What started out as a simple “let’s have lunch”, from two forum members, turned into a rather full blown event, despite the name we gave it. And while I could have posted the following to my “2025 No Name Non-Event Event” post, I feel it deserves a spot here all on its own.

I’ll begin by thanking @Mbourne and his fantastic wife for providing all of us with our commemorative stickers as they have done since the beginning (that would be 2016!). Thank you Marko & Tamela. I also need to mention the stunning handmade pottery bowl which Tamela gave my wife and me—she is extremely talented and has gifted us many of her creations over the years—and which now sits on our entranceway table. Thank you also to Marko for (always) being our exceptional “caboose” and providing me with a two-way radio so I can converse with him during our meandering throughout the State of Maine. While I often glance in my rear view mirror keeping an eye on his beautiful white ‘vert, it’s not always possible seeing everyone when you have 10+ vehicles behind you. And what a splendid sight that is.

Thank you @Nati but in particular his fantastic wife*** for supplying all of us with delicious goodie bags. Each bag contained not only drinks and snacks but phenomenal homemade cookies that came in handy throughout the weekend, even if they didn’t last the entire weekend. Eating them at 2:00 AM did not help. Thank you Christine & Justin. ***Before the bestowing of said goodie bags, Christine made a beautifully prepared platter of meats, cheeses, & various accoutrements (and so I did not have to, and which I am especially grateful) which we all relished the night of the kickoff. Thank you very much Christine!

Thank you to my buddy @Thunder Dump for my fabulous (fits perfectly) shirt. Perhaps that will get me out of a speeding ticket or two? Then again, maybe not. 🙏

The kickoff was, as always, at our house. It was well-attended—various people, all car enthusiasts, showed up even if they did not partake in the weekend festivities, among them @Portlander who is always a welcome addition. Even my old NSX buddy showed up for a cameo. He also showed up at our kickoff dinner at Cook’s Lobster & Ale House. As usual, my wife and I supplied good quality Prosecco to all attendees and yours truly made his usual mandatory announcements and toast welcoming all and mentioning those who could not join us (many had wanted to but due to one thing or another—including illness!—could not). They were, and are, in our thoughts.

I’ve forgotten how many of our kickoff dinners have been at Cook’s Lobster & Ale House www.cookslobster.com over the years, but owners Jen and Nick Charboneau always roll out the red carpet, even if that carpet is on gravel. The place was jamming that night—including a wedding rehearsal dinner and a bus tour—but GM Kevin blocked off “our spots” at the end of the parking lot and a more picturesque setting and delicious dinner could not be possible. It made, as always, the perfect way to start our weekend. Don’t believe me? Here is @DJS ’s drone shot for proof!


Attendees Kevin and Rachelle—coming from London, England!—arrived a little after this photo was taken.


Lobster BLT anyone?

Breakfast on Saturday morning was where else but at Broadway Deli www.broadway-delicatessen.com where owner Nancy Bigelow and her daughter Brianna not only roll out their red carpet—on the sidewalk—but open their doors one hour earlier than they usually do so we can all park our cars, unimpeded, in front of their restaurant. My wife and I have been coming here for 27 years and it never fails to satisfy and impress us. If you don’t believe me, ask @Nati where he takes visiting guests for breakfast. Thanks also to Kit—Nancy’s kilt-wearing husband and Vivi for doing a bang up job taking care of us that early in the morning. And what a spectacular morning it was.





After breakfast, we drove all of 5 minutes—if that!—up the street to the wonderful Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Museum, part of the Pejebscot History Center www.pejebscothistorical.org for a truly remarkable tour. Our group contains many what I would call history buffs and wherther you were a “buff” or not, we all were capativated by the most excellent of docents Roxane (one “x”). We arrived at 8:45 AM and I had informed Roxane (one “x”) that we had to leave by 10:00. That meant incorporating a tremendous amount of history of a tremendous historical individual into 1 hour and 15 minutes. No easy task but Roxane (one “x”) did an extraordinary rapid-fire job and which all followed with rapt adore. Thank you Roxane (one “x”) and Troy who manages the Museum/House and especially Out Reach Manager Sarah Sharpton for setting everything up for us. Thank you Roxane (one “x), Troy and Sarah!


@DJS with our brilliant intrepid docent.




@Mbourne ’s better half. And mine!


Tamela’s Bowl.

We left, at roughly 10:00 (our F-Types are always able to make up for lost time once on the road) and headed to a special super rare collection of cars—which I had only been to once—called, what else, the Maine Classic Car Museum www.mainecarmuseum.com. We were met by Gene Prentice—one of the principal owners—who provided us with a basic primer about this spectacular collection of automobiles. I will leave @DJS and others to illuminate you further about the collection but it is certainly worth the trip! I know I’m going back. Thank you too to Louis for helping our group as we made our way through this truly special place. (Kudos, too, to one of our group who anonymously paid for all of our entrance fees). Thank you Kevin! OOPS.







Lunch that day—which we had all ordered ahead of time; each attendee was sent a huge menu from which to choose—was at my friend David’s family Vietnamese Restaurant called Saigon on Forest Avenue in Portland. Small but inviting, our lunch was--as all will attest—incredible! I had a large Chicken Pho which was just what the Doctor ordered, despite my not consulting any Doctor that day (although I did take to my daughter who is one). Never mind. Thank you so much David and Family for an absolutely delicious visit!




I also recommended Saigon’s aromatic Wonton Soup to our group.

After lunch we all had a couple of hours of free time and after I made a few suggestions of what to do, I drove home—to the wife—and got ready for, what else but, dinner? (One of our group who shall remain nameless @Ichi Ban , texted the group earlier today “complaining” that he gained 5 pounds over the weekend. I have a habit of doing that to attendees of our events). Be thankful it wasn’t 10 pounds Frank. .

I picked up our group at their hotel—our “Official” hotel for the last several years—the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Brunswick and who always take such fantastic care of our group (thank you so much Meghan and Seamus!!!) and drove up Route 1 to Wiscasset and one of my wife and my favorite restaurants in the State of Maine, Water Street Kitchen & Bar www.waterstreetmaine.com The GM—my brother from another mother—Shane McCarthy joined us all day Saturday with his Black ‘Vette taking pictures and videos while driving on the highway and later hosted our group at his superb restaurant that night and it’s always a pleasure dining there and seeing Shane. Their Lobster Risotto—although everything there is incredible—is to die for. Thankfully I did not.



Breakfast on Sunday morning was at Dutchman Bagel’s in Brunswick www.dutchmans.me. Hailing from NYC, I KNOW great bagels and these definitely qualify as great. I had ordered 2 dozen bagels + all the fixings and the staff there had it all prepared and ready for our arrival at 8:00 (there is almost always a line, if not a long line, here. With good reason). We stayed until 9:30 when Justin & Christine took the group over (from me; I had to bow out…I had, have, too much stuff to do) and I am sure they have some people and places to thank too and will post that here soon for your reading pleasure. Thank you Gillian and her staff for making this happen!



Last but not least, a few more well-placed thank yous!

Thank you to Brunswick’s Finest for providing an excellent police escort out of my house and towards Cook’s on Friday night. It’s never necessary—having a police escort—but it is fun and a nice way to highlight the men and women in blue who keep our streets safe from…well..people like us. Seriously, thank you BPD!!!

Thank you too to Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. In years past they have provided not only an escort but blocking traffic for us in various places. Sadly they were on call that night and actually sent me an apology afterwards. Naturally they have nothing to apologize for and I always thank them for their service and hoped that the calls that they were on ended well. Thank you CCSO!!!

Thank you very much to all attendees—driving vast distances!—without whom there would be no non-event event at all.

Lastly thank you very much to my beautiful wife for putting up with me (and our group) yet again .

Cheers to you all,
Jay

P.S. Thank you @Nati for my amazing after-breakfast Raised Glazed Donut from the best of the best: Frostys www.frostysdonuts.com

 

Thank you to one of our dearest long time friends @jaguny who, along with his son David, allowed my wife and me to take them out for dinner Thursday night in Portland to Mr. Tuna www.mrtunamaine.com

Food & Wine Magazine recently bestowed the honor of calling the Owner of Mr. Tuna—Jordan Rubin***—one of the Top Ten Best New Chefs in the Country. High praise indeed (and I remember when Jordan started out with a small food cart just outside my office).









***Several years ago Jordan and I exchanged a Mr. Tuna t-shirt for a 201? Jaguar F-Type “event” t-shirt. And, no—in case you were wondering—not off our backs but brand new.

 

We have very dear friends who live in Portland. We always tell them we are coming next fall to visit. Can we bring our F-type R and join your group next fall?

Kinda long trip from Indianapolis, but your description of the events makes it seem worth it.

 

One of our group, no doubt—reading your post—is going to interpret that as putting bait in the water. For me to bite!

My default has long been if a forum member comes to Maine and would like to meet up for breakfast, lunch or maybe dinner, I have always “welcomed” them and happy to share our common love and appreciation for our beautiful cars. I’ve done that many times over many years.

Having said that, hosting an event—or non-event—is a much greater commitment. A commitment I have made 10 times in 9 years. It’s actually quite easy for me to do and, of course, I do it for the enjoyment of our group—my “rewards” are plentiful—but it does require a bunch of work. At the end of every event—and I mean EVERY event—the joke going around the table is “see you next year”. Easy to say, harder to predict much less commit.

Let’s see where the leaves fall (no pun intended…well, maybe a little).

Best regards,
Jay

 

HA. I was just kidding (sorta) about driving our Jag from Indy to Maine. For one my wife needs a U-Haul for all her luggage for that long of a trip.

I am going to forward your thread to my friends in Portland and tell them "this is all the places I want to visit (and eat) when we come"

In the meantime we will travel in a massive SUV !!!

 

JUST so you know, over the years countless attendees have traveled—driven their F-Types—vast distances. (It’s one of the many reasons I happily owe it to them to make it worth their while/time). We had a couple drive from 100 miles west of Denver, CO and one couple from Cincinnati have attended so many of our events and loved Maine so much that they decided to move here (no kidding). And let’s not forget that this year one attendee and his wife flew back from London, England to attend.

As far as luggage is concerned, numerous forum attendees can address that issue; never mind that I have usually provided them lots of great swag to take home with them. If they can do it, so can you.

Feel free to PM me if you’d like more Portland-oriented recommendations. I am happy to share with them.

Cheers,
Jay

 

Jay another outstanding event as usual! Impromptu sometimes is even sweeter. It was great seeing everyone again and we certainly missed those who could not. As for bait taking……….we all will likely keep chumming the water to entice you to chomp on it next year!

 

I would also love to attend an event like this! looks amazing, hard to find people who appreciate these cars. Thankfully I am pretty close to Maine and would love to go.

 

We’re gonna need a bigger event…

 

I will add on my sentiments as the planner of the day 3 itinerary.

As Jay mentioned, my wife and I made six of these trips from Cincinnati (across two different F Types) before moving to Maine last year. On one occasion we shipped the car and flew to meet it, but on each other we drove.

After breakfast at Dutchman's (the possessive and correct name of the excellent wood fired bagelry &#128521, our group headed to Eros Oyster Farm in Georgetown. Our tour guides Andrew and Eva gave us a delightful overview of aquaculture and the oyster industry in Maine. This is a family run 4.5 acre farm on the Sasanoa river. Tidal, cold, and briny, perfect conditions for growing some of the best oysters you can find. The group learned how to shuck like the pros, and everyone got to enjoy the delicious fruits of their labor.








Thanks to the owner, Mike Gaffney, pictured left.
https://www.erosoyster.com/

After Eros, we traveled to one the most scenic views in the mid coast, Pemaquid Point Light.







From here it was off to our final stop, lunch at the stories Red's Eats where owner and friend of the program, Debbie Gagnon, has filled our bellies (and then some) numerous times over the years. It never disappoints.



Farewell friends. See you next year! 😆

 

There is a reason people the world over drive to Red’s Eats and sometimes wait 2+hours for their humongous Lobster Roll, and lots of other delicious seafood (their menu is quite extensive, innovative and diverse; please check out their online menu and see why). That reason is due to one of the hardest working and loving people we know; Debbie Gagnon. Debbie and her dear departed dad—Al Gagnon—catered the main course for our wedding over 22 years ago (never did that before and haven’t done that since) and Red’s remains, thankfully, one of Maine’s most visited and iconic “institutions” around. So when this year’s “2025 No Name Non-Event Event” was initially being discussed, many attendees hounded me with “we have to go to Red’s Eats!!!” And so they did.

Reds Eats







It’s been said before, but I will say it again: DEBBIE & RED’S EATS IS THE BEST!

 

Jay -

Don't forget that one year we also had a couple join us from Ontario, Canada in their lovely red convertible!

 

We have actually had several forum members from our neighbors to the north attend events over the past years Frank, including @Awd —who remains a dear friend to this day!—and several others who I do keep in touch with here and there.

Cheers!
Jay

 

The Legend Continues!

Congratulations on a successful non-event.

 

thanks to Justin and Christine for arranging Sundays excursions and the goody bags! The newest Maine residents picked well!