line here since we opened this morning,” she told me.  And I could see why.  I chose the pulled pork and was given a hearty sample of sauces, of which I was partial to the “Sweet ‘N Spicy.”



If the barbeque was lightly sauced, so was the crowd.  Exhibitors were instructed to pour only a ½ oz. into each glass but many tables had five to ten wines to try.  The crowd drifted happily through this booze maze and by the time they reached the last tent – the one with the gin and vodka samples – I got the impression that most people were ready to call it a day.  Aside from the Cold River Vodka, www.coldrivervodka.com , Bartlett Winery , bartlettwinery.com  Shipyard Brewing www.shipyard.com, and Peak Organic Brewing Co .peakbrewing.com, which are Maine-based, the majority of the wine, brews and spirits came “from away.”  I sampled the new Barefoot Sparkling Pinot Grigio, Shipyard Pumpkinhead, and Bartlett’s Blueberry Dry wine.  Due to the overwhelming array of choices, I stuck to my favorites. 



Speaking of excess, the Harvest on the Harbor Festival may have marked the first time I have ever said “no” to chocolate.  After two whoopie pies, four truffles, a brownie and some Gifford’s chocolate ice cream, I had to pass up one of my favorites – a truffle from Moonstruck Chocolates. The exhibitors at the Two Fat Cats/Standard Baking booth said that they noticed many people had reached their sweet limits, too.  They had begun the day by selling their goodies – whoopie pies, cinnamon rolls, muffins and pies – but by the time I got there, I was offered an entire free whoopie pie in a bag to take home.  Nobody can pass that up! 

After milling around the Marketplace, I went upstairs to the “Lifestyle Lounge.”  The crowd was a little thinner but the view out to the water was refreshing and the room was much more comfortable.  It held the cookbooks and many cookbook authors, furniture designers and vendors, caterers and retailers.  I tried a fresh and sweet Roger Goulart Brut Rose and the Mionetto Prosecco Brut.  Upstairs also held the beautiful display of J’accents , a store on Free St. that specializes in “inspirational tablescapes.”  j-accents.com

The J’accents exhibit even had Margie Kelly, a “Business Etiquette Instructor” on hand for any table manners questions.  She had helped with the tableware displays: 

She was very friendly and informative and said that she was happy to see an event highlighting Maine’s offerings and satisfied with the number of guests.  She even gave me tips on what not to order at a business lunch!

My unofficial awards for best display go to Vervacious  vervacious.com , a Biddeford company that sells artisan spices and sauces in exquisite packaging , Cranberry Island Kitchen www.cranberryislandkitchen.com with its famed whoopie pies  and J’accents. 

My final stop was the Chef Demonstration Tent to see Kathy Gunst, an author of nine cookbooks, make a Maine Sole Piccata with Caperberries.  She had a good sense of humor about having to use fluke instead of sole (I thought you said Maine had seafood available!), burning the fish and losing her wine to deglaze the pan.  There was no chance I was going to taste that, because before Kathy had even served the fish, the front-row guests had descended upon the kitchen area like a bunch of hungry wolves. 



Guests that I spoke to, such as Jeanne from Warren, ME, indicated they would definitely come back again next year.  My thought was similar except that I would have liked a space to sit down or at least some bar tables, so that I could put my bag down for a minute.  Aside from a furniture display area upstairs, there was not a chair or table in sight.  And I don’t think I needed a seat half as bad as the folks in tent eleven, who topped off their visit with a back-to-back samples of Cold River Vodka and Back River Gin. 



Some of the vendors were selling their wares, but I didn’t get the impression they were selling that much.  Visitors were happy enough to pay the $35 ticket fee and sample all the goodies without spending additional money, which made me wonder what the business owners were getting out of this.  When asked, Elena Morrow-Spitzer from Maine’s Pantry on Commercial Street said she came in with no expectations and the real proof of any success would be if business picked up at her store in the days and weeks following the festival.  Many of the retailers were giving out unique Harvest on the Harbor coupons for the event, so they would be able to trace the coupons back to the festival traffic and be able to measure any financial improvement it made.  Either way, an event like this reminds Mainers of all the unique local cuisine we have at our fingertips, and continues Portland’s ascent in the gastronomical marketplace.