ROCKLAND — Rockland was dancing hard Saturday night, with music filling the streets and later, in the boat shed down on the harbor. Summer (and winter) Solstice celebration is the time of the year when locals take to Main Street in downtown Rockland to cheer on the changing of the seasons.

It is not an art walk, nor a blues, lobster or boat festival — it is a street party and predominantly attended by the core Midcoast community, with friends bumping into friends and neighbors, perhaps not seen for some time.

The June 18, 2016 Summer Solstice Street Fair was even better this year with five bands — all playing different music — stationed at various points along Main Street, which had been turned over to foot traffic.

Stores were open late, and the bars and restaurants were alive well into the night. Main Street came alive with hula hoops, art, dogs, Whoopie Pie eating contests, and lots of smiles. 

Down at Journey’s End Marina, at the end of Tillson Ave., the dancing got underway at 6 p.m. and continued well into the night, under a darkening June sky, strobes and a great dance floor.

Rockland Main Street, which organizes the street fair every year, calls it the Midcoast’s best summer street party. No argument there!