The Topside Inn in Boothbay Harbor has received a few accolades over the past few years.

In 2015, the inn/bed and breakfast was awarded with a Top 10 U.S. Bed & Breakfast Award by BedandBreakfast.com. Yankee Magazine touted the inn with an Editors' Choice Award for Best Ocean Views in 2015, saying, “The aptly named Topside caps an in-town hill with sigh-producing views over the inner and outer harbors.” The inn has been featured on a NECN News segment, calling Topside Inn a bed & breakfast with an “unbeatable view.” And the inn was featured in a New England Boating segment when the crew from the television show made it their home base during the three-day stay.

At last year's annual Claw Down event in Boothbay Harbor, the inn won a third place award for one of its “over-the-top” breakfast items.

Now the owners/innkeepers, Mark Osborn and Buzz Makarewicz, have been invited to participate in an exclusive five-day food and wine event in Kennebunkport – the Kennebunkport Festival, celebrating the best of Maine's food, art, music, wine and beer. The festival will take place from June 6 to 10, and Osborn and Makarewicz will be there on June 10 representing their inn  at the Grand Tasting event.

Thirty businesses throughout Maine were invited to participate in the event, and Topside Inn is the only inn/bed and breakfast. Seven hundred tickets are sold for the festival –  the largest multi-day food and wine festival of its kind in Maine, according to Osborn. Over the course of the event, there will be dinners with wine pairings at many of the restaurants in the Kennebunk area, culminating in the Grand Tasting, which will take place in a large white tent with chefs from all over Maine demonstrating their prowess in the culinary arts. All the prepared food will then be served to the guests.

“It's a three-hour event for people to mingle, eat and chat,” Osborn said. “I like that we will be representing Boothbay Harbor.”

Osborn and Makarewicz are in the process of narrowing down the choices of dishes they’ll be offering. “When we do offsite events we represent the food that will be served at Topside,” Osborne said. “We try to do locally inspired creative dishes – some traditional breakfast items like waffles, pancakes and eggs Benedict, with some twists, and we also do some things that you might not expect for breakfast.”

Topside Inn's entry at Claw Down two years ago was Osborn’s pan seared handmade gnocchi with mushrooms from Oyster Creek Mushroom Co., crispy prosciutto, shaved parmesan and an herbed oil, using herbs from their garden, topped with an egg.

At the inn, most of the breakfasts are prepared with locally sourced ingredients, and the breads, jams and butters are all made in-house. “Almost everything is homemade, though we don't make yogurt,” Osborn said. Cooking duties are shared by the partners, with Osborn focusing on the savory and Makarewicz on sweets and baking. “He does both really, but I do mainly savory because baking requires patience and measuring and I don't have those skills.”

The innkeepers recently obtained a liquor license, and they will be adding an evening cocktail party this summer, from 5 to 6 p.m., with complementary hors d'oeuvres and a full bar with wine, beer and cocktails available. There are 22 guest rooms and a suite, and many of the rooms have been recently renovated and updated.

Osborn and Makarewicz bought the 19^th century captain's home in 2013. It is described in its new brochure as “A coastal-chic retreat with a laid-back Maine vibe (with) a historical flavor and contemporary style. The main building and two guesthouses sit on 3.5 acres situated on the highest point in Boothbay Harbor.

Other Boothbay Harbor businesses participating in the festival include Ports of Italy, which has a restaurant in Kennebunkport, and Coastal Maine Popcorn.

Tickets for the festival are still available through its website, http://kennebunkportfestival.com. The Grand Finale will take place at The Boathouse Waterfront Hotel on Ocean Avenue on Saturday, June 10, from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets for that event are $150.

The proceeds from the festival benefit Full Plates Full Potential, an organization working towards ending child hunger in Maine. The festival is produced by three local magazine publications: Maine, Old Port and Maine Home +Design.

Read more about the inn’s day at the festival at https://topsideinn.com/blog/2017/03/kennebunkport-festival/.

Topside Inn, located at 60 McKown Street, will open for the 2017 season on May 5. Call 207-633-5404.