Southwest Harbor Flocks Together for Flamingo Festival
There's joy in every plastic bird this weekend.
SOUTHWEST HARBOR—It’s not every weekend that you hear someone cry out in the middle of an island street in Maine, “Is my flamingo crooked? I think it’s crooked!”
“Nah, it’s gorgeous, baby.”
Then again, it’s not every weekend that Southwest Harbor hosts the Flamingo Festival, a celebration of all things pink, happy, community, and flamingo.
Billed as “whimsical, lighthearted, and decidedly pink,” the Harbor House-led, family-focused festival brought joy to the streets of Southwest Harbor on Saturday.
And all of it, crooked flamingo or not? It’s gorgeous.
The parade is full of laughter, the breakfast is full of pancakes. The craft fair and book fair are full of adventures and stories.
It all combines throughout the weekend for the good kind of full: the kind of full that brings together a community.
Back in 2010, Mark Good writing for the Mount Desert Islander quoted volunteer Jennifer Worcester, “The intent is for the Harbor House to giver back to the community by giving people something fun.”
It’s definitely fun.
And it’s definitely full of giving.
And that? That makes it truly gorgeous.
Dog treats, bubbles, candies flew through Main Street in Southwest Harbor. Flamingo—spindly and decidedly of the plastic variety—were on cars, hats, trucks, and skeletons.
Why flamingos?
It’s a good question. Don Featherstone was the man who designed the classic pink flamingo back in 1957 as part of his job for Union Products, which was centered in Leominster, Massachusetts.
His design became popular—really popular.
“I wish the heck I knew why because I would have done the same things in other lines,” Featherstone told Good in 2010.
He thought maybe it was the color.
“And besides where can you buy tropical elegance for 10 bucks?” he’d said.
Whatever the reason, the flamingo is still hot to trot—or hot to glide or ride or celebrate, and it is especially so in Southwest Harbor.
Down the street, a child sold lemonade to raise enough money to play baseball. Up the road a bit, a woman sat on granite steps in front of her house, inviting people in. People hugged hello, begged kids to finish their pancakes, got excited about the Coast Guard open house, and cheered for their friends who were wearing flamingos or pink or a combination of the two.
Did I say it was gorgeous? Because it was.
On Sunday evening, the polo and yacht club cocktail party at the Causeway Club Barn begins at 5 p.m. and runs until 7 p.m. Tickets are $45 per person.
Flash in the Pans! (a steel drum band) performs 7:30 p.m. Monday on the Pemetic Green. Suggested donation is $5 a person.
Flamingos are available at the Harbor House. Box sets of two (Don Featherstone flamingos) are $25.
THE PHOTOS
Quick note: If you are receiving this article via email, you will have to click through to the Substack webpage to see all the photos because this will be too long for most email servers. We have more photos on our Facebook page, which is here.
DAWNLAND FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS
The Dawnland Festival of Arts and Ideas continues tomorrow on July 13, 2025, on the campus of College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor.
The festival features Wabanaki voices, market goods, and discussion.
The festival is organized by the Abbe Museum and hosted by COA.
”The Abbe’s mission is to illuminate and advance greater understanding of and support for Wabanaki Nations’ heritage, living cultures, and homelands. At the core of our work are decolonizing museum practices, including: collaboration with Tribal communities; privileging Native perspectives, voice, and values; a focus on dialogue; inclusion of the full measure of history; and ensuring truth-telling. This is also reflected in the Museum’s governance structure that includes a Wabanaki-majority Board and a Tribally-appointed Advisory Council, resulting in a tremendous institutional power shift. This commitment allows the museum to amplify the art, cultures, histories, and contemporary lives of Wabanaki peoples in ways that serve Tribal communities and activate audiences. Through the Wabanaki Council and community consultation, we work with Wabanaki Tribal Nations to share authority for the interpretation of their living cultures and history, privileging Native voice.
“The Abbe was founded in 1928 as a small trailside museum at Sieur de Monts Spring in Lafayette National Park (today Acadia National Park) with a focus on the archaeology of the Wabanaki Nations. The Abbe soon expanded its scope to include Wabanaki material culture and now features a substantial contemporary art collection. In 2001, the Museum expanded to the downtown Bar Harbor location, creating a 17,000-square-foot museum with spacious exhibition galleries, a research lab, and state-of-the-art collections storage.”
Flamingo Festival photos: Shaun Farrar and Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story.
Dawnland Festival photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
For more information, call 244-3713 or visit the Harbor House website at www.harborhousemdi.org for tickets and information.
To check out the Harbor House’s site, click here.
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The joy! Thank you for this, which reads (and looks) like a love note to community.