ROCKLAND — Maine is experiencing an unprecedented surge in ticks this year. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,464 cases of Lyme cases in 2016 and recently confirmed that two Midcoast residents were diagnosed with the rare Powassan Encephalitis, also known as deer tick virus.

One woman has a message for us all: Do not underestimate what one little tick bite can do to you.

Angelica Gaudreau, a massage therapist in Rockland, was in peak shape of her life, when a pink circle, the size of a nickel showed up on her leg in Summer 2013.

From there, a nightmare journey was about to begin, although she didn’t know it at the time. Like so many diagnosed with tick-borne Lyme disease, Gaudreau had no idea what was happening to her body in that first few months; nor did she have any knowledge that she’d even been bitten by a tick.

“A couple of months later, I began getting flu-like symptoms,” she said. “And then it would go away after a few days. I kept thinking, the kids are young and in school, and I’m just picking this up from them.”

A few months after that, she made an appointment with her primary care physician, who suggested Gaudreau’s symptoms could be due to malaria, but since she had not traveled to any place where she could have contracted malaria, Gaudreau dismissed the suggestion. 

Her symptoms started to accumulate with headaches, migrating joint pain, migrating body aches, blurred vision, eye floaters, brain fog, weakness, sweats, light sensitivity, swollen lymph nodes, insomnia, severe bouts of dizziness and fatigue. Gaudreau had a hunch her symptoms could be the cause of a tick-borne illness, so she suggested to her doctor that she might have Lyme Disease.

“Despite the fact that I reminded my doctor that all of my symptoms started with recurring flu-like symptoms, I got brushed off with the suggestion that I was in my 40s, so this could just be hormonal,” she said. “After that, I was referred to a neurologist.”

After being bounced around from specialist to specialist with no real diagnosis, Gaudreau said: “I thought if this is going to like this for the rest of my life, I don’t know if I can manage. I was so dizzy at one point, I was afraid to drive. I was getting neurological symptoms and extreme panic attacks. The feeling was like being chased by a lion and I was just going to die. Normal things like someone slamming on the brakes in front of you while driving can shake you up for a few minutes, but it would shake me up for hours or days. I remember thinking that something was taking control of my thoughts. There was a consciousness that ‘this isn’t me.’ Something was happening to me that was physiological, not emotional.”

Once again, Gaudreau insisted to her physician she get tested for Lyme.

“I said to her, ‘if this test comes back as a negative, what do we do then?’ And she said to me, ‘if the test is negative, it’s negative. You don’t have Lyme disease.’’”

The standard Lyme disease test came back negative.

Fed up with the lack of knowledge and support from her primary care physician, Gaudreau decided to take matters into her own hands and pursued the naturopath route. 

“The more I researched this topic, the more I learned how high the false-negative rate of this test was. So, I worked with a naturopath in Damariscotta to take an iGeneX test from a licensed laboratory, which came back positive for chronic Lyme disease.” 

From there, a true diagnosis was only the beginning.

“I felt I was losing my mind and the results from this test made me feel, ‘OK, I’m not going crazy,’” she said. “I have since learned that a clinical diagnosis should be made by symptoms, and not reliant only on test results.  There is currently no test that can definitively rule out tick-borne illness. The bacteria that causes Lyme is stealthy and can change forms and hide from your immune system.”

Gaudreau has tried many different treatment protocols, ranging from herbal to antibiotic, and even antimalarial. 

"The antimalarial was very tough on me,” she said. “And many of the antibiotics caused gut issues. I felt like I was going through chemotherapy.”

By buying more books, researching online, taking lots of functional tests, and working with multiple healthcare practitioners, she discovered through trial and error that an herbal protocol worked best for her.

Today, she carries around a tote bag of around 40 herbal supplements that she takes daily. None of the supplements are covered by insurance, nor are any functional tests like iGeneX, which run into hundreds of dollars out of pocket each month.

“It’s combating multi-systemic infectious disease syndrome,” she said. “That means you can’t just take one approach with Lyme. You have to heal all of the systems that work together in your body one by one.”

What people do if they don’t have the money or the knowledge to go the naturopath route? 

“I’ve been told that many people with Lyme don’t get out of bed each day,” she said. “I would often sleep for 10-12 hours a day, and would still have a hard time getting out of bed and getting through my day.”

This summer, while she still works to maintain her own health daily, Gaudreau decided to post a recipe on her Facebook page for her friends on natural tick repellent. She got so many requests to make up a batch, she put together dozens of bottles of Angelica’s Essential FOFF Tick Repellent.

“You can pronounce it ‘Foff’ or ‘eff off’ whatever you like,” she joked. ‘“I just didn’t want to put DEET or other chemicals on myself or my kids, especially as I was already battling chemicals.”

Though she is did not intend to make these bottles for public sale, as it is was just a part-time hobby, the demand is growing and she is working on making it available to the public.  She has set up a Facebook page to keep people informed, FOFF Tick Repellent. 

“Unfortunately, my story [of contracting Lyme disease] is still a common one,” said Gaudreau. “I've heard so many stories similar to mine, stories of people who knew they were very sick, were brushed off by their doctors and therefore, not treated early enough. Most people can avoid what I went through, and what I am still going through, if they get treated early enough.  The more time the bacteria has in your body without being treated, the more damage it does and the harder it is to get rid of. Fortunately, there are a lot of mainstream healthcare professionals that are well educated in tick-borne illness.  And most alternative healthcare practitioners in our area are well versed in tick-borne illness. We have some talented naturopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and herbalists in Maine.

“I want to say to the people out there suffering with chronic Lyme, to stay hopeful,” she said. “Each person responds differently to treatment, but when the protocol fits, wellness can be a reality,” she said. “I'm still not 100 percent, but I am functioning very well these days.”

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

LINCOLNVILLE — What started off as an eighth grade project turned into a novel for 14-year-old Morgan MacDougal. Along the way, she taught herself how to write, edit and self-publish. Going by her middle name as her pen name Morgan Brooke, she tackled a fairly tough topic for her first self-published novel titled Andi & Elle. It’s the story of two best friends who grew up together. When Andi gets into a life-threatening hit and run accident that results in a coma, Elle decides to complete Andi’s summer “bucket list” for her and reports on each event through a journal.

“I read an article about about a girl who died and then an older friend decided to complete her ‘bucket list’ for her,” Morgan said. “I liked the concept and decided to alter both characters to be my age.”

Morgan based much of the main character Elle upon her own personality. The cover is a photo of Morgan standing on a skateboard down by the Camden Harbor, shot by her friend Sofia Mott.

Morgan only spent three months writing the 264-page novel, but, was disciplined about it, just as any professional author would be.

“I gave myself the goal of writing 20 pages a week and I’d write five pages a day,” she said. “On the weekend, it would be 10 pages. For three months, it was my life every single day. The day it was finally over with, I just kind of sat down and didn’t know what to do with myself.”

As she learned how to write the novel, Morgan began to see how layered and complex the process of taking a book from imagination to reality was. Her mother, Ronni Arno, an author, helped with the editing.

“I knew editing was important, but I’m not interested in it. I just like to free write,” she said.

Still, she had three separate people edit the book.

Morgan decided to format it herself and self publish it, which is an entirely different skill set, and something that would be an even greater challenge to her.

“I published it on the platform LuLu and when I ordered the first copy and the text was way too small,” she said. “The second printing I meant to order 30 copies, but accidentally ordered only one copy, which actually worked out the best, because, the cover was off centered and I’d forgotten to put in any of the front material like the Acknowledgments. I had a really frustrating time trying to get the printing right. My computer would freeze and I’d end up having to do the entire layout process all over again, like three times. That wasn’t fun.”

She is now figuring out how to promote the book, which is available in the Camden Public Library to reserve. “I’ve had a bunch of kids at school buy it and my mom is helping me with a book signing eventually,” she said.

Morgan is also working on a new YA novel, a fantasy about a society where everything always works out perfectly, until one day it all goes wrong.

She said she’s not ready to launch into the world of traditional publishing yet.

“When I started really writing two years ago, I realized that nothing was capitalized and there wasn’t enough detail, so I’m just writing for fun,” she said. “I have to wait a little bit until my writing gets really shaped up and gets really good. I think for now, self publishing is a better option for me.”

Morgan even sounds like a seasoned author when she says: “There’s never really a sense of satisfaction that you’re done. Once the first draft was done, then there was editing. Once editing was done, there was formatting. Once formatting was done, then there was printing and ordering. And then it had to be reprinted and reformatted. After that, somehow I had to deliver it to every person on my list.”

She sighed. “There’s always more to be done.” As she held up her book in the exact spot where the cover was shot, she said, “Being able to hold this up and show it to people, that’s the best part.”

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

 

 

ROCKLAND—Hundreds took to the streets last night, June 17, 2017 in Rockland for the annual Summer Solstice Street Party. Despite a gloomy overcast day, Main Street was packed and people were in a festive spirit.

The decades-long tradition open air festival closed Main Street off to vehicular traffic. It’s one of the few public events in the Midcoast that can draw children, teens, families, singles, couples, older folks, traditional and alternative personalities in one place. In addition to live bands and plenty of food options, including the traditional Whoopie Pie-Eating Contest, numerous solo musicians and bands dotted the sidewalks and entertained passersby. See our video clip for a sample of the entertainment.

From 4 to 7 p.m., there were plenty of hands-on activities as well, including face painting, temporary tattoos, giant bubbles, art demonstrations, a flash mob and a chance to do aerial stunts with the The Sellam Circus School up from Biddeford.

Right about the time that the sun finally made its debut, students from Studio Red’s dance students drew the majority of the crowd’s attention as they performed multiple sets of hip hop and dance numbers.

For the second year in a row, the party didn’t stop when the Summer Solstice party wound down. Hundreds of adults wandered down to the After Hours Dock Party at Journey's End Marina at the end of Tillson Avenue, featuring a cash-only bar, music and dancing from 6 to 10:30 p.m. with DJ Dan Miller kicking off the first set, followed by the band Just Teachers.

Check out our gallery for more photos of both events.

 

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

NORTHPORT — Anyone wondering why they no longer see those garish lime green and yellow colors of the old Dos Amigos Mexican Restaurant as they pass Route 1 will be happy to know that the restaurant has been taken over, reinvented and is now open for the season. The Hoot, a breakfast and lunch restaurant, is owned and run by former food truck owner Anna Wagner.

The building is now clad in dark shingles, and adorned by planters of flowers, with an expansive back deck under a canopy of trees. Instead of jutting out like a sore thumb, the new look of the building blends into its more serene surroundings. As we first reported, it’s taken Anna and her family six months to transform the dilapidated building into something that is warm, cozy and instantly welcoming.

The Breakfast and Lunch menu are simple and affordably priced. I chose one of the house favorites, House Heuvos, with two poached eggs atop warmed corn tortillas, homemade chili, sour cream and salsa ($7.50).

Coming off a summer cold, I needed a dish that could break through my stuffy nose and make me glad to be alive again. A hearty breakfast with a punch of flavor of onions, beans and cilantro was just the trick—and there was so much of it, I had to take half home.

The Basic Breakfast (two eggs, toast, house smoked bacon, sausage patty or beans) is already a hot seller, along with The Breakfast Sandwich and Belgium Waffles. They also have at least two vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options, as well. As for lunch, those who frequented Wags Wagon when it was in Belfast will be happy to know their favorite “Wagswich” is back on the menu (smoked turkey breast, bacon, avocado, fresh greens and lemon chive mayo) along with equally affordable salads and soups.

Jon Poto, Wagner’s boyfriend, who is helping with service while they get their footing, said: “We’ve been steadily working on some major changes here. The main entrance is now the opening off the deck, which had to be redone, along with some new windows and paint.”

The hard work has paid off and the interior has a rustic, homey feel with a barnboard ceiling, robin’s egg blue walls, cream wainscotting in the back and comfy couches for lounging. The service, like the meals, is simple and not fussy. You give your order at the front counter and wait at a scarred wooden table decorated. with a vintage tonic bottle filled with daisies and thistles.

In about a week, the side room of the restaurant will transform into a mini market.

“Anna’s parents live and work on a meat farm, so we’ll have local farm-raised eggs and meat for sale,” said Poto. “Our bakers out of Waldoboro will be offering their bread. And Frontier Maple Syrup will be selling their Maine-made syrup, as well.”

All photos by Kay Stephens For more information visit: The Hoot

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

ROCKLAND—Those who like their art to be a little edgier than sailboats and lighthouses found the Steel House South's first art show, “the Crooked and The Wide,” to be right up their alley. Nathan Davis, Steel House's co-founder organized a show of local artists and designers, which promised "explicit drawings, vulgar political cartoons, algorthmically-processed pornography and an army of robots.

Not exactly a venue for the pearl-clutchers, but this art, design and technology collective did not disappoint.

Davis's contribution was algorthmically-processed pornography. On a computer screen, the outlines of an explicit image were just beginning to manifest before what looked like a giant Etch A Sketch altered the image.

"It started off as kind of a joke," he said. "I'm a computer programmer and in the past, I've done algorithmically processed photos of typical Maine scenes like lighthouses and beaches where the program overwrote the image and altered it. I thought, wouldn't it be funny if the source material was unfit for showing to the public? So, I created a program that randomly downloads explicit pictures and alters them. The results were actually pretty remarkable in that they transformed material that otherwise didn't have much artistic merit into something that really merited careful contemplation."

Jared Paradee, an artist who has contributed his ideas to Hot Pink Flannel theme parties, as well as the Mini Maker Faire in Camden, had two exhibits at the show. Anyone who remembers him as "The Robot Overlord" in a giant robot costume from the 2014 and 2015 Maker Faires, would be pleased to see the original costume hanging, surrounded by a miniature Robot Army he'd created out of paper and cardboard.

"It started as my own project and then I had the opportunity to share it with others at the Faire," he said. "I also did a internship at ArtVan, a mobile arts therapy organization in Bath, which gives kids access to arts. the Robot Overlord costume debuted at a fashion show fund raiser with recycled materials and I just happened to have the perfect costume to work with."

Paradee's other collection of found objects, oddities, retro cereal boxes and vintage pulp magazines featured a mounted puzzle of Mr. T as the centerpiece.

"I got this puzzle at a thrift shop and some pieces were missing, but oddly, a third eye puzzle piece was in the box, so now Mr. T has a third eye on his forehead,” he said. “People really responded to this piece."

To the right was a collection of paintings of Jesus Christ, positioned so that all of the Jesus figures were looking at one another.

"I have always enjoyed accumulating kitschy religious paintings, they just kind of made this fortuitous conversion," he said.

Becca Shaw Glaser enjoyed the opportunity to push the notion of what constitutes art with her exhibition. Among her paintings of women and gender-nonconforming forms, she had an interactive piece where people could pull envelopes stamped with a wood carved printing of a vulva off the window and look inside.

Each envelope offered a random collection of messages inside.

Pulling one of the window, the one I opened said “”Who does your art serve?”

This happened to be the perfect question for the artist herself.

“When I first learned of the call out for a transgressive art show, I was excited because I have not felt that my art would find a home here in Midcoast Maine,” she said. “My experience is that most art is geared toward the rich tourist with all of these class politics involved. I was thinking about the $300,000 paintings being sold in Rockland and how inaccessible that is for most of us in this time of extreme income inequality. I’m really interested in having the art scene in Rockland continue to connect with locals by becoming more friendly and open to the public, including students and low-income people by making classes and entrance fees sliding-scale or free, and other creative ways."

Kitty Winslow wasn’t sure if she was channeling the novel 1984 when she made her two mixed media pieces, but she might as well have. Both feature some kind of survellience camera “box” affixed to a jarring grid of lines with the organic element of a tree branch attached. “Over the fall and winter when there was just so much in the news about surveillance, is when I started to make a trilogy of these,” she said. “One of them is called ‘I’ll be watching you.’ They’re purely from my subconscious.”

The exhibition came down the weekend of June 10, but Steel House South promises more alternative and outsider art shows in the future. For more information about the artists visit: http://www.rocklandsteelhouse.com/

All photos by Kay Stephens

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

BELFAST—The new Wonder Woman movie out this summer has taken on a life of its own with a cross-country trend of theaters screening it for one night to a female-only audience, something both applauded and criticized, but Mike Hurley, co-owner of Colonial Theatre in Belfast, doesn’t care about the critics.

 “Well first off, I am kind of sick of superhero movies,” he said. “But it was really startling to see this all-female cast at the beginning of the movie. It was just really refreshing to see female characters get a fair shake instead of it always being about men.”

Hurley and his wife and co-owner of the theatre, Therese Bagnardi, decided to hold a women-only screening and on Thursday, June 8, the theater was packed. The show sold out with more than 150 showing up, many in costume.

Previous to the show, Hurley said he got a lot of flak from men and even some women on social media about just limiting the show one night for women. “You know what I really realize about that?” he asked. “We live in the age of bitching. I don’t care if you showed up with a truckload of gold and a cure for AIDS; people would bitch about it. I’m sick of it. To me, this was a fun thing, no harm, no foul and it was wonderful. The show drew all ages from little girls to elderly women and it was a blast. You know, if there was a movie that appealed in the same way strictly to men, I’d do the same thing for them.”

Belfast resident Nicolle Littrell, an educator, filmmaker, activist, feminist and mother prepared some remarks as an introduction to the show about her first impression of the movie and read it in front of the Colonial Theatre audience that night. Here is an excerpt.

“OK, so I saw the film on opening night last Friday (of course) and I cried. Multiple times...throughout the film. I was surprised by my tears...and felt almost embarrassed by them. Why? Well, for one thing, it seems pretty silly to cry during a superhero movie. Never happened before. And I’ve seen many of them...pretty much every single one there is. Like 10 times each. I’m a bit of a supergeek when it comes to superheroes. I am raising a son that is obsessed with them and I teach a class on Wonder Woman in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at U Maine. Plus, Wonder Woman and I go way back...1977 to be exact. Why the tears? Really, its pretty simple. Because this wasn’t a superhero movie, per say, but a superheroine movie or ‘sheroe’ movie as some of us feminists like say. The first one ever. Holy Hera...that feels pretty significant. History has been made. Its about friggin’ time! It may not be the kind of history-making some of us were hoping to see, but Wonder Woman made it to the big screen! Why else did I cry? As a woman and a feminist, seeing powerful--albeit gorgeous, very tall, very fit (however mostly white) women--self-determine their lives and let’s face it, kick major masculine ass is really quite satisfying. I think its speaks to a feeling of powerlessness that many of us are struggling with right now...especially in the current political climate. To say that this story captures a fantasy many of us are engaging in at the moment...is a bit of an understatement.”

Hurley said the film will run until June 15. To see more information about it visit: Colonial Theatre

All photos courtesy Mike Hurley

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

BELFAST—A couple of years ago, an old storage shed perched next to BCOPE (Belfast Community Outreach Program in Education) in Belfast had a lot of potential. It had been sitting there for about 10 years by the time Chuck Hamm was hired as a teacher, last year, used partially as a greenhouse, but more as a storage shed. So, on a weekend, Hamm rolled up his sleeves and recruited some of his students in the alternative program to start tackling the greenhouse.

“I brought my own tools in and a nail gun and we went to work,” he said.

His father-in-law, Virgil Littlefield, donated the lumber, EBS donated insulation, Aubochon donated the topsoil and a local farm donated manure.

The students salvaged bricks that were on site and within a few weeks, the barely used greenhouse was transformed into a working greenhouse.

“It cost nothing, it was all labor,” said Hamm.

Today, it’s a fully functioning greenhouse with a water source in an old tub installed in the back that doubles as fish pond. And it’s something the BCOPE teens are pretty proud of.

Katlynn Tatro, a senior, said it’s her third and last year working in the greenhouse before she graduates. Like every one of the students who have helped in some way with the greenhouse, Tatro is in the program’s culinary track, and it’s been gratifying to be able to make food from scratch.

“We’ve all done a little bit of everything from rebuilding the greenhouse to growing seedlings to watering, transplanting and harvesting them,” she said.

Tyson Witham, 15 said: “I’ve grown a garden since I was seven.”

Every one of the students involved have grown some kind of garden since they were young, as well.

With carrots, hot peppers, onions and tomatoes as their primary crop this spring, Hamm said the kids are currently growing a “spaghetti sauce garden” and will be giving away most all of the seedlings to any family or friend of BCOPE. They also plan to sell some of the houseplants in order to roll a few bucks back into the greenhouse.

“When they come back to school in the fall, we’ll harvest everything and make it into spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce, which will be part of the meals that the culinary students serve.” said Hamm.

This past winter, the students grew a lot of lettuce, spinach and arugula in the greenhouse.

“We ate it; we sold it; we gave it away,” Hamm said. “We’d tell the kids during the day; go out and harvest some lettuce; we’ve got an order to fill and it would calm them right down. It’s kind of a decompression chamber. In the middle of winter, when certain kids were just fed up with stuff, we’d tell them to go in there, plug in their phones to the speaker, listen to their music and work away.”

Most of their first customers were the school’s staff.

Hamm and the students went a step further, working an underused fallow field in back of the school for a bigger garden to plant the seedlings. 

“Fresh produce is so important,” said Edward Tatro, 18. “I find that if actually grow the food and you work hard at it, it actually tastes better and it’s really worth it.”

This past week, they received a check for $250 from Time and Tide Resource Conservation and Development Area, which will go directly to potting soil, six pack containers, trays and everything else they need to support the seedlings.

“This year, we were just experimenting with everything, house plants, vegetables. I think next year it’s really going to take off,” said Hamm.

The fact that the students collectively invest their energy into a communal project has so many ancillary benefits.

“This my 28th year of teaching and my second year here,” said Hamm. “I think the way things are run around here are revolutionary to education. The program is so personalized. Each kid has an individualized plan tailored to them specifically.”

For more information about BCOPE visit: bcope.rsu71.org

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—As Millay House Rockland continues to make progress in the renovation of the house on Broadway Street. which was the birthplace of renowned poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, one of their newest achievements is teaming up with Portland’s nonprofit writing center, the Telling Room.

Dr. Lisa Westkaemper, the treasurer of Millay House Rockland, said: “The progress on the house is going well. We plan on having the Telling Room set up a presence here in one of the rooms in late August, or early September, and hoping by then, we’ll have a space for them renovated enough to operate out of. I don’t expect the entire house to be finished by that time; it’s just not physically possible, but even if we have to wear hard hats, we’ll have an office for us and them.”

How the Millay House managed to connect with the Telling Room, is all due to Roxanne Quimby, whom Westkaemper calls their “angel donor” who was pivotal in the house’s rescue from demolition.

“Roxanne was very interested in helping us with our vision and mission and she is also a big fan of the Telling Room,” said Westkaemper.  “As we’re both literary organizations, she encouraged us to reach out to them .”

Westkaemper said that the room where Edna St. Vincent Millay was born will be renovated to look exactly like it did at the turn of the century. “One side of the duplex will be for the writers in residence program and the other side, the south side of the duplex will be office space,” she said.

Andrew Griswold, the Telling Room’s Director of Communications, said he and the staff are excited to have a Midcoast presence, something they’ve wanted to do for years, but the timing wasn’t right. “It was always just a little too far with volunteers and staff to drive up to the Midcoast and do a number of in-school sessions, so we could really never get a residency going until now,” he said.

“We’re working to slowly build on our Portland model here to get some core programs in place with the schools such as in-school residencies where we would work with a class on a project to make a book,” he said. “So, we’ve been talking with RSU-13, and Oceanside middle school and high school about starting there. And I think the space in the Millay House when it is completed will be a great for after-school workshops or drop-ins. We know that there is a bus line that actually runs right by the house, so that’s perfect. The creative workshops could be anything from fiction writing to ghost stories around Halloween to some sort of arts-integration project with a theme like Valentine’s Day.”

Griswold said they’re hoping to eventually hire a program director to work out of the Millay House, but that they are moving slowly. “The whole idea first is to get the word out and get more kids in the door interested in writing,” he said. “The first year will be tasked with establishing a solid base of volunteers who we call ‘teaching artists,’ who will be able to help with our core programs. A hallmark of our approach is to get the lowest student to adult ratio as possible. So, we’ll be looking for writers, retired teachers, college graduates anyone who has a love for writing and who are looking to do some really dedicated literary volunteer work with kids in the area.”

Right around the time that the first Millay Arts and Poetry Festival slated for September 7-9, 2017 takes place in downtown Rockland, the Telling Room will begin working with students.  The city-wide arts and literary festival produced by the Millay House Rockland, in partnership with a host of other organizations, plans to offer poetry, music, art, theatre workshops, open mics symposiums and keynote speakers across the three-day span. For more information visit Millay House Rockland: millayhouse.com/

The Telling Room is a nonprofit writing center in Portland, Maine, dedicated to the idea that children and young adults are natural storytellers. Focused on young writers ages 6 to 18, we seek to build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and provide real audiences for our students. For more information visit The Telling Room: tellingroom.org/

Related story: A peek inside the Rockland house where Edna St. Vincent Millay was born

LINCOLNVILLE — Residents and visitors now have more to-go or eat-in food options along Route 1, at Lincolnville Beach, with Nanette Gionfriddo's beachfront bookshop and gift store, Beyond The Sea Books & Gifts. The new café opened three weeks ago, soon after the book shop re-opened for the season.

“People were lingering over books and I just felt the need to feed them,” said Gionfriddo.

All winter, Gionfriddo has been remodeling the front counter section of her store with new plumbing, electrical and some light commercial kitchen equipment. The entire back of the store, which used to be a combination of bookshelves and gifts, has been transformed to a cozy nook not just overlooking the salt water marsh, but literally positioned right over it. So, those with a window view will feel like they are floating on a houseboat.

After the bookstore re-opened for the season, on Mother’s Day, it took a little more time to get the café ready. “We had hoped to open them at the same time, but had to take baby steps to get it ready,” she said.

Standing in her grandfather’s apron behind the counter, she pointed out that all of her baked goods are made from scratch, including three cakes under glass on the tiered cake stands, such as a double chocolate layer cake, and a carrot cake. Below on the counter, were miniature bites of the same cake in cupcake form.

“I have always enjoyed making cakes at home,” she said. “When I used to work at Wayfarer Marine, I used to make cakes like this and just bring it in for the crew.”

Beyond the sweets and coffee, she also offers to-go, take home and eat-in savory “comfort food” dishes, such as hot meatball subs, chili macaroni and cheese, barbecue franks and beans, as well as soups, chowders and stews. In the cold case, she also offers pasta salads, egg salad and tuna containers, salads as well as side dishes, authentic Italian subs and make to-order sandwiches as well.

“My specialty is the kind of out-of-state Italian sub that you’d want to see in Maine, with salami, mortadella, pepperoni, and capricola and provolone,” she said. “If someone is going to the beach or going to work, you can just jump in, grab a hot or cold drink and any of the to-go soup, sandwich or salad.”

“Locals have been very excited,” she said. “Some of the guys working across the street are coming over to take dinners home when they don’t feel like cooking at the end of the day.”

Upstairs, the book store has morphed into a combination gallery of artwork from local artists as well as specialty sections of used books.

On a rainy 50-degree June day, when no one wants to be outside, a hot coffee and a carrot cupcake while reading a book by a salt marsh is a book lover’s dream.

The store is closed Tuesdays in June, but then open seven days a week in July and August, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — Don’t be afraid. Even with teeth in his claws, he won’t bite. His name is “Red,” and this crustacean comes with his own saddle. Richard Allen, a Rockland sculpture artist, created this 4-1/2-foot lobster out of cedar with a chainsaw and hand tools last year. It was commissioned by Claws seafood shack in Rockland as a way to entertain customers while waiting in line.

The centerpiece sculpture is several hundred pounds and Allen added whimsical details such as teeth inside the lobster claws, garden hoses for antennae and a bright blue saddle, so people can take photos of themselves riding it. Quoting Albert Einstein, Allen said of his lobster friend: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Allen took several weeks to carve all the pieces and assemble them in his backyard studio in Rockland. He’s known for his giant driftwood horses and deer, and loves constructing animal totems out of wood. In a previous story Penobscot Bay Pilot covered on his work, titled Rockland artist's lifesize driftwood horses and moose roam free, Allen said: “I’ve been doing this for 40 years. I’ve done hundreds of these horses all over the country. I love the serenity of working on it as the piece grows.”

Jo-Anna Jackson, an employee of Claws, said, "We see people climb up on this lobster all the time, from little kids to adults taking selfies [and posting] on Instagram. Last week we had a bunch of adults holding their beers and riding it like it was a mechanical bull."

Allen also has a fun fact about lobsters. "You know at one time several hundred years ago, the lobsters that crawled up the shoreline were as big as one of those claws," he said. "And the Native Americans would chop them up with an axe for fertilizer."

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — Little Free Library book exchanges across the country have been a “thing” since 2009, when a man in Wisconsin named Todd Bol built a model of a one-room schoolhouse and filled it with books to give away as a tribute to his mother, who was a teacher who loved to read. He placed the Little Free Library in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it, so he built several more and gave them away.

There are nearly 15,000 Little Free Library book exchanges across the country, but only about a dozen in Maine. The last time Camden saw one was when author Dena Davis made a Little Free Library for the 2014 Midcoast Mini Maker Faire.

A couple of weeks ago, the resident at 104 Chestnut St., Lucinda Watson, became a steward of a Little Free Library. “I’d heard about them because I’m an avid reader,” she said, “So, I went to their website and there are a number of different styles you can order or even just get plans to build one yourself. But I ordered one and set it up and it was a big hit.”  Many of of her neighbors were the first ones to donate books. The library is packed with quality hard cover books now and, as the motto goes, is open to anyone walking or driving by to “Take a book; leave a book.”

Nationally, after Bol and other early adopters and DIY makers of this social experiment made more Little Free Library book exchanges, the movement grew and by 2010, the name Little Free Library was established and the purpose of these free exchanges became clear: to share good books and bring communities together. By 2012, the number of Little Free Library book exchanges around the country skyrocketed from hundreds to more than 4,000, the same year in which Little Free Library became a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Today, millions of books are exchanged each year, profoundly increasing access to books for readers, encouraging a love of reading in areas where books are scarce.

Watson said she’d love for more people to visit the Little Free Library on her front lawn at the curb, and begin exchanging and taking books. “I love seeing people stop by and take or give books and lifting their kids up to take a book.It’ really fun and you make a lot of friends.” Though the library mostly holds adult titles now, Watson said she’d love to see more children’s books donated. “The funny thing is I’m a collector of children’s books, because I have five grandchildren and it’s very hard to give them up!”

 To learn how to become a steward of a Little Free Library of your own visit: littlefreelibrary.org.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

By far, Rockland had the most changes over the winter as we watch this once rough and tumble town continue to evolve into a hot spot. Here's what happened over the fall and winter— what's open, what's closed, what's new.

Restaurant News

3Crow Closed

The popular restaurant located at 449 Main St, which launched in 2013, quietly closed last fall, after a prolonged legal battle since 2015 between the co-owners Josh Hixson and Tara Barker and the owner of the property, Richard Rockwell. So far, there has been no mention by owner Rockwell, who also owns Main Street Market, what will become of the space.

Rotary Pizza opens

Rotary Pizza is taking over the space at 10 Leland Street formerly occupied by Pho Sizzle. Coming in June, the pizza spot is run by Josh Gamage who writes “I knew Rockland needed a community farm to table pizzeria that can go head to head with the best but keep things at a price point so the community can truly enjoy.” Stay tuned to their Facebook page for more announcements.

Eclipse is under a new owner

In January, Rockland native and restaurateur Larry Reed, who owns The Pearl, acquired Eclipse along with the Speakeasy lounge on the lower level of the Trade Winds Inn.

Broken Egg name changes

A year ago, we covered the opening of Broken Egg, a new restaurant in Rockland, who got an unfortunate surprise over the winter when owner, Heather Symmt received a letter from The Broken Egg Cafe, a Southern restaurant chain, claiming she had infringed on their trademarked name. She had to close the business down for a month while she worked on getting a new name, new branding, etc. and re-emerged as Daily Perch Café on May 13.

No Primo retail space but a new barn

Rumors abounded over the winter that Primo Chef Melissa Kelly would take over the former Sweets and Meats space in the south end but by end of April, that did not materialize. Instead, in a press release, they announced it would open a Barn@Primo, an event space on top of the hill where its gardens are. The post and beam barn can accommodate 75 people. The restaurant opened May 12.

Undisputed Curry King

In related news, over the winter, a charismatic Camden resident Arif Shaikh has become the undisputed “king of curry” on the Midcoast. Along with classic Indian food recipes he provides Rockland’s Good Tern Co-op, he has also used The Daily Perch as to test the waters on certain pop up Indian food lunches and dinners. Check out Chris Wolf’s story on him here.

The Dip Net Changes to local owner

Lexi Rackliff-Zable is the new proprietor of the Dip Net Restaurant in Port Clyde. In February, Rackliff-Zable signed a three-year lease with Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine. Rackliff-Zable said that she does not own the property; rather, she is the new owner and operator of the business and Linda Beans’ Perfect Maine has nothing to do with the restaurant. The Dip Net  reopened May 31. Read that story.

Waterman’s Beach Lobster closed for good

Last September, a ripple on the food scene occurred before the snowbirds left, when Watermans Beach Lobster, a family-owned lobster shack announced it was closing for good after 30 years in the business. According to the Portland Press Herlad, the family wasn’t going to sell the business of property. Luckily folks in the area can still enjoy Luke’s Lobster, which will open for their second season. See our story on that here. http://www.penbaypilot.com/article/luke-s-tenants-harbor-new-lobster-shack-goes-right-source/73274

And The Food Truck Shuffle

Rocko’s Tacos, a food truck specializing in authentic and "Americanized" dishes a la Mexican style, which was parked in Rockland’s Buoy Park last season has changed locations. According to their Facebook page, they will now be parked on Tillson Avenue, opening in June. And a new food truck has taken its place. Amato’s Restaurant of the original Italian sandwiches, now has their spot and has opened for the season, serving hot and cold sandwiches and pizza.

Business News

 Up Periscope

Over the winter, a new bright and open space transformed at 442 Main Street, called Periscope, offering a diverse selection of Scandinavian-style furnishings. It has many pieces uniquely created by Maine artisans and furniture makers.

Steel House South

With the growth of Steel House’s studio and offerings, the Steel House is opening their second building, Steel House South on May 13. This purpose-built space features oceanfront office views, conference rooms, a gallery and additional classroom and event space. They are launching summer courses, an ambitious exhibit schedule and a new residency program. Read the latest story.

Clay!

Clay!, a new community ceramics studio at 201 West St opened this January under Avery Larned, offeing  monthly memberships with access to pottery wheels, glazing accoutrements and a kiln along with monthly workshops on a variety of artistic techniques, and open studio drop-in times.

Bayoga

A new yoga and wellness center founded by Ari Hecht and run by Kristina Mitchell has opened on 8 Lindsey Street offering state of the art radiant heated studio, massage & bodywork treatment rooms and an infrared sauna facility.

J.C. Penney closes

In February J.C. Penney announced nationwide closings, up to 140 stores. And The J.C. Penney department store in Rockland Plaza is one of the only ones in Maine that got the axe. There’s no word yet what will go into that department space.

Building Changes

McClain School

The RSU 13 Board voted unanimously at its Jan. 5 meeting to offer the building to Rockland.

New Edna St. Vincent Millay House

The house of Edna St. Vincent Millay was falling into disrepair and taken over by the Rockland Historical Society this winter to be renovated into the Millay House Rockland, a new literary organization that will "preserve the birthplace of Edna St. Vincent Millay and celebrate her legacy through education, the literary arts, and significant collaborations within the Maine community and beyond." See the whole story and a gallery of photos here.

If we've missed any business updates, comings and goings, expansions and the like, shoot us an email with the subject line "Add to Rockland Snow Birds story" and we'll give it a look.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

UNION — Kathi Langelier, founder and formulator Herbal Revolution, has a shot at winning two competitions this coming week. In November 2016, she had just advanced as one of 13 semi-finalists in season two of the entrepreneurial pitch show/competition, Greenlight Maine, competing for the $100,000 prize.

Pitching in front of judges on TV the first time, as we initially reported in our Penobscot Bay Pilot story, froze her up. The experience, she said, made her go back to the drawing board and rework her pitch over and over so that she was confident about telling her story.  

“A couple of Saturdays ago, I had to go and pitch my products again, this time not on TV,” she said. “I was really nervous but it was so much clearer this time, because I had been working on my pitch.” She advanced again; this time as a finalist among two other competitors; Bluet, a wild sparkling blueberry wine from Maine and Surge Hydro, hydroelectric facilities.The final taping takes place Saturday, June 6 at 7 p.m. at Thomas College, and she’ll find out whether or not she has won. This episode will be posted to YouTube and Facebook soon after airing later in the month.

Once, again, Langelier will be in front of the judges and cameras for the final pitch.

“Greenlight Maine has actually made me a better business person,” said Langelier. “I have to tell people in three to four minutes what my business is. It's like going back to school for marketing and promotion.”

As if that's not enough pressure, the following day, on June 7, she also has to give a final pitch for Top Gun, a program she learned of through Greenlight Maine, which has a purse of $10,000 for the winner.

Pitching is not only a skill using an economy of words and memorable phrases, but it requires the contestants to "sell" themselves to the judges. In some cases, people pitching can "oversell" and come across as disingenuous.

“I do everything from the heart and in an authentic way with my business, so it would feel weird for me to 'put on a front' for the judges,” she said. “When I get up there in front of them, I speak from my gut. I'm really in love with the state of Maine and think what I create represents that.”

Her company provides high quality, herbal teas, tonics and elixirs, all hand crafted in small batches and her products are already in 180 stores nationwide. Herbal Revolution is located in the Midcoast with a MOFGA-certified organic farm, where she grows the herbs and vegetables that go into her products. She also works closely with other Maine farms and businesses to source her ingredients. “Supporting other Maine farms, business and the Maine economy is something that is very important to us," she said.

Asked what she would do with one or both prizes, Langelier said, “My business needs a home base. I really need infrastructure so I would use a portion of that money to purchase a building and equipment and hire staff. I want to create jobs in Maine.”

The finale for Greenlight Maine will air on June 17 at 7:30 p.m. on channel 6 and channel 2. For more information on where to find the results of the winners of both competitions, visit the Greenlight Maine Facebook page.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

If you're wondering why Camden and Rockland get the Snow Birds moniker and Belfast gets the Snow Bats, it's because years ago, Belfast's champion, Mike Hurley, made up a bunch of bumper stickers celebrating the left-leaning citizens he affectionately called Moon Bats. So, if you've been away this winter, Penobscot Bay Pilot has an update on everything that opened, closed and changed while you were gone.

Restaurant news

Good ‘N’ You

Seth Whited and Sarah Waldron were co-owners and operators of the Good ‘N’ You food truck in the back parking lot of Rollie’s Bar and Grill, took their successful Mexican and Mediterranean fare and turned it into a restaurant in January, taking over the spot at 132 High Street that La Vida Mexican Restaurant used to inhabit. Read our story here

And other Food Truck Musical Chairs

Anna Wagner, former food truck operator of Wags Wagon, which coincidentally took over the Good ‘N’ You food truck and location in Belfast, decided also to put the permanent brakes on the food truck and instead expand her menu to a new restaurant space at the long-vacant former Dos Amigos building on Route 1, in Northport. Still working on renovations, she plans to open it as “The Hoot” June 15.

The Belfast Co-op

The Co-op just put in a long rustic wall-mounted shelf and stools with multiple outlets last week for single patrons who want to grab breakfast or lunch while using their laptops. This is an awesome spot for WiFi seekers on the go.

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Business News

Old Crosby school to become co-housing

This past December, Belfast resident Kiril Lozanov, purchased the 38,000-square-foot building with big plans to renovate it into a community building that promises huge potential for Belfast’s creative economy making it into affordable co-housing, office space and community performance space. Read that story here.

Belfast Community Radio Launches

Belfast Community Radio (BCR), the city’s new low-power radio station, launched this past December out of Waterfall Arts’ basement and locals can catch a ton of diverse programming choices on WBFY 100.9 FM reaching as far as Islesboro, Swanville and Knox County or streaming. Check out our initial story.

Belfast Clay Studio

In January, Belfast Clay Studio opened on 132 High Street, offering classes, workshops and open studio time for people to work on their individual projects. 

Alder & Vine

Only in Belfast, right? This kooky oddities and occult shop just opened in Belfast on 9 Beaver Street in April with its notable wall shelving featuring animal skulls. run by husband andwife Jason Hay and Heather Q. Hay, it also offers handmade items the Hays have made including spell bath bombs, witchy brooms, and Jason’s recalimed restored furniture and lighting. Read our latest story about it here.

If we've missed any business updates, comings and goings, expansions and the like, shoot us an email with the subject line "Add to Belfast Snow Bats story" and we'll give it a look.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Every year Penobscot Bay Pilot does a TV version of a “clip show,” which is an episode of that consists of excerpts from previous episodes. Here's our annual listing of the new businesses and changes that occurred over the winter in Camden, Lincolnville and Rockport — what's open, what's closed, what's new and what you missed.

Restaurant news

Ebantide 

Sad to say, but if you weren’t here this winter, you missed both the opening and closing of Ebantide, the newest restaurant to occupy the bottom floor of the Knox Mill. Renovated to be more casual and comfortable with a line up of seasoned chefs, it had a lot of good promise, great reviews and excellent food. But in April, they put a notice on their Facebook page they were closing without explanation. Read the original story here. Lynn Archer, owner-chef of The Brass Compass Cafe, Archers' On The Pier announced the space would now become Lynn Archers River Mill Bistro opening this summer.

The Lobster Pound

Bankruptcy closed the longstanding Lincolnville restaurant the Lobster Pound this winter, and along with it, Andrews Brewing Co. See that story here. A Maine couple who owns Layfayette Hotels Group bought the building at an auction in March with the intent to just reopen as the restaurant under the same name. See follow up story.

Cold Toes Tacos

Speak of blink and you missed it, a pop-up eatery Cold Toes Tacos, began service this winter at the mid-mountain of The Camden Snow Bowl before it officially closed for the season, and then reopened on the mountain. With some issues that halted their initial debut at the Camden Snow Bowl, there’s no word yet whether they will be back next season.

Walker’s Restaurant

Opening in May at the former Denny’s building in Rockport is a new family owned restaurant called Walkers to feature homestyle cooking. See that new story.

 

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New businesses

Coastal Maine Yoga

New as well to the Knox Mill is The Coastal Maine Yoga studio, which opened its doors on Mechanic Street in the Knox Mill Complex in December. whose owner, Marylou Cook is now famous for offering yoga with cats. Read about that here.

Red Barn Baking Co.

Red Barn Baking Co, based in Lincolnville is opening a retail store on Bay View on Memorial Day with fresh baked goods, so you don’t have to drive to Lincolnville to get them. More on that story.

Sea Bags

Sea Bags, a Portland company that makes Maine-made bags from recycled sails, is expanding with another retail location to Main Street in Camden and opened on Friday, May 26, at 6 Main St.

Camden Exxon...gone

Love it or hate it, the Camden Exxon business at 1 Union St. in Camden next to Stop ‘n’ Go will be no more. Neighbor Jason Hearst, purchased the property in mid-March with the intent to eliminate the automobile clutter.  "I don't have any firm plans for the property," said Hearst. "The overall vision, which I'm excited about, is to have a functional space that is aesthetically beautiful for the town and the neighborhood. In the short term, it is going to serve as an art studio space for me and my family." Read our story about it here.

Guini Ridge Farm

Sharp eyes might have noticed that on Route One, Guini Ridge Farm took over Hoboken Gardens at 310 Commercial Street in Rockport over the winter and is now open, providing quality local flowers, herbs and food.

 

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New Construction

Many of you will notice that Bakery Bridge, the intersection at the end of Route 105 in Camden has been torn up and under construction. The town has been working all winter to replace the pipe under the bridge and reopened the street on May 15 with a new stop sign. Read all about it here.

Rockport is also currently undergoing the historic High Sidewalk starting April 17, which will take approximately two months. See more  Additionally, the town is also redoing a section of sewer. Crews will begin digging up a short portion of Route 1 in Rockport near the intersection of Route 90, More of the story here.

 

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Environmental News

On March 1, the Maine Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Camden has another $64,810 to continue construction of the Megunticook Riverwalk recreational trail. The trail, which winds along the river from the lower end of Megunticook Lake, eventually will terminate in downtown Camden. Read that story here.

In February Camden has deeded approximately 64 acres of undeveloped land abutting the town-owned Ragged Mountain Recreation Area to Coastal Mountains Land Trust for the benefit of scenic and natural conservation. The acreage is to be incorporated in the land trust’s project to build a nine-mile Round the Mountain trail, beginning next spring. Read that story here.

 

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Landscape/Property Changes

The Apollo Tannery at 116 Washington Street is long gone, but the space has finally been approved to be converted into a new multi-use community space as envisioned by the Select Board's sanctioned Tannery Work Group during the course of an intensive two year process. See more of that story here.

On March 15, The Camden Conservation Commission asked the town of Camden to designate a wooded area of the 77-acre, town-owned Sagamore Farm next to the Camden Hills State Park as a town park. The commission wants the park to promoting trails for biking, cross-country skiing and hiking. Read that story here.

The American Boathouse at the head of Camden Harbor, which has long sat vacant, may turn into a private residence. Cynthia and John Reed hope to renovate and transform an old cedar-shingled boathouse at the head of Camden Harbor into a home, but they need voter approval to proceed. Read that story here

If we've missed any business updates, comings and goings, expansions and the like, shoot us an email with the subject line "Add to Rockport/Camden Snow Birdsstory" and we'll give it a look.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

 

 

CAMDEN—Over the past four years, the Midcoast Mini Maker Faire has been a gathering of not only innovators and tinkerers, but also artists, do-it-yourselfers, craftspeople, and performers.

The Midcoast Mini Maker Faire committee is now looking for Makers for the fifth annual 2017 Faire, to be held in the Library Amphitheatre on Saturday, September 9, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. One of the organizers,Cayla Miller said: “The criteria is pretty open. We’re looking for Makers of nontraditional things. Some people think it’s just about robotics, but it’s more than that. We do have a Children’s Robotics team coming to display, but we’re also open to innovators, programmers, woodworkers, artists and anything that can be made with your hands that isn’t necessarily fine arts. You don’t have to be a professional; you just have to have a passion for what you do. The Midcoast Mini Maker Faire has a place for everything from hands-on to high tech.”

The day of the event is usually bustling with excitement with more than 20 tables, exhibits and hands-on activities involving robots, LEGOs® and funky art creations for kids and adults. The scene often resembles a homegrown version of the Museum of Science in Boston and they call it “The Greatest Show and Tell on Earth”—a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker Movement. It’s a place where people show what they are making, and share what they are learning.

Past events have attracted about 900 people each year, both local community members and visitors to the Midcoast. Many of these visitors are families with elementary or middle-school aged children. This year the Festival plans to host workshops to increase the adult participation as well as feature DIY projects targeted to adult makers.Over the past several years, the Midcoast Mini Maker Faire has hosted homemade cars, power-assisted bicycles, underwater robots, arduinos, a solar-powered merry-go-round, LEGO robots, cyanotypes, giant bubbles, and a full-scale camera obscura. The Camden Public Library is excited to present this festival of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness intended to inspire the current and future generations of makers and entrepreneurs. For more information, please contact Cayla Miller at cmiller@librarycamden.org or call the library at 236-3440.

Everyone is encouraged to think of themselves as a Maker and to come for the show! Applications are available online at www.midcoastmakerfaire.com

All photos courtesy Midcoast Mini Maker Faire

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — If you blinked, you missed it. West Bay Rotary’s annual Duck Derby had its fastest race in the fundraiser’s history on May 28, with the majority of the 3,500 rubber ducks floating downstream in just 30 seconds, from the top of the waterfall down to the docks in the harbor.

In the past few years, the race course and the ritual “dumping of the ducks,” has toggled between two locations—the rail of the foot bridge by River Ducks Ice Cream and in the river shallows behind The Smiling Cow and Camden Deli. All week, volunteers had set up nearly 300 floating “noodles” as barriers to guide the ducks to the finish line behind the Smiling Cow. What they didn’t expect is that nearly three inches of rain in the preceding days would alter the course.

“Last year, we didn’t have enough water and decided to shorten the course,” said West Bay Rotary President Peter Berke. “So, we set up our route on Thursday and then, we got all of that rain, which raised the current of the waterfalls and knocked the noodle barrier over the falls. Then we had to improvise. So, we had a new course, straight over the falls this year,” he added, smiling.

After a morning of overcast clouds, the sun came out just in time at 2 p.m. for blue, yellow and pink ducks to plunge into Harbor Falls, where Megunticook River meets the head of the harbor. In no time, they were ducking and weaving, jockeying for position as hundreds of people lined both sides of the harbor to watch them come down. See Terry Boivin’s drone footage to watch it happen.

According to Rotarian Sandy Cox, all but a few ducks were captured by other Rotarians and volunteers out on the water to scoop them back up.

“We had a few escape, and they were last seen headed for Curtis Island,” said Cox.

Unlike in years past where the ducks staged a mutiny and refused to follow the course they were assigned, this year, they must have gotten the memo. They shot out like grease through a goose, with the lead duck belonging to Rotarian Marty Martens, scooped up as the grand prize winner, for seven nights at Vanderbilt Beach Resort in Naples, FL with $1,000 spending cash.

The other winners were:
Logan Young: Rustic Camp Experience
Michael Camier: Strand of Pearls
Cathy Murphy: Four Golf Passes -
Downeast Toyota:  Four Golf Passes
Everdeen McLaughlin: Mike Bowditch Books
Steve Crane: Auto Detail 
Ray Fink: Loyal Biscuit Package
Heather Mackey: One Hour Massage
Betsy Saltonstall: MaineSport Gift Certificate 
Jacqueline Biddle: Maine Street Meats Gift Certificate

The sale of each ticket benefits a number of charities West Bay Rotary supports such as food pantries and The Hospitality House. Every year, the sale of raffle ticket (one for each rubber duck) has increased. Up from 2,500 ducks in 2015, this year, West Bay Rotary sold nearly 2,900 tickets. For more pictures and updates, visit the West Bay Rotary’s Facebook page.

All photos by Kay Stephens

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

PORT CLYDE—For no particular reason, he decided to go for a little run. No, not just Tom Hanks as the lead character in the movie Forrest Gump, but a U.K. marathon runner named Rob Pope, who started his run in Mobile, Alabama in September, 2016, following the route of Forrest Gump. After running across the southern U.S. to Santa Monica, CA, he turned around and headed east. Rob reached his east coast destination on Friday, April 28, 2017 at Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine.

Unlike Forrest Gump, Pope did have a particular reason to go for a little run. An experienced marathoner who has won marathons in the U.K. and Australia and an emergency veterinarian, now he's using his talents to raise funds for two charities, The World Wildlife Fund and Peace Direct.

So far, Rob has logged over 6,000 miles, and he’s still going. He started clean shaven and in the garb of Hanks’ character when he began in Alabama and by the time he got to Maine, he had the signature long brown beard and red track outfit. Through connections, he managed to secure lodging with Port Clyde resident James Morris, and hit the Black Harpoon while here.

“We didn’t even know he would be arriving until we saw it on the morning news,” said Laura Betancourt, Publicity Coordinator of the Marshall Point Lighthouse. “You see people re-enacting that scene from Forrest Gump every year, but he really did the entire scene from the movie and he was dressed to the part.”

The lighthouse staff had a chance to talk with him and get to know his purpose for running. “He was a really nice guy,” she said. “He’s had a lot of experience in marathons so this was a passion of his.”

Very few people have attempted this entire coast to coast run emulating the movie. In 2015, the Portland Press Herald reported that a Michigan man, Barclay Oudersluys, 23, ran from California to Maine, stopping at Marshall Point Lighthouse, but that he took a vehicle back home.

At the time of this story, Pope has already made his way back across New York State and is still going. According to his press release, Pope plans to continue running, this time along the northern tier of the country, visiting all five of the Great Lakes, Utah and San Francisco as he traverses the country again.

(For the record, Forrest Gump stopped running somewhere on Route 163 in Farmington, New Mexico.)

Pope received a warm welcome and gift from the Marshall Point Lighthouse Committee and enjoyed a private tour of the museum, and was even the first visitor of the season to sign the museum guest book.

For more information on Pope’s ongoing run visit: goingthedistancerun.com

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—With all of the talk on farm fresh food that buzzes around the Midcoast, it’s often the chefs, not the farmers who take the spotlight. Blue Hill artist Heather Lyon, currently living in Rockland as an an artist in residence through the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation for six weeks, decided two years ago, to give farmers in Blue Hill a platform, elevating the mundane daily tasks spent outside working the land into an art form. The result was “The Farm Project,” a three-pronged exhibition, which debuted at The Maine Farmland Trust Gallery in 2015.

Lyon, who was born on a small family farm, has a deep connection to the Blue Hill community and was interested in training her camera on the hands of farmers of all generations from five different farms. “I wanted to photograph their hands holding soil, that which is essential and which is the beginning of all growth,” she said. She also shot photos of them holding milk from cows they’d just milked.

“What our farmers do is a gift to all of us,” she said. “After I’d moved back to Blue Hill, it was a way for me to reconnect with these people and this place.” Beyond the photographs, she took the soil from all five farms and constructed the loose material into a compact block along with local clay, water and straw to be displayed on a podium. During the exhibition, to her surprise, the block of soil began sprouting shoots. “It was both a literal and poetic bringing together of the farms I visited,” she said. “The sprouting seedlings were just even more of a physical reminder how this art piece was still living organism.”

The third component was a 30-foot tablecloth.

Lyon invited a dozen farmers and their families to come together for a meal prepared by Aragosta chef and owner Devin Finigan consisting exclusively of foods grown and raised by the farmers on the Blue Hill peninsula.  Lyon encouraged the farmers to make as many spills and stains onto the tablecloth as they wished. Afterward, she recorded embroidered on top of spills and stains. “We usually want stains to go away and bleach them out, but I wanted them to record the event,” she said. “When the farmers came to the exhibition, they all could remember where they were seated at the table and what they’d eaten, according to the stains that were visible on the cloth.

A creator in multiple mediums, she is currently exploring the significance of human body as part of her residency. She has several artworks up Asymmetrick Arts & Black Hole Gallery’s Spring Exhibition 2017, including “animal pelts” made from painted cloth positioned in place by rebar, symbolizing the tension between the soft and unyielding, between animal and man-made. Her next project is creating a video triptych, videotaping herself interacting with natural substances. “It is through the experience of the body that we connect to the natural world and to experience a more profound consciousness,” she said.

To see more of her work visit: https://www.heatherlyon.com

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

ROCKLAND—Steel House, an art, design & technology collective that started in 2014, expanded their presence on the Rockland coast with a grand opening May 13 to unveil Steel House South, a renovated building that shares waterfront campus space with The Apprenticeshop. The space features oceanfront office views, conference rooms, a gallery and additional classroom and event space.

Nathan Davis, co-founder and CTO of Steel House was on hand to give tours. The gallery, a spacious, light-infused room, displayed an interactive video installation, where the gallery participants were projected in real time up on a white wall as the exhibit itself, via a computer screen and camera. “We’re going to use this gallery, not just for video, but for more experiential projects as we go,” said Davis.

The building used to be The Apprenticeshop’s office space, but since it was underutilized and the Steel House’s programs and offerings were expanding, the Steel House made a deal to take over the building and renovate it.

Steel House and Steel House South have met a need that has been booming in the Midcoast over the past decade with a thriving artist, maker and technology culture. Both spaces provide “multidisciplinary art space providing access to contemporary artists, thinkers and technologists through exhibitions, workshops, talks, events and more.”

From the modernist approach of designing electronic clothing and custom made skateboards with graphics and artwork to a revival of older style art forms such as creating letterpress posters, designing and making crankies and learning how to shoot a film camera in manual mode, Steel House and Steel House South are set to offer innovative summer courses, an ambitious exhibit schedule and a new residency program.

Photos by Kay Stephens

For more information visit: http://www.rocklandsteelhouse.com

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN—A new shop opening on 47 Bayview Street is sure to make the locals and tourists happy. The Red Barn Baking Co., co-owned by baker-chef Katie Capra and manager Dale Turk, are adding a second retail location in Camden, in addition to their Lincolnville bakery.

Capra worked her way into a baking career while living in Florida where she apprenticed for a year under pastry chef Michael Oldstrander who once worked in the White House at one point in his career. “He was very old school, so I learned doughs, fillings, everything from scratch,” said Capra. “I became his assistant pastry chef for another year before I then left to train at King Arthur Flour’s Baking School in Vermont, so, I’ve had some really good teachers.”

The couple originally bought the house that sits right next to the Red Barn in Lincolnville in 2015 and added in an industrial kitchen off the ell with the intent to provide a seasonal bakery for local residents and tourists. They set their sights on refurbishing the retail area of the Red Barn for the display of baked goods. “It was nerve-wracking first opening this kitchen, wondering if people would show up or not,” said Capra.

Having lived in Camden for seven years before he and Capra moved to Lincolnville, Turk said, “I think what we found is that a lot of people don’t often go north of Camden because their life circles around Camden, Rockport and Rockland. We also knew for a fact that a lot of tourists don’t venture north of Camden as well. So, we felt there was an opportunity to open a retail store in Camden, especially after Cappy’s Bakery Co. had just closed last season.”

“It’s going to be very similar to our Lincolnville location,” said Capra. “I would like to expand our bread offerings and I’ll also have more of a variety of cakes. We will also provide some savory items, such as, chicken pot pies. We will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 8:00 am to 4 pm in Camden and Lincolnville. We will be closed Monday and Tuesday."

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

ROCKPORT — Remember the days of disco balls, roller rinks and pom-poms as you showed everyone how to “shoot the duck” during Ladies’ Skate?

Rock Coast Roller Derby member Hedda Barton has that move down pat, and others as well. She recently started an open “Fitness Skate” session to go all summer at the Midcoast Recreation Center in Rockport on Tuesdays and Thursdays for anyone who wants to go back to their roller skating roots and get a workout.

“This isn’t just for women in derby, although, obviously we welcome anyone interested in it, but also for men or women of any age or body type who want to roller skate to strengthen their muscles,” she said. “We also want to invite back some of our retired derby skaters to get back on skates again. It’s a way for those who got too busy with kids or their life, to come back and have some fun and connection.”

A one hour session goes by amazingly fast. On Thursday, Barton led about a dozen women and one man through warm up rounds, derby techniques, games, a core workout and warm down. It’s the perfect exercise for people who don’t want to commit to an entire season with only a $7 drop-in fee (or $40 for a month). In one hour, a person could burn nearly 482 calories.

And it’s fun. “We’re trying to keep it free form, so if somebody wants to come skate around the rink, he or she is totally welcome,” she said. If you ever wanted to skate backwards or pick up some killer derby moves, these are the people to skate with.

The session goes through until July, twice a week from 5 to 6 p.m. Barton even has a surplus of skates, pads and helmets one can use (for now) at no additional charge. Most of the skates are women’s, with two pairs of skates for men. “We’re in the position where we can borrow and rent all the gear from another derby team to provide more options for people who don’t have skates,” she said.

The informal group is looking toward using MRC for a public nighttime skating party with a disco ball and music this summer as well.

““What’s cool about skating in general is that anyone can do it,” said Barton. “Some people are good at some things and we all work on our weaknesses and strengths together,” she said.

Participants just need to be 14 and up. Anyone with their own roller skates is welcome to join and those who need gear can RSVP their sizes to Barton at brionnabarton@gmail.com.

ROCKPORT—On Tuesday, May 9, a little over a half dozen volunteers worked to push the framing of a 192-square-foot structure in place on the front strip of lawn next to Hospitality House in Rockport.

For some time now, Tia Anderson, executive director of MidCoast Habitat and Stephanie Primm, executive director of the Hospitality House, have been brainstorming ways to collaborate in order to provide sustainable temporary shelter to the number of homeless clients in the Midcoast. 

“Obviously there’s a need for shelter in the Midcoast and for affordable housing in general,” said Anderson, standing next to community volunteers and members from Americorps and Women Build.

Using the parking lot and support of the Nativity Lutheran Church next door, they all pitched in to help to build a prototype shelter on Old County Road.

“The Hospitality House has been using hotel rooms, which they have said is just not a sustainable method for handling the overflow of clients,” said Anderson. “So, we researched some other places in the U.S. that do ‘tiny home’ communities. We went to one in South Carolina, where they developed three levels of supportive and transitional housing. The first shelter is a 192-square foot dwelling. After that, a family transitions to a 350-square foot tiny house and finally, the third step is to move into a rental property.”

Nationally, affordable housing shortage is at a rate of only 29 units available for every 100 extremely low income family renters. In tight housing markets like the Midcoast’s where Maine State Housing Authority statistics show that the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment with utilities included in Rockland is $1,033, it’s more than what 67 percent of Rockland residents can afford.

From May 8 to May 12, Midcoast Habitat for Humanity with their Women Build teams will construct the first of hopefully many tiny accessory structures that could become the prototype for expanded capacity for supportive shelter at the Hospitality House.

Becca Gildred, KCHC’s coordinator for the project pointed to the rolling fields behind the Hospitality House.

“We have nearly six acres we could build these structures on,” she said. “The ideal concept that is modeled around the county is anywhere from six to 15 of these structures in several communities. The whole point is to have a place to sleep, but to work outside the structure and to share family-style meals with others in the community rooms of KCHC, so that there is built in education and peer support that goes along with the temporary housing. It all builds up to sustainable independence.”

Anderson said the 192-square foot accessory structure will have a bed and a bathroom and will ideally fit one to two people.

“It’s adequate,” she said. “I wouldn’t call it a tiny house necessarily, but it’s better than living in a tent or a car temporarily.”

Anderson said the project and the program are still in the planning stages of developing more tiny accessible structures and is optimistic that the community will support it.

Added Primm, “We hope this wonderful collaborative effort will eventually manifest in permanent affordable balanced communities of tiny houses where low- to mid- income as well as elderly people could live in a supportive healthy way making our community and good quality of life attainable and affordable for all.”

Volunteers will be able to work on the prototype structure all week long. One needs not to have any building background at all; just show up and you will be given a task. When the prototype structure is done, it won’t have a working bathroom, but it will allow visitors to look inside and get a real sense of how the structure can fulfill an immediate need.

For more information or to volunteer this week, contact MidCoast Habitat for Humanity at 207-236-6123 or email events@midcoasthabitat.org

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

 

SOUTH THOMASTON — Sarah Penney, 19, a senior at Maine Virtual Academy, is about to graduate in June. The South Thomaston teenager wasn't sure she'd ever get to this day. "It sounds like a cliché but it feels like a dream come true," she said.

Up until the past two years, Penney has suffered from flu-like symptoms, and the very occasional headache, which caused her to miss a tremendous amount of school.

"I had vertigo and light sensitivity," she said. "I was constantly nauseous and couldn't keep anything down. It generally just made me feel like I had severe stomach flu symptoms mixed with the after effects of a particularly nightmarish teacup ride."

For 10 years, doctors misdiagnosed her symptoms as a sinus infection combined with allergies, due to how her symptoms appeared seasonal. All of the medications and antibiotics she was prescribed only made the symptoms worse.

Penney said she didn't get an accurate diagnosis until her sophomore year in high school, 2014.

"By then, I'd missed 120 days of school and was just completely miserable," she said. "It felt basically like having the flu 24-7 for those 120 days."

But, what Penney had in her favor, was an innate sense of motivation and drive. Even when feeling her worst, she said she would push through, trying to get her schoolwork done.

Finally, she was given an accurate diagnosis: vestibular migraines. The vestibular system includes the parts of the inner ear and brain that process the sensory information involved with controlling balance and eye movements. If something damages these processing areas, vestibular disorders can result. And the resulting symptoms are chronic dizziness and imbalance, and changes in mood and ability to concentrate.

At Oceanside High School in Rockland, where she was previously a student, a number of counselors and teachers helped her cope.

"I had a counselor who would pull the blinds down in his office so I could just get my math homework done in a quiet, dark place," she said. After every day she was home from school, she would make sure she worked double-time to complete the missed assignment.

To cope with her persistent symptoms and all of its challenges, she expressed herself through creative writing. She talked herself "up," frequently telling herself if she could just keep working hard, she could do it.

It ultimately took changing her entire lifestyle to combat her migraines. "By my junior year, I told my mother I was done being on medication," she said. "It messed with my stomach so bad. I wanted to get off of all of them."

After that month, Sarah began to see improvement. The vertigo went away, the migraines stopped and she could sleep for the first time in years. By the summer of 2015, she was considering what one more year at Oceanside would look like if she became sick again, and worried if she could make it through to graduation.

Through Oceanside, Penney's mother, Rachel, learned about a brand new virtual charter school that had started that year in Maine: Maine Virtual Academy. MEVA is an online school with built-in coaches for students in seventh- and eighth-grade as well as in high school. With a student base of 360, it serves students all over the entire state, including the islands.
"I felt like it was meant to be," said her mother.

Penney enrolled with the intent to "do over" her junior year with MEVA, wanting to be fully prepared for college, as she planned to major in computer science and English. "I had missed so much class time, and I had goals of wanting to take calculus, physics, computer science, AP English Literature and Composition, and web design before I was a senior," she said.

"We're so happy to have her in our school," said Dr. Melinda Browne, Head of School at Maine Virtual Academy. "We were able to offer her flexibility and incredible support, so if she couldn't attend a lesson in real time, like every student at the school, she'd have the option of watching the recording of the live lesson, followed by a formative assessment. She'd then be able to get credit for each class.

Browne added, "We offer a tremendous number of courses and I think Sarah has taken full advantage of that opportunity."

Penney said it has been a Godsend to be able to complete the work at her own pace. A typical week is rigorous, however, with an average workload requiring, for example, a physics lab, three physics quizzes, a calculus test, two English papers and discussions and maybe a geography project.

Browne said Penney is the ideal student for this kind of virtual school, as she doesn't mind working alone all day and is incredibly self-motivated.

"She's also gotten socially involved in helping other students here," said Browne. "She was integral in assisting me prepare recorded presentations for the senior class to motivate them in their post-secondary planning. She's really highly competent with technology so, she just jumped right in there. And she was also ahead of the game in that area; she'd already written her college essay and got her applications in."

An honor roll student, Penney will be graduating with nine more credits than she needed. More importantly, she is graduating as co-valedictorian of her MEVA senior class in 2017.

"Her GPA was 3.97," said Browne, at the top of the class with another student. She was also awarded a Maine Principal's Award this year for Academic Excellence.

It's been two years since Penney has been as sick as she was back then, she said. She said that while lifestyle and diet choices she made are influenced by her migraines, at this point, making healthy choices is now second nature to her.

"While my illness was undoubtedly a large part of my life and my growth as a person, my illness is not something I want to be defined by," said Sarah. "Maine Virtual Academy has been the school that has helped me succeed. My teachers at MEVA have supported me with everything, going out of their way to help me and to let me go outside the box, as far as curriculum goes, so that way I can learn more. They were the ones that helped me write my college essays and the ones who wrote all of my recommendation letters. Most of the time, when I think "Wow, I've had some great teachers," they're the first ones who come to mind, if only because I've never had a teacher from MEVA who wasn't amazing.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — The tiny, triangular shaped shop at 9 Beaver St., in Belfast, is atypical of the type of retail space in the Midcoast, but it’s a tribute to Maine’s dark side.

Alder & Vine, run by husband and wife, Heather Q. and Jason Hay, lists itself as a place for “artisan goods, oddities and the occult.”

The name of the shop is taken from their farm in Belfast, where they handcraft many of the items.

“While we have a lot of alder and vine on our property, they are also our signs in Celtic tree astrology,” Heather said. 

Jason makes the restored furniture and lighting that decorates the shop and in the corner sits a restored Ouija table, on which Heather hand-lettered the alphabet.

“Our interests intersect and blend on a number of things in the store,” said Heather.

They source from several artisans and shops for charm candles, witches’ wands, runes, occult books and herbs to cast spells. The also make witches’ brooms and spell bombs, (fizzy bath bombs that come with a spell—one of their biggest sellers) on their own farm.

The space was formerly an art installation and skate shop with a curved outer wall. The shop is part of the old Opera House building. It has an intimate cozy feel when you walk in, that is, if an entire shelving unit dedicated to animal skulls and spiders encased in plastic blocks don’t creep you out.

There’s only one thing that sort of creeps them out, and it’s an authentic voodoo doll from New Orleans, clad in black, that sits on the back wall.

“I don’t even really like to touch it,” Jason said.

“We knew the kind of stuff was what we liked and wondered if the town would feel the same, but people have come out of the woodwork expressing gratitude that we’re here,” said Jason.

With the store only open for three weeks, the pair is actually surprised how well the shop has resonated with a certain type of clientele.

“When Jason comes homes from the shop, he’ll have complete backstories on a number of people who walk in, because this stuff tends to bring out people’s interest and stories,” said Heather.

“Once they see what’s in here, it frees people up,” said Jason. “You don’t have to worry if what you like in here seems ‘weird’ to anyone else. It doesn’t to us.”

They plan to collaborate with other artisans and practitioners with the same interests in the near future and will be offering oracle readings. Stay tuned to their Facebook page for more info.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com 

 

ROCKLAND — Art doesn’t have to be so serious. And neither does it have to be stationary. One woman is about to roll out a wacky idea in downtown Rockland this summer and here’s hoping the artists and makers in the community will take notice.

Kim Bernard, a sculptor, wants to start a Rockland People’s Sculpture Race in August. For the last two years, she has participated in Cambridge’s annual Sculpture Race, hoping that the kitschy idea would catch on in the Midcoast.

A Sculpture Race is a short race (less than a mile) of pushed, pulled and pedaled artwork followed by an exhibition. Similar to a Bed Race, the focus is more on the art installation itself and the method of locomotion to move it.

“In 2015, I participated in the Cambridge People’s Sculpture Race as an artist in residence in the physics department at Harvard University, so I pulled together a team of six people and over the course of a month and we created ‘Sisyphus’ a square-wheeled boats that traveled on wave-like catenary tracks,” she said. “So, the square wheels of the boat rotated and traveled over the tracks while our “wave serfs” would run ahead and continuously lay down track. “It’s not just about art. There’s a lot of physics and design and construction that went into this.”

Sculpture Races take place all over the world. They initially took place in Cambridge in the 1980s and revived as a public art form in recent years.  “It’s more than just art on wheels, it’s about fun, performance and spectacle, in the best possible term,” she said. “It’s more than just a parade, it’s an opportunity for the public to be creative and inventive and come together for one day. It’s a way to bring art out of the gallery and museum and bring it to the streets. I really see this as a non-commercial people’s event.”

A word about the wheels: “People can use bicycle parts, or any type of wheels such as casters, lawn mowers, wheelchairs, grocery carts, dollies, strollers, whatever can be altered or hacked to keep the sculpture moving,” she said.

Bernard is not only organizing the first Rockland People’s Sculpture Race in August, but she will, once again, be a participant in the Cambridge People’s Sculpture Race on June 3. Three jurors will determine the winner. Bernard wants more than just prizes for speed. “I think there should be prizes for other categories such as People’s Choice Award, an award for Creativity and we’ll probably even invent some categories once we see some submissions.”

Following the race will be an exhibition on Winter Street, in the CMCA courtyard and across the street.

Bernard is also working with the Camden Middle School to put on a mini version of Sculpture Races for students on May 25 and hoping that some of the entries will make it to the August race.

The first Maine People’s Sculpture Race will take place on Saturday, August 12.  Individuals, teams and community groups are encouraged to submit a design/sketch/proposal by June 1 to info@rocklandsculpturerace.org.  Submissions will be reviewed by Jurors and applicants will be notified by June 30. For more information about the event visit: rocklandsculpturerace.org/about.html You can hear Bernard on the Chris Wolf show talk more about this on May 19, where you can call in and ask her questions.

Additional photos courtesy Andrew Held.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com 

 

It’s been several weeks since police and United Airlines dragged Dr. David Dao out of his seat, through the aisle and off a plane. We were in the middle of writing this piece, when another ugly incident occurred on American Airlines. Passengers filmed a confrontation between a mother having her stroller taken away by a male flight attendant, who allegedly (and perhaps inadvertently) struck her with it, as he pulled it away and a male bystander, who stood up for her. 

On April 9, like so many millions of people, after seeing the United Airlines video, I was angry. I had an agitated conversation that night with my husband about it, not only the unnecessary brutality of it, but also the complete lack of action on anyone’s part.

“How could a plane full of passengers just sit there and do nothing but lift up their cell phones to record this man getting beaten and dragged off a plane?” I’d asked.

The conversation pivoted into a classic game: “What would you do if you were in that situation?”

As the co-author of a cyberbullying book, I’ve done a lot of research about bystanders and their willingness to step up to a confrontation after witnessing it. I reached out to my colleague, Chuck Nguyen, someone I’ve known for at least a decade, after we both worked with teens at the Zenith Alternative High School.

Chuck is a social worker, diversity advocate, and bullying prevention educator and currently works as a counselor at Medomak High School. He’s also the founder of Power of H20, which provides students with psychological tools to overcome bullying and obstacles. Chuck contributed quite a bit of insight to our cyberbullying book and like me, he is familiar with the multiple directions bystanders can go in an escalating situation of conflict.

“Watching the incident of Dr. Dao being dragged off possibly unconscious off United Express flight 3411 can and did stir powerful and overwhelming emotions of anger, resentment, and social outrage,” he said. “This might be beneficial and effective in bringing social awareness and possibly better practice and policies when it comes to the friendly-turned-unfriendly skies.”

To start, let me clarify something. In my opinion, David Dao wasn’t "bullied" by the police. The meaning of bullying often gets mischaracterized. He was brutally assaulted after passively resisting to vacate a flight, which he’d paid for and had every legal right to keep.

I asked Chuck for his insight.

“Bullying is power difference. When the captain of the football team or cheering squad hurts a classmate who is not as athletic or popular with words or social humiliation, there is a power difference.  When an adult hurts a kid with words, action, or sarcasm, there is a power difference. When a manager of a major airline orders three security officers to forcibly remove a passenger ‘any way necessary’ because he or she thought he could, there is a perceived and established power that allows him or her to order such an act. The CEO even confirmed the next day that the manager and airline employees that they are in right since they were following protocols and that Dr. Dao was being ‘belligerent.’ The CEO, Mr. Munoz, crumbled to social media pressure and declining stock value, later apologized and stated that no customer should ever be treated like that.”

Of all the ways this story has been analyzed and dissected, the one angle that needs more evaluation is why didn’t a plane full of people on the United flight witnessing this do anything?

The passengers were clearly shocked enough to whip out their cell phones and videotape the incident. And perhaps, that is doing something—chronicling the incident. But, why did no one physically intervene?

Off camera, a lot of murmurs of dissent that could be heard on video, with people saying “Please, my God,””What are you doing?” and ”This is wrong.”

Chuck is also a trainer in the crisis prevention and de-escalation for special ed teachers in RSU 40 for the past 10 years called the Mandt Systems, which focuses on keeping students with severe emotional and development needs safe.

They do this by using non-physical methods to prevent crisis and escalation, unless the person is in imminent or immediate risk of self-harm or harm towards others.

“I believe that Dr. Dao’s incident offers some great lessons for me to share with my martial arts students and other young people I work with on daily basis in a public high school,” he said. “There have been many perspectives and angles given about the incident coming from pilots, flight attendants, and family members of these professionals regarding airline safety and compliance.  My brother has been a flight attendant for the past 25 years.  I am sure he has dealt with many real belligerent, drunken, and unsafe behaviors over that time.  Nothing about Mr. Dao’s incident indicates a safety issue.  He simply said I do not want to give up my seat because he wanted to go home.   This incident gives me the clarity that if I was ever in that situation, I would have the courage and little ‘crazy determination’ to block the aisle to keep Mr. Dao from being dragged off the plane. What if 10 or 20, or half the passengers did the same?”

I asked Chuck what he’d do specifically because he is a martial artist. Likely most of those passengers surrounding Dr. Dao were not, and would not have the training or practice to stand up to three security officers and physically prevent them from assaulting a passenger.

Then the American Airlines incident happened on April 24, in which a male bystander did stand up and intervene. He may not have had all of the facts at the moment of confrontation. (There have been multiple reports that the woman was allegedly not being cooperative about the stroller, ignoring the flight attendants’ warnings not to bring it aboard.) Regardless, of what that male passenger knew, he saw the woman was crying and that there was a perceived power difference. Apparently upset with how the woman's situation was handled, he told the flight attendant, "Hey bud, hey bud. You do that to me, and I'll knock you flat."

As a woman with no marital artist training, I would have felt a lot of adrenaline, and uncertainty in that situation as well, and for me personally, threatening “knock a man flat” isn’t something I’d do. But I have a voice and I could say: “What you’re doing to that person is wrong!” What if the entire plane had used their voices and that was caught on camera? Do you think that the power difference would have changed the Chicago security officers’ or the American Airline flight attendant’s behavior? What if you walked off that plane in protest, as some people did on the United Airlines flight? 

The point is use these incident to think about what you’re capable of, and prepare how you will react, next time you see someone in a public situation being victimized by a clear power difference.

“I am more convinced now about what I hope I would do and what I would encourage my students to do if they were on that plane that day,” said Chuck. “Raise your hand and take a stance.  Filming the incident on the smart phone is good documentation, but who among us would have the courage, and more importantly the preparation and determination to intervene because we cannot let another human being mistreated and abused like Dr. Dao? Or that woman with the baby? Taking a stance is not a natural reaction. Many us are taught growing up that we need to own our business and not to make a scene.  Maybe it is time we learn that some times it is necessary to get into somebody’s business and make a scene.”

So let’s play that game. “What would you do in that situation?”

CAMDEN—Despite a drizzly 38-degree morning, a crew of volunteers led by Alison McKellar, gathered in the parking lot of Hannaford Supermarket in Camden both Friday and Saturday morning for an Earth Day clean up, in honor of Camden resident, Leonard Lookner, who passed away this winter. The initiative is a joint effort between the Camden Conservation Commission and Midcoast Waste Watch with the support of the organizers of Keep Rockport Beautiful.

Leonard Lookner's son, Grayson Lookner took the time to thank McKellar for the event.

"I want to thank Alison for putting this on in my dad's name," he said. "It's really great to see my siblings here. My dad was really big about picking up garbage on the side of the road. He couldn't stand to see the garbage, so he always picked it up."

Lookner said he thought his father would be happy to see this group going out.

"He would always say to everybody, you don't need a big group to go out and pick garbage on the side of the road," he said. "If everybody would just go out and pick up one piece of trash everyday we could clean things up in no time. This is one of things we do have power over in this great big, crazy world out there and this is the way we help our communities."

"Our good friend Leonard was a huge advocate of cleaning up trash on the side of the road," she said. "He was doing it all the time and was always telling people to do it. We've been talking for years about getting an organized clean up together in Camden."

McKellar said it was a great turnout for the Saturday morning part of the event.

"We are trying to hit every single road in Camden," she said. "We're hitting the big ones first where not a lot of people walk which is where you are more likely to find trash. We're also hitting some of the recreational areas like the Snow Bowl and Barrett's Cove."

She said despite our best efforts she didn't believe people are throwing things from vehicles.

"There certainly is some of that," she said. "A lot of us are probably littering without even knowing it. Things that fly out of the back of our trucks and trailers and the private trash haulers and those things that flies out when you open the window because you have a messy car. It's something that we all need to pay more attention to."

This was her first official cleanup, but it will be Rockport's third year.

"My first cleanup, but there have people doing it for many years," she said. "Rockport's 'Keep Rockport Beautiful' was started by a friend of mine Maggie Timmerman, who is a big passionate roadside cleaner got frustrated and started a group and it's now an official line item in the Rockport budget."

McKeller said Rockport's cleanup is next weekend, so they let the Camden group borrow all their vests and trash pickers this weekend.

"I keep calling Maggie asking how do you do this, how do you do that," she said. "I'm thrilled with the turn out this morning, even with the rainy, cold morning with all the people here. The fire department is here, public works is here even though they don't work on a Saturday morning, they're going to pick up all the trash bags, and it's very hard work."

McKeller said all the recyclables are getting separated form the trash.

Whether you have noticed or not, there have been groups from the Prison Work Farm this past week picking up trash in Rockport and Camden along the major routes. 

As Leonard Lookner was fond of saying: "If you see it, you own it" and "Sometimes we all have to clean up after our neighbors." McKellar said, “It’s something Leonard always wanted us to take on as a mission for Earth Day.”

Friday saw about 20 volunteers and Saturday morning drew twice that amount. The crews are all scattered around Camden today, in front of Hannaford Supermarket, the Camden Snow Bowl, Barnestown Road, Cobb Road, Molyneaux Road, and Pearl Street.

“We’re all over the place today,” she said, adding that any additional volunteers who wanted to show up are welcome.

The event invite speculated that water bottles would be the majority of trash to be picked up.”The only thing I would say is that water bottles are a small portion of what we picked up so far,” said McKeller. “We had a crew out on Friday and it was a lot of plastic bags, alcohol bottles, cigarette butts, fast food packaging, and Styrofoam.”

Even with the raw weather, the volunteers are in great spirits.

“It’s pretty darn impressive that there are that many people out here willing to pick up trash on a cold, rainy day,” said McKeller.

 

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

LINCOLNVILLE—With the sun still peeking through atop the summit at Point Lookout dozens of food companies from Texas to Maine were setting up tables overlooking Penobscot Bay with gourmet tastings, everything from endless array of cheeses to sriracha salami to white whiskey.

Dole & Bailey, based in Boston, is one of the nation's oldest family-owned and operated food businesses. They have been on a Northeast tour, setting up one-day events free to the public to provide a pop up food hub for local chefs, restaurateurs and any other interested foodies to sample the best and freshest produce, meats, charcuterie, cheese, pasta, seasonings, and seafood in the nation.

Kevin Edmonds, Director of Sales, said: “We’re a family-owned food distributor just north of Boston, but we have a very strong presence in Maine. We buy cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, produce and poultry from farms throughout the Northeast, and our sole lamb provider is North Star Sheep Farm out of Windham, Maine.”

“We invited some 300-400 local chefs and restaurateurs to come and enjoy free samples of high-end specialty foods,” he said. “It’s all about keeping it local and sustainable and it’s a fun social day for everyone.”

The event, unfortunately fell on the same day and times as the Business and Community Expo in Rockport at the Samoset, so it was probably more under-the-radar than it should have been.

Some of the Maine vendors included Ducktrap Seafood Co., offering samplings of fresh salmon, smoked mussels, scallops, trout bites and hors d’eovres. A beautiful display of mushrooms was put together by Mousam Valley Mushrooms out of Springvale, Maine. “These all come from our year round indoors mushroom grow house,” said President John Sharood, who identified the abundance of varieties as butter oyster, shiitaki, Lion’s Mane, and Katahdin Oysters.”

With spring still not quite here, it was a feast for the eyes to see the colorful offerings laid out in the round Summit room. Searsmont’s Threshers Brewing Co. were pouring the sample brews while Wiggly Bridge Distilleries out of York offered tastings of their most popular spirits including a white whiskey.

The half-day pop up event packed up was a one and done deal, so if you missed it, you’ll have to wait until they swing back around next spring.

Photos by Kay Stephens

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

 

NORTH HAVEN —After the catastrophic earthquake in 2010 in Haiti, which killed more than 300,000 people, according to Haitian government reports, and left nearly a million more homeless, survival was the number one priority. Out of the rubble, a group of people worked to find beauty and harmony once again. A group of musicians had the idea to start a band in 2010 on a hot November night in Port-au-Prince. Haiti was still reeling from the earthquake, a cholera epidemic was raging and a political crisis filled the streets with enough tire burning ferocity to close the international airport. Calling themselves Lakou Mizik, a multigenerational collective of Haitian musicians formed in the aftermath of that earthquake, to include elder legends and rising young talents, a powerhouse collective of singers, rara horn players, drummers, guitarists and even an accordionist.

Manager Zach Niles, describes as “roots pop.” 

“One of the ideas of the band is to introduce the Voudou and folkloric traditions with Haitian roots music but reinterpreted by young performers who give the songs high energy,” he said.

CD Hotlist describes Lakou Mizik as: "A crazy quilt of Haitian musical styles, from contemplative acoustic balladry to ecstatic chanting and throbbing compas. It's fun but also moving."

Niles, who lived in Haiti from 2011 until 2016, currently lives in Burlington, Vermont, and is the producer of the award-winning documentary, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars. He had traveled to Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake to explore ways in which music could help play a role in recovery and empowering social change.

“Getting the band to Maine is in some ways part of the original idea and dream that started in 2010 to share the culture and positive spirit of Haiti through music,” he said.

According to Niles, "I always wanted to use music and story of musicians to create a deeper connection to the country than either the one-note negative press or the falsified hope-and-inspiration NGO stories that get pushed to the public."

Because of his film ties with the Camden International Film Fest and a chance meeting with another filmmaker, Cecily Pingree, who lives on North Haven, Niles chose to kick off a two-week tour for Lakou Mizik in Maine, starting with North Haven before traveling with the band down to New Orleans for the Jazz Festival.

The band is currently at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, procuring their visas. On April 12, they will fly to Portland, where Niles will pick them up. The next day, they will make the trek up the coast and onto a ferry in order to play at Waterman’s Community Center on April 13, then back over to the Strand Theatre in Rockland on April 14, and finally back to Portland at SPACE Gallery on April 15 before making their way down the eastern seaboard.

To learn more about the band’s origins, name and members visit:lakoumizik.com/about

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

The Midcoast has a thriving artist and maker culture, but apart from social media, there are very few events to bring them all together.  In recent years, Archipelago, the Island Institute store and gallery, has fulfilled this need by organizing an annual Artists and Makers Conference held in April.

What initially started as a handful of people around a table has morphed into their fourth day-long conference with more than 150 participants. A quick poll revealed that nearly half of this conference’s participants drove more than an hour away to attend, which says a lot about how eager artists are to learn from one another and network.

The day was set up to offer three tracks: foundational (for those just starting a business) transformational (growing a business to the next level) and inspirational (maintaining fulfillment, passion, and inspiration) with a buffet of multiple breakout sessions to give artists and makers more tools to advance professionally. One person couldn’t attend everything, so I had to make a choice. Here are my takeaways from the conference:

Standing Out

As a writer, I’ve attended many writing conferences and know how difficult it is to make a first impression with agents and publishers. For artists and makers, it’s very similar. I attended the “Approaching Stores and Galleries” session, hosted by three panelists: Nire Cook (Maine Crafts Association), Dennis Gleason (Gleason Fine Art) and Meg Reilly (The Sail Locker).

The bottom line: Be respectful and polite in your first encounter with the owner or gallery staff. “You would not believe how many people come in and are impolite,” said Cook, who offered best practices in building a good business relationship with stores and galleries. Other tips: Make an appointment (don’t just drop by) to speak with the owner, particularly in the summertime, when everyone is monumentally busy; or better, email the owner first with a line sheet of your work and tell a short and sweet story about yourself to go with the work. Gleason also reiterated the importance of first impressions relating story of a tone deaf artist who emailed him a self-aggrandizing pitch. Striking a balance between being confident about your work and being humble seemed to be the biggest takeaway. “If they like you as a person, they are going to be enthusiastic about your product,” said Reilly.

The rest of the day built upon these tracks with multiple sessions such as “Best Practices for Shows and Fairs,” “Grants and Opportunities for Artists and Makers,” and “Sharing Stories, Stretching Ourselves” giving the audience the kind of fast-tracked feedback it might take an artist years to learn on his or her own. There were plenty of opportunities for artists to make connections as well as marketing insights and the value of the Maine brand.

Later in the afternoon, the participants all assembled in one room for a Pecha Kucha style event featuring various artists, sculptors and jewelry makers. Perhaps the most valuable part of the conference was the chance to put all of the day’s tips and techniques into practice with a DIY Tabletop photography workshop by photographer Michael O’Neil, and a chance to pitch one’s product or craft to retail experts and gallery owners and receive constructive feedback. Everybody that day walked away with a renewed sense of his or her strengths and a checklist of ideas for improvement.

Maine, (and the Midcoast, in particular) will never have a shortage of creatives with an entrepreneurial drive. If anything, a day like this underscores how much a permanent network is needed for artists and makers to get together on a regular basis to learn from one another.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

On March 13, beachcombers on Fanore Beach, Co. Clare, Ireland, happened to come across an orange tag washed up on shore. It wasn’t unusual: plenty of tags and other marine debris from the U.S. constantly travel 3,000-plus miles before washing up on Ireland and Scotland’s shore as we covered in a previous stories such as this one and this one.

However, the astute Irish observers noted that this tag was from the Hannah Boden, the sister boat to the Andrea Gail lost during the Perfect Storm of 1991and posted it on their Facebook page Burren Shores Beachcoming and More. The post was widely shared with dozens of people in Maine questioning whether the lost tag was from the swordboat once captained by Maine’s own Linda Greenlaw. Allen Morse Jr., Greenlaw’s sternman, confirmed that Greenlaw identified the tag as being authentic.

According to Eastern Shipbuilding, “The Hannah Boden was originally built as a combination lobster and longliner swordfishing boat.”

Years ago, Greenlaw sold the swordfishing boat and today it is a deep sea red crab boat/long liner owned by John Williams, which operates out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Williams was quoted in the Wiscasset Newspaper confirming that the tag was cut off from old gear he’d sold.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—Olivia Sprowl, 16, a student at BCOPE, (Belfast Community Outreach Program in Education), doesn’t know what kind of artist she wants to be yet. But, she’s going to have a chance to find out this May. She has been chosen to attend Haystack Mt. School of Crafts, on Deer Isle, joining 90 other high school students from around Maine.

Shy and reserved, this is going to be a real test for her socially. It’ll be the first time she’s ever been away from home overnight, but it will open her world.

Charles Hamm, her art teacher, is the one who chose her out of all of BCOPE’s students to attend Haystack.

“She’s very shy and reclusive and she’s struggled a lot with health difficulties that have made her miss a lot of school,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I want her to go to Haystack.”

For Sprowl, it’s an opportunity to explore what’s interesting to her.

“It’s for three days and I’m looking forward to two courses, bookbinding and fashion design,” she said. “I’m not sure what I want to do with art, but I want to expand with more portraits and experiment with more colors like oil paints.”

She typically draws portraits in colored pencil and tends to focus on the subject’s eyes.

“The eyes are really important; they’re kind of like the focus point,” she said.

As an artist, she’d have to look no further for a subject than the mirror, for her own eyes are prominent within her face and artfully rimmed with green and yellow eyeliner.

She was a student at Belfast High School just until this past September, when she transferred to BCOPE, a move that has suited her well. Instead of feeling drowned out by a traditional classroom, she has thrived in the school.

“You have a lot more freedom here,” Oliva said of BCOPE. “You get to decide what you want to do here and can customize it. At the high school, you just do what they tell you to do.When it comes to individual projects, it’s not just like this one box you have to fit your project in.”

“Every school in Maine is invited to send a kid to Haystack and it was pretty easy to pick Olivia,” said Hamm. “It wasn’t even her artwork that made me decide. When she first came to this school, she told me she wanted to go to art school and that put her on my radar. In the art projects that we do, she puts layer upon layer of unasked for aspects to the assignment. She’s thinking about stuff above and beyond what I’m asking for. She’s not just thinking ‘here’s an assignment; I’m just going to do it so it satisfies the grade.’ She’s gets her head around it and throws herself right in.

“I see her blossoming socially so much, Whenever I send a kid to Haystack, I always tell them, ‘This is going to change your life in big ways and small ways. I want her to get out of her shell in a place that I know is safe. It’s really going to help her focus on her artistic drive.”

Haystack’s annual Student Craft Institute welcomes high school juniors, from throughout the state, who have been identified as particularly gifted in the arts, to work in the studios on campus for three days. Participants include students from a number of isolated rural communities, which is an important aspect of the program for the opportunity it provides to youngsters from different backgrounds to discover that they have common interests and can support one another in work undertaken together. More than 1,000 students in Maine have participated in this annual program for the last 34 year. See more: Haystack Mt. School of Crafts

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

 

CAMDEN — Let the downward dog pose jokes write themselves. Marylou Cook, owner of Coastal Maine Yoga, a new yoga studio on Molyneaux Road, heard a story on NPR about people doing yoga with cats as a way to chill out from the election news coverage right about the same time that P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption Center in Camden began getting requests for cat yoga classes.

“My son volunteers with the animals, so I offered my yoga services as a silent auction gift,” said Cook. “They told me of all the calls for cat yoga they’d been getting, so I said, sure, I’d do a few classes.”

Cook runs the free evening classes in P.A.W.S. community room after hours. So far only a few classes have been held, and they’ve had to find the right mix of cat and human compatibility.

“The first time we did the class and there were only three cats in the room,” she said. “I think they were testing the waters. It depends on the personality of the cats. Some cats can’t be in the same room as the others because they start bullying and beating on each other.”

The class had to find cats with the right temperament to participate—ones that didn’t mind contortionist poses (After all, have you ever see a cat skid to a stop from a running leap, only to launch into a complete undercarriage examination with a foot in the air?)

“As the class has gone along, the cats start to relax and lay on the mats with us and become really relaxed and calm,” said Cook. It must be a welcome break after lying across the P.A.W.S.’ staff keyboards all day. “It actually works both ways; it’s relaxing for the cats and the people. It’s just a great way to hang out and have fun.”

It’s a win-win, said Cook, because she also volunteers her time and participants pay it forward by bringing donations of cat food, litter and other supplies. Plus, both Cook and P.A.W.S. are hoping that some bonding will go on as the classes continue. 

“I think it’s a great opportunity for people who like cats and like yoga. They can come back and visit a little friend they’ve made,” said Cook.

For more information visit: Yoga with Cats!

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

ROCKLAND – Want to know what the rich used to order to eat? Oysters and caviar for appetizers, turtle soup, beef or English sole, followed by a delicacy people rarely got in the winter, fresh peach Melba with sliced peaches from South Africa — those menu items were the most ordered by high society diners in New York City starting in 1890s, as the city's most luxurious restaurants began to take off.

Author Virginia Tuttle gave a lecture at the Farnsworth art Museum on March 9 entitled “Puttin’ on the Ritz:” The Restaurants of New York.” Tuttle, a retired curator from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, now lives in Camden, and has spent several years meticulously researching the late 19th and early 20th century restaurants in New York.

In many ways, the celebrity chef culture was as prominent then as it is today.Though there were no “Food Networks” at that time, the chefs, who were invariably French, were regarded as high-paid celebrities who ruled like despots over their enormous, lavishly equipped kitchens and extensive, expertly trained cook staffs. Reporters from major newspapers routinely dedicated much of their column space to the inner workings of a restaurant and even the chef’s personal life.

The farm-to-table movement is also a surprising similar theme. Some say it only harkens back to the ‘60s and ‘70s, but Tuttle’s research shows that these master chefs (who often apprenticed and trained for 20 years) presided over the kitchens of The Ritz-Carlton, Waldof-Astoria, Delmonico and relied on their stewards to rise at 4 a.m. every morning and traipse all over the city to procure the freshest items shipped from farmers and fishermen in upstate New York spanning to New Jersey. With the new invention of refrigerated train cars, chefs were able to use far-reaching supply lines to acquire the finest wines and freshest produce (even in the dead of winter) for the fortunate few of New York who dined in their restaurants.

Back to the menus. One of the most interesting aspects of Tuttle’s lecture were menus from The Waldorf-Astoria she procured from 1908 with 125 items on it, including duck and at least seven types of wild fowl. “They served two menus simultaneously, the standard menu and the “specials” altogether 300 menu items a night,” she said. That might seem like a lot today, except for another astonishing fact.

Many of New York City’s major restaurants kicked out nearly 4,000 meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then another 4,000 meals served after theater was out, around 10 p.m., totaling 8,000 meals served a day. This is unheard of in today’s restaurant scene.  The “back of the house” or the kitchens, were massive, run like a military operation with one chef presiding over 8-10 stations each supervised by its own chef. “There were about 200 staff members in the kitchen, primarily men,” she said. “The only staff you’d find who were women were in peeling vegetables or washing dishes.”

Many of these establishments have long gone the way of the top hat and monocle. “To my knowledge, there are no restaurants like this anymore,” she said. Tuttle continues to do research for the material she hopes to turn into a book on this subject.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

St. Patrick's Day on a Friday this year? Holy Leprechauns! Well, finally someone got that right, instead of it falling on a Wednesday or a Monday. You know you should never order an Irish Car Bomb when visiting Ireland, right? Never, never. Breach of etiquette–seriously Google it! Regardless, enjoy the day and keep a taxi on speed dial.

Belfast

Rollie’s Bar and Grill
Your proper St. Paddy’s Day starts at 6 a.m. at Rollie’s with their Irish breakfast. Then ease on into the day for Guinness drink specials and prize giveaways for best outfit. At 8:30 p.m., Hollow Body Electric starts the tunes.

Darby’s Restaurant
The Irish culinary addicts will get their fix with Darby’s Irish fare, green beer and drink specials, but no Irish music this year, sorry folks!

Lincolnville

The Whale’s Tooth
Pop on down to The Whale's Tooth, the coziest pub on the ocean. They are throwing their annual St. Paddy’s Day party with live music starting at 5:30 p.m. Expect corned beef and cabbage, and classic Irish beverages. It's going to be packed, so reservations are a good idea.

Camden

The Drouthy Bear
The pub with the most Celtic flair in the Midcoast will have Irish food specials all week and lots of Irish beer (Guinness IPA and stout) on tap. Irish happy hour is 4-6 p.m.

Ebantide Restaurant
Camden’s newest restaurant will be celebrating their first St. Patrick’s Day with specials including Left Hand Lamb Stew, Ham and Cabbage, Salmon Colcannon and Irish Nachos. Beer specials on Left Hand Milk Stout and Geaghan Bros Smiling Irish Bastard Ale, along with live music. Happy hour starts at 4 p.m. See more of their offerings.

Rockland

Rock Harbor Brewery
Celebrating all week with Irish food offerings. Come in early and then kick off the night at 8 p.m. with musician Teddy & Friends, with free giveaways and a grand prize giveaway for the best St. Paddy’s Day costume.

Rock City Café
Rock City Café will be celebrating o’ the green with a St. Patrick’s Day music session starting at 7 p.m. with Guinness on tap, authentic Irish coffee, as well as Irish lamb stew and corned beef sandwiches with all the fixings

Myrtle Street Tavern
Myrtle's annual St. Paddy's Day shindig will start at 11 a.m. with Guinness on tap, along with a ton of other holiday inspired cocktail specials. Giveaways galore, and shenanigans until 1 a.m.

Trackside Station
Trackside is celebrating all weekend with Irish food specials and Nimble Hill's Shamrock Porter on tap.

Hope

Hatchet Mountain Publick House
Hatchet Mountain’s annual kickin’ St. Paddy's Day celebration takes place both Friday and Saturday nights. Beginning at 4 p.m., each day, they’ll offer Irish fare and music featuring the return of Rovin Mick O'Flynn. Note: Get there early-seats fill up quickly!

Waldoboro

Narrows Tavern
Starting at 8 p.m., live music with Rick Turcotte who will be playing from 8 to 11 p.m. The trio will showcase both their originals and a mix of fiddle tunes. Definitely a night to be at the Tavern.

Boothbay

Spruce Point Inn
Spruce Point Inn, a classic oceanside resort, is gearing up for the green with traditional foods and friendship during what they are calling The Gathering. Find out more details here!

Stay tuned as more listings are added.

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If you’re a bar or restaurant doing something special for St. Patrick’s Day, contact Kay Stephens at news@penbaypilot.com

Nearly two years ago, in February of 2015, Camden and Rockport voters turned down a plan to build an 82,000-square-foot new school for the middle school students of Camden and Rockport. With an aging middle school in Camden that also houses a portion of the district’s elementary students, which is failing and doesn’t meet current basic life and safety codes in many areas, according to a press release from the School Administration District 28’s central office, it continues to exhibit problems, such as  Monday’s fuel leak that canceled school for the entire student body. 

Seventh-grader Addison Castellano got picked up by his mother, came home, brewed himself a cup of coffee and got to thinking about the possibilities of renovating or building a new school.

His mother, Nikki Castellano, is on the committee of the the Camden-Rockport Middle School Building Vision Committee and works as a secretary in the superintendent’s office. The 12-year-old and his mother have had many discussions about the fate of the school, so he sat down and penned a Letter to the Editor that he forwarded to PenBayPilot.com:

Today at 7:50 a.m., in C-RMS, they announced that there was a fuel leak in the seventh- and eighth-grade wings. We were then told to wait for our parents to pick us up, or until the buses could finish dropping off the elementary school students. I luckily got a ride home by my mom, and decided to write this letter.

I have done some math about how we could save enough money to build the new middle school. When I got home I had a cup of coffee (a little weird for a 12-year-old) and that gave me a thought. How much money would you save if you wouldn't go every morning and buy a cup of coffee? So here's the math.

If you get a cup a coffee every morning, 365 days a year, which costs just $1.50, you would save about $547.70. For me, a seventh-grader, that's a lot of money. My mom says that the  [added property] tax in Camden and Rockport will be less than $100 per every $100,000 your house is worth per year. This is just one example of how you could pay for a new school.

Now looking at the information that I've been given, you have a choice.

Either keep your daily coffee or ensure the safety of the middle school students of this community. As one of those students I hope you make the right choice. And other students out there that are willing to take the time and sit down and write, I hope you are willing to do so.

Addison said most of the students see issues in the building that the rest of the public doesn’t often see.  “

“Everyone in my class thinks the school is really old and a lot of things should be fixed,” he said. “There are cracks in the wall, some of them covered in duct tape. The temperatures change all of the time. You have to wear a coat in one classroom and a t-shirt in another. Everyone says that Camden is the best place to have your kids in school, but the middle school isn’t very good compared to the elementary school and the high school.”

Still, he understands that a vote either way entails a tax hike for every property tax-paying family in Camden and Rockport.

“Saving for it can be something simple. If you skip going out to dinner for one month, that’s about $100-$200 saved right there,” he said.

A new vote is coming up to either renovate the school for $17 million or build it brand new for $26 million. Either vote will come with a tax burden, something, Addison, like his mother, said he is ready to shoulder.

“I drink coffee every day,” he said. “And I thought of all of the money you could save for each household. If you did something simple like make coffee at home instead of buying it, I did the math and you could put that money into a savings account for the taxes.”

His mother said, “I’m pretty sure the biggest takeaway from Addison’s letter to the editor is ‘Why do you let your 12-year-old drink coffee?’” she said with a smile.

For more information about Camden-Rockport Middle School developments visit: crmsmiddlematters.info

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—Last Friday, March 4, dozens of kids as young as four up to teenagers were milling through the hallways of Waterfall Arts’ second annual “Young Artists’ Gallery Takeover” – an opportunity to highlight Waldo County visual arts programs and put the spotlight on local artists under age 18. Many of those kids, were, in fact, the artists themselves.

I met Elias Dodge, 14, who is homeschooled. He was busy rolling black black acrylic paint over a foam collage that Waterfall Arts’ BRIDGE teen artists constructed for the opening to give away as free posters. BRIDGE is a free after-school art program for sixth graders, most of whom have no art class in school.

Part of the BRIDGE group for the last three years, Dodge, it turns out wasn’t just making posters. He himself, had a piece in the show that had already caught my eye before meeting him.

“I like working in collages,” he said. “Some people call me ‘The Collage Man.’”

The piece was titled City done in a collage of mixed media. [Click on the photo to enlarge the detail.] The art depicts a city scene with an ominous undertone blending colorful peacetime images of children in the streets with children in the past wearing gas masks. 

“I decided I was going to make a city out of cut out photos and found some old WWII photos online and printed them out,” he said. “I then found this website about kids who had to do these wartime drills and had to put gas masks on in school.”

He’s not sure if he sees his dystopic artwork as political in nature or where it truly originates from.

“I was just interested in these kids and their stories and their faces portray a lot of emotion. The kids were trying to get the gas masks off because they were really uncomfortable.”

He said he cannot imagine going to school and having to wear that.

It took about a year for the piece to fully come together.

“Some things I put in and then took out because they didn’t fit.”

“I did one side in color and one side in black and white and joined them together as one city,” he said. I tried to portray some of the people in the collage as bad people; they didn’t have good ideas.They were like robots.” Dodge elaborated on the landscape. “It’s just a city where people don’t really care and just want to make money.”

Dodge’s piece was among more than 250 pieces of kids’ artwork on display in the Clifford Gallery and both floors of the Corridor Gallery. As part of Arts Advocacy Month, the pieces will be on display until March 30.

We will be highlighting other artists from that show in future articles—stay tuned. For more information visit: http://waterfallarts.org/young-artists-gallery-takeover/

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

CAMDEN — A frigid 11-degree Fahrenheit day on Sunday might have brought out fewer spectators for the 5th annual Cardboard Box Derby than last year, held at the Camden Snow Bowl, but it made for a slicker ride for all 27 teams. Though most of the cardboard boxers held together pretty well, the “vehicle” for one team, called The Goofy Gondola Girls, disintegrated in spectacular fashion as the girls (Abby Williams, 12, Elli Andrus, 12, and Zola Roberts, 12, all from Hope) literally tumbled in slow motion over one another and the remains of their gondola all the way down the hill. (See accompanying video.)

I spoke to a few of the participants after their run. Conrad Rocknak, 11, and his dad built a 1930s style open cockpit plane, calling it Bleeper Flung.

“We pretty much put it all together yesterday,” he said. The intricate plane flew down the mountain intact with an impressive 11-second run and although Conrad didn’t beat the fastest record, he did co-win “Best Costume.”

There were no adult teams this year and the kids ranged from 3 to 19, mostly from the Midcoast. Some teams opted for big, splashy, means of transport and multiple pilots, while others chose to go tiny, compact and seriously fast, like twins Ian Kolvoord and Jennifer Kolvoord, 3, from Newburgh, in their super scooting Batmobile called “Batman.”

Some teams, like The Send Mobile, helmed by Emerson Brott, 13, and his friend, Nolan Delehey, 13, both from Camden, were going for speed over style. As their flat pack cardboard sled whizzed down the mountain, they hit the mounds of hay bales at the end, designed to slow their roll. Instead, it was legs, arms and elbows flung around everywhere.

“It was pretty rough,” said Emerson, wincing, when they got back up again. “Yeah, it kinda hurts.”

“But it was really fun coming down,” said his teammate, Nolan. They said their secret to going faster was applying duct tape to the bottom of the sled.

Here are the winners and results of the 5th annual Cardboard Box Derby and gallery.

Fastest

1st - Cat Nipped #35                       8.56
• Lily Stowe (age 11) Camden, Hannah Stowe (age 7) Camden, Lyla Tibbets (age 7) Camden, Claire Caveney Snyder (age 12) Rockland.

2nd - Master Blasters #32             9.78
• Benjamin Winchenbach (19) Rockport, Kyle Winchenbach (19) Rockport, Joshua Chun (14) Belfast, Vincent Bonarrigo (15) Belmont, Thomas Ventara (19) Belfast.

3rd - Snow Barge #25                  10.02
• Finn Emory (10) Hope, Carver Emory (8) Hope, Ryan Andersen (11) Rockport, Owen Morong (10) Lincolnville        

Most Creative

WGH Racing #24
• Wyatt Heal (9)  Warren

Best Costume(s)

Flyin' Firemen #20
• Andrew Laidlaw (6) Camden, Charlie Leonard (6) Camden
Bleeper Flung #17
• Conrad Rocknak (11) from Camden

Most in a Box

Speedy Goat #29
• Cabot Adams (11) Appleton, Spencer Dorr (14) Rockland, Donovan Guptill (8) Rockland, Devin Guptill (13) Rockland, Emmett Dorr (11) Rockland, Henri Weymouth (8) Rockland, Aidan Weymouth (11) Rockland

Most Spirited

Duct Tape Duover #31
• Destiny Turner (10) Rockport, Lorelei Rademacher (10) Rockport, Sara Ackley (10) Rockport, Taylor Clayton (10) Camden, Freya Hurlburt (10) Lincolnville, Claire Helmsetter (11) Camden

Photos by Kay Stephens

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN—Camden native Kerry Gross now lives and works in South Lake Tahoe, but her Maine roots will be taking her back home this summer for a cross-country interview project she created called Women Who Dare. The project spurred from the catalyst of an energy bar wrapper.

“I was training for adventure racing all last summer, which is a combination of orienteering, biking and paddling from eight to 30 hours at a stretch,” she said. “One day before I got into the pool, I look at the back of my Clif Bar wrapper and and it was about this adventuring guy and all of his guy friends and I started thinking, ‘Well this Clif Bar epitomizes my entire adventure training experience. I’m a strong, capable woman, and yet in these races, I’m the only woman around. Where are all the cool women? I know they are out there. I have to bike around the country and find them.’”

The first part of Women Who Dare will involve collecting stories through her website up until March 31. Any woman can recommend another woman who inspires her. As of now, Gross has collected around 60 stories, and quite a few have already come from her home town in the Midcoast.

The second part of her project puts her bicycle back into action. Gross will plan a route across the U.S. reaching as many Women Who Dare as possible.

Starting in mid-April and continuing throughout the summer, Gross will follow this route on her bicycle, interviewing inspirational women and sharing updates on her blog and Instagram.

The third component will turn the collected stories into podcasts.

“All of my grad student friends walking to and from school or cooking listen to podcasts all of the time, so I thought this was a medium that would really appeal to people in their 20s and 30s,” she said. “Once, I put the podcasts are put together, I’ll have the time to think about a longer written piece.” 

Even though her audience skews younger, she wants stories of women at all ages. And the stories don’t need to be limited to just athletic accomplishments.

As we spoke on the phone on International Women’s Day, the timing of her project seemed fitting.

“Already, I’m hearing from a few fellow female adventurers how much they want to hear these stories about women's strength, intelligence, and perseverance, so that’s what I’m going to do,” she said.

For more information and to suggest a woman for the project, please visit http://kerrygross.com/

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

The metal harmonica in Bill Studebaker’s palm is no bigger than five millimeters, its comb and cover plates are barely visible to the human eye once set against the scale of an Indian Head penny.

The wee instrument sits in a glass case with other handcrafted musical instruments Bill has made by hand, including a wooden flute, a lute and a spinnet, each built with extraordinary intricate detail from wood and ivory.

Above Bill and Barbara Studebaker’s garage in Rockland is a miniature-making shop and showroom along with work tables, a miniature drill press, mill and lathe, among other tools and endless boxes of materials to make miniatures.

The Studebakers came from Virginia six years ago where they formerly owned a miniature store. Now retired, their studio is still their day job and shared passion.

“After we first got married in September of 1992, I overheard Barbara and her sister talking about toys they had as kids and they said they never had a dollhouse,” said Bill. “I thought to myself ‘I can build a dollhouse.’ And I’ll have it done for Christmas!”

As a former furniture builder and restorer of antiques, he got to work.

“For the next three months, I just lived in my shop building her a copy of the house we were living in. I was having so much fun doing it. I was building everything from scratch, because I didn’t know at the time you could buy them online or at shows.”

Forget Christmas; It took two and a half years to complete it, but by then Studebakers were hooked on everything miniature.

“We just discovered that there was a dollhouse world out there globally.”

For the last 20-plus years, the Studebakers have made and sold their own creations through their website and through shows, while simultaneously running workshops and classes. Bill primarily crafts furniture, while Barbara, a fiber artist, handstitches pillows, quilts and bedding.

“One thing I really like is that I naturally save every little thing, so I do a lot of re-purposing and repairs on antiques,” said Barbara, who mostly runs the day to day details of the business.

As for Bill: “I’ve always had to make things; that’s part of who I am. If I didn’t have a place or shop to make things it would drive me crazy. So, it was a chance to make little things and not overwhelm the space. For example, if you want to build a desk and it’s complete, you put it somewhere in your house. But, what if you have the idea for a different kind of desk—or six different ideas? You can’t build them all and put them around the house, but you can if they are in miniature and they all fit on a mantle piece.”

There isn’t a huge community of miniature lovers in Maine, said Bill, but the hobby worldwide is bigger than ever since they started.

“The shops and shows [where miniature makers gather to showcase and sell items] are winnowing down,” he said. “I think part of that is that the older communities are aging out of physically going to shows, and the younger people are buying primarily online.”

Still, there is something that captivates certain men and women of any age. For many who grew up with a dollhouse, it’s a lifelong fascination.

“There is something really basic about miniatures,” said Bill. “I don’t know what it is, but I’ve seen it over and over again. People are so completely charmed when they pick up and physically touch say a tiny piece of furniture. They literally turn into a five year old before your eyes. I don’t know anything else that does that...maybe a circus.”

Click on our gallery of photos to see all the detail in each piece.

Photos by Kay Stephens

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com 

 

ROCKLAND — It’s always in the back of the mind of every commercial fisherman or lobsterman as he or she throws off the lines and heads out to sea — the possibility that they won’t come back. It’s a risk they take every day.

At the recent 2017 Maine Fisherman’s Forum, Mike Jackson, President of Grundéns USA, spoke about the dangers of falling overboard.

A participant in the “Stories at Sea” panel, he has a unique authority on that particular topic, having survived going overboard not once, but twice, in his career as a commercial crab fisherman in the Bering Sea.

By the time he was 28, Jackson had been crabbing commercially for 10 years.

On a November night he’d been working with his crew on a 98-foot crabber on the Bering Sea. The wind was blowing 45-50 knots and seas were running 25-30 feet with steep, breaking crests and frequent snow squalls.

Jackson, like everyone else on his crew wore no life jacket.

“No one wore them at that time,” he said. “My wife had bought me one but it was tucked away under my bunk.”

With little sleep over the course of a few days, the crew was overly tired. One crew member had failed to lock a hydraulic control valve in a secure position, a dangerous error that caused a series of mishaps to send a 32-round buoy into Jackson and knock him overboard.

His clothing was barely enough to protect him from the numbing cold and he was fast losing his strength to hold on in the waves.

Only luck and the fast-thinking instincts on the part of the skipper saved his life. Before hypothermia set in, he was rescued by a stainless steel hook “which hauled me up like a 200 pound halibut” he told the audience.

After that unnerving experience, he didn’t go on deck without a life jacket again at a time when no one still wore one.

He endured the usual jibes over it.

“I didn’t care,” he said. “And the reason I didn’t care is because of my overboard experience. I knew with a life jacket that I could survive and so could someone else.”

Turns out he didn’t know how fortuitous his decision to go against the grain would be.

Two weeks later, aboard the same boat with the same crew, another terrible mishap occurred when another crew member fell overboard. Jackson, the only one wearing a life jacket, knew he was the only one who could get to him and provide the buoyancy to keep him afloat in the pitch black, among yet another heaving sea and raging 50-knot winds.

Once again, Jackson was able to save both his own life and that of his friend. (Read the entire story on Grundéns website here.)

The Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety was on hand at the Fisherman’s Forum to talk about the sobering realities of what fishermen and lobstermen face out at sea.

Statistics show that commercial fishing fatalities are among the highest (31 times higher than the average industrial fatality rate) and that for New England fishermen, falling overboard is the leading cause of workplace fatalities. Yet, so many lobstermen and fishermen still do not wear personal flotation devices.

The studies the NCOHS did found that are three basic reasons for that: Workability (uncomfortable devices and the high cost associated with them), Risk Diffusion (the perception that one won’t get hurt if they do everything right) and finally Social Stigma (People will make fun of you for wearing one).

Jackson has had personal experience with all three factors and from the outset of founding the company in 1991 with his brother, Dave, he has worked on numerous ways to prevent these fatalities.

“When I first came up with a solution for a PFD that would work for fishermen like me, the thing that resonates with everyone is the idea of ‘Coming Home,’” he said. “The touchpoint for them is the people who are depending on them to come home. The conversation isn’t just about them. It’s about all of those other people whose lives would be devastated if they didn’t come home. Trying to get people to get to look at it from that lens changes the narrative.”

In the presentation, NCOHS announced their current plans and studies to discover the most practical form of a PFD for fishermen. An audience member asked Jackson if Grundéns made clothing that encompassed a PFD within.

It’s a complicated subject and simple answer is yes, Grundéns does have several configurations, including an inflatable yoke that slips into a pair of bibs and a vest (that’s now off the market for more testing) called the Stormy Seas PFD. 

“I had the idea fishing out of Kodiak for the Stormy Seas PFD and made a crude prototype, basically taking the design from a commercial airlines, combining it with a Mae West vest and incorporating it into something we wore on deck all of the time,” said Jackson. “It inflates with both a manual airtube and also a tear-away flap for a C02 cartridge.”

Jackson was thinking about practicalities of working aboard a vessel wearing this vest and wanted it to be a multi-functional tool for fishermen, allowing them to dive into the water without inflation if need be to rescue someone, then, inflating it at the necessary point.

The difficult part is that Grundéns PFD configurations are not a one-size-fits-all along with other stringent requirements that would make them Coast Guard-approved.

“In the commercial fishing world, people can recognize if something has value, because they’re out at sea all time and know it makes sense, but there are many people who have the perception that if it’s not U.S. Coast Guard approved, it’s illegal to to be worn,” he said. “The irony is, the Coast Guard would not approve our products but they did buy them for their personnel. Regardless, as we always tell people, have redundancy on your boat. Have a Coast Guard approved PFD, and then wear anything that’s the most comfortable. If you find yourself in the water, the only thing that’s going to do you any good is whatever type of PFD you choose to have on at that moment. If your spouse wants to make you a sweater out of bubble wrap, wear it.”

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

ROCKLAND — Every year around this time, the Farnsworth Art Museum and their merry band of artists and entrepreneurs, known as The Collective, put their heads together to come up with events that will blow ours.

This year, three events are planned in March all around the theme of origami. "This is the third year we've organized events in the spring months as a way to break out of the gloom of winter and do a theme based on colors and patterns," said Special Events Manager Annie Brown. “This year we're working with a Japanese theme."

Animals Out of Paper
The first event is a March 4 staged reading by the Everyman Repertory Theatre at the Farnsworth Art Museum from 1 to 3 p.m. It's titled Animals Out of Paper by Rajiv Joseph about an uncommon love story between Andy, a high school teacher and avid fan, who pressures the reclusive Ilana, a world-famous origami artist, into becoming an unwitting mentor to a troubled teenage prodigy named Suresh. These three intriguingly flawed characters begin to reshape and mold each other's lives in much the same way they fold and crease their paper art.

Sumo Stew
The second event involves sumo wrestling. Brown reached out some friends in Brooklyn who do a traveling pop-up event known as Sumo Stew—a culinary event paired with live streaming sumo wrestling. On Thursday, March 16, beginning at 6 p.m., photographer Michael Harlan Turkell brings Sumo Stew to FOG Bar & Cafe, 328 Main St. in downtown Rockland.

"They've taken this event on the road from San Francisco to New York, Washington D.C. as well as a few other places and we got them to come up to Rockland," said Brown.

Diners can expect to walk in and receive a bento box filled with culinary treats from local eateries such as Nína June, Suzuki's Sushi Bar and Main Street Meats, among others; as well as a drink token for a specialty cocktail and a reserved seat. The venue will be live streaming sumo wrestling from Japan. "I think every six to eight weeks they bring the highest ranked sumo wrestlers together for a grand tournament, which we will get to see," said Brown. Meanwhile, Harlan Turkell will be preparing the classic dish commonly eaten by sumo wrestlers to gain weight, called chankonabe, which is a stew made up of large quantities of protein sources, usually chicken, fish (fried and made into balls), tofu, or sometimes beef; and vegetables (daikon, bok choy, etc.) A chankonobe station will be set up with vegetarian and meat options.

The [Collective] Bash: Origami
This third event is the Farnsworth [Collective's] biggest event of the year, where they will take over the vacant 449 Main St. storefront space, former site of 3Crow, for The [Collective] Bash: Origami on Saturday, March 25, beginning 8 p.m.

Brown is currently working with the [Collective] artists to build art installations around a paper theme. "We'll have a large origami project going on, but other pieces will be inspired by angles, folding, patterns,” she said. “It's exciting to work with some new artists. For example, Elaine Ng will create a site-specific installation; she's never done anything with the [Collective] before.”

Brooklyn-based dance duo Sofi Tukker will be the evening’s entertainment. Their current hit, Drinkee, was nominated for a 2017 Grammy.

A group of [Collective] volunteers—led by artists Trelawney O'Brien and Margaret Rizzio—have been cranking out custom party hats for all attendees and the local network of makers will create a colorful world of pattern and paper and surprise.

Tickets are free to members of the [Collective] and $35 for the general public, available at 2017collectivebash.splashthat.com. Costumes are welcomed at the 21-and-older event. Tickets are going fast and the event sells out each year.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—Next time you’re walking by Broadway in Rockland, take a look at the the modest yellow double house at 198-200, particularly at the single pane window on the upper right side. That’s the room in which Edna St. Vincent Millay was born.

February 22, 2017 marked the Pulitzer Prize winning poet’s 125th birthday and Rockland celebrated her life on February 25 with a gala reading of selected poets at the Farnsworth Art Museum, as well as a tour of the house of her birthplace, currently under renovation.

Lisa Westkaemper is the treasurer of Millay House Rockland, a new literary organization that will "preserve the birthplace of Edna St. Vincent Millay and celebrate her legacy through education, the literary arts, and significant collaborations within the Maine community and beyond."

A 2015 story in the Free Press first alerted the public to the plight of the house, which had degenerated to such a point it was slated to be torn down. Prompted by the story, Maine philanthropist Roxanne Quimby came forward with the funds to purchase the property with a challenge to the community to match the funds raised and restore the building.

The Rockland Historical Society bought the property in March, 2016 and formed a committee to oversee the restoration.

To celebrate Millay’s birthplace, Westkaemper gave a tour of the 19th century literary landmark, currently being rehabilitated this winter.

“The house was built in 1891 and research show that the first tenants on the north side were Henry Tolman Millay and his wife, Cora Buzzell Millay, Edna’s parents,” she said. “They didn’t stay here very long. First, the family moved to Union, then to Camden.”

Double houses, which today we would call a duplex, were very common at the turn of the century in Rockland. “There are so many double houses here in Rockland as opposed to many other places in the U.S. because the captains of various industries, such as lime quarries, shipyards and wharves didn’t provide housing for its workers, so builders came in and oftentimes the owner/builder would live on one side and rent the other side out to blue collar workers,” she said.

A tour through the north side [the Millay side] of the double house reveals architectural details common to the 19th century such as narrow steep, staircases, narrow hallways and oddly shaped rooms. “This is one of the few houses in Rockland that hasn’t been redone and still has the original footprint of both sides being mirror images of one another,” said Westkaemper.

The house opens to a parlor where, according to historical records, Cora kept a small piano. The original moulding is still in place as are the original walls broken away in places, revealing the American historic carpentry of lath and plaster—wooden laths nailed horizontally across wall studs and layered with several coats of limerock plaster.

“This house was literally falling down,” said Westkaemper. “If it didn’t have historic value, it wouldn’t have been financially worth it for a builder or developer to save it.”

A hallway leads to the far end of the house to the kitchen. When it was originally built, a wood fired stove would have been its source of heat with candle or kerosene lighting. Exposed areas in ceiling reveal original pipes and electrical wiring. Westkaemper was told this house was right on the cusp of having indoor plumbing when it was built.

The steep stairway leads to three small rooms and a bathroom on the top floor. To the left is a large room facing the street which was probably a sitting room of some sort. A door separates the two sides of the house, along with a floor grate which would have let passive heat rise up and warm the room. This is where Cora gave birth to Edna, but likely the room remained a sitting room afterward. A tiny green room in the back of the house was small enough to be a nursery and though there are no records showing whether this was Edna’s room as an infant, it’s easy to imagine it could have been.

The original pine floors on the second floor and oak floors on the first floor will be completely restored as carpenters tackle multiple projects this spring.  The date of completion is still undetermined, but Westkaemper hopes the house will be  in good shape for the first Millay Arts and Poetry Festival slated for September 7-9, 2017 in downtown Rockland. The city-wide arts and literary festival produced by the Millay House Rockland, in partnership with a host of other organizations, plans to offer poetry, music, art, theatre workshops, open mics symposiums and keynote speakers across the three-day span.

For more information visit: http://millayhouse.com/

Click through our gallery for a virtual tour of the house and additional details. Photos by Kay Stephens

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

 

 

CUSHING — Eighteen years ago, Cushing artist Katharine Cobey created a one-of-a-kind sculptural dress out of black garbage bag plastic, cut into strips, and knitted together with a skirt made of bright red “Danger” tape gleaned from the local hardware store. The forbidding looking outfit was deemed the “Danger Dress.”

“I made this dress to hang on rods to like a life-size puppet,” said Cobey. “I wanted the dress to speak for itself, but it was originally a message to women to de-emphasize overly sexy clothing. It was meant to be cautionary.”

While displaying the dress at an event hosted by the Center for Maine Contemporary Art many years back, Cobey allowed Camden resident Lucinda Ziesing to try it on—an experience she never forgot.

Several weeks before the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017, Ziesing remembered the Danger Dress and contacted Cobey, asking permission to borrow it and wear it to the Peace Ball at the African American Museum in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19.

Cobey agreed to the request, loaning the dress as a special favor to Ziesing, who had to insure it for $3,000 on its return by FedEx. “I don’t lend out art pieces in general,” said Cobey. “This was an unusual situation, but because I was not in very good health, I wasn’t able to get to the women’s march in Maine or to the event in Washington, so this was my way of getting there.”

Ziesing met with Cobey to try on the dress once again to see if it still fit (it did) and said, “What should I wear as a head piece?” So, Cobey made her a plastic laurel wreath to go with it.

Ziesing said, “Normally, when you go to a ball, you get dressed up, you try to look good. I’ve never had the experience of wearing something like this or receiving the reactions that I did that night. I was wearing something that everybody felt was speaking fort them. There were hundreds of people giving me a high five and commenting on it.”

The fact that the meaning of the dress changed with the intent of the woman who wore it delighted Cobey. “Why not?” she said. “I mean, certainly I think it was topical to use it in that way.”

Ziesing continued, “There’s danger in the moral fiber of our country right now, in how contested both sides are and the debates about the ‘truth.’ There’s danger in who is being appointed for Trump’s cabinet and the values that he espouses. And there is danger, capital D, particularly for women in the president's attitude towards them. He gives every indication of being a sexual predator and what kind of modeling is this?”

The nearly 20-year-old dress has been in eight or nine museums around the United States, including museums in Washington, D.C., New York, Houston, California and Boston.

“This dress had had a wonderful life,” said Cobey and while it is tattered from its journey, it may not be retired yet. While in Washington, D.C., Ziesing was approached by a representative of the Smithsonian Museum about including it in their collection.

Now, safely packed away back in Cobey’s studio, the Danger Dress may not speak, but it still has a lot to say.

Photos courtesy Lucinda Ziesing

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 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

SEARSMONT—“History’s” Alone season three winner, Maine’s Zachary Fowler, was in his natural habitat Saturday night, surrounded by friends and family at Threshers Brewing Co. in Searsmont to talk about his stint on the unscripted show and his plans for the $500,000 prize that he won.

After unpacking a green rucksack of all of the hand-carved and handmade items he made in his 87 days living alone in Patagonia and laying them out for display, Fowler sat down with a beer and discussed the details he’d been contracted by “History” to keep under wraps for more than 10 weeks.

“Not even my parents knew I’d won,” said Fowler wearing his signature orange cap and red vest. “I had to tell them I’d come home after medically tapping out; that I never quit. They knew Jami [Fowler’s wife] had flown out to Patagonia; so I had to tell them something.”

Fowler said it wasn’t that hard to keep his win a secret, but that he’d enjoyed keeping everyone in the dark.

“If I were going to write a book, I wouldn’t even tell my best friend the ending,” he said.

“Life has been crazy since the last episode aired,” he said. “My phone blew up, almost worse than a Samsung Galaxy 7. I was just scrolling down through my messages within the first hour everyone learned I’d won, and it was non-stop texts, like 500 Facebook messages. Every day, I’m just trying to get back to everyone’s messages and answer their questions.”

Fowler stayed out in Patagonia the longest stretch the show has ever experienced, beating out nine other contestants. He remained in the wilderness 20 days longer than the finalist in season one and 30 days later than season two’s winner.

Alone for nearly three months with only a shelter he’d built out of bamboo, 10 tools he was allowed to bring and the handmade tools he crafted while out there, Fowler survived primarily on fish, the remnants of fish head soup and the occasional bird.

Fowler lost nearly 73 pounds in that time, worried that the show’s medical team might pull him out for a dangerous level of weight loss.

“I was burning calories left and right because I had a location that required I build a shelter up the mountain. (The walk to and from the lake was four stories). I had to construct it there or it would have been a wet, cold dark spot all day with a lake that could  rise unexpectedly and swamp my shelter.

The show’s finale put Fowler up against two other long remaining contestants, Megan and Carleigh.

“I figured there were at least three or four other contestants still out there; because I wasn’t having that hard of a time, physically,” he said. “The mental game was a lot harder.”

The show allowed five pounds of rations to be substituted for one tool the contestants could bring and Fowler assumed everyone was still staying in the game because of stored rations. 

“I didn’t know until the end I had caught almost twice as many fish as everyone else,” he said.

In the last scene of the season finale episode, Jami, Fowler’s wife, snuck up behind him and surprised him to let him know he was the winner.

“That was a mind blowing moment,” he recalled. “It took me an hour for it to sink in that I’d won, because it was so amazing she was there.”

A few weeks earlier, Fowler flew out to film a reunion show with the entire cast, which aired after the season finale. A slew of statewide media outlets have covered him and he has tasted local celebrity.

“It’s been cool. I love it,” he said.

Many want to know: what will the Fowlers do with the half million dollars?

“It seems like a lot of money at first, but once the government gets their hands on it, it’s really not that much,” he said. 

No longer working at the boatyard where we first profiled him, Fowler said he has invested some of the prize money into electronics that will aid his next entrepreneurial venture, a YouTube channel called Fowler’s Makery and Mischief, where he makes things on his farm for fun and practical use.

The Fowlers with their young daughters, Abby, 4 and Sparrow 1, have been living in an off-the-grid yurt in Appleton for the past four years and with the money, they intend to build or buy a new home. The family recently moved into an apartment with electricity and running water, something Jami appreciates.

“Four years is a long time to go without it,” she said.

Fowler also wants to build what he calls a “she-shed” for Jami so she has a place of her own to work on her fiber arts.

It was a fitting end to Fowler’s experience to hold the final meet and greet at Threshers Brewing Co., which hosted the screening of the first episode, and all the subsequent ones after that. 

“I’m a family guy,” he said with his daughter Sparrow strapped asleep to his back.” I don’t go out much, except here.”

By 6 p.m. Threshers was filled with friends and well wishers as Fowler gave a show-and-tell presentation of all of the items he’d made in the wilderness, many of which were featured on the show, including some of the bamboo wattle fencing, his carved slingshots and knitted nets and the Wizard Staff, which told the entire story of his journey with symbols, ending at the bottom with four letters: JAMI.

Check out Fowler’s first vlog in which he displays his ATM’s balance slip of $500,000 (with only $38.71 in the bank beforehand) all of the local support he has received, and his future plans.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—Rockland’s independent bookstore, hello hello and its owner Lacy Simons, received a mention in a New York Times article on Feb. 15, 2017 titled: Bookstores Stoke Trump Resistance With Action, Not Just Words.

The article illuminated the growing grassroots protest movement that is quietly springing up in bookstores across America. In the piece, Simons was quoted: "In the past, we hadn't really been like, 'O.K., here's where we stand,'" said Lacy Simons, the owner of Hello Hello Books in the seaside town of Rockland. Simons said she was jolted into action the day after the election, when customers began drifting into the store, not to buy books, exactly, but in search of solace.

"This is just one of the places where people went," she said. "If they were gutted from the election, people just came in to pet the books."

By petting the books, she meant, people wanted to get their knowledge and information from books again, not the national news.

“Everybody has a third place they go away from home or work,” she said. “Coming into the bookstore was an opportunity for many to have an in-depth conversation or to talk about books that impacted them politically, socially, or emotionally. What we saw was an influx of people coming into the store just to be heard.”

At the American Booksellers Association Winter Institute conference in January, Simons helped spearhead a grassroots meeting with fellow bookshop owners and booksellers on how they could galvanize the natural resistance movement of the left. Dozens of bookshops across the U.S. had already begun creating displays devoted to titles on politics, totalitarianism, corporate influence and fascism. Many of the booksellers are calling the displays the #Resist Table.

As one walks into hello hello tucked in the back of Rock City Café, their #Resist display is front and center. Perched on the shelves upon the table are prescient “negative utopian” novels such as George Orwell’s 1984, and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, along with nonfiction such as Dark Money: The Hidden History of Billionaires by Jane Mayer, and feminist titles such as Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things To Me.

“We’ve never been shy about the fact that we’re an openly progressive store and obviously feminist,” Simons said. “We also have a lot of people who feel comfortable talking partisan politics with us over the counter.”

Most people who come into Simons’ bookshop are already invested readers, and interested in discovering more books that self-educate.

Yet, a quarter of adults (26 percent) admit that they haven’t read a book in the last year, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center survey. Of those, adults with a high school degree or less are three times as likely as college graduates not to read any books. Conversely, young people are still the future of a vibrant book reading culture with 80% (18-29) more likely than their elders to have read a book in the past 12 months.

“We’ve had a lot of young people come in to buy specifically to understand why our government and society is where it is today,” she said.

Still, she encourages those who’ve never thought to foster their beliefs and opinions from books to get out of their traditional information gathering zones and visit a bookstore.

“For people who are constantly sorting through their Facebook feeds, sifting through a vast amount of opinions and Internet memes, some of the books we carry will show you how systemic what our country is going through at the moment, how complex our U.S. history is and how far back into it reaches,” said Simons. “You will be surprised how much we’ve missed in our high school history classes.”

Simons isn’t just content to get more people self-educating and reading more. She’s interested in promoting action, starting with a Social Justice Reading and Action Group.

“The idea is we’ll be meeting every two to three weeks on some umbrella topics that are loosely arranged around the table of contents of the national bestseller, What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump's America. We’ll give people enough time to absorb each book and will offer a place for moderated, in-depth discussion as well as concrete actions we can take individually and as a group, hopefully in concert with local progressive organizations,” said Simons.

To locate more books on the #Resist list visit hello hello’s website  (under best sellers)and check out the link to the group’s purpose along with other local resources and gatherings.

“We have calling cards we can give people to use to call their representatives,” said Simons. “Even if you’re an introvert and don’t want to pick up the phone or interact with a lot of people, there is still a way for you to take action and do your part.”

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 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 

 

CAMDEN — When Willow Henry-Elwell, manager of Rockport Blueprint, Camden’s art supply store, went to tidy up the pen area of the store where people tend to try out a color on random bits of scrap paper, she found an odd handwritten note that read:

Dear Barbara,

In hopes that you find this, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I should have never cheated on you with my intern, Felicia. Love always, Your Husband, Ralph.

The note was signed with a little red heart.

“I thought it was hilarious and I didn’t want to throw it away,” said Henry-Elwell. “I decided to post it right by the register.”

After many customers saw the original note, another note, appeared soon after in the scrap paper pile by the pens — this time, addressing Ralph, the cheating husband. After that, a series of different colored notes began to appear in different handwriting, telling an uneven and wonky story. Suddenly, somebody named Raspberry had a stake in Barbara and Ralph’s marriage. (Or did she really mean Raphael?) Then, once again, the intern Felicia made an appearance in a note. (As in ‘Bye Felicia?’).

“It just sort of took off from there,” said employee Lee Gabriel. “One lady came up to the counter and got really indignant and said, ‘My name is Felicia.’”

Gabriel said, “Are you an intern?” Felicia said no.

“I think you’re going to be okay,” said Gabriel.

“Other people started to add to the paper pile,” said Henry-Elwell. “It didn’t necessarily have something to do with the original story line, but it became this saga, and was just as funny.”

The ongoing note exchange prompted another intern to have the courage to jump in and tell his story as well. Jeffery, that intern, also had a heartfelt apology for his love, Amara (apparently mortified he called her Boo-Boo) to which Amara promptly kicked him to the curb. As The Donald would say himself: “Sad.”

Then, Amara had a pink pen change of heart and not only forgave Jeffrey for his egregious use of a unsanctioned nickname, but also decided to splurge and buy them tickets to Tahiti.

So, I guess, this was a love story after all.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com