18,500

...was the total number of lobsters served at the Lobster Festival in Rockland last week. VillageSoup is the source of this information, not personal presence, as we haven't attended the Festival in years. It was fun when the kids were young - the garish midway, the fried dough, the rides, the local arts and crafts booths - but when we found after some years that an hour there exhausted the possibilities, we knew it was time to quit. It's also slightly embarrassing to claim such mania for Maine and then, upon receipt of the usual comment about lobster, to have to admit no particular love for eating the bug.

Apparently, it's not a good year for lobstering, which makes me feel doubly bad about our indifference. The cost of fuel and bait is obviously a problem; worse, demand seems to be off. Lobster is considered a luxury item, the theory goes, and isn't ordered in bad times. So prices are lower than last year. It's going to be a dark winter for many Mainers. Let's hope for their sakes that the tourists keep coming.