Lobster Trap Raffle Launched

Monday, December 5, 2016

Lobster Trap Raffle Launched

ROCKLAND, MAINE – The opportunity to win fifty lobster traps or a cash prize of $2,250 is underway in Midcoast Maine.

The annual Lobster Trap Raffle is a fundraising event for Rockland Main Street, Inc. The non-profit, downtown advocacy organization has been raffling the traps that are used in the construction of the well-known lobster trap tree which has been overlooking Rockland Harbor every Christmas season for the past 13 years. The raffle supports the ongoing revitalization of the downtown district.

Of the 154 traps used to build the behemoth, 100 of those will be divided into two separate prizes of fifty traps each. For those who want to support the effort but have little need for the traps, the alternative prize is $2,250 cash.

The cash prize is a new component to the traditional raffle event, according to Gordon Page, executive director of Rockland Main Street, Inc. “We’ve been looking at ways to increase ticket sales over the years and we discovered that by adding a cash prize, we’ve opened up the market to people that are not associated with the lobster fishing community”.

Page added that people have been very excited about the raffle and begin asking about it as soon as the lobster trap tree goes up in the week before Thanksgiving. The traps are built in Thomaston by Brooks Trap Mill, and delivered to Mildred Merrill Park where as many as 30 volunteers work for the better part of a day to stack the traps using a secret engineering plan.

The four-foot traps are ready to fish; “just add bait”, Page said. If a fisherman wins, he or she can choose to keep these specific traps, or may trade the value of these traps for their own customized version.

Tickets are $50 each and are available at Brooks Trap Mill, including some of their satellite locations. Tickets are also available at Camden National Bank; Hamilton Marine in Rockland and Southwest Harbor; and First National Bank. A maximum of 500 tickets will be sold. The drawing will be the 4^th of January.

Rockland Main Street, Inc., is a focused partnership of residents, businesses and local government that enhances and protects the unique sense of place and economic vitality of downtown Rockland.

The group also produces the Summer Solstice Celebration & Street Party, and other events that bring people and attention to the historic downtown.

For more information: rocklanddowntown@gmail.com; 207.593.6093; https://www.facebook.com/events/423360404718377/