The DRA Great Salt Bay Music Fest: Roots, Rock n’ Reggae

A Rasta Peace Patch turns any outfit into a reggae celebration!

One of our favorite local Maine events is back and better than ever! The Roots, Rock n' Reggae Fest is a musical extravaganza of good vibes and great tunes, taking place at one of our very favorite places--the Salt Bay Farm in Damariscotta! Owned by the Damariscotta River Association, the Salt Bay Farm is on 100 acres of protected land in the Great Salt Bay. The Damariscotta River Association is an awesome organization, dedicated to preserving and promoting the natural, cultural, and historical heritage of the Damariscotta River and surrounding areas. Many of the places we love to hike in the midcoast are being protected and maintained by the DRA---in short, they rock!

Last year's Reggae by the Bay celebration was awesome, and we are super psyched for this year's event, taking place this Saturday, July 23 from 10:30AM to 5:00PM. A fun event for the whole family, there is great food, tasty drinks, and awesome music surrounded by the gorgeous backdrop of stunning fields and forest.

Singer/songwriter Bruce Hardina will get the party started at 11:00AM, with his warm melodies and insightful lyrics easing the crowd into an awesome day as his tunes skip and tumble from reflective to rockin'.

Following Hardina's mellow grooves, the New Rangers will take the stage at noon with their unique blend of folk and country-roots rock.

Gypsy Tailwind will rock your socks off at 1:30, playing soulful Americana with a modern twist. See them performing their original song "Spirits" below:



Next up is some awesome reggae with festival favorite Beat Horizon. Known for their high-energy reggae, there is no way you will be able to listen to this band without getting up and grooving!



Mexicali Blues is proud to be sponsoring this event with other local businesses, and all proceeds support the conservation and education work of the Damariscotta River Association. "Tickets are on sale now at Maine Coast Bookstore in Damariscotta, Mexicali Blues in Newcastle, and also at DRA headquarters at 110 Belvedere Road in Damariscotta. Prices are $20 in advance, $25 at the gate, children 12 and under free. A single ticket is good for the entire day, granting access to all four performances. This year, hoping to make the concert more accessible to teens and young adults, the DRA will offer a special student price of $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. Volunteers are needed and receive free admission and a t-shirt." More info can be found at the DRA website.

Come join us for a fun and fabulous day of awesome music and great times! We hope to see you there!

Music Monday: Roots & Reggae by the Bay

One of our favorite local organizations, the Damariscotta River Association, along with sponsorship from us and other local businesses, is putting on the annual Roots and Reggae by the Bay fest this coming Saturday, July 31. It is to be a most rocking time; it's outside, family friendly, affordable (proceeds go to a great cause, preserving and protecting local land and animal habitats), and there will be four awesome bands to get you boogieing!

photo via this blog

The Jason Spooner Trio is a groovy acoustic bluesy folk-rock ensemble, with great lyrics that have won Mr. Spooner many awards. This group is a local favorite and are sure to take us on a wonderfully mellow sonic ride. When we were looking for a video to share, we found the band covering Radiohead's "Subterranian Homesick Alien", and for that, Jason Spooner Trio, we give you many enthusiastic thumbs up!

Here they are playing their own "Spaceship":

photo via maine common sense

The Jerks of Grass seamlessly meld traditional bluegrass stylings with progressive roots music to play fun and high-energy tunes sure to get you hopping and bopping and dancing around! Check out this video of them performing; the sound is great but the visual footage is kind of fuzzy.

Stream is known as"Maine's premier reggae band", playing reggae with elements of dancehall, zouk, and soca sounds. Chances are if you have been to any reggae fests in Maine you have seen these guys, and know they put on a great show that is super fun for dancing!



The New Rangers are an acoustic offshoot of the Round Pond Rangers. They are a rockin' band who we hope will grace us with some of their sweet Dead covers and Irish fight songs!

If all that music isn't enough to tempt you to join us at this fun fest, there will also be fresh local oysters, Caribbean food and spirits, as well as local and international crafts.

You can purchase tickets at Damariscotta River Association (only location for credit card sales, 207-563-1393), Maine Coast Book Shop & Café (Damariscotta), Mexicali Blues (Newcastle and Freeport), Sherman’s Books & Stationery (Boothbay), Treats (Wiscasset), Wild Rufus Records (Belfast), and Bull Moose Music (Brunswick & all locations).

We hope to see you there!

Alewives & the Damariscotta Mills

investigating the alewife windvane

Today the Mexicali creative crew and three lovely models took a field trip to Damariscotta Mills, home of Maine's oldest and most productive alewife fishery. We had a great time, took some wonderful pictures, and were lucky to encounter friendly people who graciously allowed us to traipse across their property for our picture-taking. Everybody had a good time and we were all happy that the sun was shining! Here are some of the things that we did:

playing ukulele on the fish ladder

blowing bubbles on the lawn

doing crazy yoga poses

being terribly serious at all times

meeting Moxie, the adorable pup

running from the giant osprey

looking at alewives from the fish ladder

"Why are they looking at married women drinking hoppy beer in the water?" you might be asking. For those of us just coming into the know, alewives are a type of fish! They spend the majority of their lives at sea, but come to freshwater to spawn. Using their sense of smell to guide them, the alewives migrate upstream from the ocean to calmer waters in rivers, streams, ponds and lakes. The fish ladder is a stone-built structure that allows the alewives to swim all the way upstream even though there is a dam at the top of the river.

Look closely and you will see many alewives swimming upstream!

Historically, alewives were a common sight in Maine rivers. Historians say that alewives used to be the most abundant migratory fish in this area, until the expansion of human production and progress led to the building of more and more dams that put a stop to the alewives' ability to get where they were trying to go. Alewives tie our oceans, rivers, and lakes together, and play an important role in our ecosystem. For example, alewives are the only hosts of a mussel called the alewife floater mussel, which lives in the coastal lakes and rivers of the Atlantic. When alewife migration has been halted by dam production, the alewife floater mussel disappears as well. This may seem to be something that does not affect us humans, however this fact may alter something else, which changes something else, and on and on until who knows what happens? Change is certainly not a bad thing, but when it is due to humans disrupting the lives, natural habits, and habitats of animals, it just doesn't seem right.

The alewives undertake their long journey to spawn every year in May and June. The Fish Committee of Nobleboro and Newcastle puts on a festival annually during Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the "running of the alewives". Everybody gathers to marvel at the mass migration of the fish, and there are activities, music, food, and fun! All of it is to benefit the restoration of the fish ladder, which has been deteriorating steadily over the years in ways that quick fixes can't salvage. Learn more about their restoration efforts and how you can help here, and check out the Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder Restoration Project here to learn more about the mills, alewives, and where to go if you want to go see them swimming upstream!

Thanks to our three wonderful models and the folks who let us legally trespass for a good photo! All clothing, jewelry, and accessories in these photos can be found in Mexicali Blues stores, with some items also available at MexicaliBlues.com.