The Penobscot Marine Museum, Maine’s oldest maritime museum, is having a busy October, full of events and exhibitions.  This Friday and Saturday,  October 8th and 9th, the museum offers a range of free events as part as part of  Searsport’s annual Fling Into Fall festival.   On Friday, October 8, the bluegrass group Phat Grass will play at the Public Safety Building at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, October 9, From Away Downeast will present a concert of traditional maritime music in Union Hall at 2:30 p.m. Other activities will include a Jack-o’-Lantern and Scarecrow Competition, and free museum admission and store discounts.  Also, Down-East goes Wild West with a Cowbow Action Shooting demonstration on the museum’s back lawn.

The museum is also hosting the Finer Things Invitational Craft Show and Sale through October 24th. Admission to the show is free, and sales will benefit the museum and the craft artists alike.

Toward the end of the month, a history conference at Penobscot Marine Museum will examine the rise and fall of Maine’s once-great sardine industry, and present analysis, documentation and personal reminiscences of the final days of Maine’s last sardine cannery. “And Then There Were None — The Rise & Fall of Maine’s Sardine Industry” will be held Friday evening and Saturday, October 22-23.

The museum’s history conference draws together amateur and professional scholars and anyone interested in the history of Maine and the Penobscot Bay region. It features an evening of informal sessions and a full day of formal presentations.

Penobscot Marine Museum is on US Rte. 1 in Searsport, ME, between Camden, Bangor, and Mt. Desert Island. More information is at www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org or call 207-548-2529.