August News – Major Openings & New Dining

August 3, 2026

L.L. Bean Gets Ready to Open its New Flagship Campus

After three years of renovation, L.L. Bean’s flagship campus in Freeport will host a Grand Opening Celebration from September 18 to October 25, with six weekends of events, activities, experiences, and concerts. Grand Opening Weekend will feature a concert by Kip Moore, while Heritage Weekend includes a vintage product drop and repairs for well-loved apparel, and Fall Festival features local Freeport makers and artists. The new store includes a two-tier trout pond, a 6,000-gallon stream tank, and an expanded Discovery Park with 17,000 additional square feet of green space for recreation, events, and outdoor programming. Details at L.L. Bean.

Maine State Museum Reopens

Maine State Museum in Augusta will reopen on October 24 after a years-long renovation. Highlights include a 4,130-square-foot gallery devoted to two humpback whale skeletons, including “Vector,” a 45-foot-long adult female humpback whale who was tracked in the Gulf of Maine and studied by scientists for 35 years. The Lunder Education Center will be the museum’s first-ever children’s space dedicated to learning, curiosity, and play. “Maine Quilts: 250 Years of Comfort and Community” will be an opening exhibit, along with “Beyond the Postcard: Stories of the Maine Experience.”

Midcoast Eatery News

Midcoast Maine is offering some great new dining options in 2026.  The Rooting Pig at Broad Arrow Farm in Bristol has reopened with expanded dining in a renovated barn. Specializing in pasture-raised pork and poultry, as well as artisanal charcuterie, they’re open from 12-7, Thursday through Sunday.

Applecroft is a 100-acre working farm and fine-dining event venue in Waldoboro. They’ve just announced their inaugural Kitchen Garden Dinner series: six-course tasting menus served over eight Wednesday evenings from August 12 through September 30, 2026. Each dinner will seat 24 guests at a single long table set among the farm’s kitchen gardens. Chef Maria McGarvey creates the menu for each dinner, and each course is cooked over a wood fire. All ingredients are grown on the farm or sourced from within 20 miles of the property.

Chef Samuel Emery and his partner-turned-sous-chef Chloe Chalakani are behind Crooked Spoon in Thomaston, with an Italian menu focused on handmade pastas. A native of St. George, Chef Emery learned pasta-making techniques working under Chef Melissa Kelly of Primo in Rockland, then attended the Culinary Institute of America and worked in restaurants in New York, Utah, DC, and Philadelphia. Note that the restaurant is open only on Monday and Friday evenings.

Roadside Joyride & a Million Dollar View

Roadside Joyride: Historic Route One connects small Aroostook County farmstands that offer locally grown and locally made goods in Maine’s most agricultural county.  Suzanne Hiltz, the owner of a farmstand bakery along historic Route 1 in Cary for almost a decade, is behind the idea, creating a visitor map that takes travelers along a 45-mile stretch of Route 1 from Danforth to Littleton. As a bonus, the route connects with the County’s famous Million Dollar View, a state Scenic Byway from Danforth to Orient. While only 7.9 miles long, it’s one of the state’s most dramatic stretches of road, with views of Peek-a-boo Mountain and Katahdin, and panoramic vistas of Deering, Brackett and East Grand Lakes, as well as the western mountain region of New Brunswick, Canada.

Maine’s Fall Fairs

Maine’s agricultural traditions and lifestyles are celebrated at the state’s country fairs. The fair season begins with Maine’s oldest agricultural fair, the Skowhegan State Fair, from August 13 to 22. Dating back to 1818, it’s also the oldest continuing agricultural fair in the United States.  The Windsor Fair, which includes everything from Truck & Tractor Pulls to Woodsman’s Day and a Giant Pumpkin Contest, will be held from August 29 to September 7 and is Maine’s second-largest agricultural fair. The 50th annual Common Ground Country Fair runs from September 25-27 in Unity, a celebration of rural living sponsored by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Highlights include a draft horse show, sheepdog trials, stoneworker demonstrations, yoga and reiki sessions, and old-time country dancing. Maine’s largest and most popular fair is The Fryeburg Fair, which dates back to 1851 and inspired E.B. White’s children’s classic, “Charlotte’s Web.” There are sheep dog trials, pig scrambles, harness racing, a craft center, and a Farm Museum, as well as country music concerts and a large arcade with carnival rides. This year’s dates are October 4 -11.