Photo / Courtesy, Wyman's
Pictured here are Fruit First waffles, one of Wyman's new products. The waffles come in three flavors.
Updated: August 2, 2024
Friday Food Insider: Maine’s annual Wild Blueberry Weekend returns
Photo / Courtesy of Ethos
Maine Wild Blueberry Weekend will take place Aug. 3-4 at farms across the state.
Maine’s Wild Blueberry Weekend is back for its fourth consecutive year and is scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday.
The Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine organizes the celebration of the wild blueberry, a native Maine fruit, and the people who care for and harvest the crop.
The events take place Aug. 3-4 at wild blueberry farms accessible to the public in Lincoln, Kennebec, Knox, Penobscot and Washington counties.
“Maine’s wild blueberry crop has been an integral part of our state’s agricultural heritage for generations. Most farms are family-owned and have been passed down from generation to generation for years,” said Eric Venturini, executive director of the commission.
"Wild Blueberry Weekend promotes and celebrates our state’s iconic fruit and helps to educate visitors about Maine’s important wild blueberry industry while also providing economic opportunity to our hard-working Maine farmers who harvest this wild crop.”
According to the commission, Wild Blueberry Weekend has become increasingly popular with residents and visitors over the last four years and has boosted blueberry sales for participating Maine farmers.
An estimated 7,500 people visited one or more of the 16 participating farms in 2023, spending $65,000 over the two-day period.
“Wild Blueberry Weekend is a wonderful statewide annual event celebrating our native fruit, the wild blueberry,” Ashley Field, co-owner of Fields Fields Blueberries and a participant in the weekend, told Mainebiz.
"This is a weekend where farms get the opportunity to open their doors and allow the public to glimpse what goes into caring for, harvesting, and processing Maine wild blueberries. It’s also an opportunity for other Maine businesses to showcase products made with wild blueberries. It’s an all-around celebration of everything wild blueberry.”
Among the activities, visitors can tour wild blueberry farms, harvest berries via hand-raking or taste wild blueberry drinks and dishes.
Mitch Newlin, the owner of Gelato Fiasco, told Mainebiz that his gelato shops plan to make three blueberry flavors during Maine Blueberry Weekend: Maine wild blueberry sorbetto, Maine wild blueberry crisp gelato and lemon blueberry cheesecake gelato.
“The weekend is a fun way to celebrate Maine's favorite berry,” said Newlin. “Many longtime customers look forward to the featured blueberry flavors, especially Maine Wild Blueberry Sorbetto, which we only make in-season.
"This is already the busiest time of the year at Gelato Fiasco, and blueberry season helps to provide an especially tasty experience for locals and tourists alike.”
To find participating farms, check out the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine website.
Fun facts about Maine’s wild blueberries
- Wild blueberries have been growing in Maine's sandy, rocky soils since the last ice age, 10,000 years ago.
- Maine is the only state in the U.S. where wild blueberries are commercially grown. They're also produced in eastern Canada.
- Wild blueberries are harvested once a year each summer. Wild blueberries are available fresh during that time, but 99% of the crop is frozen within 24 hours of harvest to seal in flavor and nutrition.
- Wild blueberries grow in their natural ecosystem — there is no artificial breeding or genetic modification, and the soil is not tilled.
Other wild blueberry news
Wyman's, the Milbridge-based producer of wild blueberries and blueberry products, is celebrating its 150th year in business and continues to be as busy with new products.
Wyman's is a grower and a processor, meaning that it grows wild blueberries on its own land and freezes the wild blueberries of other growers.
“We are cautiously optimistic on the outlook of this year's crop but this is an incredibly resilient crop,” Brogan Tooley, Wyman's agroecologist, told Mainebiz.
“We have experienced a few years of drought in the past and then an abundance of precipitation and this crop has continued to persist through all of that. This year overall, we have had favorable conditions with moderate rainfall, fairly warm hot days and relatively cool nights.
"Of course, we have had some unusually hot temperatures, likely a result of climate change and that has caused some challenges.”
Tooley said the temperatures have caused an earlier harvest. Right now, Wyman's is harvesting and trying to get fruit out of the field. The plants are also breaking dormancy earlier than they used to, and that makes them susceptible to that late spring frost in May through early June.
“We have increased our management, our monitoring has greatly increased, our management has become more adaptive and we have just been able to be more flexible in terms of how the crop is doing and try to meet the crop where it is at rather than managing by a calendar date," she said.
In its efforts to mitigate climate change, Wyman's is also investing in a 35-acre solar array on nonproductive land it owns. The company invested in a wild blueberry research center at the University of Maine. Scientists are conducting studies to better understand the impact of climate change and ways to mitigate them.
The company has launched three new products, including fruit and peanut butter poppers, protein blends, and fruit-first waffles. Colleen Craig, senior communications manager at Wyman’s, told Mainebiz that the new products are available locally, and the poppers and protein blends will be national by the end of the year.
Jasper Wyman launched the company in 1874, and it is now in its fourth generation of family ownership. The company provides more than 300 year-round jobs and 300 additional seasonal jobs during the summer harvest.
Where are you spending Maine Wild Blueberry Weekend? The Mainebiz Food Insider wants to hear from you! Contact Alexis Wells at awells@mainebiz.biz.
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