This Saturday: Shakespeare at the Rockport Farmers Market!

Fall is HERE! Pick up your PUMPKINS & more at the RFM!

At Saturday's Rockport Farmers Market:
Seaview Farms has their own meat, corn & PUMPKINS! First Light Farm and Vintage Greens offers a bounty of produce and flowers. 'Cuz It's Good and Knead Dough Bakery offer delicious baked goods, Heath's Tea Room will have scones and brewed tea. That Nutty Redhead features an array of steamed nuts. Sasquatch Smokehouse has their own line of smoked mussels and fish, Abbott Honey and Sullivan's Sugarhouse offer honey and maple syrup, respectively. This week's market also offers Twin Lights tonic AND fresh coffee and doughnuts from Brothers' Brew. The home growers section of the farmers' market is packed with all sorts of good things: lots of fresh produce, flowers and jams! Bonus: To get a a sense of all the great stuff going on around here with food, don't miss this article from food writer Heather Atwood on Rockport's local food scene.

Cape Ann Shakespeare Troupe at the RFM!
This talented group of local actors will feature music and excerpts from their upcoming show Shakespeare and his Women at Saturday's market. The Cape Ann Shakespeare Troupe is one of our region's cultural gems and we are happy to have them offer a glimpse of Shakespeare...and his women at this week's Rockport Farmers Market. Don't miss it!

Rockport Farmers Market TOTES, T-SHIRTS and POSTERS are here!
Some very cool Rockport Farmers Market merchandise is coming your way, all of it offering a great way to spread the word about the market and support the RFM! Stop by the RFM booth at Saturday's market to see what's new and in stock.

Parking
The Rockport Farmers Market, with the permission of the Rockport Police Dept., has four spaces available on High Street for short-term farmers' market parking every Saturday from 9am to 1pm. If you're in a hurry and need some produce, you can park right next to the market for a few minutes while you dash through the market! 

Support Local Food
A Rockport Farmers Market vendor (as well as Rockport resident) Lisa Griffiths of That Nutty Redhead, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help grow her business. Consider supporting local food and local industry and check out Lisa's exciting campaign! Check it out HERE.

Participate in Harvestfest!
Opportunities abound to showcase your cooking, agricultural and/or creative skill at Harvestfest. Enter a pie, your best jam or jelly, or make a scarecrow. Click the links below to join the fun!

Upcoming Events

• September 27th: Talented members of the Cape Ann Shakespeare Troupe will offer a glimpse into their upcoming production, Shakespeare and his Women. Come to the Rockport Farmers Market for a little culture along with your produce!
• October 4th: the final Rockport Farmers Market of the regular season
• October 18th: Rockport Harvestfest: a celebration of local food & drink, including craft-brewed beer and local wine, as well as a packed out Farmers Market, Scarecrow Stroll & more.

Interested in Motif No.1 Day? We Could Use Your Help!

We could use a few good men and women to help out on May 17th, with shifts generally ranging around 2 hours (though you could hang around as long as you'd like!)

Email us at rockportfestivals@gmail.com or call 978-546-2861 to let us know if you would like to be a part of the festivities. It's a lot of fun, we promise!

Rockport's own Betsy G., helping out at the ol' lemonade stand

The Posters are Coming! The Posters are Coming!

Check out the 2013 Harvestfest poster, designed by the very talented Darren Mason!

It tells you what you need to know about Harvestfest: live music, awesome local food and drink (provided by Mercury Brewing of Ipswich), activities for kids, cooking demonstrations... and stay tuned for more exciting events as the festival approaches. And you, readers of the Rockport Festivals news feed, are the first to catch a glimpse of the new poster, since they are just hot off the press as of this week. To reserve yours, send us an email at rockportfestivals@gmail.com.

See you at Harvestfest on October 19th!

TOMORROW! The First Summer Farmers' Market

Our summer Rockport Farmers' Market will be small but mighty. Just like Rockport itself! We will have a little of everything, from honey to grass-fed beef from Seaview Farm (right in Rockport!) to smoked seafood from Sasquatch Seafood to beautiful produce from First Light Farms to award-winning pesto and handmade pasta from Paolo Laboa of Prides Osteria. To give you a visual teaser of what's to come at our Farmers' Market, check out this video showing Paolo Laboa making his pesto (from his days at Farina in San Francisco). Our mouths water every time we view it!

Thanks to the Blue Lobster Grille & the Inns of Rockport!

The results are in, and the money raised for Motif No. 1 Day programming at the DineAround sponsored by the Inns of Rockport at the Blue Lobster Grille in Dock Square is much appreciated! Proceeds from the DineAround will be used to support the musicians and artists who perform at the festivals in downtown Rockport.

A HUGE thank you to the Inns of Rockport for putting together the DineAround and of course to the Blue Lobster Grille for hosting the event. And another huge thank you to all of you who came to the Blue Lobster Grille to enjoy some delicious food for a great cause.

The DineAround was a great way to kickoff the Motif No. 1 Day festival, culminating in the main event just a few days later. We hope you have the chance (many chances!) to come back to the Blue Lobster Grille to enjoy their menu during the summer months, as well as the opportunity to dine at all of our other Rockport restaurants. We very much appreciate our Rockport restaurants for supporting the programming of Motif No.1 Day and Harvestfest, which is coming up at the end of what will no doubt be a great 2013 summer season!

Agnaldo Oliveira, owner of the Blue Lobster Grille, Gary DellaRocco, owner of the Eagle House Motel & Eagle House Beachsid, representing the Inns of Rockport, and Sarah Kelly, representing Rockport Festivals

Download the Motif No. 1 Day Schedule of Events!

Here it is, in case you want to download it, print it, carry it around in your pocket, take it out, look at it, memorize it, give it away... then start the cycle all over again.

The Downloadable 2013 Motif No. 1 Day Schedule of Events
For an interactive Schedule of Events listed on our website that you can sort according to times and interests, click HERE.

Our Yankee Magazine listing as one of the top 20 events in Massachusetts in the current issue. Are we excited about this? Yes!

Come Downtown for a Meal and a Good Cause on May 16th!

The Inns of Rockport are sponsoring a kick-off fundraiser for Motif no.1 Day festivities at The Blue Lobster Grille in the heart of downtown Rockport. Come for lunch or dinner (or both!) and 20% of your check will support Rockport Festivals programming. A big thank you to the Inns of Rockport and to the Blue Lobster Grille for their support. Come enjoy a meal with your friends, neighbors and fellow festival supporters on Thursday, May 16th.