Calendar of Events
Across the state, events are taking place, designed with intention, to connect one another in community.
Upcoming Events:
2026 Summer Trail Challenge: July 1st through August 31st:
The 2026 Summer Trail Challenge kicks off July 1! This community-wide challenge invites you to explore six sites at different PRLT preserves, and we reward you for doing it. Explore the wonders of the great outdoors available across Gorham, Westbrook, Standish, and Windham, while searching for natural facts to collect in your passport. Visit all the sites and collect a prize at the end!
Passport Pick-Up Begins: June 25, 2026 at Summer Trail Challenge Kick-Off with REI Westbrook
Challenge Runs: July 1 – August 31, 2026
Prize Pick-Up Begins: Early September. 2026 (exact date TBA)
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What’s Your Mainescape?: July 1 - August 31. Statewide.
Maine is simply beautiful. From its shoreline to its lakes and mountains and everywhere in between. And Maine is enormous – hundreds upon hundreds of miles in which to explore and experience unique people and places. This summer, Maine Public is asking you to share special places that you go to experience the Maine that you love.
This June, July, and August, send in a selfie or two of your ”Mainescape” – a landscape and place that is important to you. Each photo might capture your favorite trail, your go-to diner, your favorite pond, or your favorite attraction. The possibilities – and locations – are endless!
Every photo submitted (yes, you can submit multiple entries!) will count as an entry to a significant prize drawing of a $1,000 shopping spree at LLBean and a Maine Public Sea Bag filled with Maine Public gear!
Submit your Mainescapes photo(s)HERE!
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Celebrating 50 Years of the Common Ground Fair:July 1 - August 30th.
The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) is celebrating the 50th annual Common Ground Country Fair this year, with a number of events including including Fifty Years of Common Ground, an exhibition of five decades of the the posters of the Common Ground Country Fair. The exhibition will be held at the Maine State House in Augusta, June 1 through August 30, and at Waterville Creates in Waterville, September 4 through 30, in partnership with the Maine Arts Commission and Waterville Creates. A full-color catalog will accompany the exhibition.
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Save Our Summits Hike: July 1, every week through September 9th:
Wednesday: 08:15 AM - 12:30 PM;
Friday: 08:15 AM - 12:30 PM
Hike to one of Acadia’s iconic summits AND help Acadia National Park’s efforts to restore native vegetation!
Acadia National Park, in collaboration with Friends of Acadia and Schoodic Institute, invites tenacious hikers to bring bags of soil to the summits of Penobscot and Sargent Mountains to be used for plant restoration. You’ll get to choose how much soil you’ll carry – carrying as little as five pounds (about the size of a large freezer ziplock bag) is a huge help! This soil is integral to the ongoing summit restoration efforts in Acadia National Park.
38th Annual Salmon and Seafood Festival
Labor Day Weekend - Sept 5-6
Since 1987 Eastport Maine has celebrated the end of the summer with a festival, a gathering, and a homage to our local resources. At the center of the celebration is the Atlantic salmon, raised in the cold waters of Passamaquoddy Bay. While food is the main theme of the weekend, enjoy live music by regional performers, arts and crafts vendors, galleries, gift shops, museums, locally brewed beers (wine too) all weekend.
Maine Cheese Festival - Sunday, September, 13, 2026
Manson Park, Pittsfield, Maine
Learn more and secure your tickets at: Mainecheesefestival.org
For More Events, Check out the Maine Public Community Calendar!
August/September 2026
Storytelling as a way of Connecting
The Summit Project
“We carry their stone for a hike; We carry their story for a lifetime.” The mission of TSP is to honor our state’s post-9/11 fallen service members and–through education, fellowship, and physical activity–provide assurance to their families that these sacrifices will never be forgotten. Unlike any project in America, TSP allows Maine communities to honor our fallen heroes through action. Surviving families unearth and donate stones that uniquely represent their loved ones. Volunteers discover the lives of our heroes and then carry these stone and their stories on treks throughout Maine and across the world. We literally share the burden shouldered by our fallen heroes and their families. Each trekker must (1) learn about the fallen hero they choose to honor; (2) carry his/her tribute stone through a physical challenge; and (3) compose a post-event reflection letter addressed to his/her surviving family.
Jane’s Walk
Jane’s Walk is a global festival of free, volunteer-led walking conversations inspired by community activist Jane Jacobs. Jane’s Walks combine the simple act of exploring a place with personal observations, local history, and civic engagement. Next year’s walks take place on May 1st, 2027.
Healthy Peninsula
Healthy Peninsula is a one-of-a kind community health organization which serves the nine towns of the Blue Hill Peninsula and Deer Isle/Stonington. We focus on the areas of healthy eating, healthy families, and healthy aging, listening to community voices and creatively responding to priority needs with our own unique programs, as well as collaborations with local and regional partners.
Porch Fest
This annual event showcases 75+ musical performances throughout the neighborhood. Each year more than 500 individuals make this event happen through volunteering with logistics, performing, and hosting- it’s truly a community effort! Check out the guiding principles here. Next Year’s event is set for September 13, 2026 from 12p-5p.
Ongoing throughout the year, provided by VisitMaine.com
Maine’s cultural landscape is shaped by thousands of years of human presence and by communities that continue to live, create and contribute today. From the original stewards of this land to people who arrived from around the world, Maine’s cultures reflect ongoing stories of identity, adaptation and connection. Across the state, museums, cultural centers, festivals and community gatherings offer opportunities to engage with these living traditions.
Wabanaki Nations—the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Mi’kmaq—are sovereign, living communities with deep roots in what is now called Maine. While museums such as the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, the Hudson Museum in Orono, the Passamaquoddy Cultural Heritage Museum in Princeton and the Penobscot Nation Museum on Indian Island offer important cultural and historical context, they represent just one way of engaging with Wabanaki knowledge and creativity today. Organizations like the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance and events including Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas further highlight how these traditions continue to evolve through contemporary art, community gatherings and enduring cultural practices. Visitors can also support Wabanaki culture by purchasing authentic crafts—such as ash and sweetgrass baskets—directly from Indigenous makers, helping sustain traditional skills while supporting modern-day artists.
French influence in Maine dates back centuries, beginning with Acadian settlement along the northern border in the 1700s and continuing through later waves of French-speaking immigrants from Quebec. Today, Acadian descendants gather each year in Madawaska for the Acadian Festival, while the Franco-American experience is explored at the Franco Center in Lewiston. This heritage is also celebrated through music, food and community at Biddeford’s La Kermesse Festival.
Irish and Scottish communities have played a role in shaping Maine since the colonial era, arriving as settlers, laborers and, in some cases, prisoners of Britain’s 17th-century civil conflicts. In Portland, the Maine Irish Heritage Center and the Maine Irish Heritage Trail explore Irish history and cultural life. Each summer, Celtic traditions are celebrated statewide at events such as the Maine Celtic Celebration in Belfast and the Maine Highland Games and Festival in Windsor.
Maine’s African American history is deeply woven into the state’s past and present. The Portland Freedom Trail offers a self-guided way to explore sites connected to Black residents who lived, worked and played vital roles in abolition and civic life.
Jewish life in Maine is explored at the Maine Jewish Museum, housed in Portland’s historic Etz Chaim Synagogue, one of the state’s oldest surviving synagogues. The Maine Jewish Film Festival presents films that reflect the diversity of Jewish culture and experience.
Northern and coastal Maine also reflect the influence of Scandinavian immigrants. In Aroostook County, descendants of the state’s Swedish Colony host the annual Midsommar Festival. Maine’s Finnish heritage is preserved and shared at the Finnish American Heritage Society of Maine museum in West Paris and the Finnish Heritage House in South Thomaston.
Greek culture is celebrated each year at the Greek Festival, hosted by the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Portland. Drawing inspiration from early 20th-century Greek immigrants, the festival brings together music, dance, and food that continue to connect generations.
Together, these communities reflect a Maine shaped not only by history, but by people who continue to define its cultural life today.
September 28, 2026
Location TBD
Can’t join us? Here are some things you can do on your own - feel free to share your photos of your events with us! Reach out to your neighbors with a friendly greeting or note. Organize a neighborhood gathering or potluck to foster community spirit. Offer help with tasks like yard work or grocery shopping for someone in need.
“… a driving movement that unites community members to accelerate change. It is a deeply coordinated and collaborative effort led by United Way of Kennebec Valley and driven by community leaders coming together from across business, nonprofit and government sectors.” - United Way, Kennebec Valley
Other Calendars and Listings
Feel free to click the links to the right, to find other events and activities going on throughout Maine.