October 8, 2011
How about them apples?
Come pick apples, learn about them, then eat them!
Celebrate the History, Flavor
and Tradition of Maine Apples
Sunday October 23, 2011
12 noon- 4pm Rain or Shine
Location: Common Ground Education Center, 294 Crosby Brook Rd, Unity Maine
Admission: $4, $2 for members of MOFGA & Maine Pomological Society
There will be…
Local Products
* Apples, apple products, home-made goodies, cheeses, honey, wine, and other local products.
Educational Workshops & Talks
* apple art
* Maine’s rich apple history
* cider making
See & Taste Rare & Heirloom Apples
* bring your own varieties to show and taste *
Identifying your Mystery Variety
* Our Dream Team of Maine Apple Identifiers will help you identify your apples
Sponsored by MOFGA, Fedco, and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension
September 27, 2011
Maine Marathon Race
Are you a runner? Come down and watch or participate in this years Maine Marathon Race. The marathon will take place on Sunday October 2. The race will kick off at 7:45am at Baxter Boulevard in Portland. There will be an early start time at 6am. Early start participants are not eligible for awards. Interested? but not exactly a marathon runner? Why not take part in the half marathon? There is some serious prize money available in you are a serious runner. The first male and female to finish the marathon will be awarded 500$, the second place male and female will be awarded 250$, third place male and female will be awarded 100$. If you’re really looking to boost your wallet you might want to start training now. The first male to finish under 2:25 will receive 1,000$. The first female to finish under 2:38 will also receive 1,000$. Again not a marathon runner? Don’t worry half marathon runners can also make their wallet fatter, if they’re motivated enough. The first place male and female of the half marathon will be awarded 200$. The second place male and female will receive 100$, and the third place male and female will receive 50$ each. If you’re running the half marathon and are the first to complete it under 1:07 for males, and 1:17 for females you will receive a 500$ bonus. The Maine marathon and half marathon may seem like a perfect way to enhance your wallet if you’re a runner but it also contributes to many different charities. Over the years millions have been raised to different charities. For a list click here. So If you want to do a little running for a great cause and to benefit your self in more way than one sign up today!
Love great events? Wish you had more family time to really appreciate each other? While you’re in Portland why not stop by Festiva Adventure Club and learn how much you can save on vacations. Festiva has been around for over 10 years and has the experience you can trust. View a 120 minute presentation and learn how Festiva can make your vacations a real experience. Call 1(888)695-0200 today to set up a reservation!
August 31, 2011
Today is National Trail Mix Day
National Trail Mix Day features a high energy, tasty treat for the trail or snacks. You can buy packages of trail mix at a store. Or, you can make up your own, using the ingredients you like best.
When you head out to a campout, a hike or to go biking, take the Trail Mix along with you. It provides the extra energy boost to keep you from tiring along the way, and allows you to reach your destination full of pep. Don’t limit trail mix to the trail. It is also good at campouts. (Or if you are me, my desk at work.)
Here is a fun way that the Boy Scouts make Trail Mix:
Ask each hiker or camper to bring a box or bag of their favorite cereal, nuts, pretzels, raisins, dried fruit, M&Ms, etc. For younger hikers or new members of the group, it’s best to provide them with a list of the types of food that can go into trail mix. That way, the inexperienced hiker won’t bring something that can not be easily carried. At the campout or before the hike, bring the group together and mix all the food in a big, big bowl. Put the mix into sealable baggies and pass them out to each hiker.
Tips: When making your own trail mix, avoid messy items that leave your hands sticky, like mini chocolate pieces. If you MUST have chocolate, use M&M’s or something with a shell.) Also avoid too many salty items. For example, unsalted nuts are better than salted ones.
Happy trails to you!
If you love hiking, you might be interested in trying out Festiva’s own Rangeley Lake
Resort. Rangeley Lake Resort is a four-season vacation destination in Maine where each season offers a variety of opportunities for vacationers. Summer is ideal for hiking, canoeing, kayaking, water skiing, fishing, golf, tennis, mountain biking, ATV excursions and trying out your trail mix recipe. If you’re in Portland, stop by Festiva Adventure Club and view a quick presentation on how much you can save on fun family vacations. Festiva Adventure Club has been around for over 10 years and has the experience you can trust. Festiva has resorts all up and down the east coast and more. Call 1(888)695-0200 today to set up a reservation!
August 14, 2011
DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant
Do you love fresh seafood and the water? DiMillos Floating Restaurant is famous for its fresh seafood and family legacy in the Portland area.
DiMillos is a converted ferry that ran between New Castel, Delaware, Pennsville, New Jersey. After that it ran between Newport and Jamestown, Rhode Island. In 1980 it was sold and converted into a floating restaurant, one of the largest in America.
Tony DiMillo, the restaurant’s namesake, opened his first restaurant, “Anthony’s” in 1954
on Fore Street where he coined the slogan, “The clams you eat here today slept last night in Casco Bay.” In 1960, with development changing the look of Fore Street, Tony moved Anthony’s to Center Street. In 1965, Tony opened “DiMillo’s on the Waterfront,” just across the street from where it sits now. DiMillo’s quickly became one of Portland’s most popular restaurants, as people came from all over the country to sample DiMillo’s famous lobster dinners.
In 1978, Tony purchased the dilapidated Long Wharf, built “DiMillo’s Marina,” and quickly filled all 120 slips. In December 1982, “DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant” opened her doors 
and became the only floating restaurant on the upper East Coast. Today, Tony’s wife, sisters and sons continue to maintain the high standards he established over 40 years ago. There is always a DiMillo on board.
DiMillos is open for lunch and dinner everyday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. It is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. They only accept reservations for larger parties. Are you sick of waiting forever to get a table? They offer call-ahead seating. Simply call 30 minutes before you leave and if there is a waitlist, they will add your name to it and estimate your wait time.
DiMillo’s on the Water
25 Long Wharf, Portland, ME 04101
Phone (207) 772-2216, Fax (207) 772-1081 Workrestaurant@dimillos.com
Dining Hours: starting at 11 AM, 7 days a week
August 12, 2011
Bug Light Park
In South Portland, Maine there is a walking trail that hugs the shoreline and the beautiful coast of southern Maine. There is also a lighthouse at the end.
The complete trail is a total of six miles and while you travel down it, you are likely to run into joggers, runners, people walking dogs, and families hand in hand. Along the trail there are houses snug in their backyard gardens, trees that canopy over you as you walk, paths near the water, and fields of green, lush grass that is perfect for a picnic and a rest stop. You don’t need to go the entire six miles either, you can turn around and just walk back the way you came if you want!
Bug Light Park is a good way to get a cool breeze off of the water during this stretch of hot weather that we are having and in the fall, it is a beautiful and delightful way to witness the leaves changing color.
And if you are in the area, you should come into Festiva Adventure Club at our Portland location to learn about how you can vacation with your family at nicer places for the price you pay already. You will receive some free gifts as a thank you for sitting through one of our 120 minute presentations!
August 10, 2011
Saddleback Mountain Bluegrass Festival
When: Friday, August 12, 2011 – Sunday, August 13, 2011
Where: Rangeley, Maine – Map
More information: Saddleback Mountain website, Bluegrass Festival page
With nearly 2000 people enjoying the concert in year one, the 2nd Annual Saddleback Bluegrass Festival is sure to be a huge success again in 2011.
Beginning at 3:00 PM on Friday, outstanding youth talent from around Maine will be featured. On Saturday, starting at 11:00 AM, the “sights and sounds of some of the best national Bluegrass performers” will be featured.
“The concert will take place on the slopes of Saddleback Mountain. Food vendors and a beer garden will be available. Camping is available on a first come first serve basis beginning at noon on Friday.”
If you love Saddleback Mountian and Rangeley, you might be interested in
trying out Festiva’s own Rangeley Lake Resort. Rangeley Lake Resort is a four-season vacation destination in Maine where each season offers a variety of opportunities for vacationers. Summer is ideal for hiking, canoeing, kayaking, water skiing, fishing, golf, tennis, mountain biking, ATV excursions and trying out your trail mix recipe. If you’re in Portland, stop by Festiva Adventure Club and view a quick presentation on how much you can save on fun family vacations. Festiva Adventure Club has been around for over 10 years and has the experience you can trust. Festiva has resorts all up and down the east coast and more. Call 1(888)695-0200 today to set up a reservation!
July 17, 2011
Novel release and signing
Van Booy’s debut novel, Everything Beautiful Began After, will be released in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom in July 2011.
Andre Dubus III calls the novel, “A powerful meditation on the undying nature of love and the often cruel beauty of one’s own fate.”
According to Andre Dubus III, the best-selling author and National Book Award Finalist, “If F. Scott Fitzgerald and Marguerite Duras had had a son, he would be Simon Van Booy.” A native of London, Van Booy’s 2009 collection Love Begins in Winter won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. He is also the author the story collection The Secret Lives of People in Love, and editor of three philosophy books: Why We Fight, Why We Need Love, and Why Our Decisions Don’t Matter. His essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, and on NPR. His work has been translated into ten languages.
Van Booy lives in New York City, where he teaches at the School of Visual Arts and is involved in the Rutgers Early College Humanities program for young adults living in under-served communities. http://simonvanbooy.com/
Presented with The Telling Room and Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.
Event is Wednesday 07.20.2011, Doors at 7:00 PM, Starts at 7:30 PM, free, All Ages
A percentage of the booksales will be donated to the Telling Room’s youth education programs.
While you and your family are enjoying this book signing, feel free to stop by Festiva Resorts’ office in Portland. At 
Festiva Resorts we make it our responsibility to make sure that families are able to take more vacations and save money. Whether it is staying in one of our cabins at Rangeley Lake or at our beachfront resort in St. Augustine, Fla., (where there is another beautiful lighthouse) we want to make you a happy member with us. Feel free to call us at 888-695-0200 and schedule a visit to learn more AND walk away with free gifts just for coming in!
July 14, 2011
Relay for Life: Success
Survivors were cheered on as they did a lap across the track
The Relay is now over and it was a HUGE success!
Over $54,000 was raised towards the fight against cancer. Can’t get much better than that! A big thank you to everyone who participated this year.
Festiva was excited to be part of sucha wonderful event and is preparing for next year. Check out some of the photos of our Festiva Adventure Club in Portland employees at the Relay. To find out about next year’s Relay happenings, check Cancer.org for your local Relay For Life event to see what events will be happening near you!
Festiva's marketing staff and VO gear up for a long night
If you are in the area of Portland, ME sometime, stop by Festiva Adventure Club, check out our log cabin in the city, and hear about our great deals on our Members Only Vacation Packages. Ask one of our Festiva Hospitality Travel Agents how they can get your family to take vacations while still respecting your budget. More information can be found at www.festiva.travel.
Festiva Portland's VO Liz and daughter Riley take a quick H2O break and smile for us.
July 13, 2011
5 Ideas for Summer Family Fun
Summer is the best season because you can do fun things during the day or at night and it is always a great temperature. Here are some fun things you could do withyour family this summer.
1. Catch fireflies. Catch them in your hands (but don’t squish them!), or with a net and put them in a jar. Remember to poke airholes if you plan to keep them, but releasing them after catching abunch is the best part! Your kids will love watching the lights swirl out of the jar at once and disappear into the night. Remember, fireflies look like scary bugs up close, but they are not, they don’t bite and they are just so cool looking.
2. Stay up late and look at the stars. Grab a blanket and pillows and make it a whole family activity in the back yard! This could be a planned event, or just migrate to the blanket from an evening cookout. If you are an astronomy buff, try and find all the constellation you know. If you aren’t, see what shapes you can find in the stars. It’s like the cloud game, but with some connect the dots mixed in.
3. Play flashlight tag. This requires staying up late so the kids will think it’s extra fun. If you have little ones that you don’t want to run around alone, make teams instead. Flashlight tag has no concerte rules, make them up to suit your family and friends!
4. Make your own bubbles and have a bubble blowing contest. We recently posted an entry on how to make you own bubbles. You can use that or buy your own and have a bubble party in the driveway! Invite the neighbors and have a contest to blow the biggest bubble.
5. Learn how to fly a really good paper airplane. Get ideas for different styles online and try them out! Here is a good website with video tutorials. It’s an oragami lesson and aerodynamics lesson all in one, disguised as summer fun. Make it exciting for the artist in your family and get different colored paper to use. Let the kids decorate the planes, but only with colored pencil! Too much wax or ink from crayons and markers will weigh down your plane, which is the lesson I learned when I did this last week.
Wish you could spend more quality time with your kids? Want to go on more vacations with them, but don’t have enough money for it? At Festiva Resorts in Portland, Maine we have a lot of offer to help you out with your vacationing. We are a members-only Adventure Club where you can learn how to vacation cheaper and more often. Festiva’s Portland office on Riverside Street has 120 minute presentations 5 days a week where you can walk away with plenty of gifts for just attending one of our presentations. You can get gas cards, Jimmy The Greeks Gift certificates, and Cruise tickets for you and your family. Our family-friendly Festiva Resorts employees are very informative and can supply you with some fun new ideas that can bring you and your family closer together and make some lasting memories. You can learn more about us at www.festiva.travel.
July 10, 2011
The Kids Are Alright: Theodore Treehouse
SPACE and the Maine Academy of Modern Music debut The Kids Are Alright, a new series of Wednesday lunchtime performances by local musicians for the whole family can dig! Stop by for a break after the Farmer’s Market, or before you hit the beach for a cool hour of music by great live acts tailored for the kids.
Parents and kids will be able to meet the musicians, ask them questions, and even experience an “instrument petting zoo”!
Kicking off the summertime fun is Theodore Treehouse, local rock boys extraordinaire, whose album Mercury: Closest to the Sun, has fast become a favorite around here. The quartet’s jaunty, infectious rhythms and brash energy will get everybody’s feet moving.
So remember to stop by! Upcoming show is Wednesday 07.13.2011, Starts at 12:00 PM, $3 Adults/ $2 Kids, All Ages
Love having fun with your children? Wish you could go out and have fun more often? Why not stop by Festiva Adventure Club. Located at 190 Riverside St in Portland. View a quick 120 minute presentation. Festiva has been around for over 10 years and has the experience to provide your family with the best vacation possible for less. Call Festiva today to set up a reservation at 1(888)695-0200!
