ROCKLAND, Maine » The Maine Lobster Festival is beckoning seafood lovers to Rockland, Maine, to experience the state’s signature dish in all its buttery glory.

The five-day event gets started Wednesday and runs through Sunday. The festival includes a parade, a carnival, a performance by Don McLean and, of course, lobster.

The festival takes place in Rockland’s Harbor Park. It first took place in 1947.

It’s happening amid a boom in lobster catch in the state. Maine lobstermen are catching more than 120 million pounds of lobster every year for the past three years. Catches between 60 million and 80 million pounds were more common a decade ago.

Museum features Ukrainian art

NEW YORK » An exhibition of Ukrainian folk art inspired by an ancient ornamental painting tradition of home exteriors and interiors in central Ukraine is on view in New York.

Thirty-five paintings by 17 artists are being shown in the U.S. for the first time at the Ukrainian Museum through the end of August.

The art form is known as Petrykivka. Its symbolic motifs feature elements from nature. Only a few examples predating the 19th century remain in museum collections.

Carousel to open at Battery Park

NEW YORK » The SeaGlass Carousel is slated to open at The Battery in Lower Manhattan on Aug. 20. It’s a giant nautilus shell featuring 30 monumental fish figures. A new Tiffany & Co. Foundation Woodland Gardens will surround the carousel.

The not-for-profit Battery Conservancy says the carousel was designed to recall The Battery’s history as the original home of the New York Aquarium.

The design allows visitors to "sit within" the luminescent fish figures instead of riding them as one would a typical carousel.

The carousel and gardens are part of a major revitalization of the 25-acre public park.