It was with a heavy heart that I prepared the announcement in last week’s issue that the annual Fishermen’s Festival in Boothbay Harbor had come to an end after more than 40 years because of lack of participation by the fishermen themselves, and ongoing difficulty finding volunteers willing to head up the events.

We’ve been involved in the festival since its beginning, when a few contests were held at Jimmy Juliano’s dock on the East Side, and have fond memories which will last a lifetime. How could one ever forget the swift hands of clam shucker Beatrice Quintal, of the fish filleting skills of Hazel Carter Kelly? Who would ever believe, unless they’d seen it, that Doug Carter could haul, bait and set a string of traps while towing a water skier in record time? And how many tall tales were shared, many of them based on true stories?  Hundreds of participants have been involved in the many different events over the years and they all have humorous remembrances.

Then, of course, there are the more sobering reminders of the fishing industry when commercial boat owners circled the harbor for the blessing of the fleet, sometimes only a few weeks after the loss of one of their fellow fishermen.

Editor Kevin Burnham’s choice of a photo to run with the story of the festival’s swan song was a good one – the late Charlie Begin emceeing one of the events. We’ll all remember him as one of the movers and shakers of the festival, always ready to volunteer and a master at getting everyone else to agree to participate, even if they hadn’t intended to do so.  To us, he was a true spokesman for the industry itself — a hard worker, easy-going,  and an ambassador for the town he so loved. He was the first one to offer complete strangers an opportunity to go lobstering with him.  If someone needed help, he was quick to offer it.

Our fishing community has changed a great deal since the 1960s and 1970s. We’ve lost most of our shoreside processing plants and we no longer have a diverse fishing fleet; it’s almost exclusively lobstermen with only limited shrimping, ground fishing or scalloping. Dwindling stocks brought about the demise of both the fishermen and the processors.  As we pulled together the announcement on the cancellation of the annual event, we felt that it was just another sign that Boothbay Harbor is, sadly, no longer a fishing community in many ways. Accepting this fact is equally as painful for us as saying goodbye to the festival. Time marches on.