2013 Visitor's Guide

Photo: Jill Brady / Portland Press Herald

plenty of stones, each capped with aluminum leaf, that stand guard at the waterfront space. But during the highest tides — moon tides — saltwater floods the garden. And those stones become markers for the tides’ highest levels. DRESS -UP DANCE PARTY Friday nights at Bubba’s Sulky Lounge are a blast into the totally awesome past with 80s Night dance parties. 80s fans bust out the neon bangles, the jean jackets, and the leg warmers and take to the light-up dance floor to shake it out to popular 80s tunes. There’s even a weekly cash prize for the best 80s outfit. NOT JUST FOR A RAINY DAY Collectibles come in all forms, and on Peaks Island they come in the shape of umbrella covers. The Umbrella Cover Museum — quite possibly the world’s only museum dedicated to the rainy day cases — boasts over 700 umbrella covers, many with curious backstories. The unusual collection is open to the public daily Memorial Day through Labor Day. NOW FOR A DI FFERENT POINT OF VIEW Visitors to the Children’s Museum can climb into a camera and explore the physics of light, optics, and the human eye. The Camera Obscura exhibit is a windowless room that functions like a giant camera, bringing scenes from Portland

and beyond into view for spectators of all ages.

WALK ON THE WICKED SIDE Portland’s haunted history comes alive on a Wicked Walking Tour through the Old Port. Tour-goers are guided along the city’s streets with stories of legend, local lore, and some comedy thrown in for good measure. The evening excursions showcase Portland’s mysterious side, which even some locals don’t know about. HOLY CANNONBALL BATMAN Every town needs a watering hole. And on the Casco Bay islands, that watering hole is the ferry dock. Just about any summer day, ferry riders can watch local kids plunging into the Casco Bay waters, taking advantage of the churning The handlebar. The Magnum PI. The Uncle Rico. Whatever form a mustache takes, it is celebrated in Portland every year during Stache Pag. The mustache pageant invites mustachioed men (and women) to flaunt their facial hair in front of a packed house of mustache appreciators, and audience applause helps choose the winner. Stache Pag also features the International Moustache Film Festival. wake as the ferry pulls away. FACIAL HAIR FRENZY

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