Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening. I hope everyone's enjoying a great summer in the State of Maine.
Well, recently I was proud to proclaim August 2-3, 2025 as Maine's Fifth Annual Wild Blueberry Weekend to celebrate our wild blueberries, and in honor of the hardworking people who grow, and rake, and process, and market, and bring Maine wild blueberries to markets near and far.
Maine produces nearly 100% of all wild blueberries in the United States. Last year alone, Maine farmers harvested 88 million pounds of wild blueberries--and we know that these are healthy, they have more antioxidants, and they're tastier and juicier than any other kind of blueberry in the world.
Well, to honor our wild blueberry growers and businesses and their significant contributions to the Maine economy, I declared our first-ever Wild Blueberry Weekend In 2021. Wild blueberry growers opened their doors for free for the first time that year, and they made available fresh, wild blueberries and jams and pies and other products available for guests to purchase.
We have 512 farms in Maine that grow blueberries, and 46,370 acres in Maine are blueberry barrens. The Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine has reported that there were thousands of dollars in direct farm sales when they first opened those farms for visits, and thousands of visitors who enjoyed touring the places where wild blueberries grow, maybe picking a few of their own, like I did recently.
This year, the Fifth Annual Wild Blueberry Weekend will feature farm tours and other family-friendly activities at 16 different wild blueberry farms in Franklin, Hancock, Cumberland, Lincoln, Kennebec, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo, and Washington Counties, and wild blueberry-themed menu items and products will be available throughout that weekend at restaurants, ice cream shops, breweries, wineries, and distilleries all across the state.
To see the full list of participants, visitwww.WildBlueberryWeekend.com. Or go to the state's official agriculture website, www.RealMaine.com, for ideas on how you can support all of Maine's agricultural community all year long.
I encourage everyone to visit one of the participating wild blueberry farms on August 2or 3, and sample Maine-grown wild blueberry products at the many places selling them during that Wild Blueberry Weekend coming up. This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.