Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.
Earlier this week, I was proud to declare August 5th through 6th the third annual Wild Blueberry Weekend in Maine, to celebrate our wild blueberries and to honor the hardworking people who grow and bring them to markets near and far.
Wild blueberries, you know, were first managed and harvested by the Wabanaki — in fact, The Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company, headquartered in Columbia Falls, has been managing and harvesting wild blueberries on 2,000 acres of barrens since 1981.
Statewide, blueberries are now grown by 485 Maine farms on 42,000 acres, all within Franklin, Hancock, Lincoln, Kennebec, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo and Washington counties.
Last year alone, Maine farmers harvested 77.5 million pounds of wild blueberries. And we know that these wild blueberries are healthy, they have more antioxidants than cultivated blueberries, and they are tastier than any other kind of blueberry in the world.
So, to honor our wild blueberry growers and businesses and their significant contributions to the Maine economy, I declared our first ever wild blueberry weekend ever in 2021.
At that time, wild blueberry growers opened their doors for free for the first time and made available fresh wild blueberries, jams, and pies, and other products available for guests to purchase.
The Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine reports that, during the first and second annual Wild Blueberry Weekends, there were thousands of dollars in direct farm sales and thousands of visitors who enjoyed touring the places where wild blueberries grow, maybe picking a few of their own. I know that we will build on those numbers this year.
This year, Wild Blueberry Weekend will feature farm tours and other family-friendly activities at 15 different wild blueberry farms in Franklin, Lincoln, Kennebec, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo, and Washington Counties, as well as the Wild Blueberry Heritage Center and Museum in Columbia Falls, right on Route One.
And the wild blueberry-themed menu items and products will be available throughout the weekend at more than 40 restaurants, ice cream shops, breweries, wineries, and distilleries across the state. To see the full list of participants, visit www.wildblueberryweekend.com – that’s www.wildblueberryweekend.com and the state’s official agriculture website, www.realmaine.com, www.realmaine.com, for year-round ideas on ways you can support Maine’s agricultural community.
I encourage everyone to visit one of the participating wild blueberry farms or to sample Maine-grown wild blueberry products at the many places selling them during Wild Blueberry Weekend, August 5 and 6!
This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.