When Mark Zambon was 18, he met up with a Marine recruiter who showed him a book of different jobs available in the Marine Corps. Zambon flipped through the pages until he came to an illustration of two guys in green camouflage uniforms laying on their stomachs upon berm. Five hundred yards in front of them was a massive fireball. He saw the words: Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). “I asked the guy? What? You get paid to blow stuff up? I was pretty much sold after that,” said Zambon.

Growing up in Michigan with six brothers, he was the second oldest.

“It was a small town so we did so many outdoor things; we hunted, snowboarded, skied. I was sort of a punk kid, got in a lot of trouble. And that’s sort of who the Marines attract. You’ll find in many units kids who came from broken homes or kids who came from whole families, but who were the troublemakers. That was me.”

From 2006-2012, Zambon worked up to the rank of Staff Sgt. as part of a Marine explosive ordnance disposal company whose job was to support the ground troops. He went back for six deployments — three in Iraq and three in Afghanistan, and during that time, he would lose three fingers on his left hand when a bomb he was trying to clear went off as well as both his legs in a bomb blast in 2011 , his last deployment, in Afghanistan.

Every day that Zambon went to work with his team, he was prepared for the worst. He was surrounded by colleagues who became amputees in the hair breadth of a second and who lost their lives. 

“In 2010, that year saw the heaviest losses for Marines,” he said. “That was my fifth combat deployment. After I lost my fingers, no one in the Marines was asking me to go back. Everyone was like ‘you’ve done your time, do your rehab and go home.’ But my teammate, Sgt. Mike Tayaotao, who got killed a month before his tour was done, taught me things from his passing that changed my life. The most profound thing I experienced was to meet his family afterwards, but I was never able to say thank you to Mike for what he gave me. I thought that if I went back for another deployment after I healed, it would be incredibly dangerous but that would satisfy me to say thank you back to the community where Mike came from and where so many of my other friends passed away.”

So, he went back in 2011. He was moving with his team in a single file line with . An infantry squad was escorting them to a site where other signs of possible explosive devices (IED) had been discovered. As they went up a hill, they were all ahead of Zambon, his lead mine sweeper, infantry squad leader behind him, a Navy Corps medic, his robot operator and his demolition man.

“We crossed the street and went through a hole in a mud wall that the squad had made a week prior with an explosive charge to gain access to the breech. Unbenownst to us, someone had buried a pressure-initiated IED in the rubble. It had a low metallic signature to it and the lead sweeper failed to detect it. Everyone stepped over the switch. And so many times in this situation, it’s just luck. So, when I walked over it, I assumed it was clear.”

While Zambon was recovering from the amputation of both of his legs he learned that a 15-year-old kid had been paid to plant the explosive device. His mother had turned him in.

“I don’t hold any ill will against him,” he said, “I mean it’s war.”

”It falls under the category of combat and stuff happens,” he said of his loss. “I’ve met the greatest friends, the greatest people on this planet from the Marines,” he said. “I think it’s the most ultimate expression of love that one can do for other people, to be ready to lay down your life. It’s been a very humble, wonderful experience that I’m grateful to be a part of.”

Zambon doesn’t look back. “When I thought of my feet, I thought of all the happy places they had taken me, cross-country motorcycle trips, through romantic relationships, every place it brought me. I didn’t regret anything; I just looked forward to what progress could be made in prosthetics in the future. Since my legs got blown off, I don’t let myself get in a negative mindset; I just try to seek out the path of conquering new things.”

Since his last recovery, he has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and did a headstand at the top. Last year, he became first bomb tech in Department of Defense to return to duty after losing his legs to teach bomb disposal techniques at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. At EOD School, he worked with students from all four branches of the military (Navy, Marines, Army and Air Force) as well to international students.  Now training as a a professional ocean swimmer, he captained the triathalon team in Malibu, CA and is currently training for the Paralympics.

Supported through various nonprofits including Challenged Athletes Foundation Operation Rebound, he trains by swimming five times a week in addition to weight-training, hiking and yoga.

Zambon was in the Midcoast this past weekend for the 2014 Lobster SUP Cup. Registrations for the Lobster Sup Cup benefit for the Challenged Athletes Foundation's Operation Rebound, the premier sports and fitness program for veterans with permanent physical disabilities. A shoulder injury prevented him from participating in the actual paddleboard competition, but characteristic of his positive outlook, he was able to gave a talk at the Camden Yacht Club, attend the parties and races and ride in a chase boat. Breathing in the slower pace of Maine life while he was here, he was able to get in a leisurely swim in Hosmer Pond commenting, “It tastes like the water in my hometown ponds in Michigan; those are smells and tastes you never forget.”

For results on the 2014 Lobster SUP Cup visit: lobstersupcup.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Award-winning photographer Jeff Friesen has probably played with LEGOS a little too long; but in the end it has paid off. The Canadian dad and his 7-year-old daughter June, have playfully (and some say subversively) depicted each of the 50 United States in a LEGO scene that pokes at each state’s history and iconic stereotypes with his series, "The 50 States of LEGO."

In his Maine scene, two lobster fishermen with wool caps (and one dressed in Grundens) are standing on a dock. One man is captivated by a seagull while another playfully attempts to pinch him in the rear end with a red lobster. The caption reads: “If you find yourself in a pinch, just rub the swollen area with moxie.”

Okay, let’s discuss.

1. Lobstermen and Maine. Is that always the first thing that comes to people’s minds when they think of this state? If so, either the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative needs to get right on this or we better come up with something new to stereotype.

2. Lobstermen are not exactly captivated by seagulls. Annoyed, maybe, but not captivated and by the way, landlubbers, an uncooked lobster is not red.  (Seriously, I’ve heard people from away actually complain when they see live mottled green-brown lobsters in a tank that there “is something wrong with them.”)

3. Moxie should be a Proper Noun, because it’s not just a state of mind, it’s the love child cola born of Mr. Pibb and turpentine and it must be respected! But, Friesen gets points for alluding to the medicinal qualities of Moxie, nonetheless.

Friesen only uses official LEGO bricks and pieces to create his scenes and when Friesen responded back to us he said, “Being from Nova Scotia my knowledge of lobsters is fairly thorough...I have even eaten them raw. LEGO, however, doesn't make a live lobster substitute. Even the red one is actually used as a scorpion in LEGO world. Oh, well.”

Comparatively to the roasting other states got, Maine’s scene is pretty tame. Kinda cute, even. He is releasing a hard copy book of The 50 States of LEGO in September with 40 new, exclusive scenes and I’m told, one of them is a new scene of Maine, this time centered around Whoopie Pies.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN—Artists, poets and those romanced by the mid-summer nights that Maine has to offer will enjoy a special 1920s-themed night that The Whitehall Inn is hosting this evening, August 7 called An Evening Cabaret at The Whitehall Inn.

“We like to put on events around Edna St. Vincent Millay because The Whitehall Inn is one of the places in Camden where she grew up that initially fostered her fame,” said front of the house manager Jessica Winchenbach. “We have a room dedicated to her and we usually do these events three times a summer. It’s just sort of a fun night out."

Their July event drew around 50 people and they’re hoping tonight’s event will encourage more people to come dressed in feathers, beads, flapper attire and snappy zoot suits from the 19320s era.

 The Cabaret will feature music by Algorithm, which Winchenbach describes as “sound collages” as well as readings of Millay's poems by local poets and poet laureates, as well as their own work.

The four-course meal provided with the price of the ticket includes wine, a Caesar salad with Cajun-rubbed Gulf shrimp, ginger-sesame marinated grilled flank steak skewers, and an entree choice of fresh grilled swordfish with a lemon caper butter, an herb-encrusted boneless pork chop topped with sunflower seed and basil pesto or a roasted stuffed zucchini, stuffed with local eggplant, mushrooms, tomatoes, basil and topped with parmesan and Havarti cheese.

The price per person is $39.99. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. The next Cabaret is August 28. For reservations please call - 207-236-3391. Stay in touch with what The Whitehall Inn is doing this summer and fall by visiting their website.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

This one is too easy, but the real question is, what was Ingraham’s? Anyone recognize the store next to it? Memories anyone?

If you guessed the upper bridge in Belfast, Maine over the Passagassawakeag River in last week’s Throwback Thursday photo, you were correct!

 Photo courtesy of J.P. Fecteau

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

PROSPECT — Who here has ever put a cat in a harness and walked it around? I’ve done it. I can officially check off that Crazy Cat Lady box on the next U.S. Census form. What about dressing up a dog in an outfit (not just a sweater to keep it warm)?

Rejoice pet lovers! For one weekend, Fort Knox in Prospect will be a safe haven from everyone who has ever made fun of you for your slavish devotion to your pets with their first Pet Show Weekend, held this Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 9 and 10, from 11 a.m. until it concludes. The weekend will feature "dogs only” on Saturday and "all other pets” on Sunday. Presumably that means cats, ferrets, rabbits and guinea pigs as well.

“We wanted to give people who come to the Fort a chance to showcase their pets,” said Friends of Fort Knox secretary Amy McCrae. ”Fort Knox is a pet-freindly place that they can stop by and visit and we just wanted to wanted to honor pet lovers for a weekend.”

McCrae, who owns two dogs herself, a Shih Tzu and a Golden Retriever cross will be with her. She also does canine agility training with Renaissance Dogs out from Holden and will be leading an agility demonstration for dogs at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. “Canine agility is an obstacle course, basically, a series of jumps, tunnels and platforms that you guide the dog through without a leash.”

Rather than get all Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on people, organizers of this event wanted it to be fun, not a competition, so they decided to throw a lighthearted contest with categories including cutest, owner look-alike, most friendly, best pet trick, best name, best pet costume and funniest/ugliest looking. Those who wish to enter their pet into one of those categories must pre-register here.

Everyone is welcome, no matter how many legs the person or creature has. “If people want to bring their snake or spider in a box, I don’t care,” said Fort Knox Executive Director Leon Seymour. “As long as they consider it a pet.” This from the man who is hosting a creepy-crawly theme for this year’s Fright At The Fort.

“We’ve put it out on Facebook, which hit 17,000 people but so far the only pre-registrations for the contest are a hamster and a goat,” said Seymour. He said this may be due to the fact that the registration page had a broken link when it first debuted, a problem since resolved.

Anyone can bring a pet to the weekend, you don't have to register the pet to bring it. However, owners are responsible for their pet's behavior. And of course, this is the perfect Cheap Date for couples to bring their pets a.) because it’s free and b.) if your partner brings the animal in any of the crazy and deranged costumes from this Pinterest page, you’ve been forewarned about what you’re getting into.

For further information call 469-6553 or email fofk1@aol.com.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Where or where in Midcoast is this bridge?

Last week’s Throwback Thursday photo got a few (correct) guesses, the best from Linda Lorenzen: “That looks like the year my cousin Sandy (Ridgewell) who won the Sea Goddess competition, so Lobster Festival Parade, 1973 or thereabouts. The location just past the Strand on Main St.

Photo courtesy of Penobscot Marine Museum penobscotmarinemuseum.org

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT—The Goodridge sisters are the only four sisters in the U.S. to know what it was like to be raised in the same household as a harbor seal. Their father, Harry Goodridge, who lived with his family in Rockport, was well known for his long-time association and care of Andre the Seal. He — and Andre — are Maine celebrities who continue to fascinate people around the world even 28 years after Andre’s death. With a new 50-minute PBS documentary on Andre the Seal set to air Aug. 6. Susan Goodridge Crane, Toni Goodridge, Carol Goodridge, and Paula Goodridge Armentrout discussed their memories of the seal, which they came to love.

What was it like when your father first brought home Andre as a pup?

Susan: Well, he’d raised two other seals before Andre, so it wasn’t totally new. And I was at college, so I actually met him two weeks later. By then, we’d figured out how to feed him with his apparatus.

Carol: I actually remember the first one, Marky. Because it was such a new thing to bring home a seal, I have stronger memories of the first one. I don’t think I was that impressed because of that.

After he was weaned, did he become more socialized to your family?

Toni: He would allow you to touch him as long as you had a fish in your hand.

Susan: He let my dad touch him; he seemed fine with that. With us, he’d just move away from your hand, just hump away.

Paula: In the water, he’d let the divers hug him. And he’d steal their flippers.

What was it like to have this seal in your house?

Susan: Our mother’s deal with our father was that if he was going to bring any animal into the house, he had to clean up after it.

Carol: And, Andre was not housebroken. We have pictures of Harry in a gas mask mopping up the floor. I remember Harry would shake the mop at Andre after an accident and Andre would hate it—he’d claw at the mop. He associated the mop with that and stopped doing it.

Toni: Oh, he was smart. Harry would whip that mop around and Andre would just snort at it.

Were you as fascinated as other people that this wild seal could just come and go into your house like a dog?

Susan: It wasn’t actually like that. He wouldn’t come to the house on his own. He’d have to be brought up and lifted in.

Paula: He could go from the house to the harbor, but not the other way around. He just actually preferred to be in the harbor.

Toni: But, he’d always go into his carrying crate with no problem.

Because of Harry and Andre, your family gained a kind of recognition that has never gone away. What was that like growing up?

Paula: I jsut remember walking through the hallways of Camden High School and people knew me because of my father. Sometimes they’d go ‘arr arr arr,’ you know, imitating seal noises. They’d make that noise even though that’s not how harbor seals actually sound. And that was how it was in school.

Toni: It was different things. I don’t know what it was like for my sisters but every time I’d get introduced to people they’d say, ‘This is Toni; you’ve heard of Andre, well, this is his sister.’

Did you have other household pets growing up with Andre?

Toni: We always had dogs, cats, chickens horses, squirrels, robins, goats.

Susan: They always took Andre in stride, like he was another dog in the house.

Carol: There’s old footage that will be in the documentary of Harry and our old beagle Toot and Dad was trying to entice Andre with a fish when Toot just jumped up and took it. Andre went after him. I think there’s also a shot of Andre coming out of Toot’s dog house.

What were your impressions of the years Harry went down to Rockport Harbor with Andre to do tricks for the crowds?

Susan: He did that for most of Andre’s whole life, for about 25 years. For  six months each year from April to October, Harry would go down there about 7 p.m. and get the show going. Later on, he moved back to about 4:30 p.m.

Carol: Harry would have some of the kids pass around the fish bucket for tips and that would keep Andre in fish for the summer. And it also helped pay for his flights to the Boston Aquarium later on. I think there were some private donations that also helped with that.

What can people look forward to in this upcoming PBS documentary My Wild Affair on August 6 that hasn’t already been told in the book or in other numerous articles?

Toni: There’s a segment from Real People in the 1970s in which Harry is is doing his daily show with Andre and they showed some of the tricks he did.

Carol: I was on the lawn of our house once when their film crew came to Maine. They were feeding Andre and they filmed him going into the house, then into the kitchen. The guy on the film crew was actually feeding him.They captured on film how he could hump down the steps, down the road down and splash into the water.

Susan: The other thing that’s not in the book that will be in the documentary is that Andre was in Toni’s wedding.

Toni: The whole plan was that he would be the ring bearer. But, he had to be trained to go get this pouch that contained the rings underwater and then bring them up on land in his mouth up to where we were standing.

Paula: I was so nervous that he was not going to be able to do it and the rings would be lost. I don’t think I really had faith in him. [Laughs.] Harry just said ‘Andre, go get the rings.’ And so he went off the float and disappeared and he came back with them. It was perfect.

Susan: Our grandmother said ‘I thought Andre was going to be in the wedding.’ He was up there and back in the water so fast, she didn’t even see him.

Susan: You’ll also see footage in the documentary of him unveiling the statue of himself in the park. He was in the water and there was a line attached to the to the tarp that covered the statue. Harry taught him how to pull that line so that the tarp came off at the right time.

After some years at your house, why was Andre was sent to winter at the New England Aquarium and then the Mystic Aquarium?

Paula: He started to get in trouble in the harbor, not just jumping in people’s boats, but one time, capsizing a boat. He jumped into someone’s canoe and I think that was the last straw. They didn’t capsize, but they could have easily done so. And you had to consider things like that, if it was getting dangerous.

Susan: He also started biting men, and I think he was always a little competitive with men, perhaps because it was mating season and shedding season. That really put him off his good humor.

Paula: During those times, he was moody.

Why did your dad chose to have him always swim back each spring, not get transported back? And were you worried?

Paula: We worried a lot about him. We worried about our ‘brother.’

Susan: Yes, we all were. All the locals were always on pins and needles asking when he’d be back, if he’d be back. It was always a rite of spring when he showed.

Paula: But, it was just easier on him than crating him up and putting him on a plane or driving.

Susan: We would have never known if he didn’t make it back one year what happened to him, but he always came back. And it was always Dad’s wish that if he ever just wanted to go free, he could.

Toni: And, he never had to go into his pen if he didn’t want to.

Having had Andre part of your lives for 25 years, it must have been so hard on you when he died. What happened?

Paula: He was nearly blind and had gotten into a fight in the harbor with another younger male seal.  Somebody saw the fight happen. He was driven out of Rockport by the other seal. And he just disappeared.

Carol: We did see him again after that though. Down in Rockland, in Lermond’s Cove.

Paula: He was in the seaweed just floating. It was 1986.

Susan: Harry went down to identify him and knew right away it was him because of a long scar he’d had on his neck from a staph infection.

Paula: He’d lost his territory and he was blind. He was in old age about then and just passed on. No marks or signs of damage on him.

Carol: I think he just gave up.

How did the community react once they knew Andre was gone?

Toni: It was just sad. He was a family member.

Susan: It was in all the local papers and even an obituary in the New York Times.

Carol: I don’t know of anyone else who had a baby, orphaned seal who hung around for 25 years.

With this new documentary coming out, do you ever get tired of talking about Andre?

Carol: I never get tired of talking about Andre, but none of us are very comfortable being in the spotlight.

Susan: Our father was really comfortable in the spotlight. But no, I never get tired of talking about Andre either.

Since Andre, have other people attempted to capture a baby seal and raise it?

Toni: Yes, we’ve heard of it, but it’s against the law to raise a baby seal, now. The 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act protects all seals now from being captured. The feds had a lot of back and forth with our dad about it with Andre, but I think he wore them out.

Paula: They eventually saw that Andre could go free whenever he wanted. And Andre was grandfathered into that system, caught before the law changed.

Susan: Also Dad had Congressional support to keep Andre. They pulled some strings so he could keep him.

Susan: Even if you see an orphaned seal on the shoreline, I know your first instinct is to take care of it, but the best thing to do is call a wildlife expert. [Note: Wildlife Assistance Hotline at (207) 361-1400.]

**

A Seal Called Andre, originally co-written by Harry Goodridge and Lew Dietz and published by Warner Books in 1976 is going to be republished by Downeast Books with more pages chronicling the last 10 years of Andre’s life.

The Camden Opera House will offer a free community screening of the new Andre the Seal Documentary, The Seal Who Came Home. The 50-minute film is the last episode in a four-part series filmed by PBS, entitled, My Wild Affair. Opera House main doors will open at 7 p.m.; screening will begin promptly at 8 p.m. Seating will be available on a first -come basis. FMI see Camden Opera House website, camdenoperahouse.com

Humans invented the art of photo bombing, but with animals, it takes it to a new level. We're building a gallery page of the best pet photobombs in the Midcoast. Do you have one of your pet? If so, send it to us at news@penbaypilot.com along with whom to credit and who are the people (and pet) in the photo.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

LINCOLNVILLE—If the name Alice Limoges is familiar, it’s probably because you heard about her when she was a teenager in the Midcoast, playing coffeehouses, festivals and other venues. She’s 19 now, on her second album, and that initial drive to stretch her wings through writing and composing original songs has matured. If anything, her skill set has broadened.

Limoges’ initial drive intensified in high school, when she ended up completing her entire high school course load by her junior year. Rather than graduate a year early, she took college level classes in music at UMaine at Augusta so she could graduate with her original class last year.

Although she was accepted into Berklee School of Music and New York University, she chose to attend college at SUNY Purchase to study music. “Of all the programs, the SUNY Purchase program is so much smaller and more one-on-one. I know all of my professors personally and can ask their advice because right now I’m working on making and releasing my second album,” she said.

But let’s back up to how she started her music career.

“I was 11 when my middle school teacher wanted us to pick up either guitar or the bongos and since my brother played guitar, I wanted to learn it too,” she said. “That just got me started. In the beginning, I started writing my own songs.”

When a lot of girls her age were listening to Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana, Limoges’ guitar teacher Martin Gibson got her hooked on 1930s jazz, broadening her knowledge with singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Billie Holiday, and Bessie Smith.

The first song she wrote, she laughs about now.

“It was called ‘Forgotten.’ It was a really melodramatic song about horses and how one horse’s barn burned down. The same four chords over and over for three minutes.”

As her songwriting developed, her style began to emerge in high school. In 2011, she created and released her first album in high school titled Not Gonna Fall Asleep Tonight. She released it both online and through printed CDs. “That definitely helped me become a better musician.”  The Portland Press Herald gave it a very good review.: “Rich voice and unpretentious lyrics create stellar results for 16 year-old [Alice Limoges].”

All of this experience has led to her next venture, a new album of between 10 and 22 tracks that she has written but has yet to record. She plans on titling the new album As Close As I Can Be Without Touching. With the help of a crowd-sourcing campaign on Indiegogo, so far she she has raised more than 50 percent to finance it. Beyond that, Limoges has assembled her band (young adults from New York and Maine) and booked a series of live concerts with them from New York to Maine later this summer.  To book the tour first, before professionally recording the album, is a move that seems out of place until you see the brilliant reasoning behind it.

“With music, it’s about what kind of momentum you’ve got going to get vendors interested,” she said. “I’m using this experience as my testing period if I do continue this as a career. With the shows, we’ll play a range of the songs, including the ones I have in mind for the album and if we get a bigger response, say on one of the songs, or less on another, we’ll use that feedback to decide what to include on the album. They’re songs I’ve been writing for the past two years and really influenced in jazz and folk, which is really my background. We’re going to orchestrate it with flute, French Horn, violins, viola and cello.”

She grew up in the Midcoast and says that many of her songs reflect the natural beauty of the coast and the ocean. One of her songs featured in this accompanying video to the article is the title track. “There’s one line. ‘I try to be fine but water left on high will boil over.’ This has a lot of allusions to the ocean. I think this album is a little darker than my first one.”

By the time she starts her second year at college, Limoges will have the title of singer-songwriter, band manager, booking agent, accountant and marketing director as part of her self-driven experiences, even before the new album comes out. Not bad for a 19 year-old. This won’t be the last we hear of Limoges or her music, which is why she’s considered one of the Rad Kids.

To get a free download of some of her music and to find out where Limoges will be performing in Maine in early fall, visit her website: alicelimoges.com as well as her Indiegogo page. Their first Midcoast concert will be on August 7 Camden Library Amphitheater at 7 p.m.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

The two important questions here are: what’s going on? And where exactly is it going on? Bonus if you can guess the year.

Everyone had a jolly old time guessing what last week’s Throwback Thursday photo was and were right! Best answer came from Charlie St Clair, who said, “I believe that was on Broad Street, behind where Schofields was. Armour was a wholesale meat company. The Rockland Fruit & Produce Co. was a wholesaler for all the "Mom & Pop" stores around here. David Sleeper and I used to go there with his father (Jess) when he owned the 'Keag Store, back in the early 60's.”

 Photo courtesy Rockland, Maine History Facebook Page

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

LINCOLNVILLE — Before a book finds a home in Nanette H. Gionfriddo’s beachfront bookshop Beyond The Sea in Lincolnville, she attempts to research each and every one, by discussing them with the author, or publisher, and accessing readers’ reviews. When she can, she takes the time to read them herself.

She often stays up until the wee hours with each one.She particularly loves Maine authors and Maine subjects and is a champion for the middle list authors (not necessarily the “big names”) but those who have written quality fiction or nonfiction nonetheless.

When Beyond The Sea was formerly in its Belfast location several years ago, Gionfriddo learned that two more book shops were planning on opening in downtown Belfast. Rather than seeing this in a competitive light, she decided to model a book festival after Charing Cross Road, a street in London that hosts numerous book stores, which attracts book lovers world-wide. She was the impetus behind producing the Belfast Bound Book Festival in 2011 and 2012. Getting the town’s support, the Festival made a splash the first year and doubled its participants the next year.

After that, Gionfriddo’s lease was up in Belfast and she decided to move Beyond The Sea to Lincolnville Beach last year. Too busy from the move to throw a Festival for 2013, she heard back from many authors and readers who expressed their interest in seeing it revived for the next year.

Having a perfect venue, Gionfriddo decided to host the Beyond the Sea Book Festival at Lincolnville Beach. 

“I just love our space here. We have two floors to host this amazingly cool talent. People can come for certain authors and stay for others or discover new books they might have interest in.”

For the most part, similar genres' authors will be presented on each day of the Festival.  On Friday, people who love Maine icons (such as lobstering, Acadia, Moss Tents, L.L. Bean) and the great outdoors will find a host of authors that meet their interests. Saturday focuses on Maine history and mysteries, fiction and characters so real you can’t forget them. Sunday starts off with Maine gardening books followed by a plethora of young adult and children’s books. ”Young adult books have exploded and that’s one of our new, expanded offerings this year,” she said.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — It must be a good feeling to get an email from Senator Angus King telling you how much he loves your work.

Kendra Denny, a local artist from Camden, didn’t even know one of her paintings sold at Archipelago in Rockland last week until she woke up one morning and got this email.

"Kendra — Mary and I fell in love with your painting at Archipelago over Blues Festival weekend. My idea was to take it to Washington but Mary says it doesn't leave Maine! Really nice work; thanks for sharing. Best, Angus."

“It felt pretty awesome to have someone I admire and voted for admire the work that I do,” she said.

The painting titled Silver Dawn, is the view from the top of Bald Rock looking out over the bay.

Denny’s been creating art for as long as long as she could hold a pencil. The painting King bought, as well as everything else in her current body of work, was made using the encaustic method, known as the “hot wax” method.

The way it works is that she works off a hot flat griddle (the kind that makes pancakes) using a medium of beeswax and damar resin (a pine resin) she makes herself. She spreads the wax on the griddle, then adds oil paints to tint the medium. 

”The only thing that is weird about it is that I’m working on a heated surface,” she said. “I keep my medium in a tin on the griddle to keep it melted. Other than that, it’s not that different from any other painting methods.” The process of encaustic painting is similar to the way a watercolor artist would add water to a tray and mix in different colors.

Once Denny has her medium the way she wants it, she dips her paintbrush in the wax and paints on wood panel.

She learned these techniques from a workshop she’d taken at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts three years ago and has been using the encaustic method of painting ever since. 

“It’s pretty unusual,” she said of the method. “It was originally designed by the ancient Greeks to decorate ships. And nobody really knows how far that goes back—some say Ninth Century B.C. They discovered pretty quickly that they could also use it as an art medium.”

Given its maritime history, it’s only fitting Denny would be drawn to encaustic painting. This summer, she has been working aboard Lazy Jack II, a schooner out of Camden and when she has time to paint, she focuses largely in landscapes and seascapes.  She says that the nature of the wax allows for much more versatility than traditional oil or watercolor painting.

“I can do image transfers into the wax,” she said. “It works best with old Xerox images. If you put the Xerosed image face down into the wax and burnish the back of it, you’re left with a mirror image of the original.”

One of her more recent projects has been photographing Curtis Island in the Camden Harbor every morning at 8 a.m. and creating a series of image transfers from the photos to encaustic paintings.

Denny, a Camden native, is back in Maine for good after a 15-year absence.

“I’d been feeling burnt out from living in Washington, D.C., and when I came back up here for the Haystack workshop, I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ Everything fell into place at once and I moved back within a month.”

This past April she was fortunate enough to be chosen as one of two artists in residence to spend a month at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland.

For now she is content to work on the Lazy Jack II and lay down her artist roots in the community. She recently became a member of Art Collector Maine. Her work can frequently be found at Archipelago, River Arts in Damariscotta, and The Gallery at 11 Pleasant in Brunswick. For more info visit www.ekendradenny.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Okay, obviously this is a train. And it’s in Rockland. (There’s no fooling you!) But can you tell us what Armour was, and where exactly this location in Rockland is? Any stories to go with it as well?

Some good guesses on last week’s Throwback Thursday photo, but it wasn’t a smelt shack, a scow or even a buying station filled with booze (but Dana Smith you get points for being creative). It happened to be a houseboat on Round Pond owned by a man named Rodney Cook. The photo was taken June 1984.

Photo courtesy Rockland, Maine History Facebook page.

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

I thought I was coming to the party with a big two-person flotation device with a built-in cooler. But, when I got to Warren’s boat landing this past Saturday for a loosely organized rafting/tubing party down the St. George River, Roy Schneider’s famous line in Jaws came to mind, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

The public event was put out on Facebook to more than 1,400 people in the Midcoast with more than 273 people planning to come. In the end, it was estimated about 150-170 people actually participated; but what a hilarious sight on the river it made.

This was a floating community block party. Some folks opted for the simple inner tube, jerry-rigged with a floating cooler roped behind them. Some took kayaks, rubber rafts, giant industrial pools and more than a few of Sam’s Club’s green monster party rafts with room for eight. A few enterprising guys made a homemade raft floating on barrels a la Tom Sawyer, with a wooden structure and roof, music and a big industrial cooler. Heck, that’s all anyone needs, really.

Members of Thomaston’s Fire Department were on hand the whole day, making sure everyone was safe. If there were some adult beverages in the cooler, there wasn’t a big stink about it, which made it super cool. But then, this wasn’t a mad free-for-all that Saco River seems to attract. On that note, the rafters were extremely careful not to let trash float in the river. “Pack it in, pack it out” seems to be the Maine way, which is something you can’t fully appreciate unless you’ve been down a trash-strewn river in Baltimore.

The participants ranged in age from older kids (although few and far between because the trip was so long) to people in their 60s. Once we got underway, the beers came out and the boom boxes began playing country songs, Madonna and Three Non Blondes.  One minute, you’d be on your own, the next, up against a flotilla of rafts, saying “Sorry!” But, there was no reason to be sorry for clinging on like a barnacle. Soon, we were floating somewhere else....and bumping into a new crowd of people.

A lot of people didn’t think to bring paddles (and were envious of the ones who did.) There was a lot of “Next year, I’m going to bring a paddle” conversations overheard. In between, people just laughed and talked with their floating neighbors, ate their snacks, drank some beers, and watched the day just slowly slip by against the pristine and undeveloped banks of The St. George River.  When we seemed mired in a non-moving area, we took turns saying “Here, hold my beer” and swimming, pulling the floaty behind us. Others developed systems by using their Tevas as paddles or coaxing kayakers to tow them along.

By about hour four, when it was predicted we’d all be close to the Thomaston Landing, most of us were nowhere near the end of the 6.2 mile journey.

“The tide kicks up just around the bend!” said the guys in the Thomaston fire department as they zipped on by with their outboard motor.

Just around the bend seemed like a laughable concept. Between head winds and the tide pushing back, many folks took about six and a half hours to get to the final boat ramp where T

the Slipway was packed with spectators. But, what an ideal summer day in Maine, followed by a nice cold Dark and Stormy at The Slipway.

Here’s what I learned on the inaugural river trip and what my recommendations would be for next year.

1. Bring a paddle. Scratch that. Bring two.
2. Bring enough water, sunscreen, and food to last approximately six hours.
3. Bring river shoes. And a change of clothes in your car waiting at the end.
4. Don’t bring your phone or camera unless it is in a waterproof bag (not a Zip-Loc) and secure it to your raft.
5. Bring a separate floating cooler with ice in it for adult beverages. Don’t put the ice in your floaty’s cooler; the river temperature will melt it within a few hours. Use your floaty cooler for all of the essential items you’ll need. See above.
6. Enjoy the ride, however long it takes. You’ll be thinking of this day in February.

For more photos of the event, visit our gallery, River Tubing on the St. George River.

All photos unless otherwise noted courtesy Tim Sullivan Photography/facebook.com/TimSullivanPhotography

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

The Whitehall Inn is bringing the glamour back with a new cocktail aimed at drawing more of the local public in. I’m sitting with front of the house manager Jessica Winchenbach in “The Gossip Lounge,” the tiny bar of the Whitehall Inn, with framed photos of Lana Turner for the movie Peyton Place, which of course was shot partly on the inn’s premises. The other famous woman who spent some time at the inn was the 1920s chanteuse/poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay. So it’s only fitting that Winchenbach, who has been working on a brand new cocktail menu, has a created signature cocktail inspired by Millay called “Vincent’s Prayer.” 

“Her sister once worked at the Whitehall Inn and when she once played piano and recited poetry here at the inn around the time when she first started to get popular,” said Winchenbach. Her favorite cocktail was an “In Between The Sheets” which is a version of a Sidecar.

Although the cocktail is chilled, a very warm flavor comes out with the rum and the citrus. Cointreau adds to the orange kick of this deliciously light summer martini.

Watch our video to learn how to make the cocktail. To make this at home, all you need is:

• 1 oz. Remy Martin Cognac
• 1 oz. Bacardi Gold Rum
• 2 oz. Cointreau
• ½ lemon and orange.

Fill a martini glass with ice; set aside. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour liquor in. Squeeze juice into cocktail shaker. Strain into martini glass. Garnish with lemon peel and orange peel, but run the orange peel along the rim of the glass first.

Sitting on the great expansive porch at The Whitehall is a great way to sample their new cocktail menu as they just opened up their Happy Hour 5-7 p.m. through the week (and on Tuesdays have free appetizers!) They have their own garden they use for particular herbs and often, fresh fruit for infusions. “There is so much history here and we’re encouraging locals to come by and just have some fun,” said Winchenbach.

To see how to make other Maine cocktails visit our page: Iconic craft cocktails of the Midcoast.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

It all started at a bar, as most good stories do. John Bullock, a.k.a Pirate John as he’s been known in Camden Harbor since the turn of the Millennium, was just finishing up working the sunset sail as a mate on the Appledore, when he walked into Gilbert’s bar one evening (when it was still Gilbert’s) and ran into a young woman who would become his sarcastic muse.

Being a bit flirty, he quoted some line from Shakespeare to grab her attention.

“You can do better than that,” she said. “Let’s see something original.”

“Sure, I’ll write you a poem, what you want, a sonnet?”

She laughed, looked him right in the eye and said: “You don’t get off that easy. I want a sestina.”

Although he didn’t remember the exact details of the poem’s form, he knew a serious gauntlet had been thrown.

A sestina is a complex French poetic form that follows a strict pattern of the repetition of the initial six end-words of the first stanza through the remaining five six-line stanzas, culminating in a three-line envoi.

If you couldn’t follow that, imagine trying to impress a woman by writing one.

For the next two months, Pirate John reflected on what six words would have the most nuances of meaning and provide the most flexibility. As a sailor, who has spent the last 14 years coming up to Camden from Maryland to periodically work on the schooner Appledore, he knew that this fair lady, who worked on the Grace Bailey, would appreciate a maritime theme.

“It could have been about puppies and butterflies if I could have just found words that fit,” said Bullock.

The following is the final effort of that gauntlet thrown.

Laura’s F’n Sestina

The lovely Laura proffered a challenge
to write a sestina of lines amusing or tender.
A bauble, a confection or words, an ornament,
to adorn an inspiration fair.
For what muse ever inhabited a vessel
more deserving of such labor?

And so, alone I do labor
to rise to this casual challenge
and strive to make this paper a vessel
for suitable lines that I may tender
and so hope she may be exacting but fair
in judging the words with it I now ornament.

She herself needs no ornament
to cause admirers to labor
to rise above the common fare.
So it became my challenge
for my words not to dwindle, like a tender
drifting beside the Grace of her incomparable vessel.

For she even dwelt on such a vessel
itself of the Green Boat fleet, the ornament
while I was on a seeming tender
wherein I strove, through sore labor,
to show such Grace-perhaps to challenge
her and work the breeze as well or seem so fair.

But how could my craft hope to fare
against so well appointed a vessel?
As well one could rival a Queen as challenge
one that has good Laura as its ornament.
Indeed the result of such foolish labor
must be but wasted effort, leaving head and body tender.

Now my scribblings I must tender
and hope at least to amuse so that she be fair
admitting that, though imperfect, there be great labor
to craft on such rigid form a worthy vessel
to adorn her Muse with suitable ornament.
T'was indeed a daunting challenge.

I have come fairly near to bursting a vessel
laboring to fashion a suitable ornament
not too glib, nor yet falsely tender to meet her challenge.

[Can this paper vessel her native ornament challenge
or, rising to the challenge, add ornament to beauty's vessel.]

"In constructing what I thought was the final summation of the ‘envoi’ I misread the instructions and wrote this. But, I liked it so now it's tacked on to the sestina,” said Bullock.

And how did Laura react once she was presented with her sestina?

“I was supposed to give it to her on the southbound delivery to Key West in November and I forgot it. It was sitting on my desk, so I told her I’d finished it and her response was ‘Yeah, right.’ So, I had to mail it. Within a week, I got a phone call from her and she was suitably impressed. Now, whenever I see her, she makes me read it aloud for passengers on the boat.”

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—If being dragged into fabric shops by your mother as she searched for 1970s patterns was your childhood experience, Clementine is going to turn that frown upside down.

Leah Ondra, 32, is the latest young business owner to set up shop in downtown Rockland at 428 Main Street. Her shop, Clementine, offers fabrics, supplies and notions (pins, ribbons and buttons, etc.) to make a handmade wardrobe or craft project as well as creative goods such as sketchbooks, wool felt, beading materials, and hand-dyed yarn.

The Midcoast has really taken off with the Maker Movement. The ability to make garments or home goods with your hands is a very attractive concept for many people who live here and don’t have—or really even want—an excessive amount of shopping outlets. For the crafty person, Clementine is a candy store.

“Oh yeah, we are your gateway drug,” she said, laughing.

Ondra, safe to say, has made a business out of her passion.

“I was making dresses for my Troll dolls when I was six. I used a stapler before I learned how to use a needle and thread.”

After studying costume design in college, every job Ondra has had since has been in retail. When she was living in San Francisco, she taught crafting classes, but upon returning to Midcoast Maine and settling in Rockland with her husband in 2011, she helped open and manage a craft store in Belfast called Fiddlehead Art Supply. After several years of that experience, Ondra wanted a business closer to home and decided to open her own store.

“Just to be able to meet people who absolutely love the same things I do every day has really been great,” she said.

Color virtually explodes all over the store with 150 bolts of fabric lining the walls (and more to come). At the front of the store, a cubby is filled with skeins of wool produced by her mother's cottage business, Starcroft Fiber Mill. Her mother, Jani Estell, works with a Downeast farm on Nash Island to shear the sheep, process and mill the wool, spin it into yarn, then dye it.

“I wanted to offer a taste of yarn here just to get people thinking about simple kinds of knitting projects they can do, like a scarf,” said Ondra.

The bolts of fabric that line her shop couldn’t be any farther away from the dusty old ‘70s patterns, but that’s not to say the other eras don’t make an appearance. She incorporates a lot of modern fabric designs as well as Michael Miller kitchy, vintage fabrics (like 1950s housewife icons of clotheslines and mixing bowls.) Other fabrics have a decidedly retro 1960s feel, updated for 2014 that appeal to young people who want to hand make their own fashion statement.

”That’s part of the costume designer in me,” she said. “Being a Maine girl and reading Laura Ingalls Wilder really inspired me to make my own clothes.”

There are so many neat materials in her shop to work with like a jewelry section with vintage beads. But, what can this store offer the average person who isn’t all that handy or crafty? “If you like a fabric and want to make some kind of simple home project out of it like a pillowcase or a curtain, you don’t need to know how to use a sewing machine,” she said. “We have iron-on and press-on fabric adhesives as well as Mod Podge, which is all-in-one glue, sealer and finish. So, you could take a composition journal, for example, slap some of the glue on it, lay on your fabric, put another coat on top and now you have a beautifully decorated journal. Or, you can take our various sheets of wool felt, cut them out in shapes, put a little stuffing in them and now you’ve got holiday ornaments or a little baby mobile. Or, you can hand sew ribbons or other embellishments onto the felt and make pouches or pencil cases."

Garments, however, are her main passion.

“There’s been a huge resurgence in small, independent companies all over the world selling their own patterns and they’re designing with more of today’s female body shape in mind,” she said. “For some people, there’s nothing for them to buy at the mall that fits their personality. So, our store is accessible to girls who favor the rockabilly look or the 1940s pin up aesthetic, as well as Japanese-inspired garments with clean, modern lines.”

Clementine also sells an array of books and patterns that cater to vintage dressmaking.

“Between Pinterest and the Internet, anyone can walk in here with a downloaded pattern for an outfit or a free tutorial for a project and find the materials here,” she said. “Another reason I wanted to open this shop is because my mom, sister and I would go shopping and become completely uninspired by what we saw. It doesn’t fit, the colors are drab or the fabric is kind of chintzy. Or, finding something that really was well made and gorgeous, but it was such a simple shape, we thought, ‘Well, we could make that.’ ”

She doesn’t have any immediate plans to offer classes in sewing or crafting at her shop, but said she’s very accessible and is happy to be a liaison to those who want to learn. “Anyone who walks through the door and has a question or is stuck on something, I love to help out and talk them through the project,” she said.

For those without a sewing machine, and Mod Podge isn’t going to cut it; however, Ondra has a mental Rolodex of seamstresses in the area who she can refer a customer to if the person has a pattern and a favorite fabric, but would rather someone else made the dress. Ondra’s other suggestion is to go to Goodwill, find a dress that inspires you, and bring it to Clementine for simple ideas on how to alter it.

“Even if you’re not crafty and you’re having a bad day, come in for a little color therapy,” she said.

She’s planning on offering the shop as a showcase once a month for people who have finished projects for a celebratory Show And Tell.

”People can use this place as their community to share tips and tricks,” she said.

For more information visit clementineme.com. To get some crafty garment or home goods ideas visit their Pinterest page.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Is it a house? Is it a boat? What is it doing sitting in the middle of (guess the body of water)? Does anybody have any back story on this odd little structure?

Those were some mighty good guesses for last week’s Throwback Thursday and the majority of you were right! Did the trolley tracks give it away? From Tim Sullivan: Great view looking down Powerhouse Hill at Glen Cove! That's the Rockland, Thomaston and Camden Street Railway's Car Barn #2 in the distance, where the rest area is now.

This week’s photo courtesy of Everett L. “Red” Boutillier via Penobscot Marine Museum. Visit: penobscotmarinemuseum.org

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—Belfast Free Library’s summer series is bringing back its popular summer series “Maine Writers Talk About...” for the second year with authors who either live in Maine or write about it and give them a platform to discuss their process with an audience.

“We have a committee that chooses the authors and we usually look for authors that have something new or current and have some sort of Maine connection,” said Brenda Harrington, Adult Programming director.

On Tuesday July 8, the “Maine Writers Talk About...” series will feature authors Christina Baker Kline and Ayelet Waldman. Kline’s NY Times bestseller and #1 Book Club pick Orphan Train is a meticulously-researched novel about the orphan-train project that sent 250,000 homeless city children out west to find homes in the years 1853-1925.  Waldman's Love and Treasure is a spellbinding novel of contraband masterpieces, tragic love, and the unexpected legacies of forgotten crimearound the fascinating, true history of another train, the Hungarian Gold Train during the Second World War. 

“Both of these books bring history to life and go back and forth from the present to the past. None of these topics were discussed last year and I’m really intrigued about bringing history to life in the novel,” said Brenda Harrington, Adult Programming director.

The series usually just features one author, but Kline, who is originally from the Bangor area asked if she could do her talk as a conversation with her good friend, Waldman, who also has a Maine connection in her book. “I think it will be much richer and more interesting to have the both of them discuss their process as a duo,” said Harrington.

“Each author talk draws a different audience, a mix of people who have an interesting in writing or just the topic itself. If the person is a best-selling author like Monica Wood (When We Were The Kennedys) who spoke last year, people who like and follow their books will automatically come to the talk who really want to hear what they say about their writing.”

The dates (all Tuesdays), authors and topics for the remainder of the Maine Writers Talk About... series are: July 22, Jane Brox on “Personal History: The Challenge of Weaving Historical Materials into a Personal Narrative”; Aug. 12, Baron Wormser on “Writing a Poem, Writing a Novel"; Aug. 26, Susan Conley on "Storytelling: Lessons in Risk Taking and Stubbornness"; and Sept. 9, Paul Doiron on "North Woods Lawmen.”

Books will be available to purchase at each program. For more information please call the library at 338-3884 x 10.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — "Oh crap, they're already underway," said one of the passengers on the Penobscot Ferry and Transport charter boat as we came into Islesboro's harbor.

We were there to meet up with the schooner Stephen Taber so we could sail back with them and follow the race. After nearly 90 minutes of motoring out from Rockland, we stood on the deck of the charter boat watching helplessly as the Stephen Taber, in full sail, cruised right on past.

The 2014 Great Schooner Race apparently had started early due to the impending gales that were closing in on Maine, and the participants had all agreed to get an early start.

Was that it? Were we going to miss it after all?

I held my disappointment in check as the captain of the charter boat turned us around. In the distance, we could see that the Stephen Taber had slowed down. That was the signal to get a move on—they were going to stop for us.

From the second I boarded the Stephen Taber to follow this year's Great Schooner Race, I knew this was not going to be an ordinary sail.

The hurricane weather coming up the East Coast was one factor. No one knew if a nasty squall was going to drop in on us mid-race. But so far, the sun was peeking out behind a wall of gray clouds and for the moment, there seemed like we'd get some good wind.

Each of the 16 vessels participating were staggered in order of class. For the non-boat nerds, basically it means that all the newest boats built in the 1980s are the fastest and lightest, so they got to stagger last in line. Next in line came the oldest schooners, built before and just after World War I. And in first position were the smaller day-sailors and other sailboats. The whole idea was to give everyone a fair advantage to reach the finish line.

The course this year was elongated to run from Islesboro to Rockland Harbor, then zoom back out again to the final point just beyond the Rockalnd Breakwater. Whoever crossed back across the Breakwater would be declared the winner.

It was 10:40 a.m.; the race was about to start. I couldn't tell what the mood was on all the other boats staggered about, but there was organized chaos on the Stephen Taber.

Capt. Noah Barnes is an easygoing guy with a great rapport with crew and passengers. His schooner was jammed full, not only with that week's passengers, but also some dedicated die-hard friends and race fans who annually hitch a ride for the race. Along with a couple of reporters on board, and Barnes’ wife, Jane, and 5-year-old Oscar, who had a lot of 5-year-old questions himself, there was a lot to keep in mind. But Barnes had this dialed in. He called out direction to the crew to trim the sails as he answered even more questions.

"On a race like this, it's all about who can stay in the breeze," he said. "See look at the French [Lewis R. French] over there. They've got these topsails that catch more air. Light air favors the French."

Light air favors the French. See, if you didn't have context, that could mean something completely different.

Behind the Stephen Taber, all of the schooners looked haphazard, zigzagging, not moving straight. To my untrained eye, this was actually progress.

"Everyone is trying to beat to windward," he said. "And the tide is coming into Penobscot Bay, so it's like everyone is trying to walk up the down escalator.”

Conventional racing wisdom, according to Barnes, is that no one wins by being brilliant. You win by not making mistakes. And one of the biggest mistakes he said he's made is heading toward an area where he thought the wind would be stronger and they sailed into a hole. They went off course, and lost the race that year.

"Sometimes you take a risk and it pays off,” he said. "Sometimes it doesn't.”

Carol Riman, from Randolph, Mass., has been on the Stephen Taber for race week for the past nine years. Last year, she needlepointed a belt for Barnes with the Stephen Taber depicted in the tiny schooners decorating the belt. Barnes wears it all week during race week.

"I had the chef sneak into his quarters and take a measurement of his belt size when I was working on it," she said. Suffice to say, she's one of the die-hard fans of the Great Schooner Race.

"I go home and my computer is full of race day shots,” she said. “I grew up on boats. I used to crew for my brother's friends. I'm very competitive and I think these races are awesome."

Giovany Hernandez from Los Angeles, Calif., is also a die-hard, returning passenger. "I liked it so much the first time we raced, I learned how to sail just watching them. Then I went back to LA and began sailing on a 27-foot sailboat."

As the Stephen Taber began to approach the Rockland Breakwater for the first of two passes in the race, the schooner seemed to wrestle with the wind. Within a span of seconds, as we approached the massive granite wall, things seemed to get dicey. Closing in 20-feet, 15-feet, then 12 feet, the Taber wasn't tacking fast enough to the left. My heart began to thump. Were we about to slam-bang into the Breakwater like the Titanic?

Just as my thoughts turned grim, the Taber luffed up and turned at the last second and we shaved by the Breakwater at 8 feet. Spectators on the Breakwater were covering their mouths, some visibly scared. Abrupt cheering ensued as we cleared.

Dramatic beginnings don't always warrant dramatic endings, but after five hours of tacking and sailing in the lead, Stephen Taber hit the very thing Barnes predicted would happen — a hole.

We were maybe less than a quarter mile from passing the final mark of the Rockland Breakwater for the second time when we just stopped. The sails waffled listlessly. In the distance, the Mary Day was gaining. They had more weight and were faster and more importantly...they had wind.

Things we're not looking good.

"Lower the Plain Jane!" Barnes called to his crew referring to the rowboat. They were going to row us in if we had to, which was totally within the rules. (The rules only precluded a vessel from using motorized power.) As the crew frantically loosened the ropes to lower the rowboat, Barnes called out again.

"Who's got a quarter?"

Someone gave him one, which he pitched it right over the port. "That's wind tax," someone observed. It was a sacrifice to Poseidon. Come on Gods, blow!

We were still not moving, but the wind was freshening.

Then, the next thing that happened, Barnes assured me was purely a figment of my embellishment.

Because I'm a schooner newbie (i.e. schoon-noob) at the last minute, when it looked like the Mary Day would overtake and surpass the Stephen Taber, out of nowhere the J. & E. Riggin tacked (which I was told it was their right to stand on) and dock-blocked the Mary Day. To me, it looked like a scene in one of those action movies where the reluctant buddy-cop makes his entrance at the last crucial moment to save the hero, as in when Han Solo closes in during the Death Star battle to back up Luke Skywalker.

To me, it looked like an 11th hour tactical move as the Mary Day found herself cut off in crucial seconds to take the lead. But again, that's just my movie magic imagination.

A fresh puff of air carried the Stephen Taber across the finish line and a small cannon fired as everyone covered their ears.

At 2:38 p.m. the 2014 Great Schooner Race declared a winner.

Check out a photo gallery of schooners in the race, courtesy of Capt. Daniel Bennett of Bufflehead. View the gallery here.

2014 Winners:

Flying Jib Class

1st: (Tie) Olad and Heritage

2nd: Winfield Lash

3rd: Summertime

Coaster Class

1st: Stephen Taber

2nd: Lewis R. French

3rd: Isaac H. Evans

Leeward Class

1st: Angelique

2nd: Heritage

3rd: J. & E. Riggin

Winward Class

1st: Mary Day

2nd: American Eagle

3rd: Heron

Overall

Stephen Taber

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Thomaston is bringing out the big guns this July Fourth, and no, we’re not talking about fireworks. The annual Thomaston celebration was looking to offer more fun things to do after the parade this year and they decided, “Why Not, let’s put on a Hot Dog Eating Contest.”

Starting at 12:30 p.m. at the bandstand, six contestants will be able to chow down on Bob’s Big Dawgs (not to be confused with Bob’s Burgers.) According to coordinator Julie Russo, “These hot dogs are super large, like, seriously intimidatingly gigantic. Each one is a half pound.  So, instead of requiring contestants to eat the most of them—which grosses us out—we’re only limiting the contest to how fast each contestant can eat three of them.”

You know this is a big deal (and the greatest Cheap Date evah!) when there’s actually a Wikipedia page dedicated to Competitive Eating and apparently, choking down hot dogs on July Fourth is about as American as Alka-Seltzer is to competitive eating.

Possible techniques in competitive eating include:

Chipmunking: in which eaters will attempt to put as much food in their mouths as possible during the final seconds of a contest.

-Or-

Dunking:  Unless this contest adheres to "picnic style rules,” eaters are allowed to dunk foods in water or other liquids in order to soften the food and make it easier to chew and swallow.

According to the contest’s judge, Bob Stafford, owner of Bob’s Big Dawgs, “The winner must be first person to eat three of the ½ lb. hot dogs and bun.  Empty mouth and hands in the air are how you show that you're ready for inspection.”

And yes, you know you’re going to ask it, so I’ll ask it for you.

“Do you anticipate any spontaneous vomiting?”

“It’s entirely possible,” said Russo. “I would vomit if I were in this contest. I don’t think we’re going to attract the professionals to our first one,” she said.

Unfortunately if any vomming happens, it’s known as a “Reversal” in the Competitive Eating parlance and that’s an index finger drawn across the neck as far as the judges go.

But luckily, this contest is limited to three big dogs. The weiner winner will receive $25 in cash, a medallion and a certificate for their first-ever contest.

There’s still room to enter this free contest, so call Julie at (207) 691-2971 to sign up.

To see what else is going on for the Fourth of July weekend, check out our latest underCURRENT column.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 Can you guess where this photo was taken and landmarks of what it is now? Anyone have a guess on the date of this photo as well?

We got a whopping amount of hits on last week’s Throwback Thursday and many of you guessed correctly not only the place, but also the time period and the people in the photo! Preston Beal said: “The Gillford Butler School in South Thomaston and the gent holding the child is Larry blood a fireman on Rockand Fire Department for many years may be his daughter I would say the era around 1955 to 1957.”

This week’s photo courtesy Cindy Coulson via the Facebook page: You know you're from Rockland/Owls Head if you remember.....

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

Q: What is the most delicious food you’ve ever eaten?

A: Chocolate ice cream. There is only one flavor in the world. All others pale in comparison.

-Joel Kleinman

Brooklyn, New York

We just like to ask people random questions sometimes to see what answers we get.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT—Last night, after months of social campaigning, MCH Meals on Wheels learned that they were the top beneficiary of donations from the upcoming annual charity bash, Pop The Cause, run by Cellardoor Winery and Megunticook Market. All of the ticket proceeds for Pop The Cause, as well as private contributions, were pooled into a guaranteed contribution of $160,000 to four local nonprofits — UMCC (United Mid-Coast Charities), MCH Meals on Wheels, Hospitality House, and Coastal Opportunities. 

"The energy was great,” said Bettina Doulton, owner/operator of Cellardoor Winery. “The refocus was on community giving. The town of Rockport was wonderful and even Mother Nature helped us out a bit."

At the bash under a tent in Rockport, Doulton announced that MCH Meals on Wheels had the most votes to receive $100,000. The three remaining nonprofits didn’t go away empty-handed; each will receive $20,000.

Lee Karker, the executive director of MCH Meals on Wheels, said, “At first I was a little bit in shock. It took me a little while to take it in, but it was such a great feeling to learn we’d won. All of the volunteers who worked last night were beside themselves.”

All of the funds will benefit its Knox County program and $80,000 of the funds will go towards expansion of a new kitchen said Karker. “We have a major project to upgrade and expand our kitchen facilites at the Methodist Conference Home where the meals are prepared. That’s what we intend to do with the majority of it, while the other $20,000 will go toward operations.”

MCH Meals on Wheels delivers hot, nutritious meals to the doorstep of home-bound seniors over 60 who reside in Knox County.  Most of Meals on Wheels are done by volunteers with their own vehicles.

“What’s happened over the last three years is that we’ve seen a huge increase in demand from Meals on Wheels, between 25-30 percent, which means we’re sending out more meals every day and it’s just gotten to the point where we had to make the kitchen space easier for our staff and volunteers to work in,” he said.

Karker said the energy level was very high at the Pop For Change event. “You know, there were also a lot of people excited to see how much help the local nonprofits were getting. Because of the way they structured the event, it turned out a lot of volunteers months leading up to it. We got nearly 100 more volunteers, people we might not have otherwise reached if not for this event and many of those volunteers have told us they plan on continue work with us. It was a great community event. I think that’s one of the most lasting impacts this event will have,” he added, “and not just for us, but for the other nonprofits as well.”

On Saturday night, more than 500 people who volunteered at least four hours for one of the four nonprofits will be at a party in the tent.

For more information on MCH Meals on Wheels visit: mchinc.org

Pop The Cork has been recast into two events: Pop The Cause and its volunteer arm, Pop For Change. Presented by Megunticook Market and Cellardoor Winery, these events celebrate the spirit of giving back to our local community.  For more information visit: popforchange.com

Related story: Pop For Change throws official launch party Feb. 27

Just like last week’s photo, this one has clues in it if you look closely. Can you tell us where this is and what era? Bonus if you know the people in the photo.

For those of you who played along with last week’s Throwback Thursday photo—well done! There’s no fooling you! Even though the cars are vintage ‘70s, they were driving by downtown Belfast just recently for the Reny's Cruise In (gotcha!)

This week’s photo courtesy Kim Moran via the Facebook page: You know you're from Rockland/Owls Head, Maine if you remember.....

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

NORTHPORT — It’s not commonly known that athenahealth owns Point Lookout Resort and Conference Center in Northport, but it makes sense that CEO Jonathan Bush had a strong interest in sustainability and healthy living and wanted to use more of the Center’s 387 acres. So, in 2011, they began the work to transform the under-used softball fields (coincidentally the flattest part of the mountain) into an organic, year-round farm and hired Farm Manager Spencer Nietmann a year later to build and run it.

The result is Point Lookout Farm, a MOFGA Certified organic farm that serves as the Center’s source of produce for Copper Pine Café, all of their weddings, catered events and special public evenings.

In two years, the farm has grown on the half an acre they use, along with three 50-foot long greenhouses. Beside the farm, Nietmann is also responsible for a chicken coop with eggs he collects daily from the chickens and two colonies of honey bees behind the chicken coop.

“This year we’ve also added a small orchard with peaches, pears, apples, plums and sour cherries, along with high bush blueberries and raspberries,” he said.

“We’ve had a few open houses, but this will be a chance for people to look around, ask questions and take a tour,” said Nietmann, adding that the public is welcome to come up to the farm anytime and take a look around.

This Friday, all of that hard work from the last two years will culminate in the Center’s first farm-to-table dinner using as much of the farm’s organic produce as possible, as well as meats, seafood and alcoholic beverages all sourced locally from the Midcoast. 

Although the Center could easily host dinner guests in a number of their onsite dining facilities, the dinner will take place right where it all began — inside the seedling house with entertainment, farm tours and cocktails kicking it off in a small outdoor area that created this week they’ve termed the “Hay Bale Lounge.”

Executive Chef Shawn Wilcox, the man who runs all of the Center’s wedding banquets and special catered events, has teamed up with Nietmann to create an unforgettable evening for foodies. The specialty cocktail will feature the farm’s cilantro along with Three Crow rum, Cold River vodka and Back River gin. Wilcox said each of the five courses is a small plate. 

“I broke it down that way to introduce as many of the farm products as I could,” he said.

Before dinner starts, appetizers will include a lamb kabob from North Star Farms and Oysters Rockefeller with the farm’s spinach and fennel. Diners can expect:

• Roasted beet and arugula salad featuring an Appleton Creamery goat cheese foam with a light herb vinaigrette.
• Sesame seared fish (the type of fish to be determined this week and caught by local fishermen) with braised mustard greens and bok choy tossed with miso vinaigrette.
• Coq au vin supplied by Westons Meats with house-cured pancetta and braised with Breakwater pinot noir.
• Maine Family Farms braised short rib with carrot bundles wrapped with scallions.
• Homemade ice cream using fresh flowers from the farm, including Borage, and Nasturtium in a tuile wafer (a crispy cup similar to a fortune cookie.)

 Breakwater wines and local beers will be served at dinner.

“There are no cooking facilities up there so we’re going to create it ourselves with a charcoal grill and a couple of gas burners,” said Wilcox.

This is first of many such events Point Lookout plans to host, with this dinner representing Point Lookout’s commitment to sustainability and healthy living by fostering community, conversation and education about health through food. The cost is $89 per person. Reservations are required and seating is limited. Call 789-2000 to make reservations.

For more information visit: Point Lookout Resort & Conference Center.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT — This past month, the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance announced the winners of the 2014 Maine Literary Awards. Of all the winners, a local author representing the Midcoast, Peter Korn, took home an award for a memoir featuring his latest book, Why We Make Things And Why It Matters (2013, David R. Godine).

Korn is the founder and executive director of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, a nonprofit woodworking and design school in Rockport. And even though he has previously authored two successful how-to books on wood craftsmanship, he didn't set out to write his third book as a how-to manual. Nor did he actually set out to write a memoir, either, coincidentally.

"I spent five years writing every day until I thought I had a manuscript that I thought I was ready to show around," he said. "And it was another three years of editing until it got published. In the first version I wrote, there wasn't a word about myself in it. I was interested in why we make things from a psychological and philosophical point of view. But, when I showed it to people, the feedback I got was that it was so dry and boring. So, I thought 'OK, I'll anchor it in my experience and that will make the ideas more accessible.' I tried to put in the relevant parts of my own experiences as a professional furniture maker."

Don't assume this is just a book about furniture making. It's about taking the leap from safety into the self-employment of something you deeply love, a sort of do-or-die philosophy of the creative process itself. The book essentially asks the question: What does the process of making things reveal to us about ourselves?

"I'm a furniture maker, but I'm really not writing a book for furniture makers," he said. "It's a book about any form of creative engagement and I just happened to write about what I know."

A portion of a Publisher's Weekly review explains it. "In this philosophical reflection, Korn...takes readers on a journey both spiritual and personal, recounting his life spent as a builder and teacher."

Maine is a mecca for artists and self-employed creative entrepreneurs — that's a given. But what's not a given is the old chestnut, "Do what you love, the money will follow."

Success for a creative passion is never a guarantee, certainly not when one is still in apprentice mode. But Korn has spent a lifetime at his craft, moving from apprentice to master, from artist to teacher to the founder and executive director of a woodworking and design school. In essence, his journey is much like the shaping of a piece of furniture itself. It has taken imagination, dedication, missteps and thoughtful reconsideration. You don't just simply hold your dream in your mind's eye and wish upon it a la The Secret, hoping one day that the law of attraction will increase your wealth and success. It takes mindfulness, perseverance...and if you're lucky, that elusive spark that resonates with an audience.

"If you are a person with a creative passion, mainstream society these days only provides us with two yardsticks to measure the value of what we do," he said. "One of them is money and the other is fame. The corollary of that is that people make the assumption that it doesn't really count unless they're doing it professionally as a career and they're making money at it. I think that assumption is a mistake and that money and fame are poor yardsticks for measuring the actual value of creative work. That's not a recipe for a happy and fulfilled life. Creative work is a major source of fulfillment and that's what I chose to write about."

The book came out last November and since then, Korn has been on sort of a nontraditional book tour/speaking circuit, giving talks at craft and art museums in Maine, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., among other places. The book has been a commercial success with reviews and interviews in the Boston Globe, the New York Times, as well as American Craft, British Woodworker and Workwork magazines. With all this acclaim, he was still surprised when the Maine Literary Awards announced him as a winner.

"I love writing and books," he said. "To have won any sort of award for the literary value as opposed to the how-to book was really nice. I didn't know that that would ever happen to me in my lifetime."

Now that the book tour has mostly wrapped up, Korn is busy running the Center, as well as teaching full time. With everything he's got going on, he said he's down to making one major piece of furniture a year. As for writing? "I felt while writing the book that it was the one important thing I had left to do — to explore my own assumptions and beliefs and to work it into a form I could share with other people. Now, that that's done, I don't feel driven to write another one," he said.

Though Korn's book is not an instruction manual for any sort of particular craft, he does delve into the kind of advice that apprentices in the creative economy will find valuable.

"Creativity for me is having an idea and then doing the really hard work of manifesting it in the world in a way that matters. It doesn't matter if you're starting a business, founding a nonprofit school, writing a book or building a table, you still have to generate the idea. Then, in the process of bringing it into reality, you're learning things you've never learned before first hand, rather than forming your picture of the world that you've received from other people," said Korn.

To learn more about Why We Make Things And Why It Matters visit: peterkorn.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Looks like the Appledore has some die-hard fans. Pennsylvania resident Lisa Kelley had been standing around the Camden wharf waiting all day for the schooner Appledore to finally arrive for the summer season. 

“I’ve been here since 11 a.m.,” she said.

It was now about 4:30 p.m. and people could see the masts of the 86-foot wooden windjammer, wending its way past Curtis Island.

“I’ve been coming here for 20 years with my parents,” she said. “And I’ve been on the Appledore every single summer.”

Kelley, wearing the Appledore T-shirt, craned her neck to see glimpses of it. Pretty soon, a large boom cracked across the harbor, the cannons fired, signaling its arrival.

Owner John McKean stood nearby, waiting for the crew to arrive. It took nearly two weeks to bring her up from Key West and celebration was in the air.

The Appledore is officially back. Now, summer can start.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Ah... summer. As much as I love a good bonfire and fireworks, music and pig roasts, what I really want to see is some guy carrying his gal over his shoulder like a Hefty Bag full of meat across a finish line.

Welcome to this week’s Cheap Date: The wife-carrying race at the Knox Museum’s annual summer party, Saturday, June 21.

The sport was first introduced in Finland and yes, it is a sport. Sunday River has their annual North Atlantic Wife Carrying Championship in October.

Midcoast has now got roller derby and adult dodgeball teams. It’s about time we got our own wife-carrying race. According to 19th-Century Finnish legend, the sport is based on a master thief who had high standards for whom he allowed into his gang. To prove their worth, men had to compete through a difficult course carrying either a heavy sack or a woman grabbed from neighboring villages on their back. (Obvious question: who, here is the teeniest bit offended? Let’s see a show of hands.)

In the wife-carrying race, technique is up for grabs. Wives may be carried by piggyback, the fireman's carry (over the shoulder), or Estonian-style (the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband's shoulders, holding onto his waist). Clearly, the delicate flower that I am would not be participating in this third technique. See accompanying photo and remember that the Internet never forgets.

Expect to see some stumbling, maybe some face plants, maybe some dropped wives. But if you’re thinking about joining this race and start joking around about her weight, expect to experience some face plants yourself.

You sign up when you get there. (And I assume same sex couples can sign up their wives as well?) Last year, there were about 15 couples participating in a marked off course behind course behind Montpelier in a 40-yard-dash, competing in about four or five heats. The winners get to take home bottles of wine and memberships to the Museum.

This is the second year the Museum has put on its annual Midsummer at the Museum party. Last year, the event was free and got completely swarmed.  Tobin Malone, Knox Museum’s Executive Director said: “People have told us this has been the best outdoor party they’ve been to in Maine. What we loved about it was that there were young kids all the way up to their 90s and they equally enjoyed themselves.” 

Event starts at 6:30 p.m. and the wife carrying race starts around 8 p.m. This has all the markings of a Cheap Date, especially if you buy advance tickets for adults for only $10 and $8 for Museum members. Get there early and stay late. There will be a bonfire, cash bar, live music, dancing, flower crowns, fireworks, and a traditional pig roast buffet. Tickets: $15 adults/$12 members/$4 kids at the door. FMI: knoxmuseum.org

PS: There is so much going on food, festival and fun-wise this weekend so check out this weekend’s underCURRENT column.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Okay look closely at this one. What era and what town? 

Great guess from “BB” on last week’s Throwback Thursday. “It's on Chestnut St. in Camden, you can see Mt. Battie and the French & Brawn building in the background. My guess: Ricardo Montalban signing an autograph in 1977. Don't know who the woman would be. He starred in Captain's Courageous in Camden and the movie rented Jim Sharp's schooner, painting it black for the film.”

So as not to reveal the photo, we’ll credit the photographer in next week’s TBT column.

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

She was a little blonde girl who came to school every day with perpetually knotted, tangled and dirty hair until a local woman presented her with a comb and shampoo and how to use it. She simply never had learned to comb her own hair and didn't comprehend that her dirty, disheveled appearance was the reason behind the teasing. The next day, she came back to school transformed with straight, shining hair and an equally shining smile, her self-esteem improved by that one small change.

Greasy hair, perspiration, and body odor — sometimes kids from financially strapped families in Maine don't even know how to maintain their own hygiene, because soap, detergent, toothpaste and shampoo products are just not available in their houses and their parents don't know how to encourage healthy habits. It's certainly a real issue in Maine. Contrary to popular perception, food stamps do not cover these particular kind of nonfood items and so certain families often do without.

Four women in Belfast began to hear from school nurses about kids getting bullied because they came to school in dirty, unwashed clothing and had never been taught to comb their hair or wash their faces and hands regularly.

"We knew of school nurses and teachers who were putting their own money toward laundry detergent and washing the kids' clothes themselves in the school's industrial washers and dryers just so those kids could have some pride in their appearance," said Judy Beebe.

Beebe and her three friends, Sharron Walsh, Debbie Mitchell and Juliet Baker decided to do something about it on a grassroots level. In 2012, they formed a small group out of their homes, calling it the Soap Closet and began to buy brand name personal care items and distribute it monthly to food pantries in Waldo County. The items included brand name laundry detergent, dish soap, bar soap, tooth paste, toothbrushes, deodorants, shampoo and toilet paper. Every month, families who visit a food pantry the Soap Closet supports, are able to take home three personal care products per month, thanks to their efforts. Most choose toilet paper as their first choice.

The women initially raised $3,600. As the years went by, they've received grants and community funding and donations so they could buy more personal items. Grants from Athenahealth, Maine Community Foundation and Trauger funds from St. Margaret's Church in Belfast have also aided in their expansion.

Community members have built upon the Soap Closet's mission with their own donations, as well.

"We have a local dentist who is allowing us to buy toothbrushes at cost. Other dentists have donated to us as well," said Walsh. "Local store managers have cooperated by allowing us to purchase in bulk at sale prices so we can stretch our dollars."

The Soap Closet received its 501(c)3 status in April. Before that, Waldo County Triad served as fiscal sponsor. Their initial mission has now expanded to three programs and they serve more than 400 families in Waldo county. Their first program supports four food pantries (Belfast, Searsport, Northport and Jackson) serving nine communities in Waldo County. Their second program supports school children, distributing products to eight public schools in Waldo county.

"We deliver whatever the school nurses tell us they need for their children. We take a lot of hotel/motel small bottles that people donate and deliver those as well," said Beebe. "We find that kids need deodorant and shampoo the most. We've gotten reports from the nurses that these donations have made an enormous difference in the way the kids have taken charge of their own cleanliness."

She added that several of the schools have initiated a hygiene class to teach kids healthy habits in tandem with the donations.

The third program, just like the first two, puts compassion before judgment, supporting incarcerated men in their transition to society. The women put together what they call a "Re-entry Kit" consisting of brand name shaving cream, deodorant, razors, body wash, toothpaste and toothbrushes for men who leave incarceration and go into the Sheriff's Office Re-Entry Program.

"Many of these men are in the last six months of their incarceration where they have to work in the community and earn some income," said Walsh. "They leave jail and work all day then go back to jail at night, but they have no spending money to start for these kind of basics." Just having this kit allows them to come to work clean and presentable.

The men pay it forward by helping the Soap Closet with manual labor. "When we have a big shipment come in to Hannaford, Walgreen's, Reny's or the Dollar Store, we call these guys and they come help us do all the heavy lifting," said Walsh.

The food pantries find the women's dedication to this community project to be invaluable. A recent card Walsh received from the Jackson Food Pantry states:

To the women of the Soap Closet,

The Jackson Food Pantry Board of Directors would like to thank you for helping us provide essential, nonfood items to our clients. It is very much appreciated by the people we serve.

 Walsh said other food pantry staff have approached her in the community and said, “We can’t thank you enough. You’ve made a world of difference.”

“It seems like just a small thing, just three dollars for three products,” said Mitchell. “But it really helps these families so much.”

The women put in more than 1,000 volunteer hours annually. “We each take turns each month to do the shopping and distribution. On the side, I handle all the schools, Debbie handles the money and Sharron takes care of the Re-entry Program along with the grant applications,” said Beebe.

Each week, they shop locally, keeping all of their product purchases to under a dollar per product. “We check the flyers and look for sales all the time,” said Walsh. They haven’t had time to create a social media presence,  but will be considering it. For now, their good deeds are heard of by word of mouth.

So far, the Soap Closet is the only organization in Maine to provide non-food items to low-income families in the Midcoast area. However, the need in other parts of the state is just as great—they see it first hand all the time. “We’d love to make a challenge to other groups similar to ours,” said Mitchell. “We would love to see what we’re doing replicated in other counties of Maine.”

From the smallest hotel shampoo bottle to the large amount donated anonymously, every little thing donated helps the Soap Closet continue their good work to help Mainers help themselves. Although cash donations are always useful, currently they are also accepting items such as laundry detergent, dish soap, bar soap, tooth paste, toothbrushes, deodorants, shampoo and toilet paper. All donations are tax deductible and can be sent to: P.O. Box 163 Belfast, Maine 04915. For more information contact: 207- 930-3604.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 C’mon now, look closely at this one. Who does this remind you of and where was this photo taken? Do you know the circumstances of what was happening at the time?

 Did you know were last week’s Throwback Thursday was located? It was the interior of Jack Green's confectionary and cigar store at the north corner of Main and Pleasant Streets circa June 1946, most recently Hollydachs Pet Store. The building was razed a few years ago by Lyman Morse with plans to build a five story condominium, though plans for a hotel are now in the works.

Photo courtesy of Penobscot Marine Museum. Visit penobscotmarinemuseum.org

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — Every tween and teen has a story to tell. Sometimes they’re ordinary, sometimes they’re epic. But, to fire up their imaginations and get them to find their voice, some visuals need to go with it. That is the art of the graphic novel.

The Rockland Public Library Children's Writing Club is currently hosting a special Graphic Novel Creation Series for youth ages 11-15 at the Rockland Library on Mondays until the end of June.

Led by library employee Janet Corcoran and run in cooperation with Chelsea Avirett of Spyglass Tutoring, the free workshop is helping kids develop their own graphic novels or comics, in addition to contributing to a seasonal newsletter.

“Chelsea’s done workshops like this before. So in this series, she’s teaching them what the difference is between a graphic novel and a comic, how to do layout, how panels are set up and so on. We’ll be able to publish a teaser of their graphic novel through the CWC and if they continue, we’ll give them the opportunity to publish more,” said Corcoran.

So far, nearly 12-15 students are invested. One of the participants, Patrick Corcoran, 13, explained the difference between a graphic novel and a comic. “A graphic novel is more like a visual story based off an actual book and a comic is more like a short little episode.” He is a big Stephen King fan and was still trying to figure out what he wanted to do his graphic novel on when we spoke.

“We’re talking about what graphic novels are about,” said Averitt. “Some are narrative, some are biographies, and some are short stories. So, I want them to really think about not just how to tell a story but how the pictures on the page interact with the words.”

Topics will include outlining/choosing a plot or idea, panel layout, dialogue, lettering, coloring and more. “It’s a challenge to get them to focus on plot and structure first because what they really want to get to is the drawing,” she added.

The workshop series opened up to participants in the first two classes, but because more drop-ins at this point would need too much time to get caught up, the series has now closed its admission, while Averitt works on building the kids’ skills in the coming weeks.

Participants will publish their attempts/teasers in an expanded summer edition of the CWC News later this summer. Stay tuned for updates on their website, which can be found online.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — A month ago we told you that Belfast was joining the viral craze of making a video of Pharrell Williams’ smash hit Happy, and created its own rendition of of the globally popular dance hit. Now it's time to see what all the fuss was about.

Belfast Councilor Mike Hurley was behind the idea to get as many people and Belfast locations in a video to Williams’ song and call it: Belfast Maine: We are Happy. The infectious song has swept the planet with cities all over the world doing their versions of Happy,  including Rome, Paris, Tahiti, Hong Kong and every point in between. They was even a Happy in Tehran video before three Iranians got arrested for simply making the video, which infuriated officials because the women in the video didn’t follow the Islamic dress code with their hair covered by a hijab, or headscarf.

With support from Our Town Belfast, the Main Street organization and dozens of underwriters, the Belfast Maine: We are Happy project launched in April. With a team comprised of Insight Productions and Bel-TV 2's filmmaker, Ned Lightner, production and location scheduler Kathy Coleman, director and producer Mike Hurley and production and administrator Mary Jean Crowe, production took place at nearly 100 location shoots with more than 60 hours of filming. “We had good and bad weather, cooperative and uncooperative people, children, animals of all kinds of fur, talented dancers, stiff as a board dancers, uncontrollable extroverts, unwilling introverts dragged blinking into the light with what ended up being an uncountable cast of hundreds,” said Hurley.

“I am the happiest man in Belfast because it’s done,” he added.

The team’s goal was to showcase locations all over Belfast to make the viewer feel like she or he had visited the entire town. The film features people from all walks of life from the highways and back woods to every corner of rural and in-town Belfast. "How long do you think it takes to edit 60 hours of film into a 4:14 song?" asked Lightner repeatedly to his team. It turns out the answer is about 15 hours.

The public is invited to the film’s free premiere Friday June 13 at 3:30 p.m. at The Colonial Theatre in downtown Belfast. Following a brief introduction and Q & A,  short and long versions of the film will run from 3:30 until 5:00 p.m. That same evening and Saturday and Sunday, the films will show on BEL-TV channel 2 and following the weekend the films will go up on YouTube.com.

“If you search YouTube for the various city versions of Happy, each one has viewings in excess of 100,000,” said Hurley. “The only other Happy song done in Maine is the University of Maine at Farmington. It looks like a group of people singing in the hallways. I think ours was pretty ambitious. So, it’s going to be really interesting to see how many views our video gets once it goes online.”

It’s always fun to see people and places you know well up on a theater screen, but there’s going to be one more twist. “We’re going to have a surprise ending that no video version of the song has ever done before,” promised Hurley. Get ready to be happy!

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

LINCOLNVILLE — Author Dr. Steven Kassels, a resident of both Massachusetts and Down East Maine, will be sharing his experience and excerpts from his debut novel at Beyond the Sea in Lincolnville Beach Saturday, June 7 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Kassels’ had years of practice in both emergency medicine and addiction medicine, which provided the foundation for his first self-published legal thriller/murder mystery, Addiction on Trial: Tragedy in Downeast Maine.  The crime novel sends a powerful message of societal discrimination toward drug addicts and explores common misperceptions about what drug addiction really is — a chronic illness requiring a similar treatment approach as other chronic illnesses. He believes that everyone deserves compassion and access to medical care regardless of the nature of the illness. He wrote Addiction on Trial to both entertain and educate, and to depict the struggles of addiction for an audience of avid readers who may expand their understanding of addiction on the basis of evidence.

“It broadened my knowledge a great degree, especially in that addicts don’t have to be in the back alleys. They can function in society like everyone else and hold a job, as long as they can have access to medicine they need to wean off drugs. This was definitely a quality murder mystery; you didn’t feel like you were being educated like a textbook,” said Nanette H. Gionfriddo, owner of Beyond The Sea.

A summary of the novel follows.

When Down East "local" Annette Fiorno is found at the bottom of a ravine, "outsider" and relapsed drug addict Jimmy Sedgwick is accused of murder. Unassuming Maine lawyer Rob Hanston and big shot attorney Shawn Marks form an unlikely legal team as they attempt to discredit the overwhelming evidence. Addiction on Trial, the first in a series of Shawn Marks Thrillers, revolves around the murder cases of Marks, an egotistical yet likable high-powered Boston attorney who can juggle an array of female companions without taking his eye off the legal challenges of his work.

Q: What is your connection to Down East Maine and do any physical locations or businesses appear in the story that readers would recognize?

A: As an author and a physician, I have a longstanding affection for Maine, dating back to my youth as a camper for many summers in Maine and for the past 15 years as a resident of Southwest Harbor; I split my time living in Maine and Boston due to my responsibilities as medical director of an out-patient substance abuse treatment center with locations in Boston, Portland and Lewiston. Addiction on Trial: Tragedy in Downeast Maine is a fictional murder mystery/legal thriller based on medical and legal truths, as it exposes to readers the real life of addiction as an equal opportunity disease that knows no socio-economic boundaries. The book could easily have been titled Addiction on Trial: Tragedy in Boston, or Vermont, or virtually anywhere USA. I chose Down East Maine as the primary setting in order to capture the essence of the people who make this part of Maine so special and to draw on the aspect that no matter how beautiful a place is, lurking in the shadows in ALL of our communities, neighborhoods, families and friends are those afflicted with the disease of addiction. The fictional town of West Haven Harbor has significant similarities to Southwest Harbor, on Mount Desert Island, but places and persons are entirely the product of my imagination and/or are fictitiously used. However, the beauty and peace of Mount Desert Island and the devoted spirit, commitment and passion of its year-round residents is an overarching theme. The cover of the book is a photo of Somes Sound on MDI with a main character of the book hovering in the shadows.

Q: It's not easy to jump from a lifelong profession into being an author. What inspired you to write your first novel and what kind of training did you undergo to turn these experiences into a fast-paced legal/medical thriller?

A: I have always desired to write a novel, but could not find the time through the years of raising a family and attending to my medical professional responsibilities in both emergency medicine and addiction medicine. As I have now stepped back from day-to-day patient care, and with a desire to educate and entertain, I decided to write this novel, which I hope will not only keep readers on the edge of their seats while trying to solve the mystery of Annette's untimely death, but also to de-stigmatize and demystify the disease of addiction while putting real faces on this scourge to society. And, even if one does not want to believe it is a disease, the cost to society to incarcerate someone can be 10 times more expensive than treatment. I wrote this book over the past five years and spent approximately 2,500 hours in the process — a labor of love — but who wants to read another scientific book about addiction? Not me! That's why I wrote the book as a murder mystery/legal thriller to entertain while depicting the realistic struggle of addiction.

Q: Down in the Midcoast, the Fox Hill addiction recovery proposal stirred up a lot of controversy on both sides. Was your novel inspired by these events? If so, what are the messages you'd love your readers to come away with after reading your book?

My novel was in part inspired by the many proposals and controversy in many communities over many years, similar to the issues in the Midcoast. As I also bring to light in my novel and through my op-ed in the Bangor Daily News, which you can find on my website, the “Not In My Back Yard” attitude of not having treatment centers is not a viable option as unfortunately there is not a community in America that does not have people addicted to drugs or alcohol. There is no significant difference in the brain between addictions — there are no good addictions and bad addictions; and just as communities have treatment facilities to treat other chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension, there should be addiction treatment centers in many, if not every community, to treat alcohol and drug addiction. However, I also sympathize with those who believe that if one community has a treatment center and nearby communities do not, that one town may feel inundated. I believe our public officials need to take a lead on this issue, which I try to address in another op-ed, published by the Boston Globe, “Solutions to the Heroin & Opiate Epidemic.” We cannot forget that addiction is an equal opportunity disease that knows no socio-economic boundaries. I also strongly believe that alcohol and drug treatment centers, both inpatient and outpatient facilities, need to be sensitive to community needs when proposing locations to site. This is why I have set up book club and discussion groups through my website and I hope folks will contact me.

To learn more about Kassel’s novel or where you can find him at book signings this summer, visit addictionontrial.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Do you know what this store was, who that man was and what’s in its place now? Let us know!

Hmmm no guesses for last week’s Throwback Thursday photo. Did we really stump you this time? Well, this happened to be Kathleen Maloney of Rockland, working in the office at Port Clyde Packing Co. in Port Clyde on Jan. 12, 1967. This is what the place is now.

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

Rad Happenings are the kind of events or scenes that are developing here that you will probably want to be hip to. This weekend, we’ve got a triple shot in Rockland and if you choose to hit all three in costume, no one will bat an eye.

Pop-Up! Art Show & Music

Rockland Recreation Center

Friday June 6, 4-9 p.m and Saturday June 7, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

This independently organized pop-up art show and concert takes the best ingredients we have in the Midcoast (established and little known artists and musicians) and swirls them together in a delectable frozen treat of an event that is free and all ages. Organizer Lindsay Parker said, “It’s an art show that invites everyone with a variety of art skills to exhibit their work in a community art show, featuring various artists from Oceanside High School East, Camden Hill Regional High School, Rock City Café, along with others in the area.”

To get more people involved, there will be a donation-based concert featuring local bands Drive By Todd, The Steppe and Jim Dandy. Music will start at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Hot Pink Flannel presents: Mad Tea Party

Rock City Cafe

Saturday, June 7, 9 p.m.

The Hot Pink Flannel-ers are at it again with an Alice In Wonderland themed costume party Saturday night. “The theme came out of that fact that it’s my birthday,” said HPF organizer Yvonne. “So it’s everybody else’s un-birthday party.” That sounds exactly like something Lewis Carroll would write. Hot Pink Flannel has a reputation for delivering wild, wacky and extravagantly-themed public parties and this one will be no exception. Expect to see iconic decorations from the book and imaginative costumes. (Question: has anyone else noticed how many costume parties the Midcoast throws? It’s like Halloween year-round!)

DJ MJ will be serving up the beats with techno, dance and electronica, providing just the right trippy atmosphere to complement the journey down the rabbit hole. If the popular late night food truck Fox on the Run can secure a private spot during the evening, they’ll be on hand to offer some late night grub.

There will be a $5 cover.

Lovewhip

The Speakeasy

Saturday, June 7, 9 p.m.- 12 a.m.

These guys are nuts. And I mean that in a good way. Lovewhip is one of those high-energy wackadoo bands that is also big on costumes and silly, dancing fun and they’ve swung through the Midcoast a number of years. Lead by singer/guitarist "Empress Erin" Harpe, Lovewhip is a three-piece electro dance rock band, featuring Jim Countryman on bass/vocals and Bob Nisi on drums/vocals. Boston award-winning Lovewhip has been called "a mashup of all the world's most danceable music, from electro to Afro-beat, to reggaeton and post-punk" by Boston's Weekly Dig, and "more fun than a truckload of Cyndi Laupers!" by the Portland Press Herald.

$5 cover

Friday and Saturday night are shaping up to kick off the summer in a high voltage way, so get on down to the place that puts the “Rock” in Rockland. And for more listings, follow our weekly blog The underCURRENT, which comes out each Thursday.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Last month, we wrote about three Maine entrepreneurial groups that leveraged their dreams with the popular crowd-funding platform Kickstarter and how much hard work goes into setting up a campaign.

It’s gratifying to be able to report that all three groups not only reached their funding goals, but exceeded them. One even exceeded the goal by nearly $4,000! Each of the projects not only benefits the entrepreneurs, so that they can continue to make a living in Maine doing what they love, but their products and services all funnel back into the creative economy of Maine. And that rocks.

In a nutshell, here’s how each campaign did.

Emma’s Maine: Pure Maine Maple Syrup Production, Rockland

Project: This project is to expand its production of pure Maine maple syrup while lowering its carbon output. The project seeks support for technological upgrades to their commercial syrup equipment.

Project Team: Scott Arndt and family

Kickstarter Stats: $22,335 raised out of $20,000 goal. 181 backers. Campaign ended May 4.

Final message to backers: So, it looks like we've made our original goal of $20,000 and it's all your fault. Thank you! Yahooooo! Yippeeee!

We want all of our backers to know that we are overwhelmed by your support. Your willingness to share your hard earned money AND to connect us with your contacts is truly appreciated.

Thank you.

Emma, Scott, Melissa and Tyler

Fox i Printworks/Maine Island Letterpress, North Haven

Project: This project needs funding for supplies and technological upgrades, so they can run a sustainable letterpress shop on the island.

Project Team: Claire Donnelly, Sam Hallowell and Angela Cochran

Kickstarter Stats: $8,656 raised out of $5,000 goal. 126 backers. Campaign ended May 22

Final message to backers: THANK YOU!!!! Our backers are the MOST insanely kind, generous and supportive humans out there!!! You guys made this happen and we CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH!!

Next Step RUN! Owls Head

Project: This project is for a documentary featuring the challenges four women across the country face running for elective office during the 2014 mid-term elections.

Project Leader: Pam Maus

Kickstarter Stats: $20,215 raised out of $20,000 goal. 112 backers. Campaign ended May 23

Final message to backers: Last night at 12 a.m. I got to watch the Kickstarter Campaign banner line change to those magical words "This project was successfully funded." You not only made financial donations, but your contributed with your spirit, your friends, and your belief in me. I am truly humbled. The filmmakers, candidates, and I are already hard at work—we'll keep you posted along the way.

With gratitude on behalf of the Next Step RUN! team,

Pam

CAMDEN—When in doubt, improvise—best motto ever. Members of the West Bay Rotary Club and volunteers decided to try a new route this year to elongate the time that the rubber duckies from their annual fundraiser made it to the finish line, though they hadn’t counted on the headwinds, high tide and sheer stubbornness of the little plastic water fowl.

On Saturday afternoon, The West Bay Rotary Club’s Duck Derby, was ready to start at 2 p.m. in the river shallows behind The Smiling Cow and Camden Deli. All morning, volunteers had set up nearly 300 floating “noodles” as barriers to guide the ducks to the finish line, which ended at the floating dock where The Appledore usually docks. More than 2,500 raffle tickets had already been sold, a great success, for the sale of each ticket benefits a number of charities West Bay Rotary supports such as food pantries and The Hospitality House. Each raffle ticket buys a rubber duck, so at 2 p.m., on cue, 2,500 pink, yellow and blue ducks were dumped into the drink.

They started off strong, spilling over the waterfalls to the cheers of many. Then, a flotilla of ducks decided they were going to go rogue and take the back side of the falls, coursing out into the harbor where a team of volunteers scooped them up with nets.

“This was the first time we’ve done this course,” said Rotarian Mark Masterson, who accessorized head to toe in duck wear. “As witnessed, sometimes Mother Nature plays tricks on us. In the past we’ve run them down the Megunticook River past the Bagel Cafe and captured them at the foot of the falls, which took 14 minutes.”

This year’s course took about 25 minutes and the ducks that “got the memo” stayed on course, bobbing with the tide, until they got hung up under a dock and had to be pushed through. Perhaps it was the headwinds preventing further movement, the high tide or a mutiny, but once the ducks broke through the first dock, they stopped moving. They most definitely were not going any further to the designated finish line. Word is, a union was involved.

“I don’t think my pink duck is going to win,” said a little girl on the sidelines.

The crowd watched and waited. Someone yelled, “Push the big duck into the water.” This was not received well by the person wearing the gigantic duck suit.

After some democractic voting by the public, Rotarian Peter Berke sitting in a kayak made the decision to pluck the very first pink duck in the lead. He called the first six winners of the Duck Derby by plucking out the rest one by one. They were:

1st prize-Seven nights at Vanderbilt Beach Resort in Naples, FL with $1,000 spending cash

Jane Lafleur

2nd prize-Etienne Perret designed black ceramic ring

Ira Mandel

3rd prize-One night accommodation in the Fireplace Suite and the Lord Camden Inn

Mick Mikkelsen

4th prize-25 pounds of lobster from Graffam Brothers Seafood Market

Gary Holzapple

5th prize-A gift certificate for two for dinner at the Hartstone Inn in Camden

Theo Perez

6th prize-A two-hour day sail for two on the schooner Surprise

Amber Heffner

For more pictures and updates, visit the West Bay Rotary’s Facebook page.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — Ah, the teenage mind. A little weird, wonderful and warped, right? Tonight’s Cheap Dates suggestion asks you to get inside the teenage creative mind at the 8th annual CHRHS Film Festival, held in Strom Auditorium Friday, May 30 at 7 p.m.

What can we expect? According to Chris Walker-Spencer, the Visual & Media Technology teacher at CHRHS, “This year's film festival contains an eclectic blend of films. With documentaries, theatrical pieces and music videos from the CHRHS film students (Intro, Advanced and TV Studio) the audience can expect to laugh, cry and even cringe a bit. Projects range from a "Surgery Prep" community service short for Pen Bay Healthcare to a zombie film to a music video shot throughout the Midcoast region, including the newly renovated Lincoln Street Center.”

You knew there had to be zombies right? Whenever anyone gives a kid a creative assignment, it’s always about the zombies. Kinda awesome.

The annual festival is a showcase for some extremely talented and hardworking students. It's a wonderful opportunity for the community to enjoy an entertaining evening in Strom Auditorium. The festival will be hosted by senior filmmakers Emily Grotz and Zachary Stern. Showtime is 7 p.m. and admission is free.

Get that Cheapies? Free. Now that’s my kind of date, so bring a gal or a ghoul and get on over to the Strom tonight! Click for more info.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — We’ve all done it — made a bad decision at some point in our lives. But The Landings Restaurant in Rockland has turned poor decision making skills into a frothy blueberry martini, which is aptly named “A Bad Decision.”

The Landings opened under new ownership and management last year and this family-run enterprise has been kicking out great food and an energized presence in Rockland.  I like small bars and this one is snug, tucked in the side of the restaurant with ocean views. Their cocktail menu is inventive and that is one of the reasons they made it the “What’s In That Cocktail” series.

This particular cocktail was invented by one of their staff members who decided if one was going to make a bad decision over drinks, it might as well pack a wallop, which is exactly what this one does. This fruity, refreshing spin on the blueberry martini goes the extra mile with a light rim of tequila, making you instantly want more than one. Bad decision.

Manager Molly Miller Staples demonstrated for us how this sweet martini is deconstructed.

It’s very simple. To make this at home, all you need is:

·3 ounce Stoli vodka
·1 ounce Cointreau
·1/2 ounce Jose Cuervo tequila
·Freshly squeezed orange juice (one whole orange)
·1/4 cup fresh Maine blueberries

Chill a martini glass with ice while preparing the cocktail. Pour orange juice into a glass. In a separate pint glass, muddle the blueberries. Pour orange juice in with muddled blueberries. Add Stoli. Add Cointreau. Pour mixture into a shaker filled with ice. Shake. Strain into the chilled martini glass but leave some room at the top. Pour the tequila until the cocktail begins to swirl and you can see the separation of the tequila on the surface. Garnish with lime.

Watch our video to see how to make this cocktail or go down to The Landings and have them make one especially for you!

To see all of our past “What’s In That Cocktail” series (with video!), check out: The best craft cocktails in the Midcoast

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

I’m predicting this one will be a stumper for all of the easy ones I’ve thrown back to you this past six months. Can you guess where this little office is and the era? And do you know who the lady is? Here’s a hint. The scenery from what sits on this piece of land now is “packing” a lot of punch.

Did you guess last week’s Throwback Thursday? It was a take-out restaurant on Megunticook Lake called Sunset Cove around 1951 to 1964 when it closed. This shop was on the left side of Route 52 as you head from Camden to Lincolnville Center.

Photo courtesy Penobscot Marine Museum. Visit: penobscotmarinemuseum.org

Throwback Thursday needs your submissions. Send us your “back in the day” photos with a caption at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—Tina Del Santo and Katherine Loblein, co-owners of The Front Street Pub in Belfast, might have been a little whupped after the long Memorial Day weekend, but on Tuesday evening, but they were rarin’ to go, setting up for their very first Mixology Class.

Each registrant had to preregister for the $25 class, which included ingredients for four cocktails, a free cocktail shaker and complimentary food from the kitchen. With eight participants lined up in front of two serving tables laden with bowls of limes, lemons, mint, cucumber and jalapenos, Del Santo and Loblein led a highly informative and entertaining class to teach people the basics of muddling, mixing and measuring cocktails with a variety of top shelf and infused spirits.

Apart from attending a bartending class (the nearest being in Portland), there really isn’t a one-off class in the Midcoast that formally teaches the art of  cocktail making except for this one. (At one point, an underaged young man wandered in, hoping he could audit the class to get some bartending skills, but unfortunately, state law couldn’t allow him to be there.) That just underscored how valuable these kind of skills are, not just for home entertaining, but also for potential side income as a bartender or caterer.

The cocktails that Del Santo and Loblein chose to offer included the mojito, martini, margarita, and a bonus summer cocktail.

“There are so many ways to do all of these drinks, so there is really no wrong way to make them,” said Loblein. “We’re just teaching them basics like anything with juice you shake and anything with soda water you stir.”

Sitting at the head table were Del Santo’s housemade vats of Maine blueberry infused vodka, Maine raspberry infused vodka, Maine strawberry infused tequila, pepper-infused vodka and coconut infused rum. Behind that were a number of regular and top shelf spirits.

Two sets of four participants on each side of the serving tables didn’t start out to be rivals, but by the first drink, a friendly wager was on: which side of the table could produce a better cocktail? For example one side made the Mojito with vodka and muddled strawberry or mango, while the other side opted to make it with Bacardi rum, simple syrup, soda water and a floater (i.e. a light coating) of Myers rum.

“If you don’t like rum, you can make a Mojito with anything,” said Loblein, who encouraged the participants to break the rules, have fun and experiment.

“I made mine with vodka because vodka makes everything better,” said Diane Sturgeon.

Once the participants had one finished cocktail under their belt (and took a belt), things began to get more creative. When it came to the martini, some participants opted to muddle blueberry and others went for the straight-up traditional martini with gin and a drop or two of vermouth.

“I made mine with muddled jalapeno peppers and olive juice,” said Nicole Carbisiero holding out her glass. “Hot and dirty!”

The margarita was the third cocktail on the menu and everyone played this one fairly straight with tequila, Cointreau, fresh-squeezed lime juice and sour mix, although some opted for a little muddled mango or strawberry at the end.

The fourth and final cocktail of the night is perfect for a Maine summer evening with ingredients one can grow right in one’s garden. The bonus summer cocktail consisted of: gin and soda water made with cucumber, mint or strawberry.

The Front Street Pub considered their first Mixology Class a great success and will be offering more in the future.

To see what other craft cocktails Penobscot Bay Pilot has covered over the last year and a half from area restaurants and bars, check out The best craft cocktails in the Midcoast.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Why are people so crazy about fiddleheads? One man in Monroe can’t explain exactly why, but he’s got no shortage of customers clamoring for them.

John Gibbs has been collecting these wild edibles every spring with his father ever since he was a kid and now ships them to aficionados around the country.

A fiddlehead is the young, tender shoot of a fern that some have described has the texture of green beans or asparagus with the earthy, slightly bitter taste of mustard greens. They can be sautéed in butter, olive oil and lots of garlic, steamed, fried and even served in soups. The reason they are called fiddleheads is because the curled tips of the immature fern resemble the top of a fiddle. Like Moxie soda, it’s definitely an acquired taste and many folks look forward to this delicacy every year.

The growing period of fiddleheads is such a short time in Maine, typically early spring to the beginning of summer and the demand is high. Gibbs is currently collecting them and selling them through his networks, on eBay and to local restaurants.

“The window to get them is so short that if you could somehow get them year-round, they wouldn’t be so fascinating to people,” he said.

“Often times in the peak of the collecting season we’ll get a cold night and the frost will kill them off,” he said. Despite the cold, rainy spring season that has been plaguing most gardeners and farmers this spring, the fiddlehead has survived. “This year, we didn’t get a frost, so we’re doing pretty well.”

Asked where he likes to go collecting them, Gibbs joked, “I learned a long time ago not even to tell my good friends where I go, so I’m not telling you!”

Gibbs picks them by hand and collects them in a basket. Over the years his father has rigged together a motorized fiddlehead cleaner which uses forced air from a squirrel cage blower with parts of a washing machine. “It is pretty easy to make if you have the time and Yankee ingenuity,” he said.

Gibbs warns people to know their ferns well before attempting to pick fiddleheads themselves. “Not all fiddleheads are edible,” he said. “Some are fuzzy and furry; some are wiry.” It’s best to buy them from a supermarket or from a forager such as Gibbs, for the wrong kind can be toxic.

For people from away who crave the elusive delicacy, Gibbs has been shipping fiddleheads all over the country from New York to Las Vegas. All he has to do is vacuum pack them and ship them out. “They’re pretty hearty,” he explained. “They’ll be just as fresh when they arrive.”

“I had a guy order six pounds of them from Virginia and we were emailing back and forth when he told me he used to have fiddleheads as a kid and he used to pick them with his uncle in Monroe, Maine,” he said. “Well, of course, his uncle is my neighbor, being the small world that it is.”

Gibbs’ fiancee co-owns the Front Street Pub in Belfast and not only does he provide the restaurant with their fiddleheads, he’s even given them his mother’s prized Fiddlehead Chowder recipe, below.

Front Street Pub Fiddlehead Chowder

·1 ½ cups chopped fiddleheads

·3 chicken bouillon cubes

·Small onion

·2 tbsp butter

·2 potatoes

·3.5 cups milk

·½ cup heavy cream

·Salt and pepper to taste

Cook potatoes until fork soft but not mushy. In pan, sauté fiddleheads and onions with butter, bouillon, and salt and pepper until soft and onions are clear. Add milk and heavy cream, slowly bring to boil. Add potatoes and turn off heat.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—This is our third “Welcome back” installment to acquaint those who haven’t been around this winter as to what's open, what's closed, what's new and what's happening. So, here is your rundown for the summer.

The Foodie Train Keeps on Rollin’

Just like last year, the main story here is how many cool eateries and food purveyors have popped up over the winter, cementing Rockland's reputation as a foodie town. Here’s what’s new and changed.

435 Main Street, the four-story brick building in the heart of downtown Rockland, is currently being renovated from top to bottom to emerge as Main Street Markets this summer, a new multi-use market and apartment complex. What makes this really special is that developer Rick Rockwell, who grew up in Port Clyde, is keeping it real and local. That is, he plans to offer a consignment space for locally produced food, beer and wine only. The café will offer salads, juices, shakes and smoothies while other sections of the market will be a one-stop shop for locally harvested seafood, produce and meats. He even has plans for a beer and wine section with a brew pub in the works. If that weren’t cool enough, check this out. The attic of 435 Main used to be a certified speakeasy in the Prohibition era. Visit our story: The mysterious speakeasys of Rockland: where history whispers old secrets.

Best breakfast and maybe now best ice cream? Home Kitchen Cafe recently got an award from Yankee Magazine for the best breakfast. Soon after that, the Rockland Planning Board approved the site plan review for owners James Hatch and Susan Schiro to open the Home Kitchen Ice Cream Shop and Bakery at 19 North Main Street, which abuts the Home Kitchen Café property at 650 Main St. The plans are to open the ice cream shop mid to late June with the bakery to open later in the year.

A plethora of take out stands and food trucks have cropped up in Rockland like spring flowers. We just did a story on Pho Sizzle titled Pho sizzle....is the shizz! about a new food truck in Buoy Park serving up Vietnamese bone-based soup and other traditional cuisine. Duo’s Takeout is going mobile and set up a trailer right next to Pho Sizzle. With organic burgers and seafood sourced from Jess’s market, they’re solidly in the food truck game now. Hazel’s Take Out at 557 Old County Road (at the corner of Rt 17) is taking shape with a new foundation laid and its plumbing in. Look for that to open soon. And remember the old red BBQ shack next to US Cellular on Route One? That will now become a seafood stand called Claws.

On to the larger establishments. A new deli replaced what used to be Amato’s on 77 Park Street earlier this month calling itself Black Board Deli, and the reviews from locals are great so far. A new seafood restaurant called Hill’s Seafood Company is opening soon where Brick’s Restaurant is located on Main Street. Looks like The Pearl has been taken over by a new celebrity chef from The Food Network. Chef Michelle Ragussis is looking to shake things up with an entirely new menu and happy hour scene.  This past March, Bixby & Company, a gourmet chocolate company, moved its headquarters to Sea St. Place, formally O’Hara Ice Company. And last month, its owner Kate McAleer won a $30,000 LaunchPad award to boost its production capabilities. Along with this award, McAleer plans on opening a tasting room in the future.

Speaking of chocolate, there has been talk of a chocolate shop, Snowdrop Confections, coming to downtown Rockland where GM Pollock’s space currently is.  And we know for sure that Coastal Main Popcorn, a new gourmet popcorn shop “popped” up on 371 Main Street this spring with bags of popcorn in the display window along with the sign that it will be opening soon.

Lincoln Street Center revives once again

As many of Midcoast’s residents know, the fate of Lincoln Street Center (formerly the old Rockland high school) as a cultural center has been a roller coaster ride over the past few years when the nonprofit that formed around it fell into financial hard times and was forced to let the building go back to Camden National Bank, which held the mortgage. Following that, a group of citizens tried to buy the building with a new non-profit group, but had to abandon the effort upon inspection of the building. In 2012, Mario Abaldo, a California native who’d gone to high school in the Midcoast, recently moved back to Maine with his family and purchased Lincoln Street Center with the intent to restore it back to an educational and cultural center. He and his crew have diligently done so over the past two years. Even though they’ve been replaced the roof and done extensive plumbing and electrical work, there is still much to be done. So, even though it won’t be ready for the summer season, it’s great to know that once again Rockland will be getting its cultural center back. And when it does, we’ll be there to cover it.

Two proposed new Rockland hotels

Two proposed hotel projects have been all over the news lately and haven’t been without some kind of public commentary or controversy. ADZ Properties LLC, whose principals include Cabot Lyman, owner of the Thomaston-based Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding, has proposed a five-story, 26-room $2.9 million hotel on 250 Main Street to overlook Harbor Park. Some citizens have publicly opposed the height of the hotel, asking the Rockland Planning Board to decrease the number of floors from five to four. On May 20, there was a public hearing to voice approval, opinions and concerns about the hotel. Construction is anticipated to be completed by June 2015. More of the story here 

And Stuart Smith’s Rockland Harbor Park LLC has submitted plans to the Rockland code enforcement office to construct a $6.5 million 65-room hotel at 12 Water Street on the Rockland waterfront.  is The parcel is currently home to a building housing Boston Financial which also includes the former Amalfi Restaurant. Plans also call for converting the Amalfi space into a daycare center and fitness center. This past winter, approximately 125 citizens and members of the Rockland City Council were there to get answers to their questions about the $6.5 million project with particular concerns around its height and visual impact. Smith He said he expects the planning and the approval process to continue into the year with construction to begin in the fall.Click here for more of the story.

New businesses and other stuff you might have missed

As far as new businesses, many small businesses have cropped up this winter. Play Days opened this past spring on 169 Camden Street. It’s an indoor play center for kids offering more than 4,000 square feet with inflatables, climbers, playhouses, slides, swings, and tunnels.

Two consignment shops sprung up. C’est Le Vie Consignment Shop on 369 Main Street took over the former Lyn Snow gallery space as a consignment shop for clothes and jewelry while Sweet Peas Consignment moved to 229 Park Street.

The Fabric and Craft Supply Store opened on 428 Main Street and Function Junction opened on 31 New County Road.

And for those down the South Thomaston way who really missed their convenience store, Hoggy’s (and why wouldn’t you miss it with a name like that), are pleased to have a Maritime Energy in its place.

 If we've missed any new businesses that would be interesting to folks coming back to Maine, shoot us an email with the subject line "Add to Rockland story" and we'll add it into the list!

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com