Win a dream trip to Camden, Maine

Wow! Purchase a $50 raffle ticket and if you’re lucky, you may win a Maine Dream Vacation, an all-inclusive four-day dream vacation in Camden, Maine, valued at $6,000. Five-hundred tickets will be sold to benefit Youthlinks, a community service program for Mid-coast youth. The winning ticket will be drawn July 15, and the vacation must be taken Sept. 13-16.

There’s plenty of  small print you should read before entering, but this is one heckuva deal featuring some of Mid-Coast Maine’s premier properties and activities. And September is usually the nicest month of the year.

The Maine Dream Vacation includes:

• round-trip airfare for two to Boston, connecting to a Cape Air flight to Rockland

• rental car

• three nights at the AAA four-diamond Camden Harbour Inn, including gourmet breakfast daily, featuring freshly baked specialties prepared by the pastry chef; complimentary coffee, tea, and snacks; evening turndown service; a welcome glass of sparkling Prosecco.

• Dinner on Tuesday, Sept. 13,  at the Hartstone Inn, in Camden: cocktails at 6:30 followed by a five-course dinner at 7 p.m.

• Dinner on Wednesday, Sept. 14,  at Primo, in Rockland, owned by James Beard award-winning chef Melissa Kelly.

• Dinner on Thursday, Sept. 15,  at Natalie’s, in your host hotel, the Camden Harbor Inn.

• $500 in spending money on a pre-paid debit card from Machias Savings Bank

In addition, it includes one of the following services- for-two daily (and good luck choosing, all are quite enticing):

• spa services at Beauty Mark Spa, Camden

• biplane tour over Penobscot Bay, courtesy of the Owls Head Transportation Museum

•  a round of golf at the oceanfront Samoset Resort, Rockport

• a day sail and picnic aboard the Schooner Olad, Camden

• back stage tour of the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland

• private winemaker’s tour with lunch of Cellardoor Winery, Lincolnville

• personal cooking class with Chef Kerry Altiero of Café Miranda, Rockland

• personal hike in the Camden Hills with Registered Maine Guide and editor of Down East magazine Paul Doiron and birder/trails expert Kristin Lindquist of Coastal Mountains Land Trust.

And finally,

• Large Red Claw tote from Sea Bags, made from recycled sails

That’s a lot of value and a lot of the best of Maine for a $50 chance. Why not purchase a ticket, at the very least, you’re helping a worthy cause, and you might just buy the winning number.