Bar Harbor Rotary needs a few more helping hands to keep beloved traditions that support a community going for another generation

Carrie Jones

Jun 13, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Coastal Kayaking Tours and Acadia Bike.

---

BAR HARBOR — Somewhere between Rotarians ordering seafood and making sure that they’ll have enough pancake batter, Rotarian Lisa Horsch Clark has found herself staring at a spreadsheet with too many, slightly worrisome, blank spaces.

Which is another way of saying that the Fourth of July is coming.

In Bar Harbor, the Fourth means parade floats and fireworks, but it also means Some Rotarian neighbors rising before dawn to feed strangers and friends alike, continuing a tradition that has outlasted presidencies, recessions, and generations of children who grew up and came back to help, children-turned-incoming Rotary Club President Evelyn Swan.

What the Bar Harbor (MDI) Rotary club does on the Fourth is a big deal. The club members organize a pancake breakfast and a seafood festival. They organize non-profits set up on the ball fields off Park Street.

More than that though, the Fourth is a big deal that helps an entire community.

And the small, local Rotary club that organizes it needs help.

Before the sun rises on the Fourth of July, before children dart toward the parade route clutching little American flags, and before the smell of blueberry pancakes and steamed lobster drifts across the waterfront, somebody has already cracked the eggs, set out the griddles, and started the coffee.

For more than fifty years, somebody has always done it.

For decades, neighbors, retirees, business owners, summer residents, and teenagers have rolled up their sleeves for the Bar Harbor Rotary Club’s Pancake Breakfast and Seafood Festival, a tradition so woven into the holiday that many island families have trouble remembering a Fourth without it.

Evelyn Swan certainly can’t.

Long before she became incoming president of the Bar Harbor (MDI) Rotary Club, Swan was just another kid celebrating Independence Day.

“Some of my earliest Fourth of July memories are of the Seafood Festival, and now it’s incredibly meaningful to help organize it and see the community come together,” Swan said. “It’s so important to remember that each volunteer plays a role in carrying those memories for the next generation.”

For generations, the Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast and Seafood Festival have been as much a part of Bar Harbor’s holiday as the parade and fireworks.

Residents and visitors line up for stacks of pancakes in the morning and later gather on the ball field for lobster, and other local food, all while volunteers work behind the scenes to make the day happen.

This year, organizers are hoping more people will join them making it happen.

The festival serves as one of the Bar Harbor Rotary Club’s largest fundraisers, typically raising between $20,000 and $25,000 annually.

Those proceeds help fund Rotary projects throughout Mount Desert Island, including scholarships and support for local nonprofits.

“Volunteering at the Seafood Festival and Pancake Breakfast is a great way to jump in and be part of helping the broader community,” said Annette Higgins, a club past president. “The funds raised help support the Rotary Club’s mission and projects all throughout MDI, so even one shift contributes to meaningful impact across the island.”

The money raised in the past has supported the Shore Path Restoration, Park Street Playground rebuild, Bar Harbor Kids Book Festival, Paul Hammond Lecture Series, Tremont 8th Grade Fundraiser, MDI Community Wood Bank, MDI Hospital’s Behavioral Health Clinic, Husson University Men’s Basketball Clinic, THAW heating assistance, and the Thanksgiving Basket Project.

The club has also fought food insecurity, raised money to eradicate polio, and supported the Bar Harbor Food Pantry.

While the event itself lasts only a day, preparations involve months of work.

Veteran Rotarians Ron Wrobel and Dean Read along with the unstoppable Penny Read— familiar faces to many longtime attendees — help oversee the festival, while Lisa Horsch Clark coordinates the volunteers who keep everything running smoothly.

And volunteers do not need years of experience or Rotary membership to lend a hand.

Whether flipping pancakes, serving seafood, helping with setup or cleanup, greeting guests, or guarding the site overnight, organizers say every shift matters. Every act matters.

Every volunteer matters.

For Swan, whose own family history with the event stretches back decades — she even has a baby photo of herself riding on a parade float during her grandfather’s Rotary years — that continuity is part of what makes the celebration special.

“Community traditions don’t continue by accident,” she said. “They continue because people show up for one another.”

As another Fourth of July approaches, organizers hope new volunteers will help ensure that children making memories this year will someday have stories of their own to tell.

“Each volunteer,” Swan said, “plays a role in carrying those memories for the next generation.”

---

TO VOLUNTEER

Those interested in volunteering can email Lisa Horsch Clark at lisa@friendsofacadia.org.

---

ABOUT ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

Rotary is a global network of more than 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

---

All photos unless indicated by Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story.

---

LINKS TO LEARN MORE

• FOX ABC Maine: Story from Last Year’s Event
• Bar Harbor Story: Photos from Last Year’s Event
• Bar Harbor Story article from 2024
• A collection of Bar Harbor Story photos from past celebrations
• Youtube: History of the Bar Harbor Seafood Festival
• MDI Islander: Coverage from Last Year’s Event
• Facebook: Original Flyer from First Seafood Festival
• Bar Harbor (MDI) Rotary Club
• The club’s Facebook page.

A QUICK NOTE: There’s currently an issue on the WordPress platform, which is here where the Bar Harbor Story is hosted, about photos making them look “squishy.” We’re working on it with the WordPress team, but it is not fixed yet. If you’d like to see the photos on this or any of our stories, you can by checking them out on our Substack, which is here. You can just click through any prompts and do not have to subscribe there as well. We’re so sorry. It’s obviously not a quick process and we’re very discouraged.