"Raise Yer Flag, Grab Yer Mate and Join Us in Celebrating the Golden Age of Sail & Seafaring Adventure," says Ross Furman, Co-Chair of the 2011 Eastport Pirate Festival.

The official invitation says, "Pack up yer cutlass, don yer garb, grab yer mate and join us for 3 days of mischief and merrymaking that features a host of swashbuckling events for buccaneers and wenches of all ages! Top-name quality entertainment and historic re-enactors, improvisational actors, buskers and combative stunt men from around the country are set to invade the island for a host of pure piratical escapades."

Once again, Eastport, Maine and Moose Island will play host to Pirates, Buccaneers, Privateers and other nefarious Brethren of the Coast from around the world at the 6th Annual Eastport Pirate Festival. Headlining this year's Eastport Pirate Festival is New England's one and only Half-Moon Jug Band.

The Half Moon Jug Band (HMJB) is a four-man musical mob of desperadoes hijacking the plodding freight train of folk music, steaming it up the mountains of rock ‘n roll, through the vaudeville pass, and down across the valley of country music before wrecking it in the middle of a rubber chicken farm on the outskirts of town. Their weapons of choice: guitars, banjos, mandolins, hefty bass riffs and rotund sing-along choruses. But they’re no bluegrass band; they also wield mighty kazoos, trumpets, harmonicas and thumping drums.

Jug band music is homemade music. You won’t hear it on the radio, you won’t see it on MTV and you can’t get it at the nearest big box store. It’s a creamy, sonically concocted casserole of American music. You’re not sure exactly what’s in there, but boy it sure tastes good. Musical labels are useless. If it sounds good, if the audience claps, if it feels honest, then it’s jug band music.

The band thrives on interaction with their audiences. For the HMJB it’s not just about standing on stage playing songs. It’s about singing, dancing and making people happy. They do whatever it takes to put on a show for all ages, studding every performance with jokes, stories and mandatory sing-alongs. No one gets out without singing. No one.

The Half Moon Jug Band started as a merry band of sidewalk subversives entertaining passersby and annoying shopkeepers on Exchange Street in Portland, Maine more than ten years ago. Now they can now be found on the road playing concerts and festivals all over the northeast like New Year’s Portland, the Maine Festival, the Old Port Festival, the Prescott Park Folk Festival, the Oddfellow Theatre, the Winthrop Performing Arts Center, the Maine Lobster Festival, Burlington’s strange 3rd of July Fireworks extravaganza, the Fryeburg, Deerfield and Cornish Fairs, and many town concerts too numerous to enumerate here.

The Portland Press Herald says, “This is some seriously fun, toe-tapping, frantically paced music," and the Phoenix says, “The Half Moon Jug Band are progressive and contemporary, frenetic and crazed… the silliness is infectious and intellectual, the music is heart-pounding... the most upbeat ambassadors we could ever hope to have. Playing a conglomeration of bluegrass, folk, rock and roll and circus music."

The Half-Moon Jug Band will perform through the day on Saturday, September 10th on the Pirate festival Stage, in the Pirate Parade and for an evening concert leading up to the spectacular Pirate Festival Fireworks display over the historic harbor at 7:30PM

The entertainment does not stop there. When the sea is finally in your veins and you want to take to the sea, the Schooner Ada C. Lore, Flagship of the City of Eastport, is ready to take you out on the water. Aboard the Ada C. Lore, you'll be able to experience life upon the sea, complete with pirates and most likely a few whale sightings.

"The Eastport Pirate Festival is more than just pirates," says founder John Miller. "It is celebrating the city's rich and colorful maritime history and heritage. Eastport's Pirate Festival offers people of all ages pure entertainment all weekend long. It is all free so it makes for a wonderful family event that is gentle on your pocketbook. If you're in the mood to test your own piratical skills, participate in the Annual Pirates Lobster Trap Race or the Pirates Bed Race. Or step up to the plate and compete for the crown in the Pirate King and Queen contest. For the pint sized pirates there is a wonderful kids pirate costume contest and even one for your pets. These events are hilarious fun, whether you're participating or simply enjoying the competition."

Don't miss the re-enactment of the historical trial of Anne Bonny and Mary Read , the two most famous women pirates in history, presented by Stage East. The trial, which will take place on the Pirate Stage lets you step back in time to experience a real trial of pirates. Based on the original transcripts provided by Tamara Eastman

The Pirate Village Thieves Market happens all weekend long in participating shops and with the colorful vendors. A Pirate parade, Pirates Ball, Pirate Kid's Breakfast, strolling buskers, musicians, bands, belly dancers, fiddlers, cutlass demonstrations, cannon fire...and plenty of other piratical activities for buccaneers & wenches of all ages are all part of the weekend offerings.

Black powder weapons masters The Pirates of the Dark Rose will have their encampment set-up all weekend as well. They all travel the high seas looking for adventure. Bedecked in authentic garb and props, they create mischief and mayhem wherever they go with their swashbuckling swordplay, sharp wit and canon demonstrations.

On Sunday, September 11 the Eastport Pirate Festival International Lobster Boat Race is back on the waterfront. The Pirate Lobster Boat Race Committee has some exciting additions this year that include an Eastport v. Lubec race. Fastest Prize is $250. Open to working lobster boats from Eastport and Lubec. Also, a Deer island, New Brunswick v. Campobello Island, New Brunswick race with a $250 winner take all prize. Lobster Boat racing on the Coast of Maine is the NASCAR of the open sea. It is pure adrenaline. Organizers are also working on a Galen Alley challenge race. The star of the Maine Lobster Boat Race circuit, Alley's Lobster Boat has been clocked at over 70 MPH.

The Pirate Bed Race is back this year with a total of $1000.00 in prize money to be given away. Half of that will go to the first place winning team along with special bed race t-shirts being given to every team member of every bed entered. This is always a favorite of the 10,000 plus visitors and this year promises to be better than ever.

Pirate belly-dancing group the Paradigm crew will headline the buskers and street performers all weekend with their incredible costumes and talents helping to create a real Pirate atmosphere for the three day event.

The Pirate Parade keeps getting bigger and better every year. The bar will once again be raised with the 2011 Pirates Parade. A great place to catch all of the adults dredssed as Pirates, Scallyways and Wenches is at the annual Pirates Ball held Friday evening September 9th at the Eastport Chowder House.

Organizers are excited to announce that the Thieves' Market and offering of vendors will be bigger than ever now that it has found a permanent home on the historic waterfront. Vendors from near and far will come to sell their goods to patrons courageous enough to do business with known pirates and ruffians, right in plain view of a fort manned by her majesty's finest.

Enjoy the best in pirate and non-pirate wares, brought in from the four corners of the world. Sample delicious foods and devilishly divine brews, including a few hand selected ones Eastport's local pirate's pubs, where you can listen to music by some of the finest entertainers on the Seven Seas

Fun for Children of All Ages. For all children and adults who want to be pirates, Eastport, Maine is the place to be. The 6th Annual Eastport Pirate Festival Invites you for a true swashbuckling weekend September 9-11.

The Pirate Invasion of Lubec happens the weekend before on Saturday, September 3 to kick-off Pirate Week in Downeast, Maine. The Lubec event has grown into a full day of Pirate offerings and signals the offical start of Pirate Week on Passamaquoddy Bay. The invasion takes place by land, sea and air with a full armada of Pirate Ships, Pirates on Motorcycles and Pirates Skydiving out of airplanes.

If you are within 5000 miles of Maine you should definitely plan to attend both events.

For full details, list of entertainers and a schedule of events visit www.eastportpiratefestival.com