Ten Great Reasons to Visit Portland, Maine and Pomegranate Inn in March

1) First Friday Artwalk March 6, 2009 Downtown Portland.
(more to be posted on this soon.)

2) Restaurant Week Maine
Sunday March 1 through Tuesday March 10.
The concept is simple...A price fixe menu, three course meals at special pricing, featuring wonderful local restaurants. A great opportunity to try something new, and support local businesses.

3) Maine Maritime Museum Exhibition: The Sea Within Us This is an exhibit of Inconically Maritime Fashion and Design.

4) Out of Sterno at the Portland Stage Company
March 3-22. "Wide eyed innocence and perfect pedicures collide in this zany new comedy about life, self-image and the pursuit of a hunky man to call your own."...see website for the entire description and show times.

5) Portland Symphony Orchestra presenting: Revel, Schubert and Poulenc March 15, 2009 at 2:30 pm., and Pathetique March 24 at 7:30

6) Moonlight Madness in Bath March 13, 6-9 p.m.
Celebrate the end of winter with music, entertainment, art exhibits, and stores staying open late with lots of fun sales. This kicks off a weekend of events in the historical city of Bath, Maine. 207-442-7291

7) Maine Boatbuilders Show
March 20-22. 207-774-1067. This is the finest fiberglass and wooden custom boats builders show on the East Coast. You will find sail, power,canoe, and kayak boats here. Peter Spectre of Wooden Boat Magazine says, "The word on the waterfront was that this show was different, and it sure was...the exhibits were real boats, and the parts for real boats. and service for real people, and the folks in attendance were real boat enthusiasts.

8) St Patrick's Day Celebration March 14th in Ogunquit, Maine 207-646-6170
Sponsored by the Ogunquit Performing Arts, there will be Irish step-dancers and Irish Music with Traditional Instruments.

9) Spring Fling Shawnee Peak
The 24th annual Spring Fling is a celebration of Spring with soft snow, live entertainment, great bbq, and the annual Slush Cup!

The Slush Cup (starts at 1:30pm) pits skiers and snowboarders against A 60-foot-long man-made pond of ice cold water. Skim along as far as you can go, before falling victim to the laws of gravity! Register (for free) in the Base Lodge from 10am-11:30am

The Pomegranate Inn has a number of return guests that love to make us part of the ski weekend. Some like to come before, and some like to come after, but all agree that the Pomegranate is a great way to add some romance to a ski weekend!

10) Maine Maple Sunday March 22
Always the fourth Sunday In March, sugar makers around the state open their Sugar Shack doors to the public for a great opportunity to experience Maple Syrup and Sugar in the making. Most also offer free tastings and other products for sale featuring Maple Syrup. Interestingly enough...I always associate Maine Maple Sunday with a headache. Maine Maple Sunday follows a previous night in "the old days" with lots of fun loving people crammed into Gary Pitcher's sugar house enjoying a pot luck and Gary's famous Rock Maple Splinters...delicious, but deadly. A more safe and equally delicious early spring treat is freshly made syrup over shaved ice (or snow to be true to its roots)!

Inn and Around Portland....it's February!

With January behind us, we are looking forward to a new month here in Portland. Now we start to notice the light lasting just a wee bit longer in the afternoons and the sun having a little more warmth. Here at the Pomegranate, we will have a long time before our high banks of snow completely disappear, but maybe the bulk of dramatic winter weather will be behind us now.

And always, the best part of new month, is First Friday Artwalk. Enter here for this month's participating venues. There is more good news...we are expecting highs in the 30's Friday and clear skies. Sounds like happy walking weather to me!

The Syliva Kania Gallery at 148 High Street is home to a cooperative of 18 artists in a setting that provides 360 degrees of dynamic artwork. They will be having live music and tell us that they are not just "another" gallery. Definitely worth a visit.

The Cygnet Gallery at 568 Congress Street will be sharing with us what their artists feel most passionate about. This energy filled contemporary gallery is host to a rotating selection of original paintings, sculpture and fine art furniture.

Acoustic Artisans at 1 Forest Avenue is a must see for the music lover and in particular, the stringed music lover. Here you can visit a collaborative string instrument workshop and actually see the work in progress. They make violins, violas and cellos, and also guitars and mandolins.
They will be featuring live music and light refreshments.

The Pomegranate has two rooms available for this Friday night, if you would like to come into town to soak up some art , have a great dinner while you are here and make a night of it! Please give the Pomegranate Inn a call at 207-772-1006 or as always, you may book online.

What's Happening this Week Inn and Around Portland

I'm already excited about what's happening this week. I anxiously await the return of Roomful of Blues every time they have a visit to Maine on their exhausting touring schedule. This Saturday they will be performing live at the Montgomery Theatre at 826 High Street, Bath at 7:30 pm. Tickets can be purchased through The Chocolate Church. If you haven't had the opportunity to enjoy these guys live, you are missing out on a great time.

Portland State Company is offering previews of "Peer Gynt" by Henrik Isben starting on Tuesday evening, with the opening slated for Friday night. Tickets run $13-$36. Mad Horse Theatre Company has ended it's brief break and is now performing in the studio theatre at the Portland Stage presenting "The Clean House" through February 8th. The Good Theatre 76 Congress Street, Portland is helping us shake away with winter blues with "A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum" through February 15.

We are just a little more than a week away from February's First Friday Art Walk which will be no less magical just because we are in a deep freeze! We have two vacancies left for February 6th at the Pomegranate. This would make a great getaway just before Valentine's Day, and I don't expect these last rooms to be available for long.