Other special events take place throughout the year, and the school orchestra often presents summer performances. The festival is in its 35th year. The events are sponsored by the local chamber of commerce, and past participants have included the Bath Municipal Band, the Merrymeeting Community Band and the Royal River Philharmonic Jazz Band. Sit in a pew once occupied by Joshua Chamberlain or Harriet Beecher Stowe as you listen to a noontime recital on the restored 1883 Hutchings-Plaisted tracker organ of the First Parish Church. The church itself is an area monument, with cloud-gray pinnacles pointing toward the sky.
Children are welcome.
From the Portland String Quartet to jazz duos, there are plenty of summer concerts indoors and out in Boothbay Harbor. Grouped under the name of the Lincoln Arts Festival, the concerts take place at churches, boatyards and inns from mid-June through early October. Tickets are available through the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce or by writing to the Lincoln Arts Festival, P.O. Box 391, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538. Past performers have included Maine composer Thomas Bucci, organist David Maxwell and the Lincoln Quartet from the Lincoln Center in New York City. The Portland String Quartet and the Portland Brass Quintet are also popular performers.