PORTLAND, Maine (February 1, 2012) — Mercy’s 7^th Annual Gourmet Gala for Gary’s House Food and Wine Extravaganza will be held on Wednesday, March 21^st  at the Holiday Inn by the Bay and will feature 16 restaurants and chefs from greater Portland’s restaurants and caterers.

Hosted by comedian Joe Ricchio with guest judge Sam Hayward, James Beard Award winner and Chef at Fore Street, this food and wine extravaganza includes both a silent and a live auction, as well as live music by Paper Street Jazz Band. And all new this year— beer tasting!

This event is open to the general public, details follow:

What:              Mercy’s 7^th Annual Gourmet Gala for Gary’s House

When:             Wednesday, March 21

Time:              Doors open at 6 PM, Judging is 6-7:30 PM

Where:            Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland

Cost:               $40 per person

Highlights:     Comedian Joe Ricchio as the guest MC and auctioneer, Sam Hayward, Chef at Fore Street as guest judge, Music by Paper Street Jazz Band, Silent and Live Auction – items include airline tickets, restaurant gift certificates, jewelry, art and much more.

Restaurants and vendors attending the event include A Moveable Feast, Calendar Island’s Maine Lobster, Cranberry Island Kitchen, CVC Catering, DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant, Figa, Flour Designs, Frog & Turtle Gastro Pub, Holiday Inn by the Bay, Mercy Food Service, Nosh, Otto’s Pizza, The Meat House, Pineland Farms, The Farmer’s Table, and Zapoteca.

For tickets, more information about the event or to sponsor, please contact Kim Toppi at
207-879-3605. For a complete list of participating restaurants visit our website or Facebook Page.

About Gary’s House
Gary’s House opened in 1998 as a safe and affordable place for families to stay when a loved one is in the hospital. Gary’s House is more than just a place for guests to rest, it’s a place where families can gain strength from one another while they cope with emotional and physical stresses that can accompany illness and hospitalization.

About Mercy Health System of Maine
Mercy Health System of Maine is a growing community of health care professionals who provide clinically excellent, compassionate care. A recognized leader in quality, safety, innovation and patient experience, Mercy operates campuses throughout southern Maine, offering a broad range of medical and surgical services, as well as primary and specialty care. The story of Mercy includes Mercy Hospital, Gary’s House, McAuley Residence, Mercy Recovery Center, and VNA Home Health Hospice. For more information, please call (207) 879-3486 or visit www.mercyhospital.org.

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]]> http://www.prmaine.com/2012/02/comedian-joe-ricchio-and-chef-sam-hayward-host-7th-annual-gourmet-gala-for-gary%e2%80%99s-house/feed/ 0 http://www.prmaine.com/2012/01/children-are-always-welcome-at-the-toboggan-races/ http://www.prmaine.com/2012/01/children-are-always-welcome-at-the-toboggan-races/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:47:04 +0000 BroadreachPR http://www.prmaine.com/?p=9872 CAMDEN, Maine (January 26, 2012)-  The 2012 U.S. National Toboggan Championships, being held the weekend of February 10-12,  2012  in Camden, Maine, is the place for family fun, complete with tons of on-snow activities. Once again, the Coastal Children’s Museum will sponsor and host various special children’s activities!

What:  U.S. National Toboggan Championships (Open to the Public) Children’s Activities

When:  February 11- 12, 10 am to 2 pm

Where: Next to the Camden Snow Bowl Lodge. Camden, ME

Costs: Free / Open to the Public

Highlights:  snow sculpture contest, snow maze/obstacle course, junior sledding hill and more!

A Snow-People and Snow Sculpture building contest will kick off the children activities on Saturday, February 11th at 10am, where kids ages two and up can participate. A Snow Maze will also be up and ready for the kids to wind their way through, stopping at game stations throughout the maze for added challenges and prizes. At noon, kids and parents can warm up at the Snow Bowl’s Lodge before heading out for more fun in the children’s area!

Families will also be able to watch the Toboggan National Championships, seeing people from around the nation suit up in wacky costumes, board wooden toboggans, race down a 400ft ice chute, and be shot out onto a frozen lake.

Families can take the short ride down to Aldermere Farms to visit the “Oreo Cookie Cows” in Rockport. The weekend will also feature tubing, skiing, ice skating, snow shoeing, musical shows, food contests, fireworks and more. For a full schedule of activities for the weekend, check out: http://winter.camdensnowbowl.com/22nd-annual-toboggan-championships

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The Franco Center will present another unique, festive and must-experience event with its offering of “Mardi Gras in L/A” in the Franco Center’s Heritage Hall. In the tradition of New Orleans, Mardi Gras audiences will be treated to Cajun cuisine, spirits, and music.

As many know, Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” en Francais. However, this holiday has a much wider historical and international appeal beyond the Francophone diaspora. Traditionally, Mardi Gras is the last decadent or “fat” feast before the fasting that often accompanies the season of Lent. Here at the Franco Center, we take this as a serious endeavor and, for several years, have presented the most notable Mardi Gras celebrations in the Lewiston/Auburn area. This year will be no exception!

Chef Edmond, “Directeur des Andouilles et des Cornichons” at the Franco Center, has an amazing meal planned of traditional New Orleans cuisine, including Crab Gumbo, Jumbalaya, New Orleans Ratatouille, Andouilles with Onions and Peppers, Truffled Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and the crowning dish, a King & Queen Cake. There will be ample amounts of classic New Orleans libations, like the legendary Hurricane, to help you forget the impending fast.

Of course, no Mardi Gras party is complete without some foot stomping, street shaking, soul stirring music. To help us get in the proper mood for celebrating, we’ve got local favorites the Blues Buzzards. This group, led by veteran guitar man Earl Bigelow, is dipped in the blues, has heaps of horns, and knows how to fatten up a Tuesday, or Saturday, as the case may be.

About the Blues Buzzards
The Blues Buzzards are an 8-piece blues/rock band with a 3-man horn section, playing a rompin’, stompin’  mix of tunes by Eric Clapton, Ray Charles, T Bone Walker, Van Morrison, Elvis, The Beatles, and countless others.  Lead by veteran guitar man Earl Bigelow, The Buzzards have been thrilling Maine audiences for over thirty years.  The horn section gives the band a fat,  brassy sound along the lines of Blood Sweat and Tears, Tower of Power, and other horn bands.  Comprised of seasoned musicians, the Buzzards turn any event they’re playing into a rockin’ good time.

About the Franco Center
We are Le Centre D’Heritage Franco-Americain. The Franco American Heritage Center in Lewiston, ME, USA.

We believe history and heritage are action verbs, just like community and neighbor. We practice these by engaging members of our community young and old to share their experiences and traditions, so we might all benefit from them.

We’re a performing arts organization that celebrates our Franco-American Heritage; a legacy handed to us by generations of our brave ancestors who relocated here from France, from Quebec, and from all across the globe. We also strive to welcome new visitors and residents to our region, engaging members of our community young and old to share their experiences and traditions, so we might all benefit from them.

We present the best in symphonic music, solo instrumentalists, chorales and choirs, and contemporary music. We have a wildly successful theme night series, as well as more informal nightclub performances.

To Buy Tickets for this event: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/223484
For General Box Office and Ticket Information, please visit: http://www.francocenter.org/box-office-info/
Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/francocenter
Find us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/francocenterME

Quick on the heels of a blockbuster New Year’s Eve Celebration with the Girls of L/A, the Franco Center in Lewiston, ME is pleased to present a slate of shows to start the New Year with a jubilant mix of music.

Funky Divas of Gospel on Saturday, January 21st, 2012
in the Franco Center Heritage Hall
Doors at 7:00pm / Concert at 7:30pm
General Admission Tickets: $16.00 Adult / $14.00 Students and Seniors / $18.00 Day of Show

The group began 20 years ago on the seacoast of New Hampshire and currently is the collaboration of 4 vocalists and 4 piece band. Our purpose is to share the joys – and sorrows of gospel music, and to rock the house. The spirit that flows through our songs goes back to the roots of music itself. It is universal and tells stories as old as time. We are performers who love entertaining audiences. Our music is primarily defined as gospel in the southern African-American tradition with a heavy R&B flavor. However, while it is that, it is not all we sing. We also include traditional gospel songs, rock, folk and a cappella. Our music is roots music. It is harmony. It is hard rockin’ and reflective. It is toe tapping, it is hand clapping, It can (and does) move audiences to their feet and into the aisles to dance. It roars. It purrs. It is above all – GOSPEL – and the Divas remind everybody, all the time – “Gospel is not now, and never was a spectator sport”.

To Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/217023
For more information: http://www.funkydivasofgospel.com/

Piano Series: Tamara Poddubnaya on Friday, February 4th, 2012
in the Franco Center Performance Hall
Doors at 7:00pm / Concert at 7:30pm
General Admission Tickets: $16.00 Adult / $14.00 Students and Seniors / $18.00 Day of Show
* PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT REPLACES THE PREVIOUSLY ADVERTISED CONCERT WITH IGOR LOVCHINSKY ON THIS DATE.

Piano Series: Concert No. 4
One of Russian’s foremost pianists and a master teacher, Tamara Poddubnaya returns to perform at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston. A distinguished graduate of St. Petersburg’s Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, Dr. Poddubnaya soon established herself as one of Russia’s foremost keyboard artists and piano teachers. Renowned for her masterful command of a vast repertoire, she has performed to great acclaim in Europe and the United States. Patrons of last season’s Piano Series will remember her interpretations of Schumann and Chopin. She frequently serves on juries at international piano competitions and keeps a busy schedule of teaching and performing in Russia, the Netherlands, and the United States, where she is Professor of Piano at the Long Island Conservatory and visiting professor at the Portland Conservatory of Music.

To Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/217015
For more information: http://www.tamarapoddubnaya.com/

Irish Descendants on Monday, February 6th, 2012
in the Franco Center Heritage Hall
Doors at 6:00pm / Concert at 7:00pm
General Admission Tickets: $20.00 Adults / $5 Students / $22 Day of Show

Formed in the spring of 1990, The Irish Descendants, have been a mainstay in the Newfoundland and Canadian music industry for over two decades. In that time the band has performed over 4000 shows across North America and beyond! With the founding members all hailing from various outport fishing communities, the original goal for the group was to take the music that they all learned and performed home in their kitchens, to the festival stages, pubs, and concert halls of their beloved Newfoundland. In a very short time, after the release of their first CD Misty Morning Shore (1991), the first CD ever released by a Newfoundland band, it was clear that they were on track to take their music on a worldwide journey! Over the years the line-up of the band has been led under the guidance of front man and founding member, Con O’Brien. One of Newfoundland’s most recognized entertainers, his rich baritone voice, once described as, “ a voice that could wake the dead”, has been performing Irish Newfoundland music for a quarter century. The current line-up, for the winter and spring 2011 touring season, will see regulars, Robert Kelly from Fogo Island Newfoundland (bass & vocals), and veteran St John’s musician Dave Panting (guitar, bouzouki, mandolin & vocals), joined by another icon and veteran traditional player Kelly Russell (fiddle, bouzouki, concertina, whistles, vocals). The brand of music that The Irish Descendants are known and loved for is steeped in a rich tradition. Con O’Brien is the oldest member of the 12th generation of his family living on the Island! The O’Brien’s of Bay Bulls as they are locally known, came from Waterford City Ireland in 1721. These forefathers settled in the little town of, Bay Bulls, (Today’s population 1200) located on the Southern Shore of the Avalon Peninsula, 20 miles to the south of the capital city St John’s, North America’s oldest city. Here in this place they were able to carve out a life for themselves using the almighty cod fishery as a means to survive, all the while, like all of the Newfoundland Irish, passing on the traditions and culture of their Irish home, generation to generation.

To Buy Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/219586
For more information: http://www.irishdescendants.com/

About the Franco Center:
We are Le Centre D’Heritage Franco-Americain; The Franco American Heritage Center in Lewiston, ME, USA. We believe history and heritage are action verbs, just like community and neighbor. We practice these by engaging members of our community young and old to share their experiences and traditions, so we might all benefit from them. We’re a performing arts organization that celebrates our Franco-American Heritage; a legacy handed to us by generations of our brave ancestors who relocated here from France, from Quebec, and from all across the globe. We also strive to welcome new visitors and residents to our region. We present the best in symphonic music, solo instrumentalists, chorales and choirs, and contemporary music. We have a wildly successful theme night series, as well as more informal nightclub performances.

To Buy Tickets Online, visit: http://www.francocenter.org/box-office-info/
To Buy Tickets By Phone, call: 207.689.2000
To Buy Tickets In Person: 46 Cedar Street, Lewiston, ME from 8:30am – 4:00pm
Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/francocenter
Find us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/francocenterME

The Bank of Maine Presents:
The Maine Striper Sessions with The Jason Spooner Trio & Pete Kilpatrick Band
A Benefit Concert for The Coastal Conservation Association of Maine
Port City Music Hall
November 18, 2011 7pm
ADV: $15.00
DOS: $18.00
VIP: $30.00 (SOLD OUT)

Tickets available online @ http://www.portcitymusichall.com , in person at the Port City Music Hall Box Office at 504 Congress Street, or charge by phone at 1-888-512-SHOW.

Port City Music Hall will host the First Annual Maine Striper Sessions – a unique benefit concert featuring two national artists with strong ties to Maine – The Jason Spooner Band and the Pete Kilpatrick Band.  For the first time ever, both bands will take the stage at Port City  – all proceeds from the concert will benefit the Maine’s Coastal Conservation Association, or “CCA”, which is the only grassroots volunteer and nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving Maine’s saltwater sport fishing and marine resources.  The Maine Striper Sessions is brought to you by The Bank of Maine; other organizations supporting this unique event are Taylor, McCormack & Frame; MacDonald Page; HM Payson; and the Boulos Company.

The Coastal Conservation Association of Maine
Dedicated to the protection and restoration of marine life for the enjoyment of all.

http://cca-maine.org/

Pete Kilpatrick Band

http://www.petekilpatrickband.com/

The Pete Kilpatrick Band hails from the coastal city of Portland, Maine. They have been writing, recording, and performing regularly since 2004 and have released five independent albums to date. They have been named Maine’s best act four times in the Portland Best Music Awards and have performed over 1,000 shows since their formation. Throughout the spring of 2011, the band was on the road w/ O.A.R. and DJ Logic performing throughout the country as part of FestEvol and Stefan Lessard’s of Dave Matthews Band’s IZstyle Winter Tour.

The PKB has been referred to as a “folk singer-songwriter with a rock ‘n’ roll band,” and the band feels that it’s a perfect title. The songs are acoustically driven but maintain a full and layered sound due largely in part to electric guitarist Pete Morse and Keyboardist Tyler Stanley’s approaches. Bassist Matt Cosby and drummer Ed Dickhaut round out the group, comprised of five close friends who have a deep appreciation for writing and performing music. Their sound has been compared to Snow Patrol, Travis, and Guster, and as NewBandDaily.com puts it, the band “has that suburban sensibility, that clarity and sweetness sometimes so necessary after a hard day’s work.”

Together they have shared the stage with Dave Matthews Band, David Gray, Ray Lamontagne, Barenaked Ladies, O.A.R, Guster, G Love and Special Sauce, Amos Lee, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Brett Dennen, Tim Reynolds, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Fitz and the Tantrums, The Wailers, Yonder Mountain String Band, DJ Logic, Blues Traveler, Spoon, Against Me!, Cold War Kids, Toots and the Maytals, Rusted Root, Mutemath, State Radio, Dawes, and Eve6.

The Pete Kilpatrick Band will be releasing their sixth studio album in early 2012.

The Jason Spooner Trio

http://jasonspooner.com/

Portland’s own Jason Spooner Trio (Jason Spooner – guitar & vocals, Reed Chambers – Drums & Percussion and Adam Frederick – Bass & vocals) recently wrapped up their busiest summer to date. Over the last 4 months the band has opened for acts as varied as B.B. King, Michael Franti, Jackie Greene and Sara Bareilles. This summer alone the band performed at Targhee Fest in Jackson Hole, WY – FloydFest in Floyd, Va – The Festival at Sandpoint – Sandpoint, ID – The Naukabout Festival on Cape Cod, the River City Roots Festival in Missoula, MT and The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons, CO.

In addition to recent press in High Times Magazine and USA Today, the Spooner Trio’s latest album Sea Monster has been featured heavily on Sirius/XM’s The Loft channel, on NPR’s All Things Considered and at over 11,000 Starbucks retail locations nationwide. Earlier this year, the album reached the #18 spot on the national BDS Indicator chart for all of Triple A Radio. It was the only independent album on the chart at the time.

The band has just returned to Maine after completing a western Fall tour with their New England neighbors, The Ryan Montbleau Band which included dates in CO, UT, WA, OR and CA.

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Interviews Available – For More Information Please Contact:
Rob Evon
Port City Music Hall
rob@portcitymusichall.com

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CAMDEN, Maine (October 26, 2011) –   On Friday, December 2, Camden Harbor lights up!  A spectacular fireworks display will kick off the 25^th anniversary of the popular Christmas by the Sea weekend. It’s just one of many events planned for this year’s holiday season.

“Santa” Don Green will be back, coming into town by boat as he has done for almost two decades. He’ll light the Christmas tree on the Library lawn overlooking the Harbor and then stand back for the fireworks display.

And you can bet that Nancy Bergeron and her family and friends from Tyngsboro, Massachusetts—all thirty of them—will be there.

“We never miss Christmas by the Sea,” says Bergeron. “My Dad started the tradition twenty years ago. We all stay at the same hotel, we go shopping on Friday night when the stores offer discounts, we see Santa, the live Nativity, and we do it all. The kids really look forward to it every year.”

Dan Bookham, the executive director of the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce, says Midcoast Maine knows how to celebrate the holidays with that special “Maine” touch.

“People come to visit us every year,” says Bookham, “because there are few places that offer the range of authentic, fun Maine experiences that happen here.”

The festivities begin the weekend after Thanksgiving when the city of Rockland takes center stage with its glorious Festival of Lights. Join in the fun as the floats in the “Light Parade” make their way through downtown, the lobster trap Christmas tree is lighted and carolers gather around the traditional bonfire.

Along with the lights, great shopping and wonderful food, including a fabulous Dutch cooking class, there’s Santa—who traditionally comes to town on a lobster boat and lights the giant Christmas tree on the Library lawn. There’s the “gingerbread lady,” who brings more than 100 gingerbread houses to the annual Holiday Fair and there’s retired firefighter, Bob Oxton, who treks up nearby Mount Battie to light the holiday star on top of the mountain—a star which can be seen for miles down the coast.

The Festival of Lights and Christmas by the Sea create a week full of events; with great food, fabulous shopping, special lodging packages and a slew of holiday activities for the family that you won’t want to miss.

WHAT: FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
WHEN: NOV. 25—27TH
WHERE:  ROCKLAND
HIGHLIGHTS:  Santa arrives by boat on Saturday, The ever popular “Light Parade,” lobster trap Christmas tree, bonfire and carolers, horse drawn wagons, 32^nd Annual Craft Fair on Saturday Nov 26 at the Samoset Resort

WHAT: CHRISTMAS BY THE SEA
WHEN: DEC. 2-4^TH
WHERE: CAMDEN, Rockport, Lincolnville
HIGHLIGHTS:  Fireworks over the Harbor! Frozen 5k road race to benefit ALS research, Tree lightings in at the Cellardoor Winery Villa in Rockport, Harbor Park in Camden, and on Lincolnville Beach, all with Santa, Christmas parade, beach bonfire and caroling, great food and great deals on shopping

If you’ve never been—this is the year to go. If you’ve enjoyed this wonderful week- long event in the past, you’ll be glad you came back.

For a detailed list of events, visit www.camdenme.org

The Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit membership association that seeks to promote the interests of business and encourage economic development. For more information visit the Chamber at www.camdenme.org or email us at chamber@camdenme.org.

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Join BYS, Portland’s first Bhakti Yoga Studio, for a series of yogic lectures, workshops, & blissful music Friday, November 18th & Saturday, November 19th.

Event schedule:
Friday 8-10pm Satsang (Community) : “What is the Guru?”
Saturday 2-5pm Temple of Sound Nada Yoga Purification
Saturday 7-10pm Kirtan (devotional music).

Visit http://www.bhavayogaschool.com for ticket information & purchase. All three events now $95 through October.

About Bhagavan Das

Teacher, performer, counter-cultural icon, lover of God: Bhagavan Das is as rich and manifold as Existence itself.

Bhagavan Das is one of the last living cultural icon of the 60′s. As Ram Das’s mentor (author of Be Here Now) he ushered in the New Age Spiritual Movement being the first Kirtan Artist in America. His groundbreaking album “Ah” (1971) produced by Jimmi Hendrix’s manager Michael Jeffrey’s was the first World Music album from Electric Ladyland. Bhagavan Das has also toured with Allen Ginsberg, opened for the Grateful Dead and sang with Bob Dylan.

Living as a sadhu in India for six years Bhagavan Das studied the ancient science of Nada Yoga under the guidance and direction of his Guru Neem Karoli Baba. Nada Yoga is the path of devotion to the inner sound current as a means to God Realization. Alan Watt’s himself saying in a Rolling Stone review of the Album “Ah” that “Bhagavan Das is truly a Master of Nada Yoga”.

Bhagavan Das’s rare and sacred offering to this world is like a singing open heart heralding the Guru’s Grace through the vehicle of Sound.

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About Bhava Yoga School

Bhava Yoga School (BYS) has been serving the extended Portland community through the fostering of devotion for body, soul, & spirit through yogic practices like chanting, vinyasa yoga, & meditation.  Come celebrate our one year anniversary with this series of amazing offerings. Coming up~ 200 Hr Teacher Training March 2012 & Weekend Beginner Sanskrit Immersion March 2012. _______________________________________________________________

The Oceanside Pavilion will be full of festive flavors, acoustic music, beer and spirit tasting, wine educators, and riveting demonstrations.  Each guest will receive an embossed Harvest on the Harbor wine glass to indulge in the beverage nirvana.

• Over 500 food and beverage samples will delight your taste buds
• Demonstrations will be conducted throughout the day:
  

  Marketplace on Portland Waterfront

• Celebrity Author and Fisherman Linda Greenlaw will have an intimate conversation with a question and answer session
• Cooking demonstrations by celebrity chef Michael Rouss, and cookbook authors Dana Moos, Kathy Gunst, and Kate Shaffer
• A honey making demonstration by The Honey Exchange with a live bee hive

• Wine Education Corners will enhance your wine knowledge
• Two Green Mountain Coffee Café’s will feature Maine musicians
• Cookbook corner will feature Down East Magazine cookbook authors as well as Linda Greenlaw to sign their books.

The full list of exhibitors and details about the Savory Samplings at the Marketplace can be found at www.HarvestOnTheHarbor.com

About Harvest on the Harbor
Harvest on the Harbor, Maine’s premiere food and wine experience is organized by the Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau and takes place on the picturesque coastal waters of Portland, Maine, October 20-22, 2011.  The festival celebrates Maine’s culinary arts and is committed to locally grown and responsibly harvested foods.  Details of all the events, including the Grand Tasting on the Harbor, Lobster Chef of the Year Competition, Ultimate Seafood Splash, Top of the Crop: Maine’s Best Farm to Table Chef, and Savory Samplings at the Marketplace, can be found at www.harvestontheharbor.com

Sponsors of the event include Down East Magazine, WHOM 94.9FM, Portland Press Herald, and Time Warner Cable. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to www.HarvestOnTheHarbor.com

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