A new single-weekend marketing effort designed to give Maine’s wild blueberry industry a boost went over so well last summer that organizers are bringing it back again in August, and local growers couldn’t be happier.

“I think it’s critical that we keep going with this weekend for sure,” said Ron Howard, manager of Brodis Blueberries in Hope.

Wild Blueberry Weekend is scheduled for Aug. 6-7. Produced by the Maine Wild Blueberry Commission, the event will include 14 farms throughout the midcoast and areas Downeast, along with restaurants, inns, bars, wineries and breweries. 

“After an amazing first event in 2021, we’re thrilled to bring back Wild Blueberry Weekend for its second year, and hope Mainers and visitors will take the time to go to a wild blueberry farm and see for themselves why wild blueberries are so special,” Patricia Kontur of the Maine Wild Blueberry Commission said in a statement announcing the event.

Lisa Hanscom, another member of the commission, is co-owner of Welch Farm in Roque Bluffs. She said the event has been modeled after Maine Maple Sunday, the annual weekend event that promotes the state’s maple sugaring industry each March. Like the sugar shacks, wild blueberry farms will be spending Wild Blueberry Weekend offering tours and selling blueberries and blueberry-related products. 

Hanscom said her farm dates back to the late 1700s. Her great-grandparents bought it in 1912, and started selling blueberries in 1915-1916. She has offered tours on the farm for years, and welcomes the chance to educate visitors about the difference between wild and high-bush blueberry producers.

“It really was important to kind of set us apart,” she said.

Unlike the neat rows of highbush blueberries, which are planted and cultivated by farmers, wild blueberry farms are literally built around the wild blueberry fields. Hanscom said the variations in the types of wild blueberries — even in a single field — is astounding.

“They all have a different flavor, sweet, tart, they all have a different color, size, basically mother nature plants them,” she said.

Howard said he hopes local farms can capitalize on new information and studies in recent years highlighting the nutritional value of wild blueberries.

“That word’s getting out, and people are starting to buy into it,” he said. 

Hanscom acknowledged that the industry has had its problems recently. Most wild blueberry farmers, she said, have paid beekeepers in southern states to bring hives north to help pollinate the bushes, but an outbreak of mites 10 years ago among beekeeping hives cut back on the available bees. Even today, she said, rising costs have made it harder to find bees.

“The wild blueberry industry has struggled a bit,” she said.

Howard said he will also hold tours this year. Over Wild Blueberry Weekend, his farm will offer readings for children in the blueberry fields of the Robert McCloskey children’s book, “Blueberries for Sal.” He also plans to sell jams, sauces and blueberry pie. He even plans to sell blueberry brandy, made by his son, who is the co-owner of a local distillery. 

Hanscom plans to hold blueberry-raking lessons along with tours. Her farm will be selling its own products too, but she emphasized the value of education. 

“My goal has always been, every person I educate and introduce to the wild blueberries will buy the wild blueberries,” she said.