Bowdoinham farmers market returns Saturdays at Mailly Waterfront Park

Bowdoinham’s weekly summer market is back at Mailly Waterfront Park, giving the downtown waterfront a Saturday morning draw that matters to farmers, shoppers and nearby businesses alike. The Bowdoinham Farmers Market returned Saturday, June 6, and will run every Saturday through Oct. 10 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at 1 Main Street.

The town describes the market as centered on local food, farming and creativity, and the vendor mix stretches well beyond produce. Shoppers can expect organic vegetables, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, dried beans, pastured beef and lamb, free-range eggs, wool fiber products, hanging baskets, annuals, flower seedlings, herbs, baked goods, vinegars, jams, salsas, cornmeal and craft items. That breadth gives the market a direct economic role in Sagadahoc County: it keeps more food dollars circulating locally while giving farms, bakers and makers a dependable place to meet customers week after week.

The market also functions as a food-access point. Real Maine says some vendors at the Bowdoinham market accept eWIC, and the Maine WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program is designed to increase use of fresh, unprocessed locally grown fruits and vegetables by WIC-supported families. For households watching grocery bills this summer, that can make the difference between buying local produce or passing it by.

Bowdoinham has leaned on the market’s Saturday rhythm for years. Town event pages show the same recurring schedule at Mailly Waterfront Park in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, usually from June into October. In 2021, Wendy Rose of the Bowdoinham Community Development Advisory Committee said, “We are excited that the farmers market is back,” underscoring how closely the market is tied to the town’s sense of normal summer life.

The market has also served as more than a retail stop. Town listings have pointed to added programming such as stories, live music and line dancing, turning the waterfront into a gathering place as well as a sales floor. David Asmussen is listed as the market contact, and town planning documents have put farmers markets alongside the special places and events that define and unite Bowdoinham. That role lines up with the town’s 2026 work on a Waterfront Access & Resilience Plan, a reminder that Mailly Waterfront Park is central both to summer commerce and to the future of the waterfront itself.