Windjammer Days, one of Maine’s premier summer events, gets underway in Boothbay Harbor on Sunday, June 21. For the first time, the festival will offer a full week of activities in addition to the star attraction, the arrival of the sailing ships, and the popular street parade.

Antique boats, lobster eating, a codfish relay race, oyster shucking, arts and crafts, music concerts, sailboat races, a road race, kids games, all sorts of pirate-related activities, a pancake breakfast, Schooner Bowdoin and Coast Guard tours, an artists alley on the By-Way, a lighted boat parade, golf tourney and fireworks are all on tap for 2015.

Many are looking forward to a first-ever across-the-harbor tug-of-war patterned after the longstanding tug challenge in Annapolis, Maryland.

Windjammer Days brings folks from far and near, some planning their summer vacation around the festivities. Maine residents within driving distance usually take in some of the scheduled events, and the majority of the area’s summer residents and cottage owners plan to be here for the week. Those who haven’t been on the peninsula in a few months will find a most welcome surprise — a newly renovated supermarket.

Hannaford of Boothbay Harbor held its grand reopening June 13. We encourage all of you to check it out if you haven’t already. It’s a major improvement, and what’s mind-boggling is that all of the renovations were accomplished while conducting business as usual this past winter and spring.

Customers were challenged to find what they wanted since merchandise moved from one aisle to another on a daily basis, but it made for good conversation and helped brighten the long, dull winter months.

And speaking of winter, we should all remember that the business pace slows substantially here with so many of our residents heading south. That means far fewer customers to support our supermarket. For years most of us have been resigned to the fact that we would probably never see major renovations to the store because of the limited number of customers.

It’s hard to survive year-round on two or three strong months of sales. Those of us who live here year-round can be thankful we now have a modern, up-to-date grocery store not only with a brand new look, but with many new items on the shelves as well. Precious few Maine peninsulas have their own supermarket.

The all-new Windjammer Days committee has worked very hard to plan a fun-filled week and we encouraged you to go to this newspaper’s website and print off the schedule of events (or pick up the Register’s 53rd annual Windjammer Days Festival Guide 2015) to see how many activities are being offered this year for the first time. And if you haven’t been there yet, stop at our “new” Hannaford store and look around. It’s a welcome addition to our peninsula.