What are the new Happy Hours  happening this summer? (Hint: The Hoot in Lincolnville; the Camden Snow Bowl in Camden; and Sammy’s Deluxe in Rockland).

We’ve updated our winter Guide To Midcoast’s Happy Hours for the 2018 summer season, including what establishments are now closed or under new ownership.

Don’t get caught and the happiest hours without your handy, mobile Penobscot Bay Pilot guide!

Restaurant/Bar owners contact Kay Stephens at news@penbaypilot.com for any changes/additions.

ROCKLAND—Behind the modest house on 198 Broadway, where famed poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was born, sits approximately a half acre of undeveloped land.  In a stand of poplar trees, with a stream running through it, the land is currently being evaluated to eventually turn into a Poetry Garden.

The Rockland Historical Society bought the property in March 2016 and formed a committee to oversee the current restoration of the double house, which is still ongoing. In the meantime, landscaper, arborist and artist Tery Bradshaw, and the board of the Millay House Rockland, are in the beginning stages of planning to turn the land into a contemplative garden, inspiring to all who visit the house.

“When we were all beginning to visualize what this place could be the idea emerged that it could be a small amphitheatre,” said Bradshaw, who runs the landscaping company Ground Control. “There’s a curved path behind the house, which could come to a circle, surrounded by natural elements, such as inverted stumps that create seats and the potential for another small path to curve out to a small sitting area, where you can sit and read a book by yourself. So, it would give more than one singular purpose to the garden. These are just some of our initial ideas.”

Bradshaw, whose family owned land on Amsbury Hill in Rockport for decades, used to revive hidden gardens on the property and cultivate living outdoor spaces. He’d then invite artists to use the property and stage outdoor Art Walks, which were popular with the locals.

“With the Millay garden, we want people to feel as though when they are walking through it, they are discovering new things, rather than walking into something obvious,” said Bradshaw. “We’re looking into working with native vegetation with the potential to produce color year round, so imagine, not just the summer, but being able to walk into the garden through the snow and seeing High Bush cranberries for instance, with all of these bright, shiny berries that attract more birds. I want to design a place where people can contemplate, where ideas flow and which enables you to hear the spirit of the trees.”

Lisa Westkaemper, treasurer of the organization Millay House Rockland, said that while initial sketches are being produced envisioning the elements of the garden, fundraising still needs to be in place before any work can begin.

“As we remove some of the trees, some of the wood will be transformed into sculpture and curved benches, and other organic elements which blend into the setting, all of which have potential for sponsorship,” said Bradshaw. “We’re also considering carving a part of Millay’s poem ‘City Trees’ into a piece of elm as one of the decorative elements. The poem is perfect for this because it is a reflection about how trees still have the same grace in a city as they do in the country.”

“Gardens were very important to Edna St. Vincent Millay,” said Westkaemper. “At Steepletop, a place she cherished for more than 20 years, there were stories about her going outside in the morning in her pajamas and just start gardening, pulling weeds, things like that. Steepletop is actually the name of a plant, a salvia, and we’re hoping to get some of that Steepletop and bring it to this garden as a connection between the two gardens.”

To learn how to donate to the Poetry Garden and other upcoming Millay-centered events visit: visit: Millayhouserockland.org 

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com 

TENANTS HARBOR— Sundays are the only days off for Maine’s lobstermen, but on Sunday, June 10,  a number of them in the Tenants Harbor Fishermans Co-op got right back on their boats to take more than 100 volunteers out to various islands to clean up the trash, debris and broken gear that accumulated on the shoreline.

Luke’s Lobster, a restaurant in Tenants Harbor, joined forces with United By Blue, an outdoor brand focused on ocean conservation based in Philadelphia, to organize the event.

United By Blue’s clean-up crew assembled mini task forces to head out on from Luke’s Lobster Shack on various lobster boats and skiffs to Criehaven and Ellwell Island to haul off the trash. They were  assisted by members of Maine Island Trail Association, Maine Coast Heritage Trust and George's River Land Trust and Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation.

Kelly Offner, United By Blue’s Head of Clean Up, said: “We’ve done other clean ups with the Luke’s Lobster restaurants in New York and Philadelphia, and decided it was time to come up to Maine and do one here. We're both environmentally conscious companies whose missions are inspired by our love for the ocean, so it was a natural fit.”

This is the third annual Tenants Harbor Island Clean Up, sponsored by the Tenants Harbor Fisherman's Co-op, and each year, the event focuses on a different island.

Merritt Carey, general manager of Luke’s Lobster and a board member of the Tenants Harbor Fisherman’s Co-op said: “We picked Criehaven this year because two of our lobstermen fish that territory. And even though it’s not close by—it’s at least an hour by boat just to get there — we wanted to focus on an offshore island this year.”

The amount of trash bags, broken gear, Styrofoam, plastic junk and debris that came back on the boats was astounding — enough to fill up a 30-foot dumpster.

Plastic and Styrofoam is the worst culprit.

“You see a lot of bleach bottles, plastic juice bottles, and nips,” said Offner. “Eighty percent of the trash in the ocean is coming from land. It’s coming from people leaving trash on a beach, or from floods or from the wind pulling bags and bottles into the ocean.

Asked what people can do to improve this problem, Offner said, “Starting small, we’ve got to find a way to eliminate single-use plastic, such as bottles and take-out containers.”

The event held a fun contest: Who could bring back the strangest piece of debris? Items returned included: a coconut “head,” muskrat skull and a whale tail bone.

To reward everyone for their hard work, Luke’s Lobster provided a giant lobster bake with corn, potatoes, beer from Allagash Brewing Co. Green Bee sodas and cookies.

The lobsters were purchased at the Co-op’s discounted rate, while all of the food and drinks was donated for this event.

“We had more volunteers this year than in the last two years, so we went out and picked up 25 more lobsters,” said Carey.

For more information visit: unitedbyblue.com/tenantsharbor  www.lukeslobster.com/cause and tenantsharborfishermanscoop.com

Kay Stephens can be reached atnews@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND— It’s been more than a year since Penobscot Bay Pilot wrote a story on the Millay House Rockland, a modest yellow double house at 198 Broadway titled, A peek inside the Rockland house where Edna St. Vincent Millay was born.

In March 2017, at that time of that story, the Rockland Historical Society, which bought the property the prior year, had formed a committee to oversee the restoration. The double house was in pretty bad shape, still in various stages of disrepair. Through various fundraising efforts, plans were coming together for the house to undergo a complete renovation.

By June 2018, while far from finished, it was evident how much had been done. With the monies raised, Phi Builders had been able to make a decent amount of progress. The clapboards have been replaced and repainted and the side deck and stairs were completely restored.

Last year, the kitchen looked intact, if rundown. Today, the kitchens on both sides of the double house have been gutted down to the studs. Phi Builders did the demolition necessary to build the structure back up and additionally roughed in electric and plumbing.

Lisa Westkaemper, treasurer of Millay House Rockland, said that previous fundraising efforts have gotten the house to this point, but that more fundraising is needed to complete the project. To foster more support, Millay House Rockland will be partnering with a number of organizations to host the second annual city-wide arts and literary festival called Millay Arts and Poetry Festival this fall. They are also open to various rooms of the house being named after sponsors.

Click through our gallery of Before and After photos to view various parts of the renovated house and visit: Millayhouserockland.org for upcoming Millay events and announcements.

All photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST— Tom Seymour, an expert Maine forager, never thought his lifelong interest in scouring fields, forests, riverbeds and shorelines for wild edibles would be interesting to anyone else, but every time he hosts a wild edibles walk, he’s amazed to see how many people show up.

“I think people have realized how far removed we have gotten from the natural world, and there has been a renewed interest in re-connecting to it,” he said, while on a walk  through the meadows and trails of Coastal Mountain Land Trust’s Head of the Tide Preserve in Belfast.

Seymour, a naturalist and author of Wild Plants of Maine, which is among his 13 books, hadn’t taken the River Trail before at the Head of The Tide Preserve. He wanted to scope it out before a public walk and talk he was preparing to give the following day.

A cluster of wild plants adjacent to the parking lot were the first thing he bee-lined for. Squatting down to examine them, he identified several classes of edibles, that to the untrained eye, simply looked like weeds.

“There are an amazing number of edibles you can find along the edges of old gardens,” he said, identifying Wild Evening Primrose, which is a root plant, similar to a carrot. He dug up the roots of the plant with his bare hands to display the whitish tuber attached to it. 

“These are one of the first foods available in the spring, just after the snow melts,” he said. “It’s milder than a carrot, but you cut it lengthwise in an inch or two of water. It’s at its best early spring, when the leaves lie flat. You can even use the leaves in a salad.”

Seymour’s extensive knowledge of wild plants was handed down to him by his grandparents.

“It was the Great Depression; there wasn’t money for food, so you had to be very resourceful,” he said. “You went out and ate what wild plants you could find. But as a kid, I took to it and studied one plant at a time. It’s been my lifelong study.”

Beyond edibles, he pointed out a number of plants that were medicinal and useful, such as a cluster of comfrey growing nearby.

“Comfrey has excellent healing properties,” he explained.”You grind the leaves down into a pulp and use as a poultice on an abrasion or a bruise. Leave that on overnight and usually the next morning, you’ll be on your way to recovery.”

Next to the comfrey was a patch of tall green wavy leaves, which Seymour identified as curled dock: “It’s a great leafy vegetable that you’d simmer as a vegetable stock,” he said. It nutritious weed, rich with iron and vitamins.

“And of course, the common dandelion is everywhere,” said Seymour. “Everybody knows about them. I like them better than fiddleheads. They’re about the most nutritious vitamin-packed wild food you can cook. These, you need to simmer. The leaves and the unopened bud are very good alone. Once the bud opens though, and the blossom comes out, the leaves becomes bitter. In the fall, after a good frost, the leaves once again become unbitter. The blossoms are another good food product. I like dip them in a tempura batter and fry them up–they are the most delicious thing on earth.”

Along the rest of the short hike, Seymour would look around and examine what was just starting to emerge in the late spring, such as wild strawberries indicated by white flowers and three compound leaves. On the River Loop Trail which descends a hill down to the Passagassawakeag River, Seymour was interested to see what he could find along the riverbank, which usually has a number of food sources. He found wild mint (which is much more potent and redolent of menthol than wild mint grown in gardens) which is very good as a tea to soothe stomach upset and fiddleheads, which, when uncurled, are an excellent food source. These had already uncurled into ferns.

Seymour suggested that people who have an interest in foraging start with a guidebook.

“Go over each plant, but if there is even the slightest doubt that something you have in your hand doesn’t match what you are reading and seeing, don’t even try a small piece of it,” he said.

Seymour also does wild mushroom identification walks, along with tidal shore foraging walk and talks. Seymour writes four regular columns and a multitude of features including his popular “Maine Wildlife” for The Maine Sportsman Magazine. To follow him and learn about his next foraging walks and talk on June 9 in Brooksville, Maine visit: Edible and Medicinal Walk

Photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

LINCOLNVILLE — Of the nearly five acres of artist Dudley Zopp’s property, much of it is meadow and bog, surrounded by trees and shrubs — an ordinary sight in Maine when the greenery comes alive.

But, when Zopp, a painter and installation artist for almost 30 years, takes a walk around her land, she’s not just looking at what needs to be pruned back or weeded, she’s looking at what can be painted. Plants and trees about to come into bloom fascinate her.  Working in both oil and watercolor, she paints moody and layered landscapes of trees, bushes, rock formations, oysters and other natural forms that require the viewer to really stand close and contemplate what they are seeing.

CRAFT Gallery in Rockland opened its first show of a selected group exhibition on May 25 with the theme of “Nature as Muse” including five of Zopp’s paintings.

One painting at the show is of a winter ash, a commonplace tree right outside her garage. Zopp said she usually doesn’t have a specific idea for a new painting, more of a flash of an insight that becomes the first layer.

“In this case, however, I was looking for a specific tree,” she said. “I had the basic idea of what I wanted on the canvas, a lone vertical tree, so I walked around outside and found exactly the one I was looking for.”

Her interest in geology and nature is threaded through nearly her entire body of work, with a career spanning back to 1991 in which her work has been exhibited in a number of solo and group exhibitions.

”I wanted to be an artist since I was three years old,” she said.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Zopp graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.A. and M.A. in modern foreign languages, and completed post-graduate studies in drawing and painting at the Hite Art Institute at University of Louisville.

She had visited friends in Maine in the late 1980s and decided to move up to the Midcoast permanently in 1996.

Her work is currently included in the collections of the Portland Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Art Museum, as well as other university and museum collections, nationally.

The home and studio she built in Lincolnville is airy and spacious with clean, white lines. The studio is cavernous, approximately 1,000 square feet and filled with easels, brushes, books and canvases, including an area for a work bench, a storage area and multiple work tables on casters she can move around for various projects.

Many wonder what it is like to be a professional artist; the common misconception is that the lifestyle is easy, hardly requiring any work or only creating when inspiration hits. In fact, Zopp’s process is very methodical. 

“There are a couple of things people are surprised to find out when they ask me about what I do,” she said. “One, is that I have to keep a regular schedule and set goals, which is something a lot of self-employed people can relate to.  You don’t wait until you feel inspired. I always have something in my head that I need to work on. Sometimes, I’ll sweep the entire studio, just to clear my head, before I get going. And the other misconception is that it’s easy to put together a painting. You have to put the time into it. You never quite get what you hope for in your mind as far as the finished painting goes. each one has layers and layers upon it; days and days of time into it. Days of letting it dry in between layers and days of looking at it to see if it is truly ‘done.’”

It can take weeks for a painting to fully develop as she works in layers, editing, adding, subtracting as she goes. Fall and winter are the times for creation. Spring and summer are busy while Zopp prepares for shows and ships paintings out.

And then, there is the pruning back, the weeding, the common gardening work to be done in the summer; yes, she still has to do that in order to truly see the flow and movement of what needs to be captured on canvas.

Zopp’s work and the other artists of CRAFT Gallery will have their exhibition “Nature as Muse” up until June 30.

For more information visit: dudleyzopp.com

Photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — Bell The Cat, a popular breakfast and lunch spot that used to be located at the plaza on Starrett Drive in Belfast has moved to the building on Belmont Avenue that once housed Pizza Hut.

Not only has the restaurant gotten a new, prominent location, the building has been completely renovated.

With stylish seating out on the deck and a contemporary decor transforming the interior, Bell The Cat looks like a completely different restaurant. Owner JoJo Oliphant, who purchased the restaurant nearly three years ago, saw the opportunity to purchase the building as well once Pizza Hut vacated. 

“I wanted to have a restaurant to own and not just rent anymore,” Oliphant said. 

He’d always been interested in the restaurant industry, even in high school.

“I wanted to go into hotel and restaurant management in college, but the University of Maine didn’t offer that track, so I got my degree in business,” he said.

Prior to owning Bell The Cat, he ran a popcorn business and sold at concerts and festivals.

The new space makes sense on numerous levels.

“At the old location, we had limited parking and had to share 15-20 spots,” he said. “Here, we have more than 40 parking spots.and the space is larger with a capacity of 85 inside with 24 seats outside whereas the old location could only host 66 seats.”

It took two-and-a-half months to completely restyle the interior with glossy concrete floors, live edge wood countertops, wood-and-stainless steel booths and industrial-chic lighting. Digital menus are prominently displayed over the order counter

“It’s been a great transformation and when people walk in here, they love it,” said Oliphant. “Our business has definitely picked up. People are actually surprised how contemporary it looks.”

And the decor is not the only thing that has transformed. When it originally opened in 1994, Bell The Cat was primarily known as a homemade sandwich spot. Oliphant has expanded the menu to include a breakfast starting at 6:30 a.m., more lunch options and even staying open for dinner hours until 7 p.m. 

“At our old location, we were only able to offer breakfast sandwiches, because we were somewhat limited with what we had,” he said. “We now offer a full breakfast with eggs any style, sausage and gravy, pancakes, omelettes, a New England red flannel hash and chicken and waffles.”

The extensive sandwich menu uses Maine-made Borealis Bread with imaginative recipes such as Ducktrap Smoked Salmon, a Crispy Procsciutto Panini and a Spicy Black Bean Veggie Burger. The menu also includes a wide variety of salads, daily soups, a kids’ menu and even dessert.

Since purchasing the business, he has always tried to source as much as they could locally.

“People support me, so I will support them,” he said.

Oliphant, who not only works the front of the house, also pitches in to cook, when needed.  Currently the restaurant is processing the paperwork to get a beer and wine license.

“So, eventually, you can have a Mimosa with your breakfast,” he said.

They will also make use of outdoor seating for a happy hour crowd.

For more information on Bell The Cat, visit: bellthecatinc.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN— The outdoor lover’s perfect Happy Hour just started at Camden Snow Bowl on Wednesdays this summer. Picture a free bike ride courtesy Sidecountry Sports, then after, sipping a cold one and having a great bite to eat at a serene, quiet spot on the spacious deck with views of Ragged Mountain.

This summer, Camden Snow Bowl has teamed up with its official concession stand, Big T Snack Shack, to offer light snacks, cold beers and ciders each Wednesday evening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Not only that, but Sidecountry Sports, which is to be contracted to be the Snow Bowl’s year-round mountain ski and bike vendor, is offering free bike rides from beginning to expert levels, starting at 5:30 p.m.

“We started this last year with a women’s beginner ride and it just took off,” said Sidecountry Sports’ co-owner Andrew Dailey. “The weekly ride expanded to both men and women after that. We take people on the trails at the Camden Snow Bowl based on their experience level with a ride leader and a sweeper.  The regular mountain bikers go off and do their own thing.”

Dailey said since they began this meet-up in May, it has averaged around 50 people, depending on weather, with roughly 70 percent men and 30 percent women. With 18 bikes available to beginners, there are multiple opportunities for people to practice using a mountain or fat tire bike, as well as owners of new bikes to fine tune their trail techniques. He said the ride is intended primarily for adults or experienced teens, but that starting June 18, Sidecountry Sports be offering youth ride demos.

Dailey said approximately 80 kids have already signed up for that ride.

“This isn’t just for the bikers and hikers,” said Mark Senders, owner of Big T Snack Shack, Camden Snow Bowl’s official food concession, which fires up at around 6 p.m. when many of the bikers are just coming in from the trails. “We want everyone to feel like they can swing by and enjoy the outdoors and Baxter on draft and canned beers and cider, along with a small plate menu, which, we will switch up week to week.”

One week, the menu might offer made-to-order quesadillas and fresh chips and salsa. Another week, it might offer chicken sandwiches, burgers, and veggie burgers.

It’s also an ideal ‘Mountain Hour’ for people hike, kayak or paddle on nearby Hosmer Pond or who just want to wear shorts and t-shirts to Happy Hour, and take in the fresh air and great views.

Senders said they’ll be out on the deck with the portable grill on sunny days; likely not when it’s raining, unless there is a demand, and then they’ll move back to the indoor kitchen.

For more information on the weekly rides, visit Sidecountry Sports Events page or stay tuned to their Facebook page for weather updates.

Related: Camden Snow Bowl to contract with Sidecounty Sports for mountainside ski and bike business

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — Over the winter, Belfast shuffled around numerous locations of current businesses, sort of like players on a giant Monopoly Board.  Zach Schmesser, Executive Director of Our Town Belfast, Inc. said: “Back, when I was living in Waldo county going to Unity College, half of Belfast’s storefronts were empty. Now, every location in town is filled and when a space open up, there are usually seven or eight businesses interested in trying to get into that location.”

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

What has moved

Out on a Whimsey Toys

In what Our Town Belfast called a “grand spring cleaning effort” as multiple storefronts had “Moving” signs posted in the empty windows, the most prominent change in town was to the Masonic Building on the corner of Maine and High streets as plastic tarps concealed what was going inside the dramatic corner space over the course of the winter. Out on a Whimsey Toys, the largest toy store in the Midcoast, moved a few storefronts down into the 2,200 square foot space, doubling the store’s current footprint. “They did a magnificent renovation to that building,” said Schmesser. And we recently profiled their re-opening in our recent Penobscot Bay story.

Heavenly Yarns

Not only did this business change locations from its basement location on Main Street into the storefront formerly occupied by Out on a Whimsey Toys, but they also changed their business name to Heavenly Yarns. Store owner Helen Sahadi told Our Town Belfast that nothing will change about the stores’ offerings and affordability except for maybe some more elbow room.

Permanent Expressions Tattoo

Also leaving a basement location on Main Street, the tattoo shop got a prominent new space (formerly next to the old yarn shop) above Alexia’s Pizza with dramatic renovations to the second floor space. See our recent story on them: “What’s black and white and red all over?”

Bella Books

The bookstore has also moved from High Street and is currently renovating a new space at 33 Pendleton Lane, next to Cold Mountain Builders with the intent to open up in the spring. A new cooperative Gallery, Local Color Gallery, cut the ribbon on its new space on Tuesday May 1.

Sail Locker

Across the street on High Street, The Sail Locker is moving to a space down on lower Maine adjacent to the Epoch store and is now re-opened.

Harbor Artisans

Epoch is now gone and in its place, Harbor Artisans, a co-op of more than 60 artists has found a new home once again after a three-year absence from Main Street. They plan to hold their grand re-opening on the Belfast First Friday Artwalk May 25.

Alder and Vine

Alder and Vine, the witchy oddities store, that occupied the triangular tiny space on Beaver Street, will in turn, will be taking the Sail Locker space and opened on Friday the 13th of April. See our recent story on them here. The space vacated by Alder and Vine is now occupied by Rachel Epperly photography with a ribbon cutting on Friday at 5 p.m.

What has closed

Bagel Cafe

Mark Senders, owner of the Bagel Cafe franchise, has decided to close its 159 High Street location in order to concentrate on his Camden location and the Big T Snack Shack, his on-site breakfast and lunch restaurant operating out of the Camden Snow Bowl.

Rachel DeLong and Epoch shops on lower Main have announced they will be closing. Nautical Scribe Books on Church Street has also announced it is closing up shop.

What is for sale

The Chocolate Drop Candy Shop is currently for sale and the turnkey business is all set for someone to jump behind the counter.

What is new

Front Street Shipyards, according to city hall, will be breaking ground on a new building this summer by the waterfront.

“Right now, the Belfast waterfront is very accessible with a number of restaurants, a brewery, the footbridge and the Harbor Walk Trail and I think there is definitely a desire to keep that access,” said Schmesser. “ And I think there’s a lot of attention being paid to that final piece of land on the water in terms of thoughtful development that will benefit the citizens of Belfast.”

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

Every once in awhile, Penobscot Bay Pilot does a round up on a few breweries popping up in the Midcoast, but in the nearly six years that we’ve been around, the craft brew scene has exploded. The word is there are nearly 16 new breweries opening statewide this summer and seven of them are in the Midcoast.

Let’s recap:

The Pour Farm Brewery

Location: Crawfordsburn Road, Union

Days/Times: Visit their Facebook page

Mood: Bill Stinson and his wife, Ashley, have a stately farm in Union on 10 acres and plan to open a nanobrewery with small batches, six taps and three or four standard offerings, with an additional two experimental or rotating beers on tap at a given time. Indoor bar and seating area will be complemented by outdoor picnic tables and seating. See our Penobscot Bay Pilot story here.

Blaze Brewing Co.

Location: 5 Bayview Street, Camden, Maine

Days/Times: Visit their Facebook page

Mood: This upscale brewery located right on the harbor will open in tandem with Kurafuto, a counter-service izakaya, or Japanese-style pub. Blaze Brewing Co. has a dramatic glass-enclosed production space on the second floor with four stainless steel fermentation tanks visible and will kick off its first season with four to five American style brews on June 1. See our Penobscot Bay Pilot story here. 

Liberator Brewing Co.

Location: 218 Main Street, Rockland

Days/Times: Visit their Facebook page

Mood: Based in the quieter side of South Rockland, this Midcoast Maine sustainable nanobrewery will be offering unique hand-crafted ales and lagers, serving local wines and light fare.  Rich Ruggerio, who has been in the craft brewing business since 1989, named his new brewery as a tribute to his father a pilot who flew a B24 Liberator Bomber during WW II. See our Penobscot Bay Pilot story here.

Odd Alewives Farm Brewery

Location: 99 Old Route One, Waldoboro

Days/Times: Visit their Facebook page

Mood: A rural, secluded area in Waldoboro is the home of husband and wife John and Sarah McNeil who wanted to combine their talents as brewers, farmers, and artists. Their newly renovated 1850s barn, which now houses the brewery and tasting room, is surrounded by 22+ acres of gardens and forest and offers visitors a beautiful,quiet setting to gather and celebrate. A formal grand opening is set for June. See Penobscot Bay Pilot’s story here.

North Haven Brewing Co.

Location: Calderwood Hall, Island of North Haven

Days/Times: Visit their website

Mood: North Haven siblings Ben Lovell and Liz Lovell along with Ben’s best friend Jesse Davisson, a boat captain and fisherman, decided to take their love of home brewing on the island into a business venture. Only a ferry trip away, this is the perfect day trip on a summer day. See Penobscot Bay Pilot’s story here.

Bath Brewing Co.

Location: 141 Front Street, Bath, Maine

Days/Times: Visit their Facebook page

Mood: This community-driven brew pub situated on the banks of the Kennebec River in downtown Bath, opened in February. It  is a modern pub fare with a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere. Their in-house brewery (slated for opening in late spring 2018) will highlight a selection of English-style craft ales and hop-forward IPAs.

Moderation Brewing Co.

Location: 103 Main Street, Brunswick

Days/Times: Visit their Facebook page

Mood: Moderation Brewing opened in March 2018 in downtown Brunswick. Started by two Brunswick natives, Mattie Daughtry and Philip Welsh, the pair are passionate about crafting beer fresh, locally made and sourced craft brews in a variety of styles with a rotating line up of six beers on tap.With a nod to the days of Prohibition, Moderation is the kind of neighborhood gathering place for or freshly brewed beer and conversation. During the summer they will have outdoor seating and a beer garden out back

And don’t forget all of our established breweries in the Midcoast for your summer beercation!

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BOOTHBAY— If it’s rain, clouds or sunshine this weekend, it doesn’t matter. Mainers will be able to get into Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay for free this Saturday through Monday, May 26-28, the only time this perk is offered during the year.

“We know that it is sometimes hard to be a tourist in your own state, so we wanted to give everyone the opportunity to explore the great resource that we have here in Boothbay,” said Marketing Director Kris Folsom. “We sometimes take for granted what we have and don’t always take time to enjoy the places that people from all over the world come here for. We offer Maine Days to remind people to come in for free and experience the gardens before the busy season hits.”

A little history: The botanical gardens started as a grassroots project with a number of Midcoast founders putting their homes up for collateral in order to buy 128 acres and tidal shore in Boothbay. They spent 16 years to plan, plant and and build upon the pristine land in 1996.

They opened Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens to the public in 1997 and in the following years, they’ve managed to acquire more tidal shoreland, bringing the total number of acres currently to 295.

Folsom said that children and teens often the ones motivating their parents to come on Maine Days, rather than the other way around. “Actually, a lot of kids introduce the gardens to their parents,” she said. “We have a lot of school groups that come through all year. Then, the kids come home and share with their parents how much they enjoyed it and want to take their parents back to see it on Maine Days.”

Folsom said there are a number of new highlights that visitors will enjoy this season. “We have a brand new Visitor’s Center this year and from there, a new bridge has been built to get to gardens. We are still in the process of creating the gardens around the Visitor’s Center, but they will be our largest garden to date.”

Something new that will enchant everyone this year: a new indoor butterfly garden. “We are in the process of putting up the butterfly house to open June 1 and while it won’t be open yet for Maine Days, people will be able to get a sneak peek and look from the windows inside,” said Folsom. “We are just starting to have all stages of butterflies and witnessed butterflies laying eggs within the house this week.”

Memorial Day Weekend is historically the kick off to summer.

“Right now the temperatures are looking great for this weekend,” she said. “We’re not sure if it will rain; but we’re Mainers. We get our raincoat and boots on and we know how to spend time outside.”

“People get tons of inspiration for their own gardens walking through here,” she said. “ And the plants are beginning to fill in with the hardscape. You’ll also see how water features can be integrated into the garden. One of the most frequent comments I hear is ‘I would have never thought to put those two colors together.’”

This weekend, Folsom said the tulips, hyacinth and Iris are at peak bloom, but visitors can also expect to see narcissus/daffodils, magnolia, rhododendron, and Azalea in peak bloom, among others.

To check out in real time what flowers and plants will be at their peak when you visit, check out their blog: florafind.mainegardens.org/ecmweb/FindFlowersMobile1.html

For more information about the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens visit: mainegardens.org

To gain free entry, visitor's must produce a valid Maine driver’s licenses or ID.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — Campers and hikers have long relied on civilian MREs, the military term for Meals Ready to Eat, those self-contained, individual field rations in lightweight packaging. But, as anyone who has ever ripped open a pouch of Chili Mac can attest, there’s the good, the bad and the unpalatable.

And then, there’s the superb.

The Maine Meal, based in Skowhegan, is a company producing all-natural, gourmet recipes made by chef Mark LaCasse. Sourcing from local farmers and fishermen, including from his fellow vendors at the Belfast Farmer’s Market, LaCasse’s  boil-in-a-bag soups, pastas, stews and meals are all crafted in his commercial kitchen before he places them in BPA-free food grade bags and vacuum seals them before freezing them.

Mark grew up in Skowhegan, cooking with his grandmother, where he developed a love for the art of cooking. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 2007, Mark and his wife, Kelly, also a local food advocate, moved to Nicaragua to run an eco-resort together.

“I ran the kitchen and Kelly ran the resort, but when we had a child, we knew it was time to move back to Maine,” said Mark.

With a young child, the LaCasses were not interested in working long hours at a restaurant at that point.

“You need to work nights, weekends, and holidays to run a successful restaurant, which we enjoyed when we were younger, but we wanted to spend more time with our family, so a friend suggested that I make prepared meals,” said Mark. “I looked into it and there wasn’t much going on in Maine in that area, so I decided to start The Maine Meal in 2012.”

Monday through Wednesday, Mark preps all of the meals in his commercial kitchen inside a building in Skowhegan that actually used to be his grandmother’s restaurant. Thursday through Saturday, he travels to a number of farmer’s markets all over Maine and sells his products directly to the consumer.

The Maine Meal’s haddock chowder and squash apple bisque are two of his biggest sellers.

“I use high quality ingredients that we source from a number of Maine farmers and fishermen, and these are all my original recipes I’ve worked on for years,” he said.

Take the braised beef chuck: Locally raised beef is slow cooked for six hours and served in a cabernet sauvignon demi glace, topped with caramelized local onions and sauteed wild mushrooms. It’s a gourmet meal in a bag. Several recipes are also vegetarian, vegan and gluten free, such as such as a Cilantro Bean soup or a Garden Vegetable chili.

For one person, the portion size is hearty and costs $11 a meal. This is not only great for individual hikers, campers and boaters, but it is also an excellent option for homebound seniors, who only need to pop a bag in boiling water for 15 minutes and it’s ready.

LaCasse is also offering a Gourmet Meals CSA-membership in Maine that delivers a certain amount of product directly to the consumer’s home. For example, with a $50-$200 membership, (which can be monthly, every three months or six months) all one has to do is choose the products on the website, and they will be shipped in a reusable cooler to the recipient’s door.

The LaCasses’ entrepreneurial effort not only helps to support and sustains Maine’s food economy, but they are also are working on scaling up and offering collaborative workforce development opportunities in their community.

“Like many people in rural towns in Maine, we have been through a lot and this area is working hard to make sure all members of our community have the opportunity to thrive,” he said. “If we can be a small part of that — mission accomplished.”

Check out their website to see where you can pick up The Maine Meal locally.

Related: A ‘Gem’ of a natural, locally-made treat for outdoor enthusiasts

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BOOTHBAY— If it’s rain, clouds or sunshine this weekend, it doesn’t matter. Mainers will be able to get into Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay for free this Saturday through Monday, May 26-28, the only time this perk is offered during the year.

“We know that it is sometimes hard to be a tourist in your own state, so we wanted to give everyone the opportunity to explore the great resource that we have here in Boothbay,” said Marketing Director Kris Folsom. “We sometimes take for granted what we have and don’t always take time to enjoy the places that people from all over the world come here for. We offer Maine Days to remind people to come in for free and experience the gardens before the busy season hits.”

A little history: The botanical gardens started as a grassroots project with a number of Midcoast founders putting their homes up for collateral in order to buy 128 acres and tidal shore in Boothbay. They spent 16 years to plan, plant and and build upon the pristine land in 1996.

They opened Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens to the public in 1997 and in the following years, they’ve managed to acquire more tidal shoreland, bringing the total number of acres currently to 295.

Folsom said that children and teens often the ones motivating their parents to come on Maine Days, rather than the other way around. “Actually, a lot of kids introduce the gardens to their parents,” she said. “We have a lot of school groups that come through all year. Then, the kids come home and share with their parents how much they enjoyed it and want to take their parents back to see it on Maine Days.”

Folsom said there are a number of new highlights that visitors will enjoy this season. “We have a brand new Visitor’s Center this year and from there, a new bridge has been built to get to gardens. We are still in the process of creating the gardens around the Visitor’s Center, but they will be our largest garden to date.”

Something new that will enchant everyone this year: a new indoor butterfly garden. “We are in the process of putting up the butterfly house to open June 1 and while it won’t be open yet for Maine Days, people will be able to get a sneak peek and look from the windows inside,” said Folsom. “We are just starting to have all stages of butterflies and witnessed butterflies laying eggs within the house this week.”

Memorial Day Weekend is historically the kick off to summer.

“Right now the temperatures are looking great for this weekend,” she said. “We’re not sure if it will rain; but we’re Mainers. We get our raincoat and boots on and we know how to spend time outside.”

“People get tons of inspiration for their own gardens walking through here,” she said. “ And the plants are beginning to fill in with the hardscape. You’ll also see how water features can be integrated into the garden. One of the most frequent comments I hear is ‘I would have never thought to put those two colors together.’”

This weekend, Folsom said the tulips, hyacinth and Iris are at peak bloom, but visitors can also expect to see narcissus/daffodils, magnolia, rhododendron, and Azalea in peak bloom, among others.

To check out in real time what flowers and plants will be at their peak when you visit, check out their blog: florafind.mainegardens.org/ecmweb/FindFlowersMobile1.html

For more information about the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens visit: mainegardens.org

To gain free entry, visitor's must produce a valid Maine driver’s licenses or ID.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — Forest Audio, a 16-track music production studio on the back side of the candy-striped building on 9 Field Street, has only been in existence for a little more than a year, but, local musicians already like the sound of it.

Steve Chiasson, a singer-songwriter and musician, just wanted to create a comfortable, welcoming studio space, not just for musicians, but also for storytellers, audio book production and really, any creative enterprise requiring an audio recording.

“My own interest in the recording side of this goes back to the Beatles,” he said. “I first started to get interested in music in the early 1960s. I’d played guitar and sang in high school and college bands. As I got older, I played with a lot of bands, including an acoustic band called Evergreen for 20 years. The recording piece of it was an outgrowth of that because everybody always want to record their music.”

The basement space overlooking the bay used to be a storefront. In order to turn into a proper studio, Chiasson had to tear out a portion of the wall, install windows between the recording area and the mixing area and provide soundproofing materials all along the walls.

Chiasson first got interested in the four-track reel-to-reel recording equipment in the 1970s then began recording with tape-based system with a mic and a cheap mixer in the 1980s. With the changes in technology over the last 40 years, and with digital multi-track recording systems now available, he now has a top-notch recording studio with the latest equipment, gear, hardware and software. The collection and studio space has the capability of producing a sound one would expect from a state-of-the-art production facility. The studio is also equipped with a number of instruments to enhance the sound.

"My job is to capture whatever it is they do," he said.

Recently, he has recorded projects for Rockland rocker Vicky Andres, bluegrass band Miners Creek, Camden singer-songwriter David Dodson, alt-folk duo Cantankerous, among others.

But, Chiasson’s approach is not just geared to the professional musician. This business is his hobby and his interest is in giving amateur performers a comfortable space, where they won’t be intimidated. To illustrate an example, he played back a recording of a teacher and her seven-year-old student playing guitar and singing, just for fun. He’d invited them into the studio to lay down a track and they enjoyed the experience.

To make it even easier on people, he even offers a free two-hour slot for first-time clients, and subsequently only charges $20 an hour.

“My prices are really low,” he said. “If I can just pay the rent and have fun, while giving people a professional recording, that’s what it is all about.”

To that end, some artists can record at home just using an iPhone, if they prefer. Chiasson can then clean up the audio, layer it, and professionally mix it in his studio as he recently did with a self-published author who wanted to amplify an audio book recording she’d done at home. Chiasson helped her find the right ethereal background music for her fantasy novel to accompany the audio book.

“You don’t even have to be a musician to use the space,” he said. “If the whole family wanted to get together and sing Happy Birthday in the studio to their grandma, that’s what it is here for.”

For more information visit: mainemusic.me

Related story: Welcome back to Belfast Snowbats 2018!

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—More than 60 artists and 18 members of Belfast Harbor Artisans have, once again, found a home on 69 Main Street in Belfast.

After their lease ran out three years ago across the street, the artist cooperative found themselves without a gallery.

“We have been looking for a space ever since,” said Nancy Davies Tang, the cooperative’s spokesperson.

“We were very happy to find this spot,” said Lou Davies-James, one of the members. “We couldn’t be any more thrilled to be back. Belfast is a great location for foot traffic and is a great town.”

Davies-James, who makes altered arts was working with fellow member Karen Lannon, of Maine Sea Creations, late last week to put up shelving and organize the the space before it opens.

It has taken close to two months to renovate the space, with the help of the co-op’s artists and members.

“It was very dark in here,” said Davies-James. “The floors were nearly black. And the walls were this off-white that needed to be repainted. We also had to remove two of the walls to let in more light.”

Formerly the site of the Epoch store, the long narrow interior was painted with bright white on the tin-type ceiling and walls and aqua blue-green on the wood floors. The same color scheme is repeated on the storefront and front doors.

“We were going for a coastal theme,” said Davies Tang.

“Everyone chipped in where they could,” said Davies-James. “Some assisted with the painting and construction, while others had skill sets more around marketing and advertising.”

Davies-Tang said the Belfast Harbor Artisans  has been in existence at least 15 years and the entire cooperative, which includes the Harbor Artisans in Southwest Harbor, has been around for 32 years.

There is still a lot of work to be done, but they will be ready for the grand reopening, and ribbon cutting, on May 25 at 10 a.m. As it is also Belfast Friday Art Walk that day, they will kick off the celebrations at 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. and will have refreshments and artists on hand to meet and greet.

All work is made in Maine by full-time Maine residents. The shop will be open daily until Dec. 29 (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas days). Hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays, open to 8 p.m. on Belfast Friday Art Walks.

For more information, visit their Facebook page.

Related story: Welcome back to Belfast Snowbats 2018!

Photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — Mark Senders, new owner of the Francine Bistro building on 55 Chestnut Street in Camden, has a long association with the former restaurant run by chef Brian Hill. 

Senders, who is current owner of The Bagel Café on 25 Mechanic Street in Camden and the Big T Snack Shack operating part-time out of the Camden Snow Bowl’s concession area, recently purchased the building from the Lookner family. He is seeking a new tenant for the former restaurant.

“I had a long history with Leonard Lookner and with Francine Bistro under Brian Hill,” he said. “In the last 10 years, I’d worked at Peter Otts, then left to work for Brian at Francine with the vision of helping open Shepherd’s Pie in Rockport. Once we opened that, I worked at Shepherd’s Pie for under four years. Then, my wife and I purchased the Bagel Café. After we had a little girl, we needed to switch up to a day-time schedule because working long nights in a kitchen was no longer an option. So, now we’re on our fifth summer at the Bagel Café and it is going great.”

With his current workload, he chose not to open a new restaurant himself in the location; instead, he is planning to offer it to a year-round restaurateur tenant, who would put his or her stamp on the iconic Camden location.

Hills had closed Francine permanently last fall and departed from Camden.

“The niche that Francine provided was something really needed in our community,” said Senders. “It’s a nice, small, locally-centered restaurant, which would be manageable by a chef-owned operator. I don’t have any pre-conceived ideas what a chef should do with the place, but I’m really hoping word of mouth reaches the right person. I’d like to see it rented by someone who lives locally and wants to operate an evening restaurant year-round. I’m not trying to get anyone to duplicate what [Hill] did, but a good, small restaurant is really needed in this area.”

Senders has worked on some renovations to the restaurant space to get it ready for a new tenant, including ripping up the kitchen floor, installing new plumbing and laying down a new concrete sub floor.

“We’re getting everything ready so it will be solid and worry-free for the next 20 years,” he said.

Having graduated from the New England Culinary School in 2000, Senders has spent 19 years as a chef in the Camden area, where he and his wife, Becky Neves, grew up. To consolidate his efforts, Senders recently closed the Belfast Bagel Café location to concentrate running the Camden location as well as a new summer Big T Snack Shack hours at the Camden Snow Bowl with several Maine brews and ciders, as well as a light snack menu on Mondays and Wednesday nights starting at 6 p.m. with mountain bike demos run by Side Country Sports. 

Penobscot Bay Pilot will update this story when a tenant for the location has been found.

Related: Young Camden couple buys Bagel Café; aims for good food, casual ambiance

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — The roll out for the Camden location of Blaze Brewing Co. is right on schedule for a June opening. Maine restaurateur Matt Haskell took the winter to fine tune plans for the new microbewery, which is sandwiched between his two restaurants, Hoxbill, a casual fine dining restaurant overlooking the harbor on Bay View Landing and their soon-to-open Japanese counter-service izakaya, or pub, called Kurafuto. Joined in the center is the dramatic glass-enclosed microbrewery production room on the second floor with four stainless steel fermentation tanks visible from the first floor.

“Since we got started late in the season last September, the brewmasters and I had some time to decide which direction to go with the equipment,” said Haskell. “We were going to start with a smaller brew system than this, but knew when we started producing, we’d have to upgrade at some point, so we decided to do it all at the same time.”

According to Haskell, Blaze Brewing Co. is working to open in two locations, one near the Bangor near the waterfront concert stage as a pizza-brewery and one in Camden.

Shaun McNaulty is Blaze Brewing Co’s head brewmaster at the Camden location. Having worked his way up from home brewing to working for Geary’s and most recently, Funky Bow Brewery, McNaulty recently moved to Camden to work for Blaze Brewing Co.

Blaze plans to open with mainly American-style brews on tap. 

"We're going to start with a Double IPA, a Ginger Witbier, a more sessionable Hoppy IPA, and a Saison,” said McNaulty. “And, we’re planning to use as many local and Maine-made products as possible.”

Haskell added that he’d recently purchased 18 acres in Blue Hill and has planted an orchard on the land.

 “When those trees begin to produce, we’ll be sourcing local organic fruits for our beers,” said Haskell.

With most microbreweries functioning as beer-only tasting rooms, Haskell’s plan with Kurafuto is to provide Blaze Brewery’s beer as part of its counter service (with growlers to go) while providing Japanese small plates, noodles, sushi, and sashimi.

“We’re working on a hybrid concept, where downstairs at Kurafuto still operates as a brew pub, but with good food and outside seating,” said Haskell. “As we get going, we’re also going to be offering guest tap lines from other breweries, as well.”

Right now, Haskell is concerned with providing enough beer to his own restaurants and bars, which include his two Camden restaurants, his Bangor restaurant, Blaze, a wood-fired gastropub as well as Finback Alehouse in Bar Harbor.

“If we have enough supply, once we increase productions, we’ll get into producing small batches to keg up,” he said.

“We’re working on doing some styles that aren’t usually done.” said Haskell. “Shaun and I really like Belgian styles and sour beers. My favorite breweries are Allagash and Oxbow.” 

He said his Bangor Brewer and Brewery Operations Manager Tim Wilson likes clean and traditional beers like IPAs, which will also be reflected on their beer menu.

Plans are in place for a June 1 opening. Stay tuned to their Facebook page for more information.

Related story

 Camden gets a new microbrewery, restaurant and Japanese pub all in one

Photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — For outdoor enthusiasts, the Midcoast is a playground of mountains, lakes, rivers, forest and the ocean. However, not everybody has experienced it. Perhaps, it’s because they didn’t have the right equipment, didn’t know where to go, or thought that adventure day tripping was only something tourists did. 

A new Camden-based business is poised to introduce this outdoor world to all. On June 1, entrepreneur Ali Farrell is set to launch Wanderlust Camden, a Maine adventure guide to local areas, in which, she and her team of Registered Maine Guides, will provide the equipment and knowledge, and lead participants on adventures in the Midcoast.

Picture kayaking or paddle boarding to a lighthouse; island hopping; island yoga; hiking; a kayak trip that ends in a lobster/clam bake—these are only a few of the ideas Farrell has in her menu of services.

Having grown up in both Camden and in the Boston area most of her life, Farrell was ready to leave her Boston job in real estate and pursue her own wanderlust.

"I moved up here two years ago permanently, and after working as a photographer, I realized starting an outdoor adventure company is what I really wanted to do," she said. "I have always had an urge to explore this area and community has always been special to me. Real estate was super cutthroat in Boston, and after 10 years of it, I realized to be genuinely happy I'd have to completely revamp my lifestyle. This community is exactly where I want to be."

Unlike traditional adventure tour companies, Farrell is also adding a beer and wine tasting element to her services, pairing up with local brewers and vinters. Say one item on your bucket list this summer would be to choose an island, find a boat to transport you, then show up and have the beverages all ready for you and friends. Farrell has the connections and coordinates with marine transport to make it happen.

With a fleet of kayaks, paddleboards and giant inflatables (such as a five-person unicorn!) in a nearby storage area, she and her team will be able to bring equipment to various Midcoast locations, including the ocean launch just at the end of Sea Street. “Within a certain distance, we’ll be able to come meet people wherever they are staying,” she said. “We want to make it easy on people.”

Farrell is excited to be a positive influence in the community, teaming up with all local businesses for various aspects of the adventures including food, beverages, and artists. 

“We want to make this more of an experience for people, rather than it just be a straight equipment rental,” said Farrell. “We want this to be something they will talk about the rest of their life.”

For more information visit: wanderlustcamden.com

All photos courtesy Ali Farrell/Wanderlust Camden

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT— Want an easy early morning or after-work blast of nature, but don’t want the sweat or the black flies? Erickson Fields Preserve, tucked off Route 90 in Rockport, is a serene trail through a former dairy farm. Right now, there are a few wildflowers blooming beside the trail’s streams and ferns unfurling. The flat, even trail makes for a great, meditative walk or the perfect trail run.

The Layout

This family-friendly and dog-friendly 1.4-mile trail loops through fields and forest. Along the route, there are fitness stations where walkers can stop for additional workouts. There are also bird-identification signs along the way, where one might see pileated woodpeckers,  warblers, thrushes, sparrows and hummingbirds, to name a few.

History

A dairy farm for many generations, the Erickson family stopped farming the land in the 1980s. At that point, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, in partnership with Maine Farmland Trust started working with the family to preserve the farm property for the public to use forever.

What Makes It Unique

Starting in May, the Preserve offers a Kids Can Grow program, which is a five-session course once a month from May through September, where families can learn about growing vegetables using the square foot gardening method. Community garden plots are also available for people who need space can grow for themselves or for Maine Harvest for Hunger.

How To Get There

From the junction of Route 1 and Route 90 in Rockport, follow Route 90 west and drive approximately three tenths of a mile. After passing the Market Basket, several houses and a short stretch of woods, Erickson Fields Preserve is on your left, across from Cross Street.

For more information visit: Maine Coast Trust Heritage’s website.

Related story

Beach to Beech 5K runners inaugurate Erickson Field's Connector Trail

Photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

SEARSPORT — What exactly is a vernal pool?  The definition of vernal is something that happens in spring and a pool is fairly evident, but the words put together, and it becomes somewhat enchanting, for it means an ephemeral pool or shallow pond that provides a habitat for certain creatures in the spring before it dries out in the summer.

On Wednesday, May 9, nearly a dozen people gathered at Sears Island to check out a vernal pool with Dr. Aram Calhoun, Professor of Wetlands Ecology at UMaine Orono and Dr. Kristine Hoffmann, a herpetologist and blue spotted salamander expert. The free walk and demonstration was hosted by Friends of Sears Island.

At first glance, a shallow pool of water in the woods seems like no big deal — but that’s looking at it with adult eyes. You need to squat down at the edge of the pool like when you were a kid, and really look at what’s in it.

At a vernal pool on Sears Island, Calhoun and Hoffmann started to slosh around in the shallow water to see what they could collect and came back with globs of what looked like clear jelly. These, were in fact, Spotted Salamander egg masses with some of the embryos still growing inside. With a dip net, they also collected tadpoles, explaining that it was already too late in the season to see any wood frog egg masses. 

Wood frog egg masses looks like lumpy clear, tapioca and contain 800-1,000 eggs, which develop for roughly 20 days, dependent upon temperature. Tadpoles stay in the water for 80 to 115 days, and then emerge in July and August. By the time the group arrived at this vernal pool, the eggs had already hatched and the tadpoles swimming around were about the size of a baby’s fingernail.

Calhoun and Hoffmann encouraged the group to look under logs and squishy forest leaf litter, and some of the participants came back with their own discoveries: a tiny red-backed salamander and a caddisfly, which predates on the egg masses.

Other tiny creatures that live in vernal pools (that weren’t seen on that walk) include fairy shrimp, (orangeish crustaceans) and pupating mosquitoes, wood frogs, and the rare and elusive blue-spotted salamander. Once the group had the chance to examine the creatures, they were instructed to go put everything back where they found it.

Anyone can go at any time and check out the vernal pools at Sears Island. To get to the spot where Calhoun and Hoffmann took the group, simply take the first left as you walk into the island on the Homestead Trail until you reach a “bridge” on the muddy path of double logs. You’ll start to see a water mass on your right within the reeds and brush. At the very end of those logs, hang a sharp right and walk about 200 feet. Merryspring Nature Center also has a vernal pool which is in an abandoned Rockland-Rockport Lime Company quarry hole. In early spring, you may hear the “quacking” of wood frogs as they make their mating calls and in later spring, wood frog tadpoles and spotted salamander larvae hatch from their eggs.

For more information on what you can find in a vernal pool visit:  and vernalpools.me and  maine.gov/dep/land/nrpa/vernalpools/index.html

 For more information on Friends of Sears Island’s summer programs visit: friendsofsearsisland.org/

 All photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

It seemed like last year Rockland had the most changes over the winter, but this year, except for a little shuffling, things have been relatively quiet. Here's what happened over the fall and winter— what's open, what's closed, what's new.

Restaurant/Brew News

After the closure of 3Crow last year, many wondered what would become of the elegant space at 449 Main Street. Jenn Rockwell, along with her father Rick Rockwell, of Rockland Realty, who own the building, converted it into a new restaurant on November 1 calling it Ada’s Kitchen. Ada’s has since been a hot spot with the locals and after 10 p.m. crowd for their dance parties. See Penobscot Bay Pilot’s story about that here.

Liberator Brewing Co.

Rockland will soon be welcoming a new microbrewery, Liberator Brewing Company, named for the World War Two B-24 bomber, is scheduled to open late this spring in the space formerly occupied by Terra Optima market on south Main Street. headed up by Rich Ruggiero, a long-time member of the Midcoast craft brew scene, get the whole story here by Jenna Lookner.

Pour Farm Brewery

Located in Union, Bill Stinson and his wife, Ashley are opening a nanobrewery this spring to produce small batch beers with plans to open four days a week, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Get the whole story here by Jenna Lookner.

North Beacon Oyster Co.

North Beacon Oyster Co., owned by chef Mike Mastronardi of Drift Inn Canteen (formerly Yardbird Canteen) in Port Clyde) is scheduled to open close to Memorial Day. Located at 421 Main in Rockland former home of The Daily Perch/Broken Egg, the small eatery plans to focus on small plates, and that the raw bar-centric menu will be driven largely by Maine ingredients. Read that story by Jenna Lookner.

Business News

Earth Flow and Fire & Earth Candy

The basement of the Thorndike building on 385 Main Street has been empty for a very long time and given its hidden speakeasy roots, it’s exciting to see a new company come in and transform the brick-walled low-slung space. Earth Flow and Fire opens the second week of May with a new hot yoga studio and adjoining vegan juice/sandwich/salad bar called Earth Candy. See our recent story on that here.

New Midcoast School of Technology

A $25 million building is now 25 percent complete for the new new school building at 1 North Main Street in Rockland. The school is scheduled to be completed by June 2019 and will accept students that fall. See the recent story by Chris Wolf here. 

Tire Warehouse

The shuttered Tim Horton’s fast food restaurant at 166 Camden Street (Route One) began to transform this winter as Tire Warehouse began a build out of 7,437 square feet building. As of April, construction has not yet been complete. See that story here.

F & A’s Market at Crossroads

A new hometown market plans to open in early May at 131 North Street, by the high school, which plans to be a convenience store, a specialty grocery store and a pizza takeout spot.

Owls Head General Store closes

The iconic seven-napkin burger will be no more! In November, the general store announced it would be closing and the business is still for sale.

Other news

In February and March, Rockland had some big news: an extension of Amtrak service from Boston to Rockland and 100th anniversary of Trackside Station building.

And then, soon after that, the disappointing news that alas, the train service would not be extended this year after all.  See that story here.

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—Outdoor lovers take note: Energy Gem, a Maine-made nutty, power food, should be on your next outdoor excursion’s shopping list.

Some of the locals may remember Liz Coldren, a pie maker, informally known as the Pie Lady of Camden from 2007 to 2014. She is now the owner/manufacturer of Energy Gem.

“One day, one of my customers requested a gluten-free crust, so I started experimenting with making pie crusts out of nuts and sweetener, but they stuck to my Pyrex plate,” she said of her inspiration. “At about that time, I’d been reading a book that mentioned Native American pemmican, so the idea struck me to make a vegetarian version of pemmican.”

But first, in order to solidify the mixture of sprouted nuts and seeds with fruit and pure regional honey, she needed something to pound the little treat into shape.

“I realized I needed compression to turn them into compact little discs, so I commissioned Sam Tibbets, of Rockport Steel, to make me a one-of-a-kind pneumatic machine that runs off a compressor and is activated by a foot pedal,” she said.

Her invention, a staple for hikers, trail runners, bikers and other outdoor enthusiasts, has been a hit.  It’s like a locally made Larabar.  At 270 calories, Energy Gem boasts nine grams of protein, 11g carbs,  4g dietary fiber, 7g sugars, 21g healthy fat, 75mg sodium,and no cholesterol or trans fats. 

Energy Gems are chock full of iron, vitamin C, zinc, potassium, magnesium, low in phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors.  They are also gluten free.  

“Runners and hikers tend to come back every week and buy them,” she said.

The shelf life for these Energy Gems is roughly around three months in room temperature, which is perfect for the backcountry hiker or camper who needs a take-along food that can fit in the pocket without refrigeration.

“They are sprouted and dehydrated at low temperatures for 18 hours with spices,” she said. “When the mixture is completely dry, I add dried cranberries and raisins and soak it in a honey slurry for a whole day. The result is a nice, crunchy, chewy texture.”

Beyond outdoor crowd, the cheese and wine crowd will find it to be a great appetizer.

“I like them thinly sliced with Appleton Creamery Goat Camembert,” said Coldren.

Coldren also makes a grain-free “non-granola” with sprouted almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds bathed in a raw apple slurry with Himalayan salt and organic cinnamon called Energy Gemola. 

Going on her seventh year, Coldren doesn’t have a website or Facebook page, but instead, sells locally through Belfast and Camden Farmer’s Markets as well as through The Good Tern Co-op in Rockland, The New Natural in Camden, the Lincolnville General Store, the Belfast Co-op, and the Portland Co-op.

The Belfast Farmers' Market’s summer home is outside, in back of Waterfall Arts’ parking lot, located at 256 High Street. 

Every Friday, the market is open rain or shine from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The ease and convenience of this particular Farmer’s Market makes it so that customers wishing to use a credit card/EBT card, can gather everything they want to purchase and buy it all at once at the customer information stand.  Simply pick up a tally sheet and clipboard when you arrive, from the customer information stand, to use with each vendor.  For more information visit: http://www.belfastfarmersmarket.org/belfastmarket/

All photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Flowers are nice, and taking her to brunch is a given, but in addition to your go-to gifts this year, Penobscot Bay Pilot has five inspired ways to celebrate the mother in your life on Sunday, May 13.

The Pampered Gift

There are so many ways you can give her a gift of self care that she would never buy for herself around the Midcoast.  From massages, to facials to spas and skincare products, there are a number of local businesses you can buy gift certificates from (also supporting local economies).  Perhaps some comfy sleepwear or check out some of the businesses that offered women a free spa day this past weekend, May 5 for more inspired ideas to pamper your mamma.

Give Her The Day Off

First off: let her sleep in. Then, what Mom doesn’t love a full breakfast in bed that you clean up afterward? Or an entire day where you do the dishes, laundry, buy gourmet snack and do the housework unasked? A day where you make the arrangements for a family gathering or barbecue and every time she tries to jump in and help, give her the “oh no you don’t this is your day” stern face. You can also be her administrative assistant and show her how to use social media, protect her information on Facebook or teach her how to use some new app.

Do Something With Her that She Loves

Maybe she’s always tried to get you to do yoga with her and you were like, “that’s OK, I’ll pass.” This is the day to surprise her and try something she loves to do. You can also bring her to the annual Union wineries event to celebrate Mother’s Day with wine and spirit tastings, chocolate and lovely views of the properties.

Something Sentimental

Make her something with your own hands: a card, a terrarium, a batch of cupcakes or a homebrewed beer! Some of the most creative handmade gift ideas come from Etsy and these personalized cuff bracelets and stackable name rings are a great gift for her. Or, buy custom face magnets of your family. Check out Maine Etsy team’s wonderful handmade gift ideas, which supports local artists.

The “Take A Chance” Adventure

Back on April 23, we posted an article on “Take A Chance Day” and if your mom is the more adventurous type who might be convinced to jump out of a plane, that’s a good place to start. There are other local experiences that feed the spirit and creative soul as well such as cooking classes, paint nights or buy her a book and treat her to cake.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Once the snow is gone, the Birds come back—and they always want to know what happened over the fall and winter. Here’s what's open, what's closed, what's new in Camden-Rockport..and points beyond.

Restaurant News

What Has Closed

Francine Bistro

There’s been a seismic shuffle of restaurant news this winter, starting with the abrupt announcement in November that Francine Bistro on Chestnut Street in Camden was closing and would re-open in May. With news traveling second hand all winter that a re-opening was not imminent, chef Brian Hill confirmed in January that the restaurant was permanently closed.  An in-depth piece on March 29 by Penobscot Bay Pilot’s Jenna Lookner examined why certain restaurants were successful year after year and why others weren’

Walker’s Restaurant

After only being open for four months, Walker’s Restaurant in Rockport on Route 1 closed in September, amid  controversy with a lawsuit filed against the former operating manager of the restaurant. See that story here. Whitewater LLC purchased the building in January, which plans to re-open as an oral surgery center.

Pig + Poet

In 2014, the Whitehall Inn in Camden changed ownership to Lark Hotels, in which they opened a new restaurant for the public called Pig + Poet. See our original story here. However, by February, it was announced that the restaurant was going to switch course and turn into private event space.

Horsefeather Grille

In October, Horsefeather Grille celebrated its grand opening in the former Elm St. Grille, in the Cedar Crest Motel. But by April, they made the announcement on Facebook: “We regret to inform everyone that we have permanently closed. We opened in the fall and did our best to make it through the winter. The original makeover and brining the restaurant up to code was just to much for us to overcome. We have enjoyed meeting so many new people and have enjoyed serving you all.” See the original story by Penobscot Bay Pilot’s Chris Wolf.

Hatchet Mountain Publick House

On the last day of April, the Hope Pub announced on Facebook: “It is with very mixed emotions we share with you that the Hatchet Mountain Publick House has closed it doors for the last time after nearly 11 years serving the community.”

What Has Opened

47 West

Right before New Year’s Eve a new Rockport espresso-wine-beer-bakery opened at busy town corner of 47 West, with its eponymous name. A family run intergenerational business helmed by David and Theola Gelerman, took over the former Cellardoor Winery tasting room on Route 90 opposite from Market Basket with the aim of offering a casual atmosphere with paninis and baked goods that will pair well with both coffee and wine and beer, as well as carrot cake, scones, biscotti and cookies. Additionally, their 11-year-old daughter, offers an extensive collection of manga and anime books she has personally picked out for sale of the second floor. See that Penobscot Bay Pilot story here

SeaFolk

In early March, Jacob and Madrona Wienges, opened a new coffee shop on 22 central Ave. in Rockport Village called SeaFolk. With an under-the radar opening and no sign initially, that didn’t stop curious locals from coming in to try their array of coffee, sandwiches, fresh bread and bagels. Open breakfast and lunch, here is the full story by Chris Wolf.

El Ancla

Camden’s newest restaurant venture, El Ancla, opened on May 5, Cinco de Mayo at the Camden Public Landing. The restaurant was the former home of Fireside Pizza. El Ancla features authentic wood-fired Mexican food. See the full story by Chris Wolf.

What has moved

Global Packing Systems

The entire Elm Street plaza played musical chairs this winter.  Global Packing and Shipping, formerly on Washington Street, moved to 87 Elm Street, during the holidays. The move has now opened up much more space for packing up materials.

Nature’s Choice becomes The New Natural

Nature's Choice, formally at 87 Elm Street, has moved to 25 Mechanic Street (formerly Karol and Manny’s) and has renamed the business The New Natural. See both of those stories by Chris Wolf here.

Watershed School

The alternative school, which occupied the corner space on 32 Washington Street, moved this winter just one block over on One Free Street. Now with more than 7,500 square feet, the move more than doubled the size of their current space. Serendipity Fine Consignment then moved into that space.

Soon to Open

Camden Island

Back in September, Jeff Chen, of Skowhegan, filed architectural plans for a 100-plus seat restaurant at 87 Elm Street (formerly the HAVII video store and Harbor Audio Video retail space) with the intent to open January. As of April 1, permits had been approved, but the restaurant was still not open.

Liberty Head Arts and Found

A new An eclectic art gallery/antique store of American Folk-Art & Antiques is set to open any day now at 56 Main Street in Liberty, Maine.

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

LINCOLNVILLE—After a long and cold winter, it was time to be pampered and “create your best self.” Entrepreneurs Kelly Carey, Ashley Holmes and Barbara Biscone reached out to a number of health and wellness practitioners and vendors and on Saturday, May 5, transformed Lincolnville’s Community Center into a pleasing spa— free to all with donations supporting New Hope For Women. 

Once inside, people had to remove their shoes and don flip flops. The entire room was partitioned off with gauzy room dividers, and multiple stations, with 12 practitioners and five vendors offering their services and goods.

Women (and a few men) got to enjoy a full day with mini sessions of massage, hypnotherapy, therapeutic oils, facials, cranosacral therapy, guided meditation, dream interpretation, stress reduction while perusing stations that sold jewelry, plants and terrarium ideas, gems, herbs and oils and home goods.

“A few of us knew each other initially,” said co-organizer, Biscone, “So, we reached out to other entrepreneurs and practitioners in a variety of health, wellness, nutrition and plant-based medicine areas and invited them to join us for a day in Lincolnville to benefit New Hope for Women. This isn’t about money. This is about social relationships. It’s all about feeling good and sharing information and getting past this depressing winter into spring. A lot of women just need to care of their emotional, mental and physical self and this is a comfortable place to do it.”

“We were very excited to participate in this spa day,” said Brittany Ciccketti, Development Director at New Hope for Women. “They were taking donations at the door, so all of the proceeds will go to New Hope for Women.

“I think this idea that the organizers put together would be a great opportunity for other businesses to join up and come together and do in other communities,” said Brandy Dupper-Macy, also Development Director at New Hope for Women. “We just feel fortunate they chose us.”

The day went from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with complimentary natural flavored waters, healthy fruit snacks, as well as vegan plant-based protein food demonstration by Ryan Smart and Tia Nelson of Dublin.

Other businesses donating their time and products included Young Living, Raven’s Nest, Cosmic Counseling, Esthetician Camille Smart, LifeVantage, Dublin, Cranosacral Therapist Moriah H. Grant, Graze, Coyote Moon, Heart to Heart, Moss Maidens Herbs and Oils, The Red Cottage, Jeweled Horizons and Bennett’s Gems & Jewelry.

Scroll through our gallery to find more faces and places.

Lincolnville Community Center is a space that can be rented for similar entrepreneurial exhibitions such as this and comes with a full kitchen.

All photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

NORTH HAVEN—So many home brewers in Maine are thinking of turning their hobby into a business, but North Haven siblings Ben Lovell and Liz Lovell along with Ben’s best friend Jesse Davisson, knew that they would have more than just the normal challenges if they wanted to start a brewery on the island. 

“We just had one of those winters where we were both fisherman; he is the captain now, but at that point we were just lowly sternmen,” said Lovell. “We had a bunch of time and decided to mess around with a beer kit. So, we started experimenting with batches; some turned out well; some didn’t, but it spurred our interest in trying stuff out. That same winter, Jesse and I went on a trip to Europe, and we got to try all of these different brews in Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Galway, a bunch of great, European brews. That really opened our eyes, I think to what beer could be.”

Beyond expanding their beer palates, Lovell knew if he was going to get in this game, he’d better get some practice. 

“The trope is that every home brewer wants to start a brewery,” he said. “But, I knew this wasn’t an undertaking I wanted to take lightly.”

A graduate of Bowdoin College with a major in history and a minor in teaching, he could have taken a business-related job. Instead, he took a job off island to work at Sebago Brewing Co. in Portland, working his way up from bottling beers to becoming an assistant brewer. “I knew I loved it as a hobby, but having this be a full time job was something totally different.”

As he learned the ropes at Sebago, he and his North Haven compatriots began working on their own plans. They had their business plan in place and the right space, the bottom floor of Calderwood Hall, a 1902 building, which was a former gift shop that had gone through a number of incarnations including boat shop and breakfast restaurant. They began renovations in 2015.

The paperwork was taking a long time however. And, the challenges of getting everything they needed by boat, was also an additional obstacle that mainland brewers didn’t have.

“You’ve got to work around the boat’s schedule,” he said. “The logistics of getting grain, C02 or your cleaning chemicals out and if it’s 6 p.m. at night and you have a brew day the next day and don’t have what you need, you have to improvise. But, that’s the reality of island life and we’ve all grown up with that one extra step of logistics, so it wasn’t as big of a deal as you’d think.”

During that time, they turned to the folks at Monhegan Brewing Co. to get their feedback.

“They were great,” said Lovell. “That’s one of the best things about the brewing industry. Everyone is so helpful. I knew if anyone knew what we were getting into, those guys would.Their flagship beer is Keeper, an IPA, (which is a lobster lingo for a legal-size Maine lobster) and the Highligher, a pale ale (which is the term for a proficient and respected lobsterman). Keeper is our biggest seller. People love it. Our philosophy is to create balance in flavor. We use a lot of English grains, to create brews that are a little more toasted, balanced by a combo of American and Old World hops. We also use as many local ingredients as possible. For example, we’ve paired up with 44 North Coffee from Stonington, to make a coffee stout.”

For a year, they bid their time before officially opening. They were able to begin production in the fall of 2016 and spent the next year serving their brews to the locals and people passing through out of their small tasting room, and at four restaurants located on North Haven and Vinalhaven islands. 

“Last year, we brewed about 140 barrels of beer,” he said.

The tasting room is small, containing a seven-barrel system visible from a Plexi-glas kneewall that separates the tasting room from the production area. The room can fit about 30 people and people can get their growlers filled.

North Haven Brewing beer is currently on draft at Rock City Coffee in Rockland and The Drouthy Bear in Camden with plans to be in more pubs and spots this summer. They are still small and not planning to distribute any cans or bottles yet.

The big question for mainlanders looking for a beercation is, how do I get out there and try one? Take the North Haven ferry out of Rockland. Go out on the 9:30 a.m. boat which gives you plenty of time to check out the island, sample some brews and make it back on the 3:45 p.m. boat. Or, make arrangements with one of their island inns or Airbnb and really take your time. Do be sure to check their website beforehand however for the days and times their tasting room is open.

For more information visit northhavenbrewing.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

HOPE — A good story has conflict and drama, or as Jack from the show, Will & Grace, calls “conflama.” A great story also has laughs, pathos, and a surprise ending. Linda Zeigler, one of the participants of the Sweet Tree Arts’ most recent annual story SLAM, had all of that and more. With an innate interest in public storytelling after attending a Live MOTH Radio Hour storytelling event last June in Portland with her daughter-in-law, she wrote a few short stories, playing with the idea of telling one particular story to an audience. But, it needed some polishing so Zeigler turned to storyteller coach Meghan Vigeant to prep for the Sweet Tree Arts SLAM on March 24, 2018. The theme this year was “Magic.”

Here then, is the story told to Penobscot Bay Pilot (with the story behind the story in italics).

“When I was 17 years old in 1965, my family had moved back from California to the small Illinois town where we’d started out and I was pretty unhappy about it,” Zeigler said. “I had not wanted to move back to the town where I’d grown up and I was nursing a broken heart and missing my friends. So, there I was in hot, flat, boring Illinois, no friends, no ocean, no sweetheart.  My folks rented a small house in a subdivision outside of town that had one bathroom for five people, so I really wanted to get a job. I needed the money, but even more, I needed some breathing space. Our former neighbor’s oldest son had bought an old hot dog stand from about four miles where we lived. It was an original drive in called the Dog N’ Suds with car hops, root beer and Coney dogs. I peddled out on my old Raleigh, applied for the position of Car Hop at 25 cents an hour and was hired on the spot.

“I worked with two girls, Sheila and Rosie and the three of us were the car hops,” she continued. “We wore white tops, black Bermuda shorts, with a red cloth change apron around our waists and of course, a very attractive Dog ‘N Suds hat with an orange and brown dog serving a hot dog and root beer bobby pinned into our hair. The three of us were very interested in boys and we worked out a system where when a cute guy would drive up, it was somebody’s ‘turn.’

“One hot and humid July afternoon we had just gotten through a really busy lunch rush and a very handsome guy drove his blue Plymouth Valiant into the parking lot. It had a Go Navy! bumper sticker on the front bumper.  It had been a busy lunch hour and it was ‘my turn’, Go Navy! was mine. So, I sashayed out to take his order and flirted outrageously. I could tell by his response he was interested in more than a hot dog and root beer. But he said, ‘I’ll have a large root beer and a couple of Coney dogs’ so I took his order and when I came back with his lunch I said ‘I was looking at your bumper sticker; are you in the Navy? And he replied he was in the Naval Reserves and was probably going to get called up to active duty in the fall. I said, 'Oh wow, do you think you’ll end up in Vietnam?'

“You see in1965, our nation was in the early stages of what was to become the Vietnam War. It was 1966 when the draft called up the troops and dramatically increased American casualties.  But in 1965, each reported American casualty was still met with shock and a communal grief. And he said, 'Yeah, I probably will ship out to Southeast Asia.'

So, I went back to our station and told Sheila and Rosie,  ‘He’s probably going to go to Vietnam. So, we teenage girls got all worried about him. And Rosie said, ‘Oh my God, that poor guy.’ And Sheila, who was a minister’s daughter and a total smart ass said, ‘Well, Linda maybe you should kiss him goodbye for luck.’ I said, ‘Are you serious?’ And they both said yes, so I said, ‘I’ll tell you what. You guys bet me half your tips and I’ll do it.’ Because I knew we’d all made good tips that afternoon.

“When he flashed his lights to return the tray, I went back out there and asked him if he could wait until I took the tray back so I could talk to him something. He was pretty enthusiastic about that, so when I took the tray back to the window, the owner and the cooks from the back had all come to the front. Rosie and Sheila had obviously let them know about the bet. When I went back to the car, I just told him I hoped he’d stay safe when he got deployed and I could tell he was touched that I’d said that to him. Then I said, ‘I was just wondering if I could give you a kiss goodbye.’ And his eyes lit up: ‘Whaooogaaa’ like the cartoon wolf. I had just planned to give him a peck on the cheek, but he turned his face and laid a full lip lock on me and that was not what I had planned. I was a little flustered.

“He said ‘Well, if I come back, can I get another?” and I thought he meant from Vietnam. I said ‘I guess so.’ And he asked, ‘Okay, what time do you get off tonight?”

By now, Zeigler admits, she had the audience at the story SLAM laughing.

“This was not going the way I thought,” she said. “Without missing a beat, I said ‘11 ’o clock.’ Closing was at 10, I’d be long gone. When I got back to Rosie and Sheila, they were doubled over laughing and I was getting cheers and applause from the cooks and owner. The girls said they couldn’t believe I’d kissed him and I said ‘I can’t believe how much money you guys owe me.’ While they were counting out the 21 dollars in tips, I’d told them I lied to him about closing at 11, thinking I’d cleverly avoided having him pick me up. And Sheila started to make me feel guilty. And Rosie said ‘You can’t do that...he’s going to Vietnam!’

At this point, Zeigler admits, she waited until 11 p.m. sitting on the picnic table in the dark and sure enough right at that time, Go Navy’s headlights appeared and he pulled back into the parking lot. He put her bike in the back of his car and took her home to her parents. A week later he asked her out on a real date.

“The likelihood of meeting this guy at a little out of-the-way hot dog stand, that silly bet, and years later celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary sure seems like magic to me,” she said.

In researching photos for this story, Zeigler discovered the old Dog ‘N Suds hot dog stand had become a franchise and is still around today!

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT—Rachel Davis, 35, is one of the students about to graduate from the Center For Furniture Craftsmanship. Among the many intricate, beautiful student-made pieces currently showing at the center’s gallery, Davis’s maple casepiece is deceivingly simple when viewed straight on. The display cabinet, which is hung on the wall, has a stained glass door and Shaker drawers. The complexities lie in the casepiece. When viewed from the side, there’s a visual surprise: a honeycomb of holes where the drawers and sides of the case should be.

“Throughout the entire course, there has been an emphasis on us finding our own design expression,” she said. “I was partly inspired by the Chinese concept of li, which is how designs in nature form through interaction, such as how the waves move, or the branching of rivers, frost crystals, ferns and shell patterns,” she said. “I was looking at cell structure and wanted this piece to be an interpretation of that. I was also influenced by the ceramic artist, Autumn Cipala so, I went to go visit her in her studio and she had this beautiful tea pot which was simple and plain on the outside but to lift the top off it, it had all of these little artistic holes in it. I wanted to see if I could create a similar form in wood.”

In the woodworking building, Davis has a workspace like all of the other students, including a dovetailed joint wall-mounted case that holds most of her tools. “We all had to make our own cases like this,” she explained. “Then, we get to take them home when we are done with the course.” Throughout the course, she has made: a coffee table, stool, kaleidoscopes, a variety of tools, snowshoes, and is currently working on two chairs with upholstered elements.

Nine months is a long time to spend learning to work with wood and Davis acknowledged it can be an economic challenge for many.

“A lot of people in my class just finshed university right now, and are looking for a way to broaden their skill base,” she said. Davis, who works as a baker on the weekends, piecemeals her income together to make this course work for her.

After making a variety of projects, all with a functional purpose during these nine months, Davis came to the realization that she didn’t want to simply make furniture or beautiful art pieces; she wanted to build something with a deeper meaning to her. Before coming to the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, she’d social pedagogy at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland while working as a bread baker. All of these experiences, along with her natural aesthetic led her to “build creatively, innovatively and responsibly” in the area of eco-conscious coffins and urns.

“In my social work, I’ve helped a few people at their end of life, and so, I’m especially drawn to this,” she said. “Functional art is stressed throughout the entire program and that’s what will be part of my coffins.”

Far back in the woodworking building, a simple pine box sits on a table with hand-carved flowers. It has hemp handles, no metal parts and is designed to let air flow through the tooled scrollwork. Another design, sitting on top of it resembles a wooden peapod boat, with burlap edging.

“I wanted to design something more organic that would look like the vessel itself was cocooning tor embracing the body,” she said.

The class will be done June 1 and immediately, Davis will start her new business Pear Tree Coffins and Urns. For more information visit: peartreecoffinsandurns.com

Davis’s work as well as many other talented woodworking students from the Center For Furniture Craftsmanship currently are on display at the Center’s Messler Gallery. For more information visit: www.woodschool.org

Photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

WALDOBORO — Even though it feels remote, one of the latest breweries opening in the Midcoast area is a stone’s throw from Moody’s Diner off Route 1.

Odd Alewives Farm Brewery, founded by John and Sarah McNeil, sits on 22 acres of gardens and forest. The brewery and tasting room are a converted 1850s alpaca barn that sits next to their farmhouse. While John works with a 10-barrel system on one side of the barn, Sarah will oversee the tasting room. With quirky bowed floors, handcrafted counters and bar handmade by John, a woodstove, and plenty of seating and games, this old, rustic, barn feels more like a welcoming clubhouse.

John McNeil started off his brewing career working for the original Sea Dog on Mechanic Street in the early 1990s.

“The model we’re going for, as we are a farmhouse brewery, is to lean more toward that kind of Maine-American farmhouse style, with beers taking after a Franco-Belgian history,” he said.

Sarah McNeil, a former teacher, now full time gardener, will be harvesting the farm’s produce with many of the items ending up as ingredients for some of their brews.

“I think we just wanted to do something a little bit different and combine our talents,” said John McNeil. “We’re growing some of our own hops, botanicals and fruit and will try to use as much local ingredients as we can; for example, we have a neighbor who has an apiary, and who offered us some honey. So, we had the opportunity to make a farmhouse ale with honey. For our opening, we’ll also feature a lighter grisette, a good drinkable beer for the summer months.”

The brewery also hosts a one-barrel system for the McNeils to experiment with.

“We can do test batches in this, but we can also brew a small batches,” said John McNeil. “Sarah just tapped the maple trees. We replaced all of the brew water with sap and we can offer on a limited scale, a dark, strong ale from that. Those are going to be the kind of small batches we’ll only offer in our tasting room.”

The maple-brewed beer is called Odd Wood. The honey-brewed beer is called Odd Buzz. All of their brews will start with Odd.

Odd Alewives is a name they came up with after researching Waldoboro’s local history.

“The Medomak River is important to the town and it turns out the English translation of Abenaki word for Medomak is ‘many alewives,’” said John McNeil. “Everyone knows of the alewife as the fish, but, a lot of people don’t necessarily know that the term ‘alewives’ is for women who used to brew all of the beer in villages. As for ‘Odd,’ well, we like quirky things.”

The farm’s rhythms will be a part of daily life for the McNeils, who are as they say ‘living the dream’ to be able to work from home and offer their property as a destination.

“That was a big goal for us to have a life and to invite people to our home, where we grow the ingredients ourselves and brew the beer,” said Sarah McNeil. “We’re also planning on having outdoor events once we get going. There are trails in the woods. We just want people to come and enjoy themselves.”

Their soft opening is May 3 with a grand opening planned in June when the gardens are planted.

For more information on Odd Alewives Farm Brewery, visit the website.

Related: Pour Farm brewery to produce small batches from ground up

All photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—Peytonious Maximus is all grown up.

Some of you may remember her in a “Hail To The Rad Kids” story I did on Peyton Feener in 2013 when she was just 17 with her mermaid colored hair, playing drums in her bedroom. Even back then she was in the beginnings of a band, which took solid form, when she and her friend, Jake Nagy, gave it a name: drive by todd.

She’s now 22, and together with Nagy, 23, on lead guitar, they cycled through a number of members before they found the perfect fit to make the band a trio with Joanna Grierson, 28, who performs vocals/rhythm guitar/bass.

“We all played a wedding last year and the fit was never so perfect,” said Feener.

All three have full time jobs and both Nagy and Grierson are also parents of small children, so it takes extra effort to get together for practice; but that doesn’t deter them.

“We get turbo shots from Dunkin’ Donuts,” said Feener. “They’re coffee shots that keep us going. drive by todd runs on Dunkin’.”

All three give off a sweet, positive vibe in person, with just a twist of silliness.

“We’re very influenced by Tenacious D,” said Feener of the comedy rock duo, Jack Black and Kyle Gass. They also bill themselves as “zesty music” influenced by The Doors, David Bowie and Queen as well as 1990s alternative bands such as Hole, The White Stripes and 2000 bands such as Cage the Elephant.

They just returned from Connecticut studio after recording their first album.

“Jake’s stepdad owns the studio,” said Feener. “It was totally amazeballs. So, we drove five and half hours down there for a weekend and just cranked out a five-song demo.”

They are set to compete in a Battle of the Bands at tonight’s annual Trekkapalooza, an annual rock n’ roll fundraiser to benefit the youth mentoring organization, Trekkers.

They aren’t the youngest members (there is one more band headed up by teens called The Extension Chords, a jazz combo) but they know they are up against a number of established bands such as the Midcoast staple, The Tune Squad.

This year’s musical theme for the Battle is “Road Trip.”

“We just got back from a road trip [to record the demo] so it’s perfect,” said Feener. “We’re performing three originals, Asked how many hours they practiced to get ready for tonight’s event, Feener answered “A hundred billion.”

“I think it’s really exciting,” said Grierson. “After all of our hard work, we equally want to devote our time to the band. It’s just exciting to see things take off.”

Check out Grierson’s power vocals, Nagy’s lead solo and Peytonious Maximus’s bubbly drumming in their romping YouTube video “The Groove” embedded in this story.

Other bands competing tonight include The Good Guys, The Once Over, Group Therapy. For more information, visit trekkers.org.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — It’s been a long time since someone had to give the secret knock before entering the once famed and former speakeasy in the basement of the Thorndike building on Tillson Avenue, but this May,  Earth Flow + Fire, a hot yoga studio with an adjoining vegan juice bar named Earth Candy, will transform the space and open its doors to the public.

Leslie and Bob Fillnow have leased the space, which has been long dormant. At one time in the mid-1930s, after Prohibition ended, it became a local’s tavern called the Rainbow Room. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was called the Circus Room.

The couple, who moved to Maine in 2009, has turned Leslie’s natural passions —hot yoga and healthy food —into a combined new business and have been renovating a portion of the basement space all winter.

When patrons enter the door on the side of the road that leads to the parking lot, they will be met with a curved custom built juice bar and several tables that will be set against the exposed brick with plenty of natural light from the windows.

“The juice bar is meant to go with the healthy living atmosphere of the studio, said Fillnow. “I call it Earth Candy, because you can get all of the nutrients you need without any animal products from the Earth.”

The juice bar will not only have juice and smoothie drinks, but also salads and soups.

“I love to cook for myself and other people and have traveled all over the world, so we’ll also be offering special dishes from Morocco, South Africa, Isreal, Italy, France, Argentina, Columbia, Russia, Japan, Thailand, and China,” she said.

Earth Candy will be Rockland’s first all-vegan juice bar, something Fillnow hopes will position Rockland, not only as an arts and foodie destination, but also as a health and welllness destination. It will be open to the public, not just to members of Earth Flow + Fire.

Moving on through the narrow building, there will be a similar curved front desk for Earth Flow + Fire, before opening up to a large room designed for hot yoga. The Fillnows kept much of the original architecture, including the exposed brick and the original black and white marble floor. In the center of the room by the street-side wall, will be a small platform for the yoga instructors.

Fillnow, who is certified in 26 +2 (aka Bikram yoga), plans to offer the studio to both paid members and drop-ins.

Hot yoga is practiced in a studio that is heated to 105F,  has a humidity of 40 percent and is suitable for all levels, all ages and all body types.

Its program offers 26 Hatha postures, which are done in a standardized series to move the body from one posture to the next at a slow pace and two prana (breathing exercises.) They have focused on the importance of a properly and evenly heated room that maintains a constant temperature and humidity.  The walls in the room are well insulated and covered with moisture board to reduce any chances of mold and mildew.  The heating system has controls to monitor incoming fresh air, humidity and it has specially designed filters to enhance air quality.

“When the room is that hot, your muscles stretch better and it’s also good for your joints,” said Fillnow.

The humidity and heat help assists the body's largest organ, your skin, with removing impurities from the body.

The studio will include a women’s and a unisex/men’s locker room with an additional gender neutral shower that is handicapped accessible. As a tribute to Louise Nevelson, whose brother once owned the Thorndike Hotel, Fillnow plans to have a framed photo of Nevelson in the women’s locker room.

“Louise used to come down and mingle with the regulars of the Circus Room bar,” said Fillnow. “And keeping with the arts theme, we’ll also have a photo of Blackie Langais in the men’s locker room,”

Leslie Fillnow ‘s background is in chemistry and mathematics with a master’s in business. Originally from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, she worked in the lighting industry for 31 years before retiring four years ago. She has been practicing hot yoga for 10 years. Before deciding to open her new business, the Fillnows were involved in a variety of local nonprofits, serving on boards and cooking for fundraisers. “We’re very community minded,” said Bob Fillnow.

Classes will start at 6:30 a.m. and be offered at various time throughout the day until 6:30 p.m.

“During that time, if you are a member of the Hot Room/Circus, which we’re calling it as a tribute to the old local’s bar, you’ll be able to use this room throughout the day,” said Fillnow.

Beyond the yoga and food offerings, there will also be guided mediation, retreats, and a special program for sober yogis, that is, yoga for people who are recovering from addiction.

“It’s a perfect spot downtown,” said Fillnow. “You can get healthy here, go across the street, grab yourself some flowers or a bottle of wine and really treat yourself.”

The businesses are set to have a soft opening the second week of May with a grand opening scheduled May 26.

For more information visit: earthrockland.com/home-2/

Photos by Kay Stephens

Related: The mysterious speakeasies of Rockland, where history whispers old secrets

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Spring cleaning isn’t just about the house or car; it’s also a great time to do an internal inventory.

“Take A Chance Day” is celebrated nationally on April 23 as a way to motivate people toward completing unaccomplished goals or dreams. As ‘take a chance’ means setting yourself up to conquer potential failure, it’s a good way to spur yourself out of your comfort zone. Here are some suggestions in Maine, both locally and afar.

Jump Out Of A Plane

Skydive New England (skydivenewengland.com) is considered one of the best skydiving companies in Maine. Going on 34 years in the business, they have excellent safety record and reviews (for you do not want a “Terrible” review on a jump experience). Located in Lebanon, Maine, they use state-of-the-art training methods and the latest technology in skydiving equipment. One Trip Advisor reviewer called it “Lifechanging in a good way” and went on to describe a re-occurring nightmare he kept having about a fear of heights. He then considered the possibility of tackling those fears by jumping out of a plane.  “At 67, this had never been even near to being on my bucket list, but then I thought about that nightmare and figured this might be my way to fight back. So I jumped with the fantastic crew at Skydive last September and have not had that dream in the past six months.” First timers can go tandem with an experienced instructor or do an Accelerated Freefall jump course and jump solo your first time. Prices for tandem jumping range from $199 to $235 per jump, the price includes includes instruction, equipment and a scenic plane ride along with the jump.

Rappel Down A Mountain

Equinox Guiding Service (camdenclimbing.biz) out of Camden, offers professional climbing instruction and guidance to first-time climbers and all ability levels. The company, which formed last year, is headed up by two experienced climbers, John Sidik and Noah Kleiner. Noah has been climbing for 12 years; John has been climbing for five years. From dozens of cliffs, crags, and boulders throughout the Camden Hills to the sheer sea cliffs in Acadia National Park to the remote alpine routes above tree line in Katahdin, climbing puts a new perspective on life—literally from a vantage point many people will never see.  A half-day trip for one person is $160 and for two people: $106 per person.

Tell a Story in Public

Not all heart-pounding moments have to be out of a plane or bungee jumping off a bridge. One of the biggest challenges for creative people who have a story to tell...is to actually tell it in public. Sweet Tree Arts in Hope (www.sweettreearts.com) hosts an annual storytelling SLAM, as do a number of other venues, such as a monthly gathering called Kin in Rockland, the General Store in Thorndike, and an organization that hosts events called andorstories.com If you need help, Meghan Vigeant,a personal historian, writer and audio producer guides people through the storytelling process with her side business Stories To Tell. And, of course, there’s a Facebook group called MOOSE (Maine Organization of Storytelling Enthusiasts) to get you started.

Go Surfing

Surfing in Maine? Some have never even heard of it, but it does exist! In fact, Acquaholics, (aquaholicsurf.com) a surf shop in Kennebunkport, offers novice surf lessons, which they promise will “build confidence and increase endurance). Each lesson includes an hour and a half of instruction and practice for $110 per person. They also offer summer surf camps and rentals (wetsuits and surfboards). Starting in April, they also offer Mom’s Mornings, a weekly gathering of first-timers at Gooch’s Beach to learn to surf in an mostly-female environment (although gentlemen are welcome.) Want to see a live cam and daily tides, check it out here.

If you choose to ‘Take A Chance’ and do something we haven’t listed: email us and let us know. We’ll mention you in our Facebook shout out.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT—By noon on Saturday, April 21, a 40-foot truck at the former Rockport Elementary School on West Street in Rockport was packed to the brim with old, discarded and broken electronics, with another 20-foot truck on standby to fill up. West Bay Rotary’s directors and volunteers were on hand to collect, unload and pack up what they call “ewaste” or electronic waste such as televisions, CPUs, monitors, copiers, printers, ink cartridges, FAX machines, scanners, laptops, microwave ovens, stereos, and more.

The staggering amount they collect every year will never go into the Midcoast Solid Waste Corp. landfill.  The net proceeds from the event will benefit local charities that West Bay Rotary supports.

“All of the electronics get taken to Lewiston and they pull it all apart, then recycle all of the components,” said Sandy Cox, West Bay Rotary’s Executive director/secretary. “The first year we did this about 10 years ago, we filled up four 40-foot trucks.”

West Bay Rotary partnered with a number of community organizations and companies to expand utility of the drop offs. Coastal Opportunities collected gently-used clothing, which would be resold for cash donations to the charity.

Records Management Center, of Bangor, had their mobile shredding truck on site to shred the kind of sensitive documents that identity thieves regularly use to commit fraud such as old bills and receipts, junk mail, account statements, and unused pre-approved offers of credit.

As many as nine million Americans have their identity stolen every year and shredding documents helps prevent thieves from accessing personal information.

“Last year we’d shredded approximately 4,000 pounds and so far we’re already up to 5,500 pounds and still have a couple of hours to go,” said an RNC senior manager Ryan Lynch.  “We take it back to our facility, unload it and bale it, then that gets shipped to recycling and paper mills.”

Additionally, Rockport Police Officer Chris Taylor was overseeing an old prescription drug disposal station. Two bins of hundreds of prescription bottles had already been collected.

“It gives people a safe way to dispose their old medication and also keeps it from being sold illegally on the street,” he said. “Once we collect it, it all gets incinerated.”

At the end of the day’s collection, West Bay Rotary reported nearly 400 cars came through with donations, resulting in nearly $4,000.

For anyone who missed the e-waste day, there are still several options to avoid putting electronics into the town landfill. A number of Midcoast transfer stations such as Midcoast Solid Waste, offer a nominal fee for collecting e-waste.

For those electronics that could get a second life with a little repair, periodically Midcoast repair Cafés pop up such as Belfast Community Works, which is hosting a free Bike and Electrical Repair Café to be held on Sunday, April 29 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Belfast Free Library. FMI: visit bcwmaker.space

All photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Fire Punch by Tatsuki Fujimoto, was voted edgiest manga beginning in 2018, so it is definitely not a good read for the squeamish! If you are not one of the faint-hearted, it is a fantastic read with incredibly well developed characters.

Orphaned siblings Agni, a male and Luna, a female, were born in a world with blessed people. These are people with a certain specific abilities that aren’t available to normal humans. The world suffers from an eternal extreme ice age, because of a blessed person known as the Ice Witch. Agni and Luna both have the ability to regenerate. They cut off their limbs to use for food and firewood to keep everyone alive in their small town. (Remember this is NOT for the faint-hearted!)

The leader of military belonging to the Ice Witch discovers the village while out hunting for slaves. He learns that the people have been surviving by resorting to cannibalism and uses his blessed power of fire to burn the town and all of its people. With Agni and Luna’s regeneration abilities, they melt down completely, but with just enough life left to regenerate in a horrible unstoppable cycle. Since Luna’s regeneration is slower than Agni’s, she ultimately does not survive. Agni is alone in the ice world, stuck in an eternal cycle of fire and torment. He has been consumed by Doma’s flames as a walking inferno. Agni has been in this cycle for eight long years and by year eight, he has learned to control his regeneration powers and confine the flames to his lower body away from his head. He spent these years searching for Doma and revenge.

Fire Punch was first released on January 16, 2018 by Viz Media; the second volume was released very recently on April 17, and the third volume will be released July 17, 2018. Tatsuki Fujimoto published multiple other manga that were never published in english: Koi Wa moumoku, Me Wo Sametara Onnanoko Ni Natteita Yamai, Niwa Ni Wa Niwatori Ga Ita, and Sasake-kun Ga Juudan Tometa.

Olivia Gelerman, 11, is the curator of several hundred works of manga, anime and graphic novels that can be found in a book collection for sale of 47 West. Her knowledge of these genres is extensive and she is happy to recommend certain books for tween and teen readers. Her monthly review on a book in these genres appears exclusively in Penobscot Bay Pilot.

BELFAST—After Zuber Yacoe, 13, is done with his homeschooled curriculum for the day, he’ll often take his iPhone with him outside and just roam around. He doesn’t know what he’s looking for, but with a budding photographer’s eye, he looks at the world around him closely, sometimes down on his hands and knees. It’s all to get the right photo, something that comes intuitively to him.

“I just like to go wherever it’s wild,” he said. “Usually, I am looking for something, but then I find something else.”

One of his photographs ended up at Young Artists Takeover at Waterfall Arts show this past March. It looks like a surreal miniaturized mountainscape with a river running out to sea. In fact, it was a tidal pool in the Florida Keys that Zuber shot while lying down to get the forced perspective. There was no further manipulation of the photo in Photoshop, which is hard to believe.

“I brightened up the photo a bit in iPhoto a bit, but that’s it,” he explained.

His family moved to Maine from the Florida Keys this past year and quite a few of Zuber’s best shots come from natural scenes in the Keys.

Joseph, his father, is a cinematographer. His mother, Marina, grew up in an artistic family and his older sister Aluna graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in photography, so it definitely runs in the family.

“I think the books we have and the visual art he’s been exposed to add to his understanding of photography,” said Marina.

“What’s surprising to me about his work is how unique it is,” added Joseph. “When he’s shooting, he’ll just wander off on his own and you’ll see him just get into things. I’ll be with him sometimes taking pictures of the same environment, but I’m just amazed with the perspective what Zuber comes back with.”

While he already has an eye for technique, focal point and composition, Zuber is just happy to be a kid, outdoors, with few constrictions on what he feels like shooting. He hasn’t yet used a real camera, or studied photography techniques, and right now, he’s happy not to complicate what he finds naturally fascinating. The only thing he is experimenting with are some editing tools in iPhoto.

On July 3, Camden National Bank’s branch in downtown Belfast, 156 Main Street, will be displaying Zuber’s work on the walls.  Be sure to check it out.

Find out more about the origins or each photo in the captions in this story.

All photos are copyrighted under Zuber Yacoe and should not be downloaded or shared without permission.

Hail To The Rad Kids is an ongoing feature highlighting teens with artistic or musical talent.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST— Joshua Ard, the only tattoo artist in Belfast and Permanent Expressions’ owner, has spent the last eight years honing his craft in the the basement space of the Masonic Temple building on Main Street. It was a unique layout, perfect for his small tattoo business, but hidden from the typical foot traffic. The time had come to make a change. With all of the shuffling of business locations going on in Belfast this past winter, Ard decided to lease the prominent second floor space above the Alexia’s Pizza. And now, no one can miss the giant “Tattoo” sign in the dramatic corner windows.

Ard first had to punch up the drab beige walls and floor-to-floor carpeting that the former tenant left with a more funky aesthetic. He chose to paint the entire parlor with red and black accents, along with tattoo memorabilia, junkyard artifacts, taxidermied animals and dozens of vintage photographs on the walls.

A handmade tattoo sign hangs in the new space, a carryover from the old shop.

“That sign has been photographed many times,” he said. “I didn’t even know that you can buy prints of it now.”

Ard, whose family has worked in the Masonic building for 120 years, now has a direct view of the building from his new space.

The shop also features Ard’s girlfriend’s business, Bettie Bang Clothing, run by Nicole Pomeroy, which offers retro, pinup, and rockabilly dresses and accessories, a type of clothing style you can’t get anywhere in the Midcoast.

Business has always been busy for Ard, but now, with the new space, people are coming in off the streets to check out what it looks like.

Even though his clients miss the familiarity of the old space, they are liking the expansiveness of the new space with all of the natural light that is now streaming in.

“I had maybe a dime in my pocket when I first opened the other shop and it has served its purpose, but truth be told, I’d outgrown it,” he said. “Sometimes, life makes you do what you should have done anyway.”

Along the demi wall, Ard displays nearly 30 lanyards he has worn at various tattoo conventions he’s participated in all over the United States, the most recent one held in Massachusetts in March.

“I have done so many of these,” he said of the experience, where he was had a table set up to give tattoos to participants of the conference.

With high five-star reviews of Permanent Expressions, Ard’s new space provides a welcome alternative vibe to Belfast.

For more information visit: Permanent Expressions

All photos by Kay Stephens

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

NORTHPORT—Close to 200 people attended the Artists and Makers Conference, Friday, April 6, at Point Lookout in Northport. For artists and crafters in the creative economy, the Archipelago/Island Institute-sponsored event offered a full day with three tracts of sessions: Foundational, for those just starting a business; Transformational, for those in the process of growing their business; and Inspirational, those who are established but looking for inspiration.

With more than 22 presenters from all over Maine, there were sessions for every level of a small, creative business from the business side of resources and opportunities for Maine artists to creating a successful living in Maine, as well as successful branding and how the arts are being used to strengthen Maine’s economies.

The keynote speaker was Peter Korn, founder and executive director of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship and author of Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman, which won the 2014 Maine Literary Award.

The crux of his speech centered on: “What is the nature of a good life? And how do we go about living one?”

Korn took the audience through his early years, when admittedly, he didn’t know what he wanted to do after college in 1972.

“All of the time I was in school, I felt like real life must be somewhere else,” he said. “That there must be a more vibrant, joyous and consequential way to live a life than that I saw modeled in the adult world that I was exposed to.”

The first job he took was a carpenter on Nantucket Island.

“I got lucky,” he said. “I had never met anyone who made a living working with their hands and I never met anyone in my parents’ world who did either. My father was horrified.”

Along with gaining valuable carpentry skills, Korn’s progression into furniture-making several years after that would transform his life. At the time in the early 1970s, he said there were no “professional hobby” woodworking schools in the country.

After a number of years being self-employed as a furniture maker, he took a job at the program director for Woodworking at Colorado's Anderson Ranch Arts Center and spent four years as adjunct associate professor at Drexel University before founding the Center For Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine in 1993.

The Center began as a summer workshop program in a barn behind Korn's house, moved to its present location in 1996, and became a nonprofit in 1999. It is now considered to be among the leading furniture-making schools in the world. 

As Penobscot Bay Pilot wrote in a story about Korn in 2014 titled, “Woodworker-author Peter Korn on the rewards of being creatively engaged,” being creative is the easy part. Making a living at it is the hard part.

“Anyone who follows a creative passion knows that fame and money are completely inadequate as yardsticks for the emotional, intellectual and spiritual rewards that are at the heart to the creative enterprise,” he said, in his speech. “Nor can fame and money provide an adequate foundation for living an individual life that is truly rewarding.”

He cited his own students who come to the Center For Furniture Craftsmanship from all over the country as examples.

“Many of them having lived successful lives as business people, doctors, teachers...,” he said. “None of these people come to Maine because they need a little hardwood dovetail bench. But they come because they imagine that learning to make things well with their own hands, they will access some sort of meaningful fulfillment they are otherwise lacking. Fortunately, from my point of view, they’re often right.”

There was a fundamental takeaway from his keynote that left an impression on everyone in the room: Making things — creating by hand — whether it is in the trades or as a hobby or business, is more than just a noble pursuit. Honing craft in any form will elevate the meaning in one’s life. 

“The reason I became a furniture maker in the first place was that I imagined by acquiring these skills and practicing them, I would somehow cultivate more of the qualities of integrity, simplicity and grace within myself,” he said.

An inspiring message for anyone who works at a creative pursuit.

For more information about the Artists and Makers Conference visit: Island Institute

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

UNION—On a raw, rainy day in April, the interior of Sweetgrass Farm Winery and Distillery was warm and inviting with the pleasant aroma of oatmeal in the air. Co-owner Keith Bodine was using an oar to move 500 pounds of malted barley in a stainless steel cooker that was partially filled with 125 gallons of hot water.

“We’ve always used Maine produced barley,” said Keith Bodine. “And we like using barley from Maine Malt House. They were the only ones actually available when we started distilling our whiskey.”

As the grains cooked, they released starches from the barley, which, when later added to yeast in the fermentation process, would turn into sugar for the yeast to gobble up. That’s one big monster mash. The milky liquid, called “the wash” that is derived from the fermentation process is high in alcohol, also referred to as “beer” but not the kind you purchase in the store.

“To make whiskey, we’ve got to make beer first, looking for all of those wonderful favor compounds that are in the fermentation,” said co-owner Constance Bodine.

On April 4, the Bodines kicked off their “Whiskey Wednesday” demonstrations with a display table  set up with beakers of various distilled spirits and their corresponding dishes of raw grains. Constance provided a tasting of the beer to visitors, which tasted like a fruity lambic beer and was high in alcohol content. 

“This liquid is probably about eight percent alcohol at this point,” said Keith Bodine.

Whiskey Wednesdays will take visitors through the entire distilling process week by week.

On April 11, the public will get to see much of the same process that happened on April 4 with a foray into the distilling process with a first run. On April 18, the copper still will be in action, making first run whiskey as they do a tasting to explore the differences a year whiskey in a barrel makes.

And on April 25, people will get to watch Bodine as he completes a spirit run and barrel their single malt whiskey along with sample bites that pair well.

“This will be the last year we do this,” said Bodine. “Because, it will be the first year we can introduce a whiskey we’ve been keeping for seven years.”

When all is done, the distilling run will produce about 700 bottles of whiskey.

“Every year we’ve done one batch of whiskey with 2,000 pounds of barley,” he added.

These events are free to the public. The Bodines will release their whiskey stored for seven years later this year. Find out more by visiting their website: sweetgrasswinery.com/events

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

SEARSPORT — The name Kosti Ruohomaa may not be familiar to everyone, but the Rockland photographer’s work is well known across the globe. And after Penobscot Marine Museum acquired his life’s work through the Black Star of New York this past fall, one of Maine most famous photographers is about to have a career revival.

Kosti Ruohomaa, the son of Finnish Americans, moved from Massachusetts to Rockland in 1926. In 1937, he was hired as an animator for the Walt Disney Studios and moved to Los Angeles. At that time, he began to hone his skills as a photojournalist. He was represented by photographic agency called Black Star, based in New York and photographed for Life Magazine, Time Magazine, National Geographic, Look and Ladies’ Home Journal. In his career, he probably photographed six different covers for Life Magazine.

Ruohomaa was known internationally for his stark photographs, so it's not surprising that he struck up a friendship with another artist at that time with the same aesthetic — Andrew Wyeth.

Wyeth called Ruohomaa Maine's best photographer and the two worked often together in the 1950s. But, Ruohomaa, who suffered from alcoholism, died young from a stroke at the age of 47 in 1961.

As the years went on, Ruohomaa’s body of work receded into the archives, boxed up and uncategorized at Black Star.

“As the times changed, none of his stuff ever got digitized,” said Kevin Johnson, Penobscot Marine Museum’s archivist. “He was known for was perhaps only 10 percent of his work. The rest of it had never been seen.”

Johnson, who is known locally for his dogged dedication to saving archival photographs, was contacted by Ruohomaa’s biographer, a woman named Deanna Bonner-Ganter. She spent the last 20 years working on Ruohomaa’s biography, published two years ago, titled Kosti Ruohomaa: The Photographer Poet (Down East Books).

“I helped her at the end of the process with her book with formatting some pictures and really got interested in Kosti,” said Johnson. “She told me that all of his work was just sitting there, forgotten in these offices in New York and his family wanted his work to come home to Maine, so I wrote Black Star a letter requesting if Penobscot Marine Museum could acquire his collection. I had a letter from his family that went with it and they agreed. What did we have to lose? As it turned out, they agreed. So, I drove down and loaded seven boxes of his work int he back of my car and came back home.”

Bonner-Ganter began volunteering at PMM this past fall to help Johnson categorize the collection, which consists of thousands of medium and large format negatives, 35 mm negatives and slides, as well as contact sheets and vintage prints.

“She has the reference to most of these photos and what the assignment was,” he said. “More than a third of his assignments were in Maine and most of those were in Knox County.”

The collection has been carefully catalogued, rehoused and digitized, and will be ultimately be made available to browse for free in the museum’s online database.

“Opening each envelope is like seeing a prize inside,” said Johnson. “But, it also reveals his methodology, how he approached each story, what he chose to shoot, how he isolated the photos that ended up getting used and cropped.”

To learn more visit: Kosti Comes Home at the Camden Public Library with a talk by Kevin Johnson on April 3 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

HOPE—Easter has come and gone but in many homes, small beeswax candles in the shape of bunnies and Easter Eggs, made by Susie Smith, serve as the holiday’s fragrant reminder.

Smith has been handcrafting the naturally colored and honey-scented pure beeswax candles for 10 years at her home studio in Hope on property she shares with her husband, David Smith.

David is a beekeeper and the Smiths make honey, as well as maple syrup. The natural byproducts of the hive have become the basis for Susie’s candle business and it’s all under one umbrella called Sparky’s Apiaries.

Her candle making shop — or the “Wax Works,” as it’s known — is a feast for the senses.

Walking into the small space, the air is redolent of honey. Blocks of pale hued orange, yellow and green beeswax are neatly lined along the shelves and poured candles in their rubber forms line the workbench. A converted honey tank in the corner can hold up to 60 pounds of molten wax.

“All of the beeswax is locally sourced in Maine,” she said. “I made 10,000 candles last year, so some of it is ours, but to get the volume needed I also sourced from other apiaries in Maine. All of the Maine beekeepers I know have beautiful beeswax.”

Beeswax is a product of the sustainable industry of beekeeping and is a completely natural renewable resource.

“Beeswax is built up by the honeybees to build the honeycomb to store the honey in,” she said. “Then, the bees cap off the honeycomb with a thin sheet of beeswax. When the beekeepers harvest the honey from the honeycomb, they’ll cut that cap off and the byproduct is ready to be used. The beekeeper will keep most of the honeycomb to be used again for the bees.”  

Beeswax is the purest and least processed candle wax, containing only natural and healthful properties from the hive.

To get these clean — dripless and smokeless — candles into their purest form, Smith pours the molten wax through clean cotton cloth to strain out any impurities.

She uses natural plant-based dyes in some of the beeswax to get a soft, muted look. Then, she heats up the wax in the converted honey tank, taking care not to overheat it.

After that, Smith pours the wax into shaped molds, whether they are traditional candles or with ornate patterns, or shapes that reflect the season, such as bunnies for Easter, pine trees for Christmas or pumpkins for Thanksgiving.

It takes approximately 24 hours for the wax to harden into the molds, which she pulls away from the finished candle like peeling an orange.

“Making candles has a busy season, but especially, around the holidays,” she said. “The reason they smell so amazing is that each candle is made to order.”

Smith sells to eight wholesale accounts including Whole Foods in Portland, as well as to local purveyors such as Hope General store, Lincolnville General Store and Fresh Off The Farm with an online shop on Etsy.

To learn more about Sparky’s Apiaries visit:sparkyshoneyandmaple.com/honey.html

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Spring is tentatively making its way back to Maine. We’ve got four food/drink/art events that appeal to both men and women and will have you looking forward to longer, warmer days ahead. So get out there and enjoy Maine!

First Friday Veuve Cliquot Sip and Art Walk

Friday, April 6, Portland

Now, this is the way to do it. Kicking off Portland’s first Art Walk of the season, the elegant Jessica Johnson Beauty studio (15 Middle Street) is pouring a free glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne in bubbly style from 4-6 p.m. They'll have Veuve Cliquot swag, raffles, giveaways and specials on studio services, products and gift cards. FMI: Jessica Johnson Beauty studio.

Annual Rural Living Day

Saturday, April 7, Thorndike

Want to learn skills your forebears knew how to do? Annual Rural Living Day takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. at Mount View High School, 577 Mount View Road, Thorndike. Workshops will be offered in three sessions. and topics will include adaptive gardening, Maine's native bees, identifying invasive plants, composting with worms, grafting apple trees, making cheese and cooking with seaweeds.The $20 fee includes three workshops and a lunch featuring locally sourced foods, which is an incredible deal! Preregistration is required; register online by April 5. Sponsored by University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Waldo County Extension Association. FMI: Rural Living Day

Baseball and Beer in the Garden

Tuesday, April 17, Portland

The Maine Historical Society is hosting a special “For the Love of the game: The History of Baseball in Maine” where a staff curator selects items from their collection and show them off a monthly Beer in the Garden events. The curator is on hand to answer questions. It’s all very fun, easygoing… and did we mention there’s beer? The Maine Brew Bus is sponsoring the beer portion of the event by getting bottled beer from local breweries donated. These are bottles, not just a tasting! This is a free event for members, and low-cost for non-members at $5. The event is 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. FMI: Beer in the Garden

Old Port Happy Hour Tour

Thursdays through Saturdays in April, Portland

Throughout April, join a lively group through Maine Foodie Tours as you walk through the streets of the Old Port learning rum-running stories that go back in the 1800s. As you sip craft beer and cocktails and nosh on appetizers from four establishments, you’ll learn how Mainers both smuggled in and made rum, so much so, that we needed prohibition way before the rest of the country. Learn the location of speakeasies which popped up all over town during this period of temperance, the story of Maine’s  own “rum riot” and tales of where naughty sailors had their fun when they came to port. For two hours, you’ll also get the local’s view on the current culinary and bar scene at one of the area’s newest establishments. $69 per person. For more info: Maine Foodie Tours

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — How many people do you know who can draw skillful, detailed portraits in a sketchbook while in the backseat of a moving car or on the bench of a ferry as it rolls back and forth on the waves?

Pia Gibson, 14, can. I first saw one of her portraits at the Young Artists Gallery Takeover exhibition at Waterfall Arts. It was an incredibly detailed graphite pencil drawing of Shoma Uno, a Japanese Olympic figure skater, I later discovered.

“I was watching him skate one day and I just wanted to draw him,” she said.

She found a photo of Uno online and began one day, outlining the contours of his face, while on a car trip with her parents. No bumps in the road deterred her.

“I think once you’re on the highway, it gets easier,” she said.

Pia, who lives in Belfast, takes the ferry every day to go to a small school in Islesboro. Even though it adds an extra two hours to her daily commute, it suits her.

“I like the small school community better,” she said. “It’s only got 95 kids and I really like pairing the big kids with the little kids.”

And she often uses her ferry time to pull out that sketchbook and work on some drawings.

A freshman, she has been drawing since she was a child. Having attended the Cornerspring Montessori school, she increased her skills through the Waterfall Arts after-school programs for kids and teens through the years. 

“I did a lot of stuff growing up: drawing and jewelry making, mostly.”

She shows me her sketchbook of another portrait she did and loves how it came out.

“This is one of my favorite,” she said, and tells me that the girl with the big eyes and beautiful face is Kaya Scodelario, an actor in a movie she’d recently seen. “I guess I am interested in drawing people because of their eyes.” In another sketch, this is readily apparent as all of her portraits have oversized eyes, typical of anime characters.

Pia loves anime and based  her drawing on “Sereaph of the End,” a Japanese dark fantasy anime based on the manga with the same name.

She also loves to write fiction and hopes one day to be a novelist. 

“I like to write about social issues in fiction form.” She already has an idea for a book based on an article she’d read last summer about a boy forced into being a soldier for Boko Haram. It’s clear that Pia has a definitive idea about what she wants to do and be, goals supported by her parents.

This summer, she is going to New York City to participate in a two-week workshop with the New York Times.

“It’s like a summer camp and you get taught by New York Times journalists,” she said.

You can see her portrait at the Young Artists Gallery Takeover exhibition at Waterfall Arts, which is up until March 29. Pia, you can already tell, is going places. 

Related story: Young artists take over Waterfall Arts Gallery in Belfast

Hail To The Rad Kids is an ongoing feature that highlights Maine teens with artistic or musical talent.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—A menagerie of giant stuffed llamas, lions and giraffes peek out the massive windows on the corner of Main and High streets, a welcoming touch for the newly renovated corner building, which once housed lawyers and bankers. On March 16, 2018, Out on a Whimsey Toys, Midcoast’s largest toy store, re-opened its nine-foot doors to the public.

Deb Hall, owner of the 25-year-old business, along with her son, Bryant Hall, owner of Northport’s Pizza Permare, have been working hard to move over from two storefronts down into the new space, and re-establish a floor plan, which essentially doubles the store’s retail space with 2,200 square feet.

The Masonic Building, as it is known, is one of the city's most architecturally elaborate buildings, featuring Masonic symbols and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

After the building changed owners, the two attorneys, who had offices in the space, vacated.

“I wasn’t even thinking of moving, but when I was talking to the landlord about renewing the lease on our old storefront, we got to talking about the possibilities of this space,” said Hall.

After working all winter with the landlord on renovations and a full restoration of the building’s original doors, which were discovered in an attic, Hall marvels at the beauty of the space.

“People are just coming in to see how this place turned out,” she said. “Some remember it as the law offices; others remember when it was a bank in the 1960s. Our landlord did all of the work, so the walls and ceiling have been replaced; pendant lights and fans have been added and the painters even did a faux finish on the woodwork of the front doors, so that it would match the natural mahogany of the original window casings.”

As for Hall, she loves the light that comes in.

“There’s so much joyfulness in this space,” she said. The 15-foot ceilings leave ample space for large armoires and shelves to hold oversized stuffed animals, giant tent-like play sets and castles.

Now, with expanded inventory, Hall has some new items to reveal to customers. “We can now do more with experiential toys,” she said, pointing to a small “diner” playset, one of the most popular items she carries, featuring a kid-size “kitchen” on one side, and a table for two on the other. 

“There’s also a puppet theater, where kids can play with puppets,” she said. “I always pick out toys that I remind me of my childhood, such as Slinkies, Magic Eight Balls, and board games such as Twister or Uncle Wiggly, because people my age are now the ones buying for their grandchildren.”

With the expanded space and toys, also comes more ideas to serve the public.

“We’re going to have story hour and Spanish classes,” she said. “We’ll soon be offering a place for birthday parties and in the spring and summer, we have an outdoor patio, which I am imaging will be a cool, refreshing space with some plants, cafe tables and a water element.”

Hall, who doesn’t sell any electric or remote control toys, has each section geared toward a certain age or gender.

“Most of my toys are fairly educational, and imaginative, such as dress up stuff or involve outdoor fun, such as kites,” she stressed.

She has turned the cavernous hole in the building, which used to be a bank vault into a sort of “kid cave” with stuffed dragons, snakes and spiders, a teepee and all sort of little hands-on toys.

“Boys tend to get short shrift when it comes to toys,” she said. “There doesn’t seem to be enough geared toward them.”

The store has a cultivated area for babies, up to toddlers, and into the teens. She said the range of toys appeals to kids just until about 12 or 13 years old. She also offers a handicapped restroom that will soon accommodate a changing table.

As Belfast continues to shuffles around storefronts this spring, Hall plans to hold a grand opening of Out on A Whimsey Toys when other tenants have also moved into the vacant spaces, so they can all be ready at the same time, sometime in early May.

For more info visit outonawhimsey.com

Photos by Kay Stephens

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

OWLS HEAD—Everyone loves a good success story, but they happen to love it just a little bit more when there is a mini-tasting event afterward.

As part of Owls Head Transportation Museum’s winter education four-part series celebrating the pioneers and innovators of Maine’s business community, two local craft brewers and one vintner shared their stories with a crowd of approximately 50 people at the museum on Saturday, March 24, 2018.

“This is our third event this winter and we’ve chosen certain speakers because of the approach they’ve taken to make their business stand out,” said Sophie Gabrion, marketing and public relations manager. “They’re all Maine businesses using very innovative methods to accomplish their goals.”

Speakers included Andy Hazen, founder of Andrew’s Brewing Co. in Lincolnville; Elmer Savage, co-owner of Savage Oakes Vineyard and Winery, in Union; and Nate Wildes, cofounder of Flight Deck Brewing, in Brunswick.

Using a Pecha Kucha-style of presentation, each speaker told the journey of their business in 15 slides for 15 minutes.

Today with more than 100 breweries in Maine (and counting), Hazen is considered one of the forefathers of the Maine brewing industry boom. A cabinetmaker by trade and a home brewer for about eight years, Hazen started Maine’s fifth microbrewery in 1992, at a time when there was no brewing equipment readily available. A carpenter and troubleshooter, he built and jury-rigged his own equipment along the way, even employing a local welder to help him assemble a 12-barrel brewing system that he designed himself.

His presentation took the viewers through his atypical path to success, as his business grew. Today, they run their 5OO-barrel per year brewery seven days a week.

“The biggest challenge back then was that there wasn’t anything available,” said Hazen. “We pretty much had to manufacture everything we used ourselves. We were the foundation. You can’t build a house if you don’t have the foundation.”

Elmer Savage, along with his wife Holly, own and run Savage Oakes Vineyard and Winery, a 95 acre family farm that dates back to the 1790s.

His presentation took the audience through the couple’s successful business decisions to turn the farm into a unique agri-business destination. With wild blueberries as their primary crop, the Savages came up with a business plan to turn the  the blueberries into a value-added product of blueberry wine, which eventually led to planting growing grapes.

For the last 14 years, they turned their hobby of wine making into a small scale commercial production producing 17 award-winning wines and the Savages haven’t stopped their innovation there. They used the farm to host small scale concerts, which have now grown into a summer concert series featuring popular national artists. Last year, Lyle Lovett performed and this summer, Savage Oakes Vineyard and Winery will host Melissa Etheridge.

“We are always thinking of different ways to make this farm work and went into each venture with a business plan,” said Savage. “There’s not a lot of money in straight production agriculture in Maine and when we recently redid the plan, we added the summer concert series.”

Nate Wildes is not only an engagement director for Live and Work in Maine, a private-sector workforce attraction initiative, he is also cofounder of Flight Deck Brewing, which opened a year ago in the former small arms range of the Brunswick Naval Air Station (now Brunswick Landing).

Wildes’s presentation focused on the purchase and renovation of the bulletproof concrete arms range building into a unique destination brewery and social gathering space. Another groundbreaking move on their part was to add four four publicly accessible electric car chargers in the parking lot with the help of Revision Energy and Tesla Motors. These chargers, powered with 100 percent renewable energy, are complimentary to Flight Deck’s consumers.

When asked if he ever had any reservations in the process of undergoing such a monumental project as converting an old shooting range building into a brewery, Wildes said: “Only at the beginning, middle and the end. We knew that if we started a brewery, we wanted it to be unique and experiential. As consumers we also knew that some of the best experiences you can have in a Tasting Room is because of the space itself. We wanted a place where people could connect with each other. The other side of it was, if this building wasn’t going to be reused, what would it become? If it was torn down, it would have been a waste of resources, so with a lot of elbow grease and creative thinking, we thought if we could make this building work, it would represent what we wanted the overall experience to be.”

Owls Head Transportation Museum’s final event in this winter series will be “Pioneers of Creative Culture” on April 21, 2018 at 1 p.m. For more information: Pioneers & Innovators series.

Photos by Kay Stephens

ROCKLAND—At the intersection of Water Street and Main Street, there is a quiet gallery on the second floor of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center that is worth checking out during a lunch break or after a stressful day. Glass-enclosed and full of natural light with views of the ocean, this under-the-radar gallery brings nature and wildlife inside with each exhibit, offering a place to recharge while winter still lingers.

Two artists share the gallery space throughout March: Wildlife photographer Carla Skinder of St. George and wooden relief sculptor Tom Hardy of Lincolnville.

A retired nurse, Skinder has been shooting photographs of wildlife all over the world since the late 1970s. Every other year, she takes a major trip to a country to immerse herself into the wild. From her recent trip to Namibia, she has winnowed down some of her favorite photos from tens of thousands of pictures taken. The exhibit currently hanging is a compilation of work dating back to the ‘70s.

“A lot of these shots were taken in Vietnam, China, Namibia, and Zambia, the Antarctic and the Faulkland Islands,” she said. “And, some right here in New England. The photographs of the loons were taken in Grafton, New Hampshire.”

Skinder often gets right up close to shoot her subjects while in a kayak. “I’ll be doing a slide talk on March 21 here at the gallery on what it’s like to photograph from a kayak,” she said. “It can be pretty intense because I’m trying to keep very still and of course, the water is never still. I have to set down my paddle and pick up my camera, which has a 600 lens, so it’s a big camera. And of course, the challenge is not to get the camera wet. It’ll be a fun show with shots both from ponds and the ocean.”

Among some stunning shots of wildlife, Skinder also displays some travel ephemera called “First Day Covers.” A first day cover is a postage stamp on a cover, postcard or stamped envelope the first day that the stamp goes into circulation within a country. “These are a cheap way of bringing a souvenir back from every country I visit,” she explained.

This coming year Skinder's next adventure will be a trip to the High Arctic in the fall of 2019, which is being offered through the Friends of Maine Coastal Islands NWR.

Tom Hardy is the relief sculptor whose work graces the other half of the gallery. “My background is in sculpting in the round, which is three-dimensional sculpting with clay,” he said. Through my friend, I learned how to do relief sculpture, where I use sandblasting at high velocity on cedar boards with the sand removing the low density fiber from wood.”

This “wooden fingerprint,” unique to each piece of wood, presents a random beauty. Hardy’s work features wildlife as his subject matter, whether it is flocks of gulls, seahorses, the coasts or bonsai trees. “My work almost always involves nature as it inspires me personally,” he said.

The gallery is open during regular business hours, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except holidays. This July and August, the gallery and visitor center also will be open on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with the help of Friends’ volunteers.

To learn more about Skinder’s work, email her at arviste@hotmail.com and to attend her slide talk on March 21 click on the details here.

To learn more about Tom Hardy’s work check out his Instagram profile at @tomlhardy or visit:  tomlhardyart.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

“I Am A Hero” follows a mentally unhinged manga artist named Hideo Suzuki. He is downtrodden and a bit dumpy, and has an emotionally abusive girlfriend who is an alcoholic. “I Am A Hero” is basically an extreme underdog story. Much like in real life, there are underlying hints of the escalating danger in the background. It is revealed in the news, or just people talking in the background, that people are getting bitten. It's an interesting comment on the author's part, to note how easy it is for people to live in their own bubble and not notice the warning signs around them.

The book, originally published in Japan in 2009 was republished in 2016, by Dark Horse in an omnibus of volumes one and two.

Kengo Hanazawa's first work was a manga called “Boys on the Run,” which had a publishing run from 2005 to 2008, but sadly, during that time, it was never published in English. In 2016, Dark Horse published “I Am A Hero” in English and is still ongoing with five omnibus volumes. Kengo Hanazawa also wrote three “I Am A Hero” spinoff manga titled, “I Am A Hero in Osaka;” ““I Am A Hero in Ibiraki;” and “I Am A Hero in Nagasaki.” The three spinoff manga are set in the same world and time period as the original, but in different parts of Japan during the apocalypse, and with different characters but none of these were ever published in English.

The main character is unique in that his mental instability makes him more aware of supernatural creatures. He is one of the only people in Japan with an actual firearm, because he fears one day he will need it to protect himself against the unnatural. While walking home from work one day, Hideo witnesses a girl being hit by a car. The owner of the car gets out to help her, and she bites him while he is calling an ambulance. She doesn't kill him though. She then walks away with a mangled leg and her head snapped backwards. This was one of the first sightings of the yet-to-come zombie apocalypse. Soon after, all of Japan is swarming with these creatures, and Hideo is determined to survive.

“I Am A Hero” is an amazing manga with a unique story and characters, and is without a doubt the greatest zombie manga of all time.

Olivia​ ​Gelerman,​ ​11,​ ​is​ ​the​ ​curator​ ​of​ ​several​ ​hundred​ ​works​ ​of​ ​manga,​ ​anime and​ ​graphic​ ​novels​ ​that​ ​can​ ​be​ ​found​ ​in​ ​a​ ​book​ ​collection​ ​for​ ​sale​ ​of​ ​47​ ​West. Her​ ​knowledge​ ​of​ ​these​ ​genres​ ​is​ ​extensive​ ​and​ ​she​ ​is​ ​happy​ ​to​ ​recommend certain​ ​books​ ​for​ ​tween​ ​and​ ​teen​ ​readers.​ ​Her​ ​monthly​ ​book review​ ​(Manga​ ​101)​ ​appears exclusively​ ​in​ ​Penobscot​ ​Bay​ ​Pilot.