Maine’s 2025 May Update

May 2, 2025

Dawnland Festival of Arts and Ideas

The Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor has announced that The Dawnland Festival of Arts and Ideas (DFAI) will be held on July 12 & 13, 2025, at the College of the Atlantic (COA). This annual celebration showcases Wabanaki art, music, and thought leadership, bringing together Indigenous artists, performers, and public scholars in an immersive two-day experience. The Abbe’s mission is to illuminate and advance greater understanding of and support for the Wabanaki Nations’ heritage, living cultures, and homelands. The museum’s governance structure includes a Wabanaki-majority Board and a tribally appointed Advisory Council.

The Bay of Fundy International Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K

A cross border run between Lubec, Maine and Campobello, New Brunswick, The Bay of Fundy International Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K will be held on June 22, 2025. These races will highlight the close ties between Lubec and Campobello Island, communities that share shorelines. The cool temperatures of June are ideal for the event, and the marathon will start at the most easterly point in the USA, West Quoddy Lighthouse, on a run that features miles of water, lighthouses, and harbor views. Crossing from the International border across the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Bridge and Lubec Narrows, the course takes runners past the President’s summer home in Roosevelt Campobello International Park. It then traverses Campobello Island to Head Harbor Light, as the course retraces its steps back across the bridge to finish along Water Street in the heart of Lubec.

Art, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island

An exhibition at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art is a remarkable interdisciplinary exercise between art and science, Art, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island. It’s artwork centered around the destructive impact of dwarf mistletoe, which has wreaked havoc with the white spruce trees on Monhegan Island. The problem has been the focus of Bowdoin College biologist Barry A. Logan, who raised the notion of telling the island’s ecological story through art. The exhibit is filled with artworks from various museum art collections that document, often by chance, the changing landscape of an island that is probably the most famous haven for artists in Maine.  It includes works by Edward Hopper and Rockwell Kent, a former island resident. On view at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick until June 1, 2025, a smaller version of the exhibition will travel to the Monhegan Museum of Art and History on Monhegan Island from July 1 to September 30, 2025.

Art Walks

May brings the first art walks of the season in Maine, lively events that support the local artistic community. Portland hosts the First Friday Art Walk from May to October, with more than 30 galleries, museums, alternative art spaces, and studios throughout the city. In Brunswick, the second Friday of the month welcomes Brunswick’s Downtown ArtWalk in June, July, August, and September. The 2^nd Friday Kennebunk Artwalk is held from June to September, centered on historic Main Street.  The Wiscasset Art Walk takes place from June to September on the last Thursday of the month. Presque Isle has a First Friday Art Night every month of the year, while Artwalk Gardiner occurs in May, August, and December. Finally, there’s a Fourth Friday Art Walk in Belfast, and Bangor’s First Fridays, both running from May to October,

Birdwatching Season in Maine

Late May and early June are prime time for birding in Maine, as migratory species are on the move. The Rangeley Lakes Region is home to nearly 150 species of birds, including rare boreal species like the Bicknell’s Thrush. The Rangeley Birding Festival, from June 5-8, 2025, is a chance to explore some of the best boreal birding spots in the Northeast with expert biologists and seasoned birders as your guides. The day trips include a chairlift to the top of Saddleback Mountain in search of Bicknell’s Thrush sightings and a paddle on the Kennebago River, where there’s a chance of spotting key species such as American Bittern, Veery, Northern Waterthrush, Alder Flycatcher, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. The Spring Birding Festival from May 23-26 is held at Down East Maine’s Cobscook Bay area, which attracts hundreds of species, including Black-legged Kittiwake, Great Cormorant, Atlantic Puffin, Gray Jay, Spruce Grouse, 25 species of Warblers, boreal species, and the American Woodcock. The Acadia Birding Festival is set for May 29- June 1, 2025. A highlight is the Pelagic Seabird Boat Trip, a chance to spot puffins, razorbills, gannets, murres, and shearwaters. Go to Visit Maine for more on birding in the state.