Join us on Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the return of the alewives. The eighth annual Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder Restoration Festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, May 23 and 24.

“We are holding the festival to celebrate the return of the alewives and the near-completion of the restoration work,” said Deb Wilson, one of the event organizers. “We are nearly finished, we just have a punch list to go — what a wonderful achievement thanks to neighbors and friends of the fish ladder.”

Thousands and thousands of alewives will be the stars of the festival and there will be viewing at both the bottom of the ladder and in Russ and Diana Williams’s yard at the ladder top. Festival events will take place in many locations around Damariscotta Mill — at the fish house at the bottom of the ladder, Mulligan’s Smokehouse, along Ladds Hill Road, at the top of the ladder, at Alewives Fabrics on Main Street, and on Town Landing Road. Look for signs pointing the way to activities and maps showing the location of all events.

Each day a special menu has been prepared. On Saturday, Chef Tom Wriggins will again put on his famous pig roast with all the fixins — a real treat!

And, thanks to the Damariscotta River Grill, Sheepscot Valley Brewing Company and D. L. Geary’s Brewing Company, you can enjoy your pulled pork sandwich with a cold beer — while alewives swim by and osprey dive to eat their lunch. The food on Sunday will be equally special. We’ll be serving lobster and crab rolls with chips and a pickle, and perhaps another cold beer. We’ll also have hot dogs, oysters, and ice cream on both days.

Mulligan’s smoked alewives, the best in the area, will be on sale all weekend at the smokehouse, or until they run out. The “Smokehouse Girls” will be serving food on Saturday and Sunday this year — their famous breakfast sandwiches, hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. Paula Roberts’ fabulous donuts, plain, sugar, molasses, squash, and chocolate, will be on sale Saturday and Fondie York will be making her famous homemade donuts on Sunday at the smokehouse.

A poetry reading of “Alewives” and other poems by Joseph Coleman will held at the top of the ladder on Saturday at 2 p.m. The poems will be read by British actress and two-time Oscar nominee Janet McTeer and copies of the poem, beautifully illustrated, will be on sale following the reading as fundraiser for the fish ladder.

Children’s activities will be held near the fish house, on Ladds Hill Road and at Alewives Fabrics. The ever-popular osprey fishing game can again be played on Ladds Hill Road, while there will be a touch tank including tide pool creatures located near the fish house. And, there will be free face painting at Alewives Fabrics together with ice cream, soda, and viewing of video, “Closing the Circle.”

Finally, on Sunday there will be an Antique Car Show, which will include Model T rides.

The festival is sponsored by the Towns of Nobleboro and Newcastle and the Nobleboro Historical Society. Please join us for a wonderful festival and a chance to see alewives close up as they ascend the fish ladder to spawn in Damariscotta Lake. For additional information, check out www.damariscottamills.org or contact Deb Wilson at 207-380-6997 or deb.wilson@roadrunner.com or Russ Williams at rwilliams343@gmail.com.