ROCKLAND—Today, if you walk through the doors of Trackside Station Restaurant in Rockland, you’ll see a U-shaped bar on one side, a host of tables on the other and locals enjoying a meal or a drink. Known for being a comfortable watering hole, it’s a good place to watch Sunday football on the giant TV screens.

Zip back 100 years ago to March, 1918. Construction on a brand new train station had begun the year before and had just been completed. The Rockland Courier Gazette published an article on Friday, March 15, 1918, offering details of the new station with the teaser opening sentence: “If present plans materialize the 8 ‘o clock passenger train next Monday morning will pull out of the new station...” making the official opening to the train station presumably March 18, 1918.

The building had just been built by the Maine Central Railroad to be its terminal depot from Portland to Rockland. Back then, the construction of the Georgian style building on the corner of Union and Pleasant streets had required an entire street to be eradicated. In order to lay down tracks, a side street called Portland Street (between Park and Pleasant), had to be torn up and approximately eight houses had to be relocated.

The entire project of buying the land and building the brand new passenger station cost $125,000, constructed with Vinalhaven granite as the base, tapestry brick for the main structure, Indiana limestone for the trim and copper gutters and a steel roof covered in slate. The main entrance on Union Street welcomed passengers with a dramatic arch and overhang and massive limestone columns.  

To walk into the trackside entrance on the north, you’d enter a cavernous room with 21-foot-tall ceilings and beautifully finished in quartered oak with round arch multi-paned windows letting in the daylight.

The little details would have been noticeable: A terrazzo floor and terra cotta walls and a stucco ceiling. From the ceiling hung five pendant electric lights. Three massive oak double-sided settees in the center of the waiting room served as the main lobby’s seating with fixed oak benches along east and south walls.

The station could seat up to 200 people with additional seating on the western side in the lavatories, or what newspapers of the day euphemistically called the ladies’ “retiring room” and the men’s “smoking room.”

The Rockland Courier Gazette provided more detail: “Both are commodious apartments, provided with quartered oak settees, and walls tinted to correspond with those in the large waiting room. The lavatories connected with each of the above mentioned rooms are equipped with marble floors, plate glass mirrors and the very latest method of plumbing.”

The ticket office was to the left of the trackside entrance and the western end of the building housed the baggage room—considered to be the largest that the Maine Central Railroad possessed “with a granolithic floor, warranted not to scratch or dent...”

The railway station was also built with a basement. Constructed of fireproof concrete, it contained a heating plant, storage room and a coal pen with the capacity for 40 tons of coal. To heat the building one had to start a fire in the large sectional boiler with 1,500 pounds of coal.

Today, the marble-terrazzo floor still exists under the modern floating wood floor. Evidence of the original floor, although very discolored, can be seen in the kitchen and in the hallway leading to the current bathrooms. The bathrooms at the time were located where the kitchen is now. When the floor in the kitchen was clean, prior to the restaurant moving in, one could see the outline of the toilets on the floor. The location of the current bathrooms was open space on the west end of the waiting room. As for the coal pen in the basement, the metal grate covering the old access port for the coal bin still exists on the Pleasant Street side of the building.

Gil Merriam, a historian and volunteer at the Rockland Historical Society, remembers as a little boy, stopping into the old station on his way to school. “I was around nine or 10 and a few kids and I would walk every day to the Grace Street School and stop at the train station to get a gumball from the gumball machine,” he said. “We used to get there to watch the 8:05 go out, the first passenger train of the day to Portland—the smoke and steam from the coal-fired engine belching out. When we were older, some of us made extra money helping unload the baggage or cleaning the passenger cars.”

“This train station has had several lives,” said Merriam. “In 1959, the Maine Central Railroad stopped scheduled passenger service because use had rapidly declined in favor of the automobile.” After passenger service ended on the line, the station was renovated and adapted for use as Rockland’s city hall, and the baggage area served as the space for the police station after it relocated from Spring Street, [now Museum Street] occupying the building until1996. In the basement, jail cells were constructed, which still exist today.

Merriam’s related story (click on link in sidebar above) details the evolution of the building over the years.

In 2008, a historic restoration of the building’s exterior took place under the watchful eye of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. Inside, the old station had undergone an entire renovation, resulting in the new bar, the current lights and fans, the floating wood floor over the terrazo, and the red and black paint scheme.

In 2009, Trackside Station Restaurant, currently owned by Mike Woods, opened to the public.

“People come in here all of the time who grew up in the area and still remember the old train station,” said Kelly Woods, Trackside Station Restaurant’s former co-owner and current General Manager. “It has a lot of cool history, such as the jail cells that are still in the basement. Coming up on our ninth year here, we are happy to be part of such a historic building.”

Today, the Rockland Historical Society (in the lower level of the Rockland Public Library) serves as an important source of information about the train station, with maps, photos and even a glass display of some of the vintage train tickets and ephemera. Later this year, Rockland Historical Society, Trackside Station Restaurant and Rockland Main Street Inc. are all planning a formal celebration of the train station’s 100th anniversary.

Additional historical references in this article were provided by Gil Merriam, Rockland historical Society and Gordon Page Sr., Executive Director, Rockland Main Street. 

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—On Friday, March 16, for those shopping at the Belfast Farmer’s Market in the greenhouse of Aubuchon Hardware in Belfast, there were plenty of fresh, farm-grown ingredients to make a classic Irish dish for St. Patrick’s Day—including corned beef and cabbage, Irish stew, Irish pasties and Irish soda bread.

Market members cooked up and put out a spread of dishes for a free public tasting. Each was made with ingredients they grew or produced and were available for purchase at the market.

Jennifer Pierce, a spokesperson for the Belfast Farmer’s Market, said their market was the longest running farmer’s market in the Midcoast, celebrating its 38th season. It is open year-round every Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the winter, it is located in the greenhouse and will be moving back outdoors to its summer home at Waterfall Arts in mid-April.

“We tend to have the same members week after week, but it depends on the seasonal availability of their produce or products,” she said. “We only do the public tasting on special occasions, as a special thank you from the Members and it also gives people ideas on how to use locally produced vegetables and in new and different ways, and sample what's in season.”

Dalziel Lewis of Dig Deep Farm in South China not only had an abundant array of micro-greens to decorate a table, but she also had root vegetables that would be delicious in a traditional Irish stew. “You can also find us each Saturday at the Belfast United Farmer’s Market as well,” she said, for those looking for fresh ingredients for a March 17 feast.

Under the wooden handmade sign of Peacemeal Farms, brilliant orange farm-fresh carrots, potatoes, garlic and cabbage were for sale: the ideal ingredients for New England boiled dinner or lamb stew.

Billi Barker, owner of Enchanted Kitchen at Firefly Farm in St. Albans, Maine, is an organic farmer, personal chef and caterer. She offered a classic “pastie” for $3, a savory, flaky pastry filled with organic beef and potatoes, peas, carrots and gravy—all from the very farms she was working with that day. “It’s a boiled dinner in a handpie,” she said, laughing.

For more information about the Belfast’s Farmer’s market schedule, visit them at belfastfarmersmarket.org/belfastmarket/

The United Belfast Farmer’s Market also takes place Saturday, March 17, so if you still want your Irish dinner from scratch, that’s the place to find what you need.

 All photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

One hundred years ago this month, the Rockland Courier Gazette announced the opening of the Maine Central Railroad’s new train station in Rockland at the corner of Union and Pleasant streets. From 1918 to 1959, this impressive brick structure served as a Maine Central Station. It has had several other lives since then and is currently used as the Trackside Station Restaurant.  To recognize its historic importance, in 1978, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Though by far the most elaborate, this station was preceded by three others. The story began 1864 when the Knox-Lincoln Railroad (K&L RR) was chartered to run between Bath and Rockland.  

Construction began in 1865 and was completed in 1871 when the railroad began passenger and freight service in November of that year.  The line was approximately 55 miles in length.  Because there was no bridge over the Kennebec River between Bath and Woolwich, steam ferries were employed to carry passenger coaches and freight cars across the river. This practice lasted until 1927 when the Carleton Bridge opened.  At Bath, the K&LRR linked with the Maine Central Railroad line to Portland and beyond.

Initially, all of the Rockland terminal facilities, including the rail yard, roundhouse, turn table and the passenger station, were located near each other between Park Street and New County Road about a half mile west of the down town business district at the top of Park Street hill. The railroad built a wooden station on the New County Road side of the site near the round house. Over the years, Rockland would have, in succession, three year-round train stations and one seasonal station in three different parts of the city. The second station was a seasonal facility.  In 1872, the railroad ran a spur from the main line to the foot of Mechanic Street, where it built a steam boat wharf, which included a passenger station, a freight shed and a coal pocket. This station served passengers connecting to the KL&RR steamboats plying the waters of east Penobscot Bay and Downeast ports.  Steamboat service lasted until 1931.

Though rail service was heavily used, the location of the New County Road station was a problem.  Almost from the beginning, a chorus of complaints, particularly from downtown merchants, about the distance between the station and downtown, as well as other inconveniences, prompted a demand that the railroad extend the line and build a new station in the downtown area.  The situation changed dramatically on the night of September 1, 1885 when a suspicious fire completely destroyed the wooden station on New County Road.  A citizens’ meeting at City Hall on September 11 attracted a large crowd including a number of  community leaders.  The overwhelming consensus supported a new downtown station at least as far as Union Street.

The railroad company finally agreed to extend the tracks to the downtown area and to build a new station near the business district. They considered three different routes—Holmes Street, Park Street and Portland Street. The site finally selected was near the corner of Portland and Union streets.  (Portland Street was parallel to and just north of Pleasant Street and ran between Union and Brick streets.). The extension of the tracks to Union Street required the company to purchase and remove several houses and outbuildings on Portland and Brick streets.  Rockland contractor, W. H. Glover Company, built a wooden, Queen Anne style station that opened in 1886 and served for 22 years until the new brick station replaced it in 1918.

In 1891, the Maine Central Railroad leased the K&LRR and in 1901 purchased the line outright.  With that purchase, the line became known as the Rockland Branch of the Maine Central Railroad. The matter of a new station arose again in the second decade of the 20th century.  The Portland Street station had become inadequate for the amount of passenger and express freight traffic.   When Maine Central Railroad purchased the Samoset Hotel in 1912, some of the Maine Central directors felt that a larger, modern station would better serve the thousands who traveled on the Rockland Branch.  Such a station would also reflect positively on the company, especially with the affluent Pullman passengers who came to Rockland during the summer season.  Many of them stayed at the Samoset.  

Former Maine governor, William T. Cobb from Rockland, who joined the Maine Central Board in 1914, was a strong advocate for a new station. His influence on the rest of the board members was crucial in gaining support for a new station. The city authorities supported the move and agreed to terms specified by the railroad, the most important of which was the abandonment of Portland Street.  The railroad also had to purchase and move or tear down eight houses on Portland and Pleasant streets.  

Construction on the station began in 1917, and it opened to the public in late March 1918. The station remained  active until April 4, 1959 when Maine Central ended passenger service on the Rockland Branch and closed the station. The City of Rockland immediately purchased the building and reconfigured the interior into a city hall, which for a time also included the Rockland Police Department.  It remained  City Hall until 1996 when the city moved to another building.

In 1987, the state had purchased the Rockland Branch (Rockland to Brunswick) to prevent abandonment.  In 2003, the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced an ambitious plan to create a rail/marine “highway” system, which included upgrading the Rockland Branch to passenger-grade quality.  The plan also included purchasing the station with the intention of restoring and reopening it as an active train station.  

In 2004, a new operator of the line, Maine Eastern Railroad, began offering  excursion passenger service on the line.  In June, 2006, the renovation of the station was completed, and on June 20, the community celebrated the station’s grand re-opening. Passenger service had returned to the station after a hiatus of 47 years.  Maine Eastern occupied part of the station, and the renovated waiting room now included a full- service restaurant.

There have been two successive  restaurants in the station ever since.  The current restaurant, Trackside Station, continues as the station’s primary tenant.  When Maine Eastern lost the bid for continued service 2015, the successful bidder, the Central Maine and Quebec Railway was interested only in freight service, so passenger service has ended for now.  Recently, however, Amtrak has shown some interest in restoring limited passenger service between Boston and Rockland this summer with experimental runs on three weekends in August.  The Rockland station may once again see passenger trains in the future.

 Gil Merriam is a historian and member of the Rockland Historical Society

Finally! After the last several years of calling in “the Irish flu” the next day at work, St. Paddy’s Day falls on a Saturday this year. That means more time all day long to sample an Irish breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Midcoast (and beyond) with a nip or two of the good stuff. As we said last year, get your Uber money ready or get a DD who drives responsibly!

Belfast

Rollie’s Bar and Grill
One of the few places that opens at the crack o’ dawn (6 a.m.) Rollie’s does a special St. Paddy’s Day every year starting with their Irish breakfast. Then, ease on into the day for Guinness drink specials and prize giveaways for best outfit.

Three Tides/Marshall Wharf

The  brew store opens at 11 a.m. with a new SMB-25 Oatmeal Stout on tap to drink here, and in growlers to go. Three Tides is featuring a Morse's Sauerkraut Irish banger plate, MW stout corned beef tacos, and a chocolate Irish stout cake with smoked salted Irish whiskey sauce and Bailey’s pastry cream. The Oystermen ( Old Grey Goose w/ stand up bass ) start playing at 7p.m. Slainte!

Front Street Pub
Hosting the “Luck o’ the Irish 17 hour party,” Irish culinary addicts will get their fix with Darby’s Irish fare starting at 9 a.m. with 17 hours of traditional dishes, cocktails, Irish beers, for breakfast, lunch, Happy Hour, and dinner followed by a late night dance party til 1 a.m.

Bowen’s Tavern

Bowen's Tavern will feature the Midnight Ramblers for a special Saint Patrick's Day acoustic evening from 8-11 p.m. The Midnight Ramblers are an acoustic Alt Country Roots & Blues duo with Mike Cole and Will Neils. This evening they will add a selection of their favorite Irish Songs to celebrate their Irish Heritage.

The Country Rose

It’ll be more country than Irish jig, but no matter, The Country Rose (100 Searsport Avenue) is throwing an annual St. Paddy’s day party. They will be playing rocking country hits all night as well as great drink and food specials will be going on all night and giveaways. No cover. Starts at 9:30 p.m. and goes until 1 am.m

Lincolnville

The Whale’s Tooth
The Whale's Tooth Pub and restaurant is throwing their annual St. Paddy’s Day party with live music from the T’Omally brothers at 6 p.m. and traditional fare such as shepherd’s pie, corned beef and cabbage, and classic Irish beverages. It's going to be packed, so reservations are a good idea. Everything kicks off at 5:30 p.m.

Camden/Rockport

The Drouthy Bear

Just like Rollie’s, this Scottish pub is celebrating the Celtic vibe all day long starting at 8 a.m. with whisky/ey and porridge and pints of the black stuff. A full menu begins at 11 a.m.  There will be some fiddle in the evening and some craic all day!

Horsefeather Grille

Along with traditional Irish dinner specials such as corned beef and cabbage and Irish stew, they will have Smiling Irish Bastard on tap, featuring the band The Postman Cometh with a variety of Irish tunes from 6 to 8 p.m.

Rockport Opera House

The Rockport Opera House is throwing a special March 17 dance party to benefit Ashwood Waldorf School, featuring The Right Track, Midcoast's 11-piece R & B Soul/Funk band. Doors open 6:30 p.m. A dance lesson start at 7:00 p.m. and the band starts 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Available at Ashwood Waldorf School, (207) 236-8021.

16 Bay View Vintage Room

The Vintage Room at 16 Bay View in Camden will offer special food options: House Brined Corned Beef on Caraway Roll, Colcannon, Irish Mashed Potatoes and cabbage, Whiskey Pudding with Buttery Shortbread, and featuring beer specials.

Rockland

Trackside Station

Join Trackside for their second 5K run and walk fundraiser of the year on St. Patrick's Day. While the runners are out there giving their all (starting at 10 a.m.) there will surely be enthusiastic bystanders with green beer cheering them on.  There will be prizes for the fastest male and female and for the best dressed Leprechaun. Prizes also will be given in age categories for both male and female runners. to register: Leprechaun 5K

Myrtle Street Tavern

Last I checked, The Tune Squad wasn’t an Irish band, but that’s not stopping the Myrtle from celebrating St. Paddy’s Day and wearing o’ the green that night. The drummer’s name is Matt Green, so that counts. The band starts at 9 p.m.

Rock City Coffee

Under the newly employee-owned business, Rock City is hosting a special St. Patrick’s Day Irish Music Session going from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery

Rock Harbor is getting in on the St. Paddy’s action with the band The Karmaceuticals playing from 8 to 11:30 p.m.

Hope

Hatchet Mountain Publick House

Hatchet Mountain’s annual St. Paddy's Day celebration is the place for good, authentic Irish tunes and boiled suppah, along with the usual liquid libations! It all starts at 5 p.m. and goes to 11 p.m.  Note: Get there early—seats fill up quickly!

Warren

Simplicity Brewing Co.

From 12 to 6 p.m. the brewing co. is celebrating St Patrick's Day offering Porter Ice Cream floats along with Potato Cakes infused with cabbage and corned beef. They are donating 10% of all proceeds to Funds for the Fallen 2018.

Killer Road Trips

Around the state, there are are few well known authentically Irish pubs that will feel like you’re smack in the center of Dublin. Geaghan’s Pub in Bangor is one of them, having celebrated this “Holy Day” for the last 41 years. Starting at 9 a.m. they’ll have a day of family, fun, and live music starting at noon. They’re “just a bit of the Emerald Isle in York County,” and The Kerryman Pub in Saco is celebrating their 40th St. Patrick’s Day with live music all day, starting at 10 a.m. and the usual lineup of Irish food and drink, plus The Hurricanes hit the stage at 2 p.m. Byrnes Irish Pub (in both Bath and Brunswick) will also be throwing a St. Paddy’s Day party in the Brunswick location.

If you want to know the real story about St. Patrick, the legend behind St. Patrick’s Day, get your history fix here!

If you’re a bar or restaurant doing something special, please contact Kay Stephens at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—For the third year, the walls of Waterfall Arts’ Clifford and Corridor Galleries are covered in children’s and teenagers’ art—some of it as recognizable as what you’d find on a refrigerator at home and some, arresting enough to stop and try to find out how old the artist is.

To celebrate Arts Education month, Waterfall Arts kicked off an opening reception March 2, showcasing artwork from kindergarteners to high schoolers. Artwork came from half dozen area schools, from individual students and from Waterfall Arts’ own sixth graders fromWaterfall Arts’ after-school programs. Some of it was assigned; some of it came from the young artist’s creative inspiration and each one is a little window into how kids today think.

In the Clifford Gallery, nine evenly spaced canvases take up one side of the far wall. Though each canvas is painted in an individual style and color featuring one word chosen by the student, as a whole, the symmetry of the piece comes together as as artistic unit.

“Those were from our 6th grade BRIDGE students, many of whom hadn’t painted on canvas before,” said Bridget Matros, Youth and Family Outreach Coordinator and BRIDGE instructor. “Most are more comfortable drawing. But, they went for a new challenge and I'm glad they did. They got the whole frustrating and rewarding experience of having to get past not liking their work and just putting in more time. There were great ‘happy mistakes’ too. They worked for three weeks to finish the piece."

At the top of the second story stairwell in the Corridor Gallery, a series of political artwork hangs, done by social studies students—not art students—and yet the pieces are striking.

“We had something different submitted this year,” added Meg Fournier, Communications and Development Manager. “The eighth graders at Warsaw Middle School from Pittsfield were in a social studies semester program studying art and social justice. They were studying civil rights and injustices and processed what they’d absorbed from it visually in artwork that could be interpreted as controversial.”

Topics range from the abstract to the political.

“It was the first time we had a moment where we thought ‘is this too controversial?” said Matros. “We all had to have a conversation about it before we decided to go ahead and include the whole group of pieces. This is a shining example of arts integration in the curriculum. We all learn through emotion, and the more you introduce students to subjects that engage their emotions and imagination, the more retention they’ll have of that subject matter.”

Ultimately, exhibitions like these speak to the need for advocating art in all forms in schools. The artwork hangs until March 29. The gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information visit: waterfallarts.org

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN—One year ago, we interviewed Camden native Kerry Gross, who was about to embark on a cross-country bicycle tour from San Francisco back home to Maine.  Her goal?  To interview inspirational women all along the way and to turn those interviews into a series of podcasts called “Women Who Dare.”

Gross received about half the funding for her goal, but that didn’t deter her.

“I didn’t let it stop me,” she said. “Instead of going to restaurants at the end of the day, I’d shop at the grocery store and spend less. I did a lot of camping and stayed at a lot of places for free that were hosted by a hospitality organization for the biking community.”

It took Gross five months to complete the trek, bicycling 5,800 miles and using Amtrak to cover another 1,600 miles to meet and interview 27 women recommended to her for their inspiration and daring.

“From the people standpoint of the trip, it was amazing,” she said. “So many people asked me, ‘aren’t you scared to do this by yourself?’ And I truly wasn’t. Everyone was so curious and so kind along the way. Just traveling through so many diverse landscapes, I think I understood better what shapes people’s attitudes and beliefs depending on where they live.”

For the most part, Gross mapped her bike route according to the location of women she planned to meet, based largely on recommendations from other women along the way.

Part of the trip was planned—the other part serendipitous.

“I think the most amazing part of the trip is that every time I’d get weary and think the project was done, I’d meet yet another woman with an incredible story to tell,” she said.

Currently, Gross is back on the East Coast in Vermont, housesitting while she works on putting together the podcasts of her journey, the final wrap up to the project. She continues to do the project on her own time and on her own dime. 

Just in time for International Women’s Day, Gross will release two new podcasts on March 6 with more episodes planned to go live weekly. Each one is a combination travel journal/ interview, featuring a daring woman.

The first features Brandi Brown, founder and owner of Tahoe Production House in South Lake Tahoe. 

“She’s in her early 20s, started this company, and she talks about founding a business as a young woman, breaking into the film industry,” said Gross.

The second podcast features Megan Michelson, a freelance writer who has written for Outside Magazine, ESPN, and Men’s Journal.

“She’s a writer and an all-out outdoorswoman,” said Gross. “We talked about her path into journalism and how to honor a subject while still telling a compelling story.”

Gross said that her motivation to pull off this trip and what it has produced sparked a curiosity in many of the people she met along her journey. 

“Some of them said to me I inspired them to try a big challenge of their own,” she said. “Maybe it’s not biking across the country, but something else they were afraid to try.”

Find the new “Women Who Dare” podcasts on Gross’s website at kerrygross.com

Related story:

Camden native Kerry Gross knows there are more adventurous women out there and she’s going to find them

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — On a grey, Saturday morning in Rockland, the weather forecast calls for more snow during the weekend as adult students sit around a work table at the Penobscot Language School. Surrounded by bright bunches of baby’s breath, chrysanthemums and lilies, participants are contemplative as they try their hand at Ikebana, the ancient Japanese art of flower arrangement.

Sachiko Clough, a Penobscot Language School instructor, examines the arrangements from each student, providing guidance on how to place the height and the angles of the stems in shallow ceramic dishes. Originally from Osaka, Clough is a certified Japanese language teacher and also holds licenses in Ikebana and Japanese tea ceremony.

“In Japan, people learn how to do Ikebana all of their life,” she said. “You have to have at least two to three years to finally master it.”

Two of the most common Ikebana styles are called Heika, which are arranged in tall, thin vases and Moribana, which use low, shallow containers. In the first of two classes, Clough is teaching students how to create Moribana freestyle, a method of flower arrangement that is left completely up to the arranger on how to group the flowers. With this technique, the focal point of the composition depends on the arranger’s own sense of proportion and harmony.

However, even in Moribana freestyle there are certain rules. “You want the stems to be different heights and to form an asymmetrical triangle,” said Clough. The students all attempt to find that imaginary triangle as they study each of the blossoms before them and work to arrange the stems into a “flower frog,” a spiky tool at the bottom of the shallow dish, that can hold the trickiest of flower arrangements, even the thinnest stems as they stand upright or at projected angles.

Clough’s next class the following Saturday will once again encompass more layers to Moribana freestyle, but with different fresh flowers. Clough said given the time frame, it would be impossible to introduce a different Ikebana style to the students as it would take weeks and weeks to learn.

Liga Jahnke, a student who has participated in Clough’s previous Ikebana classes, continues to hone her skills with each new class.  “I often try Ikebana at home, using flowers from my garden, annuals and perennials which are in season,” she said. “I also use wildflowers—anything that celebrates the seasons.  I don’t consciously try to make a particular color scheme; I just  use nature’s palate.”

The process of carefully looking at each stem and and finding the best line to position it is meditative—entirely the point of Ikebana. While it may be cold and dreary outside, the practice of working with fresh blooms and branches brings nature inside for awhile—and in the moment, spring has arrived.

For more information visit: What is Ikebana?

For more info Penobscot Language School visit: penobscot.us

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

DAMARISCOTTA — Right toward the end of February, everyone is feeling the slow grind of cabin fever in Maine, so it’s perfect timing for the arrival of the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, screening Monday, Feb. 26 at the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta — free to the public.

And as you know when it comes to this column, if it’s free, it’s Cheap Dates-approved!

So what is the Wild & Scenic Film Festival?  Much like the Banff Film Festival, this is a five-day festival that kicks off in California each year featuring more than 125 award-winning environmental and adventure films, as well as speakers, celebrities, and activists. And when they are done, they package it all up and put the film fest on an international tour to more than 150 communities around the world.

The Damariscotta River Association (DRA) is one of those communities in Maine that has provided a place for this film fest while it is on tour. For the second year in a row, they are screening it one night, Monday Feb. 26 at the Lincoln Theater.

Hannah McGhee, DRA’s Outreach and Communications Manager and other DRA staff watched several hours of films to condense the tour’s five-day programming down to the one-night event. “We watched all of the 2018 films and selected 10 films that we thought would be most relevant to a Maine audience, ranging in length from three minutes to 30 minutes,” McGhee said. “We chose the ones we thought were particularly well done or thought-provoking.”

Two standout films include:

SHIFT (29 minutes): A group of indigenous youth spent 10 years converting traditional trails around Carcross, Yukon into a world-class mountain biking destination and have transformed the community – and themselves – along the way.

“This was our favorite,” said McGhee. “A town reached a settlement with the Canadian government and gained control over this lovely mountainous area. The townspeople were struggling with how to build an economy in the middle of nowhere. They didn’t want big companies to come in and strip mine, and then they had a conversation with this woman who was an experienced mountain biker and loved the area. After that, the townspeople decided they wanted to develop a network of mountain bike trails and that’s pretty cool in and of itself, but what really made it an awesome project is that they involved the whole community and when they got around to building the trails they hired kids from their own community. These kids would spend entire days in the mountains all summer long, working on the trails and it was such a huge success, it’s now a world-class mountain biking destination.”

SKY MIGRATIONS (15 minutes): Each fall, our skies fill with the wings of migrating raptors, a migration that relies on two hemispheres worth of wild and healthy ecosystems. Join ecologist and filmmaker, Charles Post, as he shines a light on the network of back country scientists and sentinels at the front lines of raptor conservation.

“This is a beautiful film, done by a filmmaker who visited a number of volunteer stations on these mountainous places in the western U.S. to observe these raptors on their migratory routes, tag and release them,” she said. “It’s gorgeous footage of these birds and the mountains and a really inspiring story of citizen science.”

Take a pal or take a date and get your head in the virtual outdoors for just one night.

To see more info visit Wild & Scenic Film festival on Tour

Whether it’s frozen or on the rocks or served with a fruity or spicy twist, Thursday, Feb. 22, is National Margarita Day and locals have a definite opinion on where to get the best one in The Midcoast. Here are restaurants/bars from Belfast to Rockland that lean heavily on Mexican flavors and feature a Killer Margarita. 

Belfast

Neighborhood is Belfast’s go-to for a fusion Mexi-style menu and with a Spicy Mango Margarita, made with five-pepper infused tequila, “it's mouth-slappin' spicy.” (Update: Neighborhood is on a winter break until March 6, so you’ll have to rain check your National Margarita Day until then!)

Camden/Rockport

With a cheery interior, Blue Sky Cantina is a local favorite for its Mexican cuisine and can do a margarita any way you want: frozen, rocks, with blueberry or strawberry and even a Pink Cadillac!

40 Paper in Camden does a half-priced happy hour with a sublime cocktail menu and last year they celebrated National Margarita Day with Basic, Very Basic, Smoky, Spicy, or Ginger-Cilantro! All day—all Margaritas! Let’s hope they get into the exact same spirit this year.

Rockland

FOG Bar and Café hosts an weekly Taco Thursday (which just so happens to fall on National Margarita Day) and offers creative margarita recipes. Try a $5 margarita upgraded to include the ginger purée. On other days of the week, people have raved about their coconut margarita with lemongrass/ginger salt. “Best thing evah!” said Erin Darnell on the Midcoast Mouthstuffers Facebook Group.

Trackside Station, the original train station in Rockland converted to an American style pub with quesadillas, nachos and fish tacos on the menu, is switching their Margarita Monday to extend to Thursday this week for only $3.

Park Street Grille is known for its southwestern and Mexican fare with one Trip Advisor poster saying: “If you do order a drink, please don't miss out on their margaritas—no joking here—you can't find a tastier, more drinkable margarita in New England. Seriously.”

Sammy’s Deluxe, which often features Mexican dishes on its eclectic, daily changing menu, has a housemade margarita with green/peppery 100% blue agave tequila — Olmeco Altos, and fresh lime juice. Instead of using triple sec or an orange liqueur, they make their margaritas with more tequila and season with a housemade orange sour so as not to water down with other liquors.

For all the ex-pat Mainers who won’t be here in the Midcoast today, check out the official National Margarita Day website, which lists all the restaurants and bars in 50 states celebrating this day near you. Or check out the recipes to make your own!

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ORONO—If Anton Chekov were alive today, he might be tickled about "Stupid F##king Bird," an irreverent contemporary adaptation of his 1896 play “The Seagull” to debut this weekend of February 23-25 at The University of Maine. 

Written by Aaron Posner, and directed by Dan Billodeau, the story centers around an aspiring young director who rampages against the art created by his mother’s generation while a nubile young actress wrestles with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist. And everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art, and growing up can be. "Stupid F##king Bird" stages a timeless battle between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of it all.

As The Washington Post described it: “Aaron Posner’s savvy, petulant blitz through Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull [is] less an adaptation of Chekhov’s landmark drama than a funny, moving slugfest, a ripe mashup of mock and awe…sometimes it blows Chekhov up, and sometimes the play explodes with a genuinely Chekhovian release of emotion. The show is smart enough to have it both ways: It mines ‘The Seagull’ for classical heft even while giving it the bird.”

“This is probably one of the best plays I’ve ever read,” said Billodeau. “I’ve worked on about a dozen plays and this is by far, the best script. It’s a completely fresh take on one of the greatest works of Russian drama.It’s a commentary on artists and theater and actually makes fun of itself all throughout the play.”

"Stupid F##king Bird," runs February 23-24 and March 2-3 at 7:30 p.m.; February 25 and March 4 at 2 p.m.; and March 1 at 10 a.m. in Hauck Auditorium. Admission: $12, or free with a student MaineCard. Note: this play contains adult situations and mature content.

For tickets and more info visit: University of Maine’s School of Performing Arts

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—For people who like to be creative but don’t consider themselves ‘artists,’ there is a new community group starting in late February to change that self-perception.

The Midcoast Art Hive is part of an international group network of Art Hives, which promote community art studios wherever there is interest. It can be as simple to a one-day pop-up event in a local library to a series of community events in a studio or gallery. Art Hives welcome everyone as artists and creators, no matter what their varying abilities.

Starting Sunday, February 25, from 1-4 p.m. and continuing the last Sunday of every month until June, The Art Loft in Rockland will be hosting space free to the public for the newly formed Midcoast Art Hive. People are welcome to drop in anytime between 1-4 p.m. or arrive at 1 p.m. and stay for the whole three hours.

Barbara Davis, a Camden-based psychotherapist, is organizing each Midcoast Art Hive. As an Art Loft instructor, she said: “I’ve found the some of the people who get the most out of my classes are the ones who tell me ‘I’m not an artist; I can’t do this.’ They can be the ones who find the process the most freeing and are able to express themselves. With the Midcoast Art Hive, we want to provide the free space and materials and encourage people to come in and just start making art.”

Davis, who had dual interests in therapy and art making growing up, had a catalyst moment while struggling to deal with her father’s illness as a teenager. “I just found that when I started drawing or making art I was happier and immersed in a place where I wasn’t thinking about my troubles,” she said. It was then that Davis decided she wanted a career that involved both psychotherapy and the arts.

“This is for people who don’t normally participate in making art, or don’t normally go to galleries and shows or spend money on art workshops,” said Davis. “If the barriers before were that you didn’t consider yourself ‘creative’ or you didn’t have the money to invest in an art-making workshop before, these Art Hives are a great way to participate.”

With help from The Art Loft, Davis also plans to offer free supplies such as cardboard, construction paper, recycled materials, magazines for collage, crayons, markers, water-based paints, yarn and fabric. “The reason we’re offering all of these materials is that people who want to create art, but are hesitant, usually feel if the materials are too precious, like oil paint or canvas, they worry they won’t create something ‘good enough’,” she said. “We want to take that pressure off with basic, everyday supplies.”

The Midcoast Art Hive is open to all ages with the request that parents stay with their children.

“Teenagers who want to come in and create are welcome, as well as older generations,” she said.

Davis said the structure of an art hive is not hierarchical; that is, no expert will be specifically taking on the role of “teacher” in each session. Participants will simply gravitate toward materials they find the most interesting and are encouraged to create. “We may end up sharing our skills with one another,” said Davis, “For example, I’m hoping someone who knows how to knit will show up as I’ve always wanted to learn how to do that and if people wish, I can teach them to draw. If someone is truly stuck, I’ll be happy to guide him or her. There will be some prompts and ideas just to get the process going.”

Davis added that Midcoast Art Hive welcomes any materials or supplies that participants want to bring and donate for the next Sunday session. A list of supplies/materials always needed: paper of varying sizes, shapes, colors and textures, pencils, working markers, water based paint, brushes, small cardboard boxes and tubes, wrapping paper, fabric scraps and yarn, beads, wire, matt board, string and yarn, masking and drafting tape, glue and glue sticks, glitter, pom-poms, cotton balls, cotton swabs, scissors, clean pine cones and small clean shells.

For more information visit: The Art Loft.  www.artloftrockland.org or email midcoastarthive@gmail.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — Retired teacher Bill Babb never planned on leading workshops on the art of sourdough bead making; it became a hobby borne out of a desire to make a friend with cancer happy.

“A friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer,” he said. "One time, she told me she hadn’t had a decent baguette since she left France years before and that set me on a course of trying to learn how to make the perfect baguette for her. At first I thought all you had to do is shape the loaf into a little snake, pop it into the oven and when it came out of the oven, I realized there was a lot more to it than that.”

Babb attended a “Beauty and the Baguette” workshop at King Arthur Baking in Vermont to make the perfect baguette. 

“Every month, I’d try a new iteration and by the end, I was making a pretty good baguette,” he said, much to the approval of his friend, who thought he’d come pretty close to what she’d enjoyed in France. 

Along with yearly conferences at Skowhegan Kneading Conferences, including more workshops at King Arthur to learn how to make sourdough in a wood-fired oven as well as how to make loaves from local grains, Babb proceeded to build to on his baking knowledge.

On the day of his most recent workshop through Five Town CSD Adult and Community Education, Babb had just finished forming 12 balls of sourdough bread in anticipation of the night’s class. Typically, it takes him more than 10 hours to make a loaf of bread, from mixing the starter to forming the dough to baking it off in the oven.

“It’s just the way I do it,” Babb said, “It’s by no means the only way to bake bread. I often just split up the time by making the dough at night, letting it rise overnight and bake it off in the morning. Or, I’ll start the dough in the morning, come back at night and bake it then, so it’s minimal time working the dough.”

His favorite methods for baking bread come down to three techniques.

“One, I’ll take a piece of discarded kitchen counter granite and put it in the stove with steam and that gives it a wonderful crust and crumb; that’s my preferred method for multiple loaves,” he said. “If I’m just baking one loaf, another way is to put the dough inside a clay cloche and use the moisture of the bread dough to steam as it rises in the oven. And then third way, just to show people what bread looks and tastes like without steaming, is to put dough in the oven without steam and let people compare with a taste test to see what they like best.”

Babb has taught about 15 workshops in the last few years through various organizations including FARMS in Damariscotta and Senior Spectrums.

“Because I was a schoolteacher, I like showing people what I’ve learned and talking to people,” he said.

In each of his classes, aspiring bread bakers learn how to shape, score and bake a loaf of bread. Babb may end up doing one more workshop for FARMS Community Kitchen in Damariscotta this spring, but space will be very limited. For those interested in learning how to bake bread, he highly recommends a video made by his friend Stu Silverstein on making Tartine Bread (see video link).

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

OWLS HEAD— Each of Owls Head Transportation Museum’s four speakers this Saturday, Feb. 17, has vastly different interests ranging from pet supplies and organic chocolate to hand tools and premium seafood, but the one thing they all have in common is a knack for recognizing a niche market and having the drive to put their heart and soul into the business of it.

The second event in a winter series OHTM is hosting, “Niche Purveyors” sets up a platform for four local self-starters to give a slideshow presentation similar to a PechaKucha-style to an audience. Presenters will include Heidi Neal, owner of Loyal Biscuit, a pet supply store, Kate McAleer, founder of Bixby & Co., a craft chocolate store, Thomas Lie-Nielsen, founder of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, maker of heirloom quality hand tools, and Dustin Batley of Ducktrap River of Maine, a purveyor of premium seafood.

This winter series is a new direction for OTHM. “In the past, we’ve been more focused on events around transportation, but what we found is that not only are visitors interested in our collection pieces, they are really interested in the stories behind the inventors behind cars and airplanes,” said Sophie D. Gabrion, Marketing & Public Relations Manager. “So, the idea behind this winter series is to find the modern version of these stories and discover who are the innovators locally.”

One of the biggest challenges for contemporary artists, craftspeople, and makers living in Maine is finding the right brick and mortar store to carry their original artwork and products.

One solution to getting more exposure and sales is to sell the work on consignment with shops and galleries. Consignment is an agreement between the artist and the shop to sell the artist’s work for a percentage of the commission. Archipelago, both a gallery and the retail side of the Island Institute in Rockland, represents nearly 250 artists from 20 different islands and the coast of Maine. For the last two years, Archipelago has hosted an Artists and Makers Conference that touched on the topic of consignment as a viable option.

Lisa Mossel Vietze, both Archipelago’s Director and conference organizer, has been a big champion of the area’s artists and makers for nearly a decade. She had advice for those interested in exploring consignment as an option. “We have a different take on consignment than perhaps other stores do,” she said. “Of course, we want sales like any other retail store, but we really like to mentor artists and help them grow. If I see something unique or has potential, I’m much more willing to take the risk and give it a try, than perhaps other stores. And I find that consignment is a good place to take some risks.”

How To Connect

“I find artists many different ways, whether approaching them at fairs and gift shows or on Etsy, or sometimes directly when an artist emails me to inquire whether the work would be a good fit,” said Mossel Vietze. In terms of the latter, Mossel Vietze said every shop or gallery has its own preferences, but most people prefer an email. From the 2017 Artists and Makers Conference, panelist Nire Cook from Maine Crafts Association, also had advice. “You would not believe how many people come in and are impolite,” said Cook, who offered best practices in building a good business relationship with stores and galleries. “Make an appointment —don’t just drop by—to speak with the owner, particularly in the summertime, when everyone is monumentally busy; or better, email the owner first with a line sheet of your work and tell a short and sweet story about yourself to go with the work.”

The Percentage Split

That percentage split varies between galleries and shops with the most common range being between 35-40% commission for the store and 60-65% of the sale to the artist. Some galleries and shops require a 50%-50% split. In any case, it can be a challenge for an artist to know what to set the price for and be prepared to cover the cost of materials, labor and talent. “I would say the typical split with a store you don’t previously have a relationship with is between 40% and 60% with some outliers,” said Mossel Vietze. “For example, if you’re working for a co-op, they may take less.” Artists need to also take into consideration the amount of retail space the shop is dedicating to the product as well as the advertising the shop is doing on behalf of the artist.

The Agreement

Some shops prefer a verbal agreement between the artist and shop owner, whereas most prefer a more formal document outlining the consignment percentage, dates of payment and other contractual details. An artist has to decide the level of comfort with this kind of arrangement; for some, simply meeting the shop or gallery owner face to face and a handshake suffices. For others, a contract is more comfortable. Most shops/galleries will have their own agreement, but it’s always best to take a look at the foundations of a consignment contract to know what questions to ask or clarify.

Points to consider:

• What is the store or gallery’s consignment percentage split?
• What is the payment schedule?
• Does the shop/gallery require an exclusive right to sell the artist’s work in a certain geographic area? (For ex: If your product is sold at one shop on Rockland’s Main Street, does that mean you can’t approach another gallery on Maine Street?) To this, said Mossel Vietze, replied, “If it’s a small item, such as Bixby Bars, there is more flexibility of more than one shop carrying this item; but on the other end of the spectrum, if I’m representing an artist whose work takes up half the gallery and we’re doing a reception, advertising and marketing, we prefer to be the only store representing that artist in Rockland.”
• Do both of you have a list of inventory so you know what exactly (and how many) are for sale?
• When the shop has a sale, does that include a discount on the consigned item or not? And whose end does it come off?
• What happens if a customer breaks the artwork in the shop? Or it is stolen?
• If a high-priced artwork sells to a customer, does the artist have a right to know who it is? Does the gallery have a right to require the artist refrain from trying to sell additional works to the customer directly? “This is usually on a case-by-case basis,” said Mossel Vietze, “but, we have a separate agreement for fine art pieces, so if an artist is approached by a customer directly in a certain time frame, we agree to split the sale.”

For artists and makers, consignment may be the springboard to getting a product or art piece widely known. “As an artist, it is in your best interest, especially when consigning your products for the first time to educate yourself on the store and to know what to expect in the agreement before going in,” said Mossel Vietze.

Related: Takeaways from Artists and Makers Conference

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

I decided to do this series because of Valentine’s Day so I thought it would be nice to do a romance this month.

Vampire Knight is a popular shojo manga ( a style of romance manga typically aimed towards females ) published by Shojo Beat in 2004.

From road rage to political discourse, in today’s society the rise of incivility, both online and in person, has become the new norm, leaving many wondering, is basic courtesy, respect and kindness a thing of the past? In a poll released in 2016, nearly 70 percent of Americans felt political incivility has reached crisis levels.

Maybe we’re a little more insulated from it in Maine, where largely, the unspoken appeal of living here is the civility of most people.

It surprises folks visiting from away how welcoming people here are, whether it’s getting a “hello” from strangers on the street or engaging in pleasant transactions with those behind the counter.

Last year The National Institute of Civil Discourse even chose Maine among four states to work on a project that helps citizens revive civility with in-person “Civility Kick-Off” events.

That said, we’re human and we can all let a bad moment or a bad day get to us. Summer or leaf-peeping traffic and road rage is always a problem. Tensions and spats break out on social media quite frequently and even in our small towns, rude encounters can plague one’s day.

In recent weeks, Midcoast Message Board, the virtual water cooler for some 22,000 members locally, has cropped up with posts of random acts of kindness.

“Went to get a movie from Redbox for tonight, and $4 and this note was inside my case!” wrote Brittany Louise, of Morrill. The note tucked inside the DVD cover read: “Snacks on me—enjoy!”

“Swear To God, only in Maine,” wrote one commenter to the post, which received 42 shares.

“Will definitely be paying it forward,” wrote Louise.

“Paying it forward”—responding to someone's kindness by doing a good deed for someone else—is an old concept; but, with the Redbox example, it took on a new technological twist. (For those who have never rented a movie through Redbox; it is a big red kiosk outside most grocery stores. With payment from a credit or debit card, you receive a DVD of your choice of a movie within a plastic case. Here is an easy tutorial).

Those movies, when returned in the slot, will sit in the kiosk until the next person rents them. It’s easy to stick a couple of bucks inside the plastic sleeve and a note, knowing that a local person will benefit from that kind gesture. 97ZOK Radio even did a short video showing how to do it.

Without anyone making a big deal of it, the ”pay it forward” concept in the Midcoast continues to get traction in a variety of ways. Other random acts of kindness reported on Midcoast Message Board included people returning wallets to stores that they’d found in shopping carts in the parking lot; strangers paying for coffee or donuts ahead in the drive-through lane, so that the next person to drive up gets a free treat, and paying for someone’s lunch and then leaving the restaurant without letting him or her know.

Here are five “pay it forward” ways to keep your Karma golden and revive the civility (not just in yourself) but in the fabric of this entire community.

1. If after leaning on the horn, frustrated with a slow driver in front of you and flipping him or her the bird—

The next time you’re at a toll booth, pay the toll of the person behind you.

2. If leaving a particularly nasty review on Yelp about a local restaurant you were disappointed with—

Delete the review and the next time you have exemplary customer service somewhere, make sure you make a point of telling that person’s manager.

3. If catching yourself making a derogatory comment about someone’s looks—

Write a positive note and stick it in the pocket of a pair of jeans in a department or thrift store.

4. If you’ve ever grumbled about being in a long line when you were in a hurry—

Let someone go in front of you in the grocery line who may have as many items as you, but looks in a hurry.

5. If you ever denigrated someone’s opinion online in a heated or politically charged conversation—

Delete your post. And if you see someone who waits on you frequently (i.e. at the post office, convenience store, or grocery store) make a point of learning that person’s name and using it the next time.

If reviving civility means paying attention to our own negative daily behaviors and correcting them or paying them forward, it goes a long way toward keeping our Maine communities evolved while the world changes around us.

Ideas courtesy RandomActsofKindness.org

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN—With Christmas and the holiday season come and go, there is still one other special day in every child’s life—a birthday.

Richard and Kit Aroneau, owners of the toy store Planet Toys in Camden, have long been supporters of the Knox County Homeless Coalition’s "Adopt-a-Family for the Holidays" program, which, thanks to the generosity of the community, gave nearly 90 families received presents, clothes and necessary items this year.

“We have worked with the Aroneaus for years and they’ve always donated gift baskets and toys for our programs, but we got talking about the idea of birthdays and how it’s such an important occasion for kids,” said Volunteer Coordinator Ev Donnelly. “Though everyone has a birthday, not everyone gets a birthday present. And it would really be nice to have something for them year round.”

With the Aroneaus’ donation, 20 families will receive a gift certificate of $25 to spend on a child’s birthday at Planet Toys. Already, one young woman visited planet Toys to buy a gift for her one-year-old baby.

“They don’t just have toys at Planet; they’ve got clothes, books, electronics and games,” said Donnelly. “So, some of our families with a child’s birthdays coming up can take their child into the Planet and select  something really nice that they might not have been able to afford.”

Donnelly said the gift certificates are for their clients and will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis, but that they may stagger the gift certificates out throughout the year. “We also have some funding left over from Adopt-a-Family for the Holidays program that we put towards birthdays, so if one of our clients is really in a pinch and wants something special for a child’s birthday, we’re open to helping out,” she said.

Richard Aroneau said: "The great Jewish philosopher Martin Buber wrote ‘Every time a child is born it’s as if the first child was born’. In other words, every life is unique and miraculous.  That’s why birthdays are so special and why it’s so vitally important that every child’s birthday be recognized and celebrated with joy.  At Planet, we’re excited to be able to play a role in helping to create that magic.”

 Planet Toys will be closed for winter break the whole month of March.

To find out more about how you can make a difference with those who are homeless in our area, contact the Knox County Homeless Coalition at 207-593-8151 or info@homehelphope.org.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT—Swinging back up to Maine once again, the Banff Film Festival’s World Tour is coming to Camden Hills High School Strom Auditorium in Rockport February 9 and 10.

For the last 18 years, Maine Sport has hosted this annual event, which showcases short films on mountain sports, adventure and the environment. Moore than 22 films will be shown over the course of the two nights.

The lineup this year is exciting, as always. Jeff Boggs, manager and buyer for Maine Sport Outfitters, said, “We're traveling to Mont Blanc, Nepal, West Virginia, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands and Norway this year in some films. We’re also going on an epic trip to Greenland, traveling over glaciers using kite skis to haul the gear and kayaks.”

As someone who is heavily involved in bringing the festival back to Camden every year, Boggs noted that there were several films in the line up that were getting some buzz.

On Friday, breakout films are sure to include:

Loved By All – The Story of Apa Sherpa (14 minutes)

Apa Sherpa has climbed Mount Everest 21 times, more than any other human. But he wouldn’t wish this upon anybody. Having grown up in the remote Khumbu region of Nepal, Apa was forced to leave school and work as a porter at the age of 12. His dreams of being a doctor forever lost. It is a story all too common for the Sherpa people of Nepal, a story Apa aims to change with his work at the Apa Sherpa Foundation.

And another one that will thrill the ladies in the audience:

Where The Wild Things Play (4-minute short)

Friday night at the local watering hole and … where the ladies at? Answer: BASE jumping from high desert cliffs, performing tricks on slacklines, climbing granite routes, shredding singletrack, skiing backcountry lines and generally leaving you fellas behind. This rowdy ode to female athletes by Krystle Wright leaves no doubt about the state of women in today’s outdoor world: badass.

And to circle back to what Boggs was referring to about kite skiing:

Into Twin Galaxies: A Greenland Epic (52 minutes)

Three National Geographic Adventurers of the Year embark on an unreal ski and kayak mission across Greenland. Using kite skis, they tow their whitewater kayaks over 1,000km of the Greenland ice sheet to reach the most northern river ever paddled.

And on Saturday night, a film that will warm your heart is:

Edges (9 minutes)

Tragically, she passed away two days after the release of this film, but 90-year-old skater, Yvonne Dowlen was still ice skating at least five days a week. She rose to fame as an Ice Capades star and never officially retired from competitive figure skating. This short film about Yvonne, Edges, is a celebration of the longevity of life and resilience of the human spirit.

To see each night’s lineup visit: Maine Sport movie presentations

Each night’s show begins at 7 p.m. and features a different slate of films. Online ticket sales have closed. Tickets are still available at our Rockport and Camden locations, over the phone and depending on availability, at the door. Adults: $10 when purchased in-store, $12 at the door, Students: $5 per show. Call (207) 236-7120 for more info.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

HOPE—Meghan Vigeant, an oral historian and writer, has made the art of telling a story her life’s work. After 12 years of producing audio narratives and books for private clients, organizations, and public radio, she has just formed a new workshop to be held at Sweet Tree Arts called “Storytelling 101.”

“I’ve always been fascinated by storytelling in general, but the type of stories told before an audience, true personal stories, sort of like The Moth story slams, is a form that really appeals to me,” she said. “Also, I used to work as a professional actor and there is a certain magic that happens between the people on stage and the people in the audience. I want to share that magic, get people to go beyond their fears, get them excited to stand up and share a little gem from their world.”

The Moth, whose tagline is "True Stories Told Live," holds live storytelling events all over the country and plays many of them on their podcast and on NPR.

The format of oral storytelling is one of the oldest forms of entertainment and education, but what makes story slams like The Moth so compelling is that they are contemporary stories covering a great range of human experience.

However, the art of storytelling may not come easily to everyone.  It’s one thing when Uncle Joe has a rapt audience among his family members around kitchen table, but it can be quite another situation when Joe has to stand on stage in front of a large audience, many of whom he doesn’t know. Even a fantastic storyteller can get tripped up by the unfamiliar element of public speaking and a great story can go flat.

“There are a lot of aspects to shaping up and polishing a really good story before going in front of an audience,” said Vigeant. “Memory of the details, of course, is just one element. Some people are unsure of how to begin and how to wrap it up. Then, there’s choosing what to put in, what to take out, how to hone it for say, a five-minute slot — all of these are skills that can be learned and practiced. It’s very similar to what a writer experiences: setting the story up, building trust with the audience, and telling a story in a way that feels natural.” 

The Moth offers its own Storytelling Tips. On its page, The Moth offer an interesting list of Story Slam “Don’ts” — those pitfalls storytellers have gotten themselves into on stage. For example, consulting one’s notes up on stage is not allowed in a story slam environment. That said, the storyteller shouldn’t feel he is at a deposition and has to memorize every line. There is a natural rhythm to each story. And there needs to be “stakes” in live storytelling; that is, the storyteller has to have something to gain or lose within the story. 

“The topics people pick are often very personal,” explained Vigeant. “The stories have to be true, but, the kind of story that’s universal–the ‘we’ve all been there’ kind of story’, whether it’s embarrassing, funny, heartbreaking, or vulnerable — that’s the kind of story that really resonates with an audience."

Vigeant’s four-week workshop, “Storytelling 101” goes from Feb. 21 to March 14 at Sweet Tree Arts in Hope.

“The class will perform their stories during the last class for an audience of family and friends, and, if they chose as a group to open it up, we may invite the public as well."

For more information visit: Stories To Tell

Kay Stephens can be reached atnews@penbaypilot.com

Actress/comedian Amy Poehler first coined the term “Galentine’s Day” in a 2010 Parks and Recreation episode as a way to celebrate one’s girlfriends on the most manufactured holiday of the year that sweet occasion known as Valentine’s Day — so move over Hallmark, Tiffany’s and 1-800-Flowers, we’ve got some locally made gifts (all handmade by women) to show your girlfriends you love them!

Messy Bun Hat

by Whitney Brown Designs

The back story: Whitney Brown, once a skating queen in the Midcoast Rock Coast Rollers, moved to Vinalhaven with her husband, a lobsterman, and has adjusted from mainland to island living. A mother of two boys, she knits in her spare time and just set up an Etsy shop.

“I love spending cold afternoons cuddled up with my kids and making things with yarn,” she said. “I've made so many things that I've run out of people in my family to gift to and have started placing my creations on Etsy and sharing them with anyone interested. The messy bun hat is super fun right now because it's chunky and warm, and it lets you keep your hair up while your outside freezing your butt off. This Messy Bun hat is perfect for the bestie who doesn’t feel like showering or arranging her locks just to go out for a cup of coffee.”

Where to find it/price range:

$30 online 

Last thing: If you love the concept of this and knit yourself, there are multiple free patterns that can be found here–including a Princess Leia bun hat. 

Allen’s Coffee Brandy Pin

by Maggie Blue Creative

The back story: Artist Maggi Blue started her career with hand-dyed fiber and fabrics and morphed into fused glass and metalwork and has been expanding her skills and products ever since.

“This sweet coffee liqueur is known by many names (my favorite being ‘the Champagne of Maine’) and is the state’s most popular brand of liquor,” she said. “In fact, it dominates the liquor market. Love it or hate it, it is iconic Maine through and through.”

Where to find it/price range:

$10 online

Last thing: “Wear this pin to show your love of this popular spirit—the amount of irony you choose to ascribe to it is totally up to you.”

Shower Shots

by Dulse & Rugosa

The back story: This mother-and-daughter team of Claire and Carly Weinberg started in 2012. They wild-harvest or grow their botanicals and seaweeds on Gotts Island, a tiny island off the coast of Acadia National Park in Maine and set up their production facility on Rockland. Shower Shots turn an everyday shower into a wonderful aromatherapy journey.  Made in jello shots molds, scented with healing essential oils and beautiful herbs and flowers hand picked on their Maine island farm, shower shots make for one sweet shower. 

Where to find it/price range:

$3 per shot or $18 for a six-pack online

Last thing: f you had a rough night after celebrating with your Allen’s Coffee Brandy pin, we recommend the Hangover Cure:   An essential oil blend to help with head and tummy aches including Lemon, Grapefruit, Cedarwood, Juniper and Lavender.

Nasty Woman or Snowflake Lip Balm

by Long Winter Soap Company

The back story: Whatever your politics, this Waldoboro studio and shop has a handmade lip balm for you. Started by Amanda Nolan (with one of the cheekiest websites in Maine) this Etsy store became a brick and mortar store in 2017. What’s in Nasty Woman lip balm?

“For all those times some ******* keeps interrupting you and you nearly bite through your lip,” said Nolan. “We flavored it with coffee and walnut, because we suddenly and inexplicably were in the mood for pairing nuts and scalding hot coffee.”

For Snowflake lip balm: “Here in Maine, we're familiar with the power of snowflakes. When assembled towards a common goal they'll change the course of your whole day, and sometimes even history. We flavored this snowflake with hot chocolate and brandy so you can be extra prepared for the next avalanche”

Where to find it/price range:

$5 per lip balm online or visit the store at 11 Friendship Street in Waldoboro.

Last thing: Not only is this a cool shop, but they also serve as a satellite adoption location for the kitties of Pope Memorial Humane Society. You can read about their adoption process here.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — Tucked away within Rockland's Industrial Park sits an unassuming white building with an attached 3,000-square-foot warehouse packed with natural and wooden toys. It's like Santa's workshop in there with rows of industrial shelves holding toys, books, music, board games, and boxes of wooden play kits.

Bella Luna Toys is owner Sarah Baldwin's dream job. At age 50, Baldwin, a Waldorf educator, decided after 15 years of teaching that she wanted to put her energies into a new direction and in 2009, began selling toys and games online, designed to encourage imaginative play and enhance children's learning.

Like many a Maine entrepreneur, Baldwin started off small, with a website and a stock of 100 natural toys, operating out of her small garage at home. Today, she runs a company with an inventory of approximately 2,000 toys and games, books and music, arts and crafts, and dolls, and ships to customers around the globe with the help of 10 employees.

Baldwin explained how it all started.

"Bella Luna Toys began in 2001 as a small, home-based business in California,” she said. “The young mother who founded the website had her hands full with young children at home and wanted to sell the business after the economic downturn in 2008. With my kids in high school, it was a perfect time in my life to devote my energy to it, so I bought the name, the website, and the small amount of remaining inventory and had it shipped to Maine."

In the last eight years, Baldwin's little toy company has become a huge success. Bella Luna Toys ships to customers across the U.S. as well as internationally. This past holiday season, Baldwin and her staff were working seven days a week to keep up with all of the orders.

The entrance of the building houses a small showroom, so that local people can enter, take their kids, and touch and play with the toys.

"We also invite them to shop our warehouse shelves in order to see our entire collection,” she said. “We love to help them find just what they're looking for. Some people have described us as 'Rockland's best kept secret.'"

Baldwin, who never had any formal business training, credits her passion for her products—as well as help from a business coach—for her success.

"I was never interested in a career in sales, but I am so passionate about these toys, having used many of them in my classroom and at home with my own two children for years that it didn't feel like selling,” she said. “It felt like doing what I loved."

Bella Luna Toys is now the number one search result on Google for "Wooden Toys"—ranking above much bigger and well-known companies such as Toys 'R' Us and Melissa and Doug.

Her business acumen and risk-taking style propelled her to acquire another online toy business, Oompa Toys in 2015. Much like Bella Luna Toys, Oompa ranks on Google’s first page on popular searches for wooden and natural toys and offers many products sourced from Europe that are hard to find in the U.S.

Baldwin sources from more than 100 different vendors and artisans, importing toys from all over the world to her Rockland warehouse. She is always on the lookout for toys made in Maine and New England and offers playthings made by a number of local craftspeople. Many of the toys complement one another. For example: Bella Luna Toys offers books on fairy tales, such as Grimm's Fairy Tales, classic stories and mythology that go hand in hand with their Camelot knight, wizard and dragon puppets.

There's also a Velveteen Rabbit Plush Toy handmade in Europe, with soft cotton velveteen, filled with wool stuffing to resemble the rabbit in the original edition of The Velveteen Rabbit, the classic children's book by Margery Williams, which Bella Luna Toys also carries.

This past week, Baldwin launched a third website to complement her two toy businesses called The Waldorf Shop (waldorfshop.net), a directory of resources related to Waldorf education.

"The Waldorf Shop lists toy sellers, schools, books, teacher training programs, home schooling resources and more," she said. "I knew when I started this business, I wanted to do more than just sell things—I wanted to promote my love of Waldorf education,” she said. “I love introducing parents of babies and young children to toys that are healthy and engage a child's imagination. Waldorf educators like myself believe that imaginative play in early childhood is essential to creative thinking later in life. Studies have shown that children who spend the most time engaged in free and creative play in early childhood grow up to be the innovators and problem-solvers later in life. Our mission is to help raise future generations of creative thinkers through the power of imaginative play."

To learn more about Bella Luna Toys and their Rockland shop, visit: www.bellalunatoys.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — In February, the winter seems to stretch on. But photographer and film artist Jason Elon Goodman is not one to hibernate. “I know for a lot of people this time of the year is kind of isolating, but I can’t sit still,” he said.

Currently traveling on assignment in Mexico, he said by telephone, “I travel a lot for work and when you look at all of these ancient ruins and the hieroglyphics, it’s all pictures of people eating, drinking, dancing and playing music and that’s how I like to set up my events.”

Goodman hosts periodic artistic/musical events called Salt Stage Live, which are akin to vérité or modern Vaudeville. On Feb. 2, Goodman is bringing a good friend and Grammy winner Stephane Wremble and his band up from their tour to play one night at FOG Bar and Café with contortionist/acrobat Jessica Jones as a side act.

Wremble plays in the style of Django Reinhardt, who was one of the best Gypsy jazz musicians in the 20th century. Wrembel, who learned his craft among the Gypsies at campsites in the French countryside, plays what Goodman calls, “That 1930s Paris hot club sound.” 

“Stephane and I are old friends,” said Goodman.” I was in his band doing video and photography as we toured different parts of the world. I asked him to come play in Rockland. Normally, he probably wouldn’t come up any farther than Portland as we’re really not a thoroughfare up here, so this is going to be a special night. I consider him among a handful of the greatest Django Reinhardt-infused musicians in the world.” 

Wremble will be performing new original songs from his just-released album The Django Experiment III, which marks the 108th anniversary of the birth of Reinhardt. Rolling Stone Magazine has called him “a revelation.”

Salt Stage Live is known for incorporating circus arts in between acts. “Jessica Jones is from Circus Maine out of Portland and is new to the roster,” he said. “I really like her portfolio as she has trained with some serious European circus masters. There are so many people doing great music events here, but I try to do something a little different with each show. I want to create two nights this February to remember with the entertainment, the food and the drink.”

FOG Bar and Café will be crafting a special menus and specialty cocktails around the evening’s theme.

The following Friday, Feb. 9, Salt Stage Live and FOG will team up once again to host Roots musician and songwriter Joe K. Walsh and Grammy-nominated performer and songwriter Celia Woodsmith, along with Jessica Jones, once again.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit: Salt Stage Live

CAMDEN—Quilting as an art form needs an image overhaul. Most people associate quilting with dusty, old bed covers made by somebody’s grandmother. But, Carrie Connors of Camden joins a national society of quilt artists who use contemporary quilting techniques to create art.

Her artwork, which is rich in imagery, and features many of her original poems, hangs at Zoot Coffee Shop in Camden until the end of this month. She works from a largely neutral palette in many of her pieces, some tonal in black and white. Other pieces are washed in soft blues and reds and symbolic of both nature and women. Each piece is made of up three layers. There is a back layer, the cotton batting middle layer sandwiched in between and the top layer, which is a mixed media collage of shapes sewn together.

Quilt art is sewn intuitively, so there is not much room to make any mistakes.

“Some people have sewing machines that are computer programmed to make specific lines, but I do all the detail by free hand,” said Connors. “If I do make a mistake, I end up ripping stitches out, but I try not to do that if I can help it. Often, I’ll just go a different direction with it using another layer.”

Given that her mother and grandmother both sew, Connors was destined to discover this art form.

“When I was about to have my third child in 2004, my mom got me a sewing machine and helped me make a little baby quilt for my son,” she said. “By then I was hooked.”

A year after that, Connors attended a quilting retreat in Waterville Valley in New Hampshire with her mother. There, she discovered that quilting wasn’t just for bedspreads; there was a whole community making quilt art as wall hangings. 

“I was so inspired by the work that was there,” she said. “I’d also done a little writing and drawing before, but once I saw this medium, I said, ‘Oh, this is it.’”

Working with fabric, and incorporating her poetry into it, became her new passion.

At first, Connors emulated the style of her mentors and worked out how to freehand “draw” with the sewing machine stitches, making fabric reproductions of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and painter Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, until she found her own style.

“After that first initial retreat, I went back several years in a row and since 2010, I’ve taken over the yearly workshop from the women who started it and now run it myself.”

Her inspiration often comes in waves—and at odd hours.

“Sometimes, after putting my kids to bed, I’ll go to my studio and sew into the middle of the night,” she said. “I work in creative waves and when I am in one, I will find any way to make my art.”

Connors has shown her artwork in libraries, local businesses and juried shows around New England and won several awards for her pieces. A mother of five, Connors, works several part time jobs in addition to her quilt art to make a living, but hopes to do this full time. When the artwork comes down at Zoot on January 31, those that haven’t been sold will go right back on her walls until the next show.

On Feb. 26, Connors will be teaching a class on Quilt Art through Five Town Adult & Community Education. For more information on Quilters Getaway Weekends visit: Getaway Weekend.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — On February 1, The owners of the “witchy” oddities shop Alder & Vine will team up with the restaurant Ondine Oyster & Wine Bar for a special “Sonic Supper” to celebrate the night that lies between winter and spring solstices known as Imbolc Sabbat —a wiccan/pagan holiday.

Imbolc, in Irish Gaelic, is called “Oimelc,” which means “ewe’s milk.” It’s a time when agricultural societies anticipated spring lambing and were looking forward to the planting season.

Heather Q. co-owner of Alder & Vine said: “We’ve been celebrating these solstice events at our farm for the last few years, but this is the first event we’re doing by pairing up with a restaurant, where my husband Jason is one of the chefs. It’s a way to celebrate ‘coming into the light’ with candles and fire.”

There are multiple interpretations of Imbolc.

“This particular holiday was actually the foundation for Groundhog’s Day, but in Celtic tradition, a crone makes an appearance instead of a groundhog,” she said. “The crone would come out of her cave on the first of February and if it was a nice day, she’d be able to gather dry wood to keep her heath going until spring. If it was raining or snowing and the wood was wet, and she would not have enough firewood to get through the winter, so she would allow spring to come early.”

According to legend, the crone would be reborn in the spring as the Irish Goddess Brigihid whose name means “the bright one.”

Brigihid is considered in Irish lore to be the “keeper of the sacred flame” and the guardian of hearth and home.

Chefs Evan Mallett of Ondine and Jason Hay of Alder & Vine will create a special menu for the event.

“We’re offering it either as a full course menu or you can just order special plates,” said Heather Q.  “Keeping with the traditions of Imbolc, we’ll be celebrating local, seasonal food,” she said. “The menu is going to feature  of root vegetables, seeds along with dishes made from sheep’s milk and lamb.

Alder & Vine, the subject of our story, Spells, skulls, seances rule this tiny Belfast shop, will also bring their particular otherworldly brand into the mix with music from 6:30 p.m.  to 8 p.m. by osmia and The Orchardist. Patrons are encouraged to bring their crystals and arrange them around the musicians to be cleansed and charged by the sonic waves. There will also be tarot readings by crssy puccire available throughout the evening: $20 for a 15-minute-reading.

The dinner event can seat 40 people but tables are filling fast. Reserve a table for a seated dinner or walk-in for drinks and small plates at the bar.

For more information visit: alderandvine.farm/

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

These days, so many people whip out their phones whenever they see something interesting. But what happens when they are in a gallery or a museum? Should one ask permission from the gallery owner or artist first?

Red Dot Blog, an art marketing news site, explored this topic with a post by gallery owner Jason Horejs titled: “Debate: Should Visitors be Allowed to Photograph Artwork in Galleries, Museums and Art Shows?  The blog explores the concerns of a studio owner who is irritated by people who photograph artists’ work in her shop without asking permission.

“We do have a sign posted that photographs of the art are not allowed because of copyright issues,” said the studio owner Karen in an email to Horejs. “Yet I am often confronted with visitors sneaking photos of everything they like, or just expecting that they can, and feeling indignant when they can’t.”

He tells her in his response that she might want to think about turning the negative feeling about it into a positive sales opportunity as their sharing the photo on social media helps market the artists’ work.

So how do those in the Midcoast’s artistic community feel about this?

Jay Sawyer, a local artist in Warren, who operates an outdoor studio on his property is on both sides of the debate. Admittedly, he has grappled with his discomfort over it for a long time.

“I’ve been mulling over this topic for a decade and am just as confused as when I started,” he said. “Everyone is a photographer these days and the concepts of ethics in regards to taking pictures of an artist’s work seems to have eroded a bit. My studio, Jbone, is an open area that has taken on a very big presence over the years and some people come just to experience the space itself. I would much rather have them experience the space rather than take it all in behind the lens of their camera, because it’s not the same.”

Jana Halwell, owner of Caldwell Gallery in Rockland, also had mixed feelings about amateur photography.

“Much of the time, folks who wander into our gallery take photos liberally without asking,” she said. “Some, however, do ask. My issue with it is more about the image and how it represents the work. If they take a poor photograph, which many do, putting it up on the website will not do the artist or the gallery any favors. This is why most professional artists hire professional photographers to shoot their work. Also, if a person really wants to take a photograph of a work of art they can easily be covert about it and do it without being caught, regardless of gallery rules. A savvy person can also rip them off of websites and blogs fairly easily, even with right click disabling.”

Halwell recognizes this issue isn’t always black and white. “There are pros and cons to the world wide web,” she said. “If you are going to take advantage of the pros, you have to know you are exposing yourself to its vulnerabilities and cons, as well. The same is true with allowing someone to photograph art in your gallery. If it's a good image, they could potentially post it somewhere that might help the and artist enormously, or they can mash it into another work of art or even try to print it. In my humble opinion the benefits outweigh the risks.”

On Jan. 17, 2018, museums all over the world encouraged its patrons to take a #MuseumSelfie with artwork, as did the Farnsworth Art Museum. David Troup, Communications Officer at the Farnsworth said, “We allow visitors to photograph certain works except for those pieces that are on loan to us and then it sometimes depends. There are certain private collectors who do not allow visitors to photograph works, and of course, we have to respect that. As an educational museum we are protected under the copyright laws and can share certain images because they serve in an educational capacity, but at the same time, we are careful not to offend certain donors and we have to take their preferences into consideration too.”

Bottom line, it appears from both side of the lens: before you whip out that phone and click on the camera function—ask first.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

AUGUSTA— Police estimate that between 3,000 to 4,500 men, women and children went to the Maine State House on Saturday, Jan. 20, as part of a nationwide ‘Women’s March’ rally held in 35 states in support of women's rights, civil liberties and to encourage more women to vote, and to run for political office.

The rally was organized by March Forth Maine, and co-sponsored by Maine Democratic Party, Suit Up Maine, and Capital Area Indivisible, titled “Maine Women’s March 2.0: Power To The Polls.”

Similar sister marches were held Saturday in Bangor, Bar Harbor and Gouldsboro, while Portland participants  of Women’s March-Maine were encouraged to come to the Augusta rally.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets nationally over the weekend amid a government shutdown and on the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Authorities estimated 100,000 people attended the rally in New York and 500,000 people attended in Los Angeles.

The event in Augusta began at 11 a.m. with speeches from lawmakers, activists and artists. A number of community organizations set up tables and campaigners worked through the crowds collecting signatures for the Ranked Choice Voting Maine petition.

The march began around 12:30 p.m. with thousands streaming around Capital Park as far as the eye could see before passing the Blaine House and resuming back at the State House for follow-up speeches.  The walk was peaceful with only a handful of counter-demonstrators.

The overall theme of the event was about how much women have galvanized their collective energy and power all over the United States in one year.

One speaker, Emily Cain, a former Maine House minority leader and state senator, stood before the crowd and said, “What I saw a a year ago and what I see today are women standing together making a deliberate choice to stand up and to fight back.”

Cain, who was chosen as executive director of Emily's List, a political action committee that started 33 years ago to encourage pro-choice Democratic women to run for office, told the crowd that in 2016, 920 reached out to Emily’s List to run for office.

“As of this morning, I got an email that totaled that number to more than 26,000 women intend to run,” she said to a loudly cheering crowd.

“In the last year, we have marched; we have made calls and and signed our names on petition after petition,” said Cain. “We have stood up and we have shown up and we are not stopping. Did you know 2018 is already being called ‘The Year of the Woman’?.... Women voters and those who support them are poised to transform our politics at every level.” 

Lucie Bauer, a member of the First Universalist Church in Rockland, who also attended last year’s inaugural rally in Augusta, held up a sign with her group titled “Standing On The Side of Love.”

“This is all about keeping the momentum going,” she said. “Keep calling and writing to your legislators, and don’t get complacent,” she said. “Keep voting.”

All photos by Kay Stephens. 

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND —  On a Friday afternoon, a lab full of students are quietly working away on animated and design projects at Mid-Coast School of Technology in Rockland.

They are all working on projects for MCST’s Design Tech program, which taps into teens’ natural media consumption and turns them into creators of it. The courses offered include Graphic Design, TV/Film Production, Interactive Media Design, and Animation.

“This is one of the most popular programs the MCST has,” said Design Tech instructor Brandon Soards. “We have to actually go through a process to determine which students get in.”

Currently, the program holds 30 students from all over the Midcoast with juniors and seniors getting priority.

“This program can funnel these kids into some good careers,” he elaborated. “For example, a lot of kids come in with the idea that they may want to design video games, but after two years of the program, they figure out that they might be better suited for the programming side or that they like the art side better. This gives them the advantage of fine tuning their interests and skills before they go to college or go into a job into this field. “

Sylvan Gamage, 18, goes to Camden Hills Regional High School, but spends part of his day in the computer lab working on a number of storytelling projects that he initially began at home when he was a sophomore. He has been working on a comic book for the three years called Journey of the Unfortunates and is in his second year in the program.

“There’s a lot narrative and literary work that goes into a project like this,” he said. “I had to redraw a lot of it after going down the character list and revise a lot of what they initially looked like.”

Before he can draw the characters, he has to think about how well they work as protagonists.

“I’m still figuring out how these characters work their personalities and their motivations,” he said. “The first incarnation of it is a fantasy story, but I wanted the main character not to be a typical hero. In most books, movies and comic books, the hero is on the good side. What if the hero was the lowest of the low creatures in this fantasy universe? What if they are on the side of evil, but they don’t want to be?”

While Sylvan works on his anti-heroes to tell the tale, he knows how he wants the pages of the comic to look—the trick of course— is learning the computer programs well enough to translate what’s in his vision to what comes out on the screen.

He drew the cover in pencil first and scanned it in, then used Corel Painter, digital art software to pump up the vividness of color and brushstrokes.

“I’d eventually like to submit this to a publisher but there’s a lot of work first that needs to be done to really get all of the final elements down on paper,” he said.

Sylvan not only works in still images, but has made 2-D and 3-D animations, using the MCST lab’s equipment and software.  He uses Adobe Animate and Corel Painter as well for this project. When he goes home, he has Corel Painter on a computer at home and an Adobe license, so ends up working on it in his spare time as well.

“Animation is something I never really got into until I came here,” he said. “I do have an affinity for it, I’ve been trying to learn a bunch of different techniques.” Sylvan said he was fortunate enough this past summer to attend a Massachusetts School of Art 12-day workshop.  

“I would like to get my associate’s degree in community college, then see where I stand on the job side of things after,” he said. “Maybe work in advertising.”

For now the characters in Journey of the Unfortunates need his attention. It will be interesting to see when the comic done, where they end up. And where Sylvan will end up, as well.

Hail To The Rad Kids is a feature that highlights teens with artistic or musical talent and to recognize the contributions that middle and high school teens are making in our community.

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

UNITY — There are some well known challenges to living in a small home, but solo builder Jim Bahoosh, who lives in a small home in Unity he built himself, finds that there are many more advantages, particularly in Maine.

After getting into the building industry in 1984 and renovating old houses, his interests gravitated toward building houses that are smaller than average new house. According to a 2017 report on national trends, the square footage of a single family newly built home is around 2,661.

“In the 1950s, a new house was about 800 square feet with more people in the house,” he said. “Over the years, things have dramatically shifted.”

By 2001, Bahoosh was designing and building houses between 500-1,000 feet. With $160.00 per square foot that translates to roughly $80,000 to $160,000, not including land, water, septic and site work.

“Some of the major costs of building are the same, no matter what size house you build,” he said. “Where a small house really shines is in the long term. They’re easy to heat and maintain.”

Bahoosh, who is committed to building projects for the next several years, said he is not interested in going much beyond that 500-1,000 square-foot range as a builder. He has to turn people away from retaining his services, now that the small house design has caught on so well in Maine. His upcoming talk at Hutchinson Center  is not to generate business, but, instead, to generate more awareness of the advantages of a small house.

“For me, personally, it’s important to help people be aware that there is an option to build smaller and it’s not that big of a deal.”

On one hand, a smartly built small home with the proper insulation, is already ahead will be more energy efficient. Given that this winter is already seeing oil vendors facing challenges to keep up the supply for the demand, Bahoosh said: “A small home with comparable insulation to a big house is straight up physics, it’s going to take less fuel to bring the entire place up to temperature. Overall, small means reducing the amount of time to build it, to take care of it to heat it.”

Bahoosh, who has worked with many new homeowners, said that Maine is a state with a glut of old houses on the market with notoriously long and cold winters.

“It can be a double edged sword for someone trying to afford a house in their price range,” he said. “The mortgage might be manageable, but with this stock of older houses, the cost of maintaining the house, particularly those without good insulation, becomes unmanageable over time.”

Given that Bahoosh is at a place in his career where he can be discerning about what he chooses to build, he has a certain aesthetic, with an emphasis on natural building materials.

“If someone wants vinyl siding on their house, that’s fine but, I’m probably not going to be the person who is going to do that,” he said. “What you really need when you’re choosing a builder is to make sure your aesthetic sensibilities line up. Like every other relationship, you need to mesh.”

Some people just cannot imagine how they could live in such a small footprint. Bahoosh will discuss in his slideshow creative solutions to rearrange space to fit the homeowner’s main needs.

“A small house is more about what you truly need rather than what you want,” he said.

His talk at Hutchinson Center will feature several of the small homes he has built over the years, including his own. With a photo slide show, he wants to give the pros and cons of making the choice to live on a smaller footprint and will mention information on current Maine programs that increase energy efficiency on new or existing homes.

The free talk will be on Jan. 19 at The Hutchinson Center from 5:30 to 7p.m. Website: Hutchinson Center.

FMI: https://jimbahooshbuilder.com

BELFAST— Where can you go to get French crêpes for breakfast, a locally grown microgreen Mediterranean salad with a small hummus pie for lunch, and the slow-cooked goodness of takeout Jamaican oxtail with extra gravy on the rice and peas for dinner?

The United Farmer’s Market in Belfast, an indoor year-round venue for 65 vendors (and growing), has builta reputation on offering international cuisine with its varied vendors. With a sunny, window-lined communal dining area, often accompanied by live piano music, this place is the ideal way to try flavors from around the world.

“We try to get as much diversity in the market as we can,” said Paul Naron. “We’re working on an application to get Indian takeout food in several weeks.”

Many of the vendors are Maine farmers and bakers who sell through farmer’s markets in the summertime and find a vibrant winter market here. A walk through the 30,000 square foot space finds more than just food vendors–but food is the reason we’re here.

Stone Fox Cold Creamery, run by Bruce and Kathy Chamberlin of Monroe, is known for their ice cream. But, what really draws customers in the wintertime, is their crêpes.

With a portable crêpe machine—a circular griddle— positioned on a side counter, Kathy whips up egg, bacon and cheese folding into the fresh, thin pancake off the griddle.

“I’m actually Italian,” she said. “My husband taught me how to make crêpes. We’ve been to Paris and saw how it was done.”

They offer sweet and savory crêpes every week with the above combination being the most popular.

“We have a mobile set-up and we go to farmer’s markets a lot, but this is primarily where we are for the winter,” she said.

Laan Xang Café is an authentic Laotian and Thai restaurant in historic downtown Belfast, owned by Salika and Dan Johnson.

Every Saturday, Salika sets up her booth and recreates multiple dishes  from the restaurant for takeout. She makes her mother’s homemade sausage, a popular dish with customers of the United Farmer’s Market, served with steamed vegetables and a homemade chutney.

“After that, Drunken Noodles are probably my most popular takeout dish,” she said.

The menu is pretty consistent in the winter and Salika varies it up more toward summer.

Down several booths from Laan Xang Café, Steve Sleeper arranges his multi-shelved cold case of homemade Spinach Fatayer, Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, and for desserts, Baklava Lemon Ricotta Fritters.

He and his wife, Terri, own Mediterranean Cuisine, and each Saturday, they sell out of most of everything they make.

“My grandfather came from Lebanon 100 years ago and since I’ve been eating this kind of food my whole life, we decided to make a little business out of it,” he said.

The United Farmer’s Market in Belfast is their only winter venue; in the summer, they take their food to other various outdoor farmer’s markets.

“Our regular customers come back every week, so we provide something new for them every Saturday,” he said. “The newest thing we’re now offering are these microgreen salads, which we grow ourselves. The flavors are so intense and everything is vegetarian with a lot of vegan dishes. By summertime, we’ll also have gluten-free dishes, as well.”

How about a slice of Greek pizza for lunch?

Abraham’s Goat Farm and Pizzaria, run by Kaili Wardwell and Leslie and Lou Harris, from Newport, offers the deep dish flavors for only $2.50 a slice.

The Greek pizza is made with the farm’s own goat cheese feta, fresh tomatoes, red onions, and spinach.The farm and the pizzaria go together and are side by side at the Farmer’s Market.

“We come to the market every Saturday to add value to our farm,” said Kaili.

The Farmer’s Market is only open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., so while breakfast and lunch may be taken care of, there is still dinner to consider.

Jamaican Vybz, a Caribbean takeout restaurant in Bangor, owned by Pagiel Rose, has a booth next to Abraham’s and offers the kind of slow-cooked, fresh flavors one can only get in Jamaica.

That day, they were offering Brown-Stewed Chicken, Jerk Chicken, Curry Goat, redolent of hand-rubbed spices. Jamaican Beef handpies or patties sell for $2.50 each and are one of their more popular offerings.

Or circle around the world to back to Maine and stand before the fish case of Pemaquid Lobster and Seafood, owned by Tom and Traci Penniman of New Harbor.

Specializing in wild caught North Atlantic seafood and lobster, there was fresh haddock that day in the case, along with smelts.

“We would have had more this week, but the storms last week limited the catch,” said Del Paquin, who was running their booth. “Normally, we have Maine farmed Atalntic salmon, which happens to be on the ‘good’ list of Seafoodwatch.org.”

Smelts can be a delicacy if cooked right.

“You can split them, bread them and fry them up in a pan,” said Del.

Or take home their frozen haddock chowder and lobster mac and cheese, and grab a baguette from a local baker on your way out.

Take advantage of these slower Saturdays in the winter to sample food you’ve never tasted before and take a trip around the world in one afternoon with your fork.

The United Farmers Market of Maine is located at 18 Spring St, Belfast, ME. For more information, please call (207) 218-7005. Visit: https://www.belfastmarket.com/

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

LINCOLNVILLE BEACH — On January 4, right around noon, an astronomical high tide coupled with a super moon and high winds resulting from a blizzard surged up Lincolnville Beach, flooding the Lobster Pound parking lot and a stretch of Route 1 up to the doorsteps of a number of small businesses. At its highest point, the water was well above six inches. Some businesses were able to avoid disaster; others didn’t get so lucky.

The Beach Store sustained the most damage as seawater poured in under the glass door. Without a buffer of concrete steps, like some of the neighboring businesses, the entire floor was covered in nearly six inches of water, almost up to the second step of the short stairway in the back of the store.

“The water actually moved the pizza oven a half inch,” said said Sarah Lord, who with her husband, Rod Lord, were running the store on owner Diane Lord’s day off.  “We had to have the gas inspector in to make sure the everything was still okay to use.”

Several of the Beach Store’s commercial coolers were hit with electrical failure when the seawater damaged the compressors.

“We had to completely replace the ice cream cooler, but not we’re sure about whether insurance is going to cover any of this,” said Sarah Lord. “The coolers are actually owned by companies [to the products} and they actually replace the units.” 

The good news is the Beach Store is still operating and several of the coolers are back to working. A yellow mop bucket in the back of the store is the only indication that it had been flooded.

Luckier still were the two businesses on either side of the Beach Store. Kathleen Farnsworth, Secretary for Maine Artisans, inspected the building that houses a co-op for artists this week and said by phone, “We’ve looked everywhere and there is no sign of any storm surge damage.”

Dwight Wass, owner of Lincolnville Fine Art Gallery, watched the whole thing unfold from his window. He said: “The water came in to the roads like a mini tsunami. We’re at the lowest part of the beach and I just sat right here, watching about four inches of water roll right in. But, it only came up to the first step outside, so we didn’t have any water damage inside. The problem was, every time a car tried to drive through the floodwater, it would send another wave to slap up at the door and we got a little under the door from that, but not much.”

The water came in a half hour before high tide at 12:08 p.m. and receded a half hour after low tide. According to Wass, the D.O.T. arrived about 15 minutes after the storm surge spilled into the street, along with the sheriff and fire department. Before that point, with no one cordoning off Route One, cars were still trying to drive through the floodwaters. A postal truck even stalled out at one point.

To complicate matters, huge chunks of ice were also drifting along Route 1.

“Some of the ice chunks were hitting the cars going through,” said Wass. “Those things were heavy; a hundred pounds. I came down the next day with my plow truck and it was all I could do to push them away.”

Nanette Gionfriddo, who owns Beyond The Sea bookstore, has closed her shop for the season. After inspecting the damage, she said, “We had some water in the back, which only damaged the rug.  It popped a circuit and killed our many strings of Christmas lights that we typically leave on until the end of February, but the café furniture is still in good shape.  Dwight and my neighbor, Marilyn, had a very interesting day as they were both there when it happened. There were quite the stories of huge ice floes from the marsh coming up the driveways towards Route One. Ice bergs on Route One!”

On Lincolnville Beach, the Whale’s Tooth posted photos of the flooding, which covered its parking lot, but their Facebook post indicated that they hadn’t sustained any damage.

 The Lobster Pound looked as though it had been floating in the parking lot. Attempts to reach the owners have been unsuccessful, so there’s no news on whether the interior sustained any damage.

Besides Lincolnville Beach, the high tide flooded harbor front roads on Vinalhaven. Likewise, Buttermilk Lane, in South Thomaston, and the Rackliffe Island causeway in St. George were submerged for a time around the astronomic high tide.

Related story: Astronomical high tides coupled with blizzard floods Midcoast, island roads

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

SPRUCE HEAD — Gordon “Skip” Connell, 59, was one of two people who’d found he’d drawn the lucky ticket for the 2017 Lobster Trap Tree Raffle this year. Out of 255 tickets sold, the lucky winners were announced Friday, January 3, in Rockland’s Mildred Merrill Park by Gordon Page, Executive Director of Rockland Main Street, Inc.

Connell had the choice to take 50 traps or $2,250 in cash and he chose the traps. 

“I was smiling pretty big when I’d found out I’d won,” he said from his home in Spruce Head. “In fact, I’m still smiling.”

A $50 ticket bought two chances to win.

“I buy a ticket every year,” he said. The other winner from the raffle was Donald Schwab, of Port Clyde, who chose to take the cash.

For Connell especially, the gift of traps comes at precisely at the right time. Rather than shell out $80 to $100 for new traps, he planned to spend his winter building 200 new traps from materials he gets from Brooks Trap Mill to supplement the 800 traps he fishes with annually. The fact that Brooks Trap Mill provided the lobster traps that constructed up the Lobster Trap Tree couldn’t have worked out any more perfectly.

“That probably just saved me a couple of weeks,” he said of the new 50 traps.

The process of building traps takes patience. He also makes his own trap heads from shrimp netting.

“To start it’s a lot of prep work,” he said. “There are a lot of small things to do that make the assembly go much smoother. Once the heads are made and the cages are clipped together (ends and bridges with the hole cut for the side heads ) then comes runners, bricks, bridle end corner reinforcements, (made from the pieces cut out for the side heads) heads and doors, bungee cord door closures, and two vents. There are a dozen other things that I haven't mentioned. I would guess that I might spend a couple of hours at that point putting it all together, maybe a bit less as the kinks get ironed out. I do know that I put the cages together at about six an hour. That is about twice the rate that I built wooden traps when I was in high school.”

The Lobster Trap Tree has been called “The Most New England Christmas Tree” in the nation. It took nearly 15 volunteers several days to build the structure with more than 155 traps on the tree when it was completed decorated with approximately 2,500 lights, and more than 100 authentic lobster buoys topped off with a giant lobster and star and the entire structure is put on display for the annual Festival lights. After the festival of Lights each year and the raffle, the tree is dismantled trap by trap. “Stephen Brooks [owner of Brooks Trap Mill] told me they were all set to bring them to me before the latest storm hit, so that put it off for a few days,” he said. 

Other organizations who supported The Lobster Trap Tree raffle included Camden National Bank, Hamilton Marine, First National Bank, and Rockland Savings Bank, FSB.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

UNION— At first, the main priority was putting out the fire. Six months ago on July 9, Jean Stevens, from upstate New York, was heading home with her family after a visit in Union. The camper was packed, but there was smoke coming from somewhere as they traveled along Route 17. They stopped, and found the car being hauled behind had developed a fire under the hood.

If that weren't enough of a disaster, their six-year-old cat, Myla, managed to jump out and ran into the woods west of North Union Road — a nightmare for any family who lives six hours away.

After days of searching, Jean had to go home. But she drove back, again and again until all of her vacation days had been used up. She managed to find Myla once at farm on Overlock Hill Road before a bolt of lightning scared Myla away, and again Jean went back home to New York, without her and brokenhearted.

If there is a playbook on how to find a missing pet, it first starts with a post on a Facebook community Maine-Lost Dogs, Cats & Pets. From there Stevens also posted on a service PawBoost, which allows a free posting and allows the user to spend money on promoting that post to a larger audience.

One of the group members Martha Johnston-Nash said Stevens spent money on Paw Boost to further spread the post about Myla.

“It costs money, but Jean was determined. You know keeping the word out there is imperative to getting people to look.”

With technology and online communities, this is a much more powerful tool than putting up flyers just in the neighborhood.

Several women were instrumental in organizing the first phase of finding Myla including Kathleen Thornton. Mary Butler, of Warren, took it upon herself to create a private Facebook Messenger group of approximately 8-10 members calling it “Team Myla.” “There were a couple of people before me looking for Myla and fielding the initial calls; I just thought it would be easier if we were all on the same group exchanging information.” Team Myla includes: Martha Johnston, Ariel Patten, Katie Hemenway, Beth Earl, Mary Butler, Diane Gallant-Marion and Kathleen Thornton.

During the fall months, there were several false sightings of Myla. Every tip came back to the group, but given that Myla was a fairly common looking torti-tiger, it was difficult to ascertain whether the sightings were of her.

“I got involved around September, October,” Johnston-Nash said. The second successful thing the group did was game cameras on Clarry Hill, Overlock Hill, North Union Road, Pound Hill, Bump Hill and Whittier Farm, where Myla had been spotted. “Mary had Myla’s cage that Jean had given her, so we set the cage out on Overlock Hill, so Myla would be attracted to the smell of it. The camera would pick up pictures of what we thought was Myla, but a lot of times it was was the wrong cat. And we weren’t getting a clear picture of her face. And sometimes it turned out to be the neighbor’s cat.”

By December and January when the cold set in and the snows were deep, most people would have given up, but Stevens wasn’t ready to and neither were “Myla’s Team.”

“I told Jean on her last trip up here at the Whittier Farm that I would be her contact; I had game cameras and I would not give up,” said Butler. “I saw the look on her face and felt the compassion in her heart. I felt if if had been the other way around, she would have done the same for me.”

“I’ve lost two cats to predators myself, and there were a lot of naysayers telling us that it was pointless to keep going. But Stevens was so sure Myla was still alive. Sometimes, certain people can just feel that connection,” said Johnston-Nash.

“I figured if she were no longer alive, that she would come to me in a dream,” said Stevens.”That’s happened with my other animals. But, I knew she was still out there and I was going to get her.”

In a random turn of events, a woman named Ariel Patten, in Union, had been feeding a stray cat for months, without realizing whose it was. Social media, once again, provided the connection, and soon Patten joined Team Myla and made a plan to trap the cat and get a photo. On January 2, one of the game cameras had gotten a clear snapshot the cat’s face.

“I call Ariel ‘The Missing Link,’” said Butler.

On a Facebook account of the story, Johnston-Nash explained:

“Team Myla brought the group together for the first time. Individually we studied the cat's markings against those in the ‘Lost’ picture of Myla, and individually came to the convincing conclusion this was what we had dreamed and prayed for, what Jean had been hoping beyond all hope: Myla was found, alive and well.  By the afternoon meeting, the excitement was overwhelming, but caution and prudence told us we needed to be patient and develop a strategy to ensure Myla was caught safely.”

“We knew the cat’s schedule to come looking for food at certain times and we figured we had one shot,” said Butler. “By Sunday morning, we set the trap at Ariel’s house and by 11 a.m. she called me back and said ‘we got her.’”

The third thing that ensured the success of this effort was that Stevens had gotten Myla chipped.

A friend of Myla’s Team, Shannon Nachajko, from Catahoula Rescue, examined the cat and found she was chipped, as well. After a few tries with her chip reader, they retrieved the number: it was a match. Group members then tried to contact Stevens in New York, but she was away from her phone. Everyone was on edge for about a half hour before they got ahold of her.  Stevens drove immediately back to Maine.

“When I walked into that room and saw her in the cage, I burst into tears,” said Stevens. “I felt like this tremendous weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Even though her running away was an accident, I’d felt so guilty that I hadn’t protected her.”

Myla walked out of the cage and into Steven’s lap, and began kneading her arm. “My heart was dancing,” she said.

“We all watched as Jean came in the room,” said Butler. “It was surreal. Jean sat on the floor and opened the cage and Myla came right out to her. Some of us were fighting back tears. We’d hoped for it for so long.”

Stevens said she still can’t believe how dedicated people in Maine were to finding Myla.

“I was blown away,” she said. Speechless. They didn’t even know me, but between Team Myla and the phone calls and emails I got, I was amazed at this tremendous dedication of Mainers to helping me bring her home.”

Butler said, “I just want to thank everyone who got involved especially the community and farmers in Union who let us set cages and cameras on their land. We all have animals and know how important to us. we’ve all had missing cats and we know the feeling.”

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—There was a time Ariel Birke, 28, was so unhappy in her job working and designing for a prominent outdoor clothing company, that she would cry on her commute home.

“I felt like I was selling my soul to the devil,” she said. “I was learning a lot, but felt like I was contributing to everything in consumerism I hate.”

Birke changed her life’s direction moving to Midcoast Maine from Lowell, Massachusetts, the winter of 2015 after a visit with her high school best friend, Mack Duke, who lives in Rockport.

“He and his wife showed me around Camden and I knew I had to be here,” she said.

Coming to Maine was a 180 degree pivot from where she started. She grew up in a 1,000 person town in the middle of New Hampshire and when she turned 18, she moved to New York City and went to college for fashion design and design and management.

“I was tired of being the weirdo in my home town and this was the perfect fit for awhile,” she said, smiling.

Like many young people in the Midcoast, once she settled in, she had to cobble together several jobs and work in ones that weren’t a great fit just to pay the rent.

“I worked at a bank for about a minute,” she said. “I knew it wasn’t for me, but I had to work to live here.”

She took a job in retail after that and within two years of moving to Rockport, she saw the opportunity to own her own business on Main Street in Rockland.

Daughters, a vintage women’s clothing and handmade goods shop, opened November 1 as a place for women. Everything in the shop has either been put together by Birke, or has been made by a woman. It has become a welcoming spot for many women in the area, not just to shop, but to hang out on Birke’s comfy couches and shoot the breeze.

“I really have a passion for vintage clothing and items that are well made,” she said. “After my experience in designing for other companies, I really stopped caring for new consumerism. After my time in New York and the outdoor company I’d worked for, I saw the dumbing down of goods and the cutting corners of manufacturing that made for obsoletion.”

Daughters is not a consignment store as Birke purchases all of the vintage items outright. 

“When I was coming up with the name for the shop, it reminded me of daughters hunting for something in their mother’s closet,” she said.

All winter long, Birke takes trips around Maine to thrift stores, and when she travels to Florida to visit her mother, as well.

“I really love the hunt; it’s always like winning the lottery for me,” she said. “And I have to hold myself back sometimes.”

Nothing is haphazard in the shop: items are grouped according to color. The shop has a collection of vintage blue jeans like Levi’s, shoes and boots, and accessories. 

“My personal aesthetic is toward an androgynous style—a cross between Jane Birkin and Paul Newman—so you’ll see a lot of boy’s jeans like Levi’s and white t-shirts.”

Several areas in the store that feature the handiwork of local artists and crafters.

“We have a community here for women who are incredibly talented in what they make, so be able to have a place to showcase it is something I was really excited about,” she said. “I feel that it lends itself to the nature of ‘vintage.’ At the beginning of the handmade good’s life cycle; it is a quality product, such as beautifully made ceramics, which will eventually become vintage, but its structure will be timeless.”

Follow her Facebook page for future events she’ll be holding at the shop this winter: Daughters

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

The shift from the frenzy of the last two holiday weekends into the first week of 2018 kickstarts for many people a natural desire to change up old patterns and start fresh. And for many people the first thing on that list is to shed some of that weight from the holidays.

We all know the pudge ain’t gonna budge until some movement happens, so here are five of the biggest calorie burners the Midcoast area has to offer.

Ice Skating

(Calories burned 400-600)

If you have your own skates, the best places to skate outside include Chickawaukie Pond in Rockport/Rockland and Megunticook Lake and Hosmer Pond in Camden. Don’t have skates? Maine Sport Outfitters does for a reasonable rental. Midcoast Recreation Center in Rockport offers Friday night pick up hockey for adults ($10), a variety of  figure skating classes and good old-fashioned public recreational skating Monday through Friday 1-3 p.m. and weekends (1-2 p.m). It’s so affordable ($5 for skating and $4 for skate rentals.) And, to get you in the mood, MRC is holding an Aloha Session of skating and live music with local artists on January 6 from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. FMI: Midcoast Recreation Center

Snowboarding

(Calories burned 230 to 650)

Snowboarding is not just for the cool kids. Without breaking the bank you can try a day of snowboarding without the intimidation of a big mountain at the Camden Snow Bowl. With three lifts (including a new triple chair) With a full day adult pass of $33, you get a board, boots, poles and a helmet.  Never snowboarded before? They do a Group Lesson twice daily ($30) as well as a Beginner’s Special, which gives you a 1.5 hour lesson, rental and lift ticket for $60. Make sure you have some kind of wrist guards and don’t try to do the snowboard cross, which is basically an all-out race downhill. You’re looking to burn some calories not break a hip. FMI: Camden Snow Bowl

Sledding

(Calories burned: 413 to 651)

Everyone has his or her own favorite  hill in the Midcoast to take the plastic sled down, but if you want to get serious, pull out Gramp’s old runner sled from the barn and meet up with , the New England Runner Sled Association meets at Hogback Mountain in Montville for some serious old-fashioned sledding.Meet at Hogback Mountain Farm or the Frye Mountain gate.

Swimming

(Calories burned per hour 413-651)

Swimming in January or February when the wind and snow is whipping outside feels like you’re cheating winter, and that’s only one of the benefits. It’s one of the most high-energy, low-impact exercises you can do (especially people recovering from injuries or who have arthritis) and it keeps your heart rate up and muscles toned without too much impact stress on your joints. The Country Inn has a health club welcome to the public as well as a heated, 20′ by 40′ pool with a lap lane, a hot tub and dry sauna with memberships for three months ($200), six months ($255) and one year ($330). Likewise, Penobscot Bay YMCA also has an 8-lane pool with dedicated adult swim lap times as well as a therapy pool. An adult day pass is $10; a week-pass is $40 and a monthly pass is $48 to $58  with  $50 wear and tear fee. New this are extended weeknight weeknight pool hours until 8:15.  FMI: Pen Bay YMCA And Waldo County YMCA also has an aquatics program with adult swim times, therapy pool and aquatic aerobics. FMI: Waldo County YMCA

Hottest Fitness Trends

Circuit Training

(Calories burned 472 to 745)

CJ Strength and Conditioning has a Cardio Blast class for men and women who just want to get a good hour workout before going home. The one-hour drop-in class does several circuits of strength training. This class is held at 6 p.m., Monday through Friday for a $15 fee. FMI: CJ Strength and Conditioning

Snowshoeing

(Calories burned 472 to 745)

Want to take it outdoors? Beyond a state-of-the-art fitness and bowling facility, Point Lookout Resort and Conference Center in Northport has nearly four miles of snowshoeing trails that lead to the summit of a mountain overlooking Penobscot Bay. For only $7, people can rent snowshoes for a few hours (the unisex sizes even fit kids) for an enjoyable workout. FMI: Point Lookout

Jumpstart Your Weight Loss

(Calories burned TBD)

Penobscot Bay YMCA and Rockland Harbor YMCA are offering an integrated program starting January 9 which not only gives you more awareness on your health and eating habits, but also offers a free 8-week adult membership, free Fitness Center orientation, and free personal training session for $120. (Some of which might be offset by your insurance provider.) FMI: YMCA

Y Cycling

(Calories burned 472 to 745)

The Waldo County YMCA has a Y-Cycling program can help to make your fitness goals a reality. With no complicated moves to learn, a motivating group setting, enthusiastic instructors and invigorating music, you will find yourself having a blast while you ride your way to a leaner, stronger body. Day and times vary so consult their website. Only $8  per class for non-members. FMI: Waldo County YMCA

Calories burned source: http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburned.htm

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT—When she was seven, Olivia Gelerman moved up to Midcoast Maine with her family from south of Boston. Homeschooled, she had a natural passion for literature and at an early age, devouring The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and other timeless novels. But with classics like Huckleberry Finn, she sometimes found it difficult to  plow through so much text and the concepts were not always interesting enough.

As she got into the Pokemon craze like so many tweens, a new interest was building.

By the time she as 10, Olivia developed a fascination for manga and anime, as well as graphic novels. Now 11-years-old, she has amassed and read nearly 500 volumes  in those genres, collecting them in her own home library, having become an expert on their various stories.

Olivia is working an entrepreneurial angle in her family’s soon-to-be-open 47 West, a specialty bakery, espresso, wine-beer and home goods store.

On the second floor, in the back of the room, multiple bookshelves hold an extensive collection of genres for sale one could not get anywhere else unless one drove several hours away to Portland or Brunswick or Bangor.

The fact that she selected them is noteworthy; the diversity and quality of these titles could have been chosen by someone twice her age.

Olivia has read and can recommend every single one of them from horror classic (such as a manga variation on Edgar Allan Poe), to sci-fi, fantasy, girl-centered, alternative, apocalyptic, hard-to-find and best sellers.

“As I was homeschooled after Pokemon and other stuff like that and I started to get interested in manga,” she said. “Then I’d go to bookstores like Barnes and Noble with my mom to see if they had anything.” Eventually she explored and found a whole new world of books online.

When her mother and father began to put together the ideas for 47 West, they told Olivia she could have her own corner for books.

It took her the better part of a year to begin researching the ones she thought kids would like and filling orders. Nowhere in the Midcoast (or even withing a 50-mile radius) is there a bookstore with a collection as huge as Olivia’s now is at 47 West. “We wanted the ones that were high quality and were popular sellers,” she said. The collection has a diverse range of smaller comic book paperback styles to hardcover collector’s items.”

“I know not many people in Midcoast know about manga and anime and I’d be so happy if anyone took an interest in it,” she said. Olivia is open to ideas and has even considered if there is enough interest to host discussions up in the cafe section of the second floor on various subjects.

Penobscot Bay Pilot will now work exclusively with Olivia on monthly book reviews of manga, anime and graphic novels from a tween perspective to be posted in regular columns.

For more info: www.47west.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT— This is the week when the trees come down, the decorations and lights come off and the excess of packaging materials get taken to the dump. But, hold on there a second. There needs to be some prep work first unless you want to anger the Dump Gods.

“This is the time of year when a lot of stuff that belongs in the trash wreaks havoc in the recycling bins,” said Jim Guerra, Manager of  Mid-Coast Solid Waste Corp.

He cited an example of finding a boxes in the cardboard recycling bin containing several stacks of old dishes.

“We didn’t see it go in and it got dumped onto the bottom of the bin and broke everywhere. Because corrugated cardboard is our most valuable material by volume, we could have had a situation where all that broken crockery caused the entire truckload of baled materials to be rejected.”

Remember Highlights for Children magazine? Here is a Goofus and Gallant Guide to bringing your stuff to the dump after the holidays.

Cardboard boxes and packing materials

Goofus will bring in cardboard boxes still intact with packing materials of Styrofoam peanuts and encapsulated-air plastic (bubble) sheeting and try to shove the entire thing into the corrugated cardboard recycling bin where Styrofoam bits and pieces fly out, get picked up by the wind and get deposited in waterways.

Gallant will separate out the packing materials, re-use or recycle them where he can; break down the boxes and deposit them flat into the cardboard bin.

“A lot of people don’t know this, but you can pop the sheet plastic and it can be recycled at the sheet plastic collection at Hannaford Supermarkets or at Walmart,” said Guerra.

Christmas Trees and Wreaths

Goofus will bring the entire tree to the dump with loads of tinsel, fake snow spray and other decorative bits and pieces still attached to it.

Gallant will remove every piece of tinsel and deliver it bare to the dump—or recycle it into the woods. Better yet, if he lives in Camden-Rockport, he can leave it out on the edge of the yard for a free Christmas Tree pickup on January 6 or he can take it to Appleton Creamery’s January 7 Christmas Tree Drop-off Day.

“We do take Christmas trees, but prefer to have them be recycled and re-used, because we grind them down for fuel or compost, but it doesn’t yield much. the thing people need to keep in mind is that we also can’t have tinsel or any decorative items on them because any bit of plastic can’t go into the boiler. And it takes a lot of our staff time to pull that stuff off the trees.”

Holiday wrapping paper

Goofus will ignore the directions on the paper recycling bin and throw Mylar wrapping paper, ribbons and bows into the bin.

Gallant will dispose of the wrapping and bows separately. He always like to see a good fire burn in the fire pit.

“Just thinking toward next year, I’ve seen a lot of packages wrapped in decorative cloth or burlap bags, which are re-usable. Likewise, those holiday gift bags can always be used again and again; just switch out the tags.”

Appliances and toys

Goofus takes his old coffeemaker, which still works, and throws it into the dump without a second thought.

Gallant thinks of other ways to give the older model coffee maker away to someone who can use it or to thrift stores or consignment stores.

“There’s a lot of upgrading to new stuff after the holidays and it’s sad to see the older things chucked into the trash or metal bin when they still work,” said Guerra. “Typically during the year, we have our Swap Shop open and they can accept it there, but there’s no heat this time of year. Even if the cord on an appliance is damaged or broken, there are Repair Cafés that happen from time to time, where you can bring an older model that’s damaged and have it repaired and donated to someone else.They do it in Europe all of the time and we’re trying to get one going here as well.”

The author of this article recognizes that Goofus was over-the-top obnoxious and Gallant was insufferably good and hopes there is a happy medium in between.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

SEARSPORT—Mixed Media artist Sandi Cirillo has two sea-themed artworks hanging in her kitchen that are almost 3-D, it is compelling to want to touch them. Both are felted using wool, soap/water and agitation to get the wool fibers to fuse together.

"Colorful Corals" is an underwater seascape with vibrant blues and purples. The coral is dyed sheep’s wool left in its natural state, so that the curly fibers seem to spring from the canvas. Cirillo simulates additional movement, positioning a piece of wool “coral” that bleeds onto the matting of the framed portrait. In the second piece, a stormy lighthouse scene, “The Coast of Maine,” she uses white wool fibers to evoke movement in the frothy waves of the ocean.

“Working with felt is similar to painting when you’re adding or subtracting to a certain piece,” she said. “A lot of people call it ‘painting with felt.’”

Cirillo dyes all of her own wool, which she gets from Halcyon Yarn in Bath.  “I’m a very tactile person,” she said. “Sometimes, when I’m in a fiber store, all I have to do is see a the raw materials and I can see what it needs to be. I have the entire picture in my head and then I usually have the title for it.”

Cirillo is retired from elementary art teacher, and now makes her living teaching seven to eight classes a year in fiber, mixed media and drawing in her Searsport home studio and through various universities and adult education classes. Hanging beneath a bookshelf of books on dyeing felt, drawing and other instructional guides, is a sign “Live the Life You Imagined.”

At 45-years-old, she went back to college, getting her bachelor’s and master’s degree as an artist. As an undergraduate, Cirillo discovered fiber arts as a course and she was hooked. She took more felt-making courses in felt making as a graduate. She then taught herself how to dye the wool with natural dyes as part of her degree. “In my work, I strive to achieve a delicate balance between spontaneous design and exact execution, thereby creating a constant challenge to produce something fluid within a static structure,” she said.

But she knew one thing: the life she imagined wasn’t going to be long-term in New York.

“When I was a teacher in upstate New York, I’d come to Maine on my school vacations for about 15 years,” she said. “By the time I came up the second year, I knew this is where I wanted to be. I really worked to make that happen and now I’m living the life I imagined being retired and feel very blessed.”

After looking extensively for the right house for her, she found a home in Searsport with an in-law apartment, that she converted into her entire basement studio and moved up permanently in 2011.  Open shelves hold a variety of materials that line the “kitchen” of the sunny studio with more boxes and bins of supplies neatly stacked in the bedroom.

Her framed pieces can be found at the Lupine Cottage in Belfast, Southwest Harbor Artisans Gift Shop and at Beyond the Sea Gift shop in Lincolnville, ME as well as at Franklin Street Gallery in Watkins Glen, New York and on her website, www.especially-for-ewe.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Where do you go when it’s 3 p.m. and Happy Hour is already starting on the Midcoast? (Hint: Nautilus Seafood and Grill in Belfast; Sea Dog Brewing Co. in Camden; Archer’s ont he Pier in Rockland).

Where do you go when you want Happy Hour on the weekends? (Hint: La Vida Mexican Restaurant in Belfast; Fireside in Camden; Myrtle Street Tavern and Trackside Station in Rockland).

And what new Happy Hours are happening this winter? (Hint: Ondine Oyster & Wine Bar in Belfast; Fireside and Vintage Room in Camden; Ada’s Kitchen in Rockland).

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

MONROE—No one expects to wake up one day and discover everything you’ve worked for in life drastically ripped away. A stroke at the age of 36 years old completely derailed Pamela Hedden’s life. An architect, married with children, living in Birmingham, Alabama, at that time, Hedden remained in a coma for eight days. When she emerged from it, she was paralyzed on the right side, unable to speak, talk or walk. She had no understanding of where she was or what happened: in fact, for a long time, she thought she was still 10 years old.

There would be more devastating challenges ahead.

"I lost everything," she said. "My marriage, my kids, my career, and my home."

It’s a story that could have continued to go down a long dark road, but 18 years later, Hedden is sitting in a cozy, shingled house in Monroe, built by her boyfriend, Mark, a tiler, wildlife photographer and potter. She exudes gentle radiance.

"I view myself as having come through this amazing transformation,” she said. “The stroke also caused me to lose vision out of the right side of both eyes, so that has changed my entire perspective. But, when I look in the mirror, all I see is the whole me. I never see the paralyzed me. That vision has carried me so far."

When she got back on that horse again, she literally took the reins. Within three years, she took up horseback riding, learning how to do it with one hand. She even jumped out of a airplane.

“I wanted to be alive again," she said. "I have incredible parents and friends. Their encouragement and help lifted me up and got me walking again. My courageous spirit is how I got through it all. "

She moved from Alabama to Maine in 1999 and revived her career as a residential architect. One day, just taking a walk around the small town of Wayne, where she lived and began to pay close attention to architecture.

"I was just walking around my little town one day and noticing the detail on these little buildings, the General Store, the library. These buildings all had the this unique character. And I began to paint them."

With an architect's analytical precision, she drew the buildings free hand and added watercolor to them. Never formerly trained as a painter, she had to not only teach herself all of the fundamental techniques—but had to do it left handed. A right-handed person all of her life before the paralysis, she worked with a number of physical therapists and slowly, began to gain back motor skills to draw to get the tiny details just right.

"I am so detail oriented, I have to constantly shift my head a certain way to see the right side of the paper," she said.

"As an architect of residential houses for 27 years now, I'd worked with drawings of course, but never with color,” she said. “Getting the detail down on those buildings was an intricate process. Her artwork progressed from buildings to landscapes. "When I do landscapes, they are just an escape," she said. "They are so freeing and simple."

Hedden has put together a compilation of four year’s worth of paintings together for a new show she plans to unveil at the Belfast Co-op, starting January 4 through January 31. The work ranges from buildings to landscapes and seascapes with bright, splashy washes of color.

For Hedden, this feels like a direction she would have never imagined herself on..and a triumph. I don't think I've done my best work yet," she said, smiling.

To learn more about the show visit The Belfast Co-op’s Facebook page.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

For those already thinking ahead to where to go on New Year’s Eve, Penobscot Bay Pilot has the complete rundown on what’s happening in the Midcoast. Enjoy your night and stay safe!

Belfast

New Year's by the Bay

This is the 21st anniversary of the New Year's by the Bay and this community grassroots event starts at 2 p.m and goes until 12:30 a.m., mostly in eight indoor venues within walking distance. One button admits you to all performances and activities of the New Year’s by the Bay chem-free, family friendly, cultural celebration. Food purchases are separate. Adult tickets: $20; children under five are free. For more information visit nybb.org.

Front Street Pub

NYE festivities will be happening from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. $10 cover with a free food buffet until midnight and champagne toast. 

Bowen’s Tavern

DJ Harold will be in the house, playing your favorites from 9 p.m. to  2 a.m.  Their kitchen will be open until midnight with a Sunday special of $.50 wings. Free champagne toast at midnight. No cover.

Camden/Rockport

16 Bayview

Join 16 Bayview for a high energy music video dance party with special guest VJ Danny D. of Northeast Event Design. One of New England's most sought after Video DJs, Danny D. will be bringing you the biggest and best New Year’s celebration, underground dance party style! Dress to impress because you'll walk the red carpet upon arrival. Once inside, you'll be dancing the night away to Danny D.'s masterful mixes and music videos on two large screens. Tickets are $30/person, and includes a red carpet entry, party favors, hors d'oeuvres and mini-desserts, countdown and balloon drop, as well as a champagne toast at midnight. Guests will also enjoy a premium cash bar. Advance purchase is required. Only 100 tickets will be sold. This is a 21+ event. Doors open at 9 p.m. Music and dancing until 12:30 a.m.

Cuzzy’s Restaurant & Bar

For a good time, locals kind of New Year’s Eve, Cuzzy’s will be throwing a New Year’s Eve party with karaoke, starting at 9 p.m.

Rockland

Ada’s Kitchen

Ada’s Kitchen is throwing their first New Year’s Eve party with the theme of Studio 54 featuring DJ Chef Sid. For an unforgettable night of dancing and fun to ring in the new year, dress like it’s 1977 as they celebrate 2018. $15 cover includes a glass of prosecco. Goes from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Trackside Station

Drink, dance and count down the year with a complimentary champagne toast at Trackside Station. Watch the ball drop on their 11-foot screen and other TVs.  Music by DJ Wallace starts at 9 p.m. No cover.

Fog Bar and Café

Join everyone at Fog Bar & Café by welcoming the year 2018 in style with local legends, ‘The Blind Albert Band.’ Masquerade Masks & Festive Apparel are Suggested - But Fog Bar will also be offering (as in past years) fabulous masks as well! No Cover for this event. Entry is through their Oak Street Entrance.

Rock Harbor Brewing Co.

The Karmaceuticals will be playing at the pub to help everyone ring in the new year with a triple dose of rock. There is no cover charge. Starts at 8:15 p.m. and goes until midnight.

Myrtle Street Tavern

They’re throwing a NYE party starting at 9 p.m. with the band Shizzle.

Samoset Resort

Note: If your establishment isn’t listed here it’s because either we were unable to find any details of your event posted online or it was restaurant seating only, not a public party. We will be adding more details and more New Year's events as they become available. Please check back! To contact me with more details, email  news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—The week between the holidays and New Year’s Eve has a lot of folks pondering the waistline and trying to find that perfect balance between healthy and delicious. What to bring to the New Year’s Eve party? Chef Annie Mahle, who owns the schooner J. & E. Riggin with her husband, Captain Jon Finger, has just the ideal recipe.

“I make a poached salmon with tri-pepper salsa,” she said of one her most popular recipes with guests of the schooner. “If I don’t make this for some of our returning guests, they start to clamor for it. It’s really versatile; you can make this into the entrée itself or you can size down the portions and make it into a side dish or appetizer that people will just love. And, after the holidays when everyone is feeling the need to head into the new year with more healthy options, it’s the kind of thing you just make for yourself on a weeknight.”

Mahle has been cooking and writing for nearly 30 years. This recipe is part of her second, revised and updated edition of “At Home, at Sea: Recipes from a Maine Windjammer” (2017, Baggywrinkle Press). The first edition was published in 2004. She also penned “Sugar & Salt: A Year at Home and At Sea (The Blue Book and The Orange Book).  “I have really evolved in my cooking since the first book, although I use recipes from it all of the time,” said Mahle. “In this updated version of the book, I’ve got 100 new recipes and variations with all new photos. I like to riff on recipes all of the time; so you’ll see maybe six variations on my classic biscuit recipe or six variations on my bread.”

For the salmon, she sources it from Jess’s Market in Rockland. “I switch back back and forth between buying wild caught and Scottish farm-raised salmon,” she said. “There are pros and cons to both. On the one hand, buying farm-raised means you’re not contributing to overfishing; on the other, you want to make sure if you’re buying from farms that are sustainable and that the water quality is very good with limited use of chemicals and antibiotics.”

As it is nearly January, she buys the peppers from the local supermarkets. “The only time that those peppers would truly be in season to buy locally would be around August, but we are lucky to have such a diversity of food choices in the Midcoast,” she said.

Mahle has made appearances on the the local NBC affiliate station WCSH’s “207” program numerous times, as well as on the Today Show, New England Cable News, the Food Network and multiple appearances on the local NBC affiliate WCSH’s 207 Show.Annie’s cooking has been recognized by Yankee Magazine as a one of the “Top 10 Places to have Dinner with a View” and as the “Best Windjammer Fare” in the Best of New England series.

To find out when Mahle’s next book signing is follow J. & E. Riggin on Facebook.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT—Having moved to Camden from south of Boston four years ago, the Gelerman family wasn’t looking to start a new business.

“We came up to retire,” said Theola Gelerman, sitting at the oval granite bar under mullioned windows on the sunny first floor at their new business venture.

“We had run a specialty grocery store for 18 years,” added her husband, David. “And we thought we were done.”

That notion changed when the Gelermans learned that the Cellardoor Winery Tasting Room on the corner of Route 90 in Rockport was up for sale this past year and the gears began to turn again.

“We started thinking about it once again, only more scaled down,” said David. “We also wanted it to be a place where our kids, who are also entrepreneurial, could be involved in the family business.”

Their 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, is home-schooled and will help with the operations of the store, along with assisting with the extensive collection of the manga and anime books she has personally picked out for the second floor, which offers mostly café-related items, home good and hard cover books.

Their sons, Noah, 21, and Alan Wong, 20, run a global tactical supply online store and will help out with social media and other aspects of the business.

“We all have our strengths and we’re all just trying to meld them into one place where everyone can bring something to the table,” said Theola.

47 West still has much of the same interior as the Cellardoor Winery had set up.  At the helm of the espresso bar is the Rolls Royce of coffee makers—a Victoria Arduino "Adonis.”

”I really believe in offering good, organic fair trade coffee and I roast our own beans, which we source from New Jersey,” said Theola. “We will only have three or four selections of coffee, something for the people who just want cream and sugar and something for the die-hards, who want the perfect espresso or the caramel latte. We will also have non-dairy options and cold-filtered coffee.”

Knowing that people still associate this location with Cellardoor Winery, Theola said: “We are serving poured wine and beer, but we’re not selling it by the bottle, so that other establishments nearby can reserve that as their niche. 47 West is going to be a place to stop by, have a cup of coffee or espresso, have a glass of wine, read a book, and talk to people across the bar.”

The back of the first floor was renovated with permits to add a kitchen.The Gelermans are working with a good friend, baker Pam Huard, on baked goods that will pair well with both coffee and wine and beer, as well as carrot cake, scones, biscotti and cookies.

“Our vision for this place is to dabble a bit and see what people want, “ said David. “We may add panini sandwiches and more of a rotating menu as we go. As we progress, we are also planning for private events that can be catered, and down the road, public events involving more food. We even have space outside in the summer to do more outside seating.”

“We want this to be an eclectic mix of food and home items you can’t really get anywhere else and just give a level of customer service that makes people feel that they can just pop in and have a great experience,” said David. “For that reason, we’re not even adding a tip line on our food items, because it’s about making it affordable and easy.”

47 West has now officially to the public from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday with extended hours in the summer. Stay tuned to their Facebook page for more details.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com 

BELFAST—Within the high-arched studios above the Belfast Post Office on 1 Franklin Street, a little shop draws people from around the world. Rooms are awash in hand-printed kozo and linen botanical lampshades, with a myriad of textures radiating luminous coastal blues and greens, mellow earthy and amber hues, rich jewel tones, soft neutrals, and vibrant bold block print colors pulling from Japanese, Thai and nature themes.

Interestingly, there's a demographic of regular customers who routinely come through the doors just to bask in the light and color, and they happen to be hospital employees, doctors and educators. Stuck all day in somewhat aesthetically sterile environments doing highly demanding work, they often come drifting up the back stairs and ask owner Dina Petrillo: "Can I just walk around, maybe just sit here for a while? I just need to be surrounded by all this light and color right now."

Petrillo, A sculptor, printmaker, and designer since 1980, opened Belfast Bay Shade Co. with her husband in 2013.

"I do think this place is a full sensory counterpoint to a long day inside white walls for people with high-intensity jobs," she said.

As close as Belfast and as far as Hawaii, Belfast Bay's typical customer is  anyone who wants to bring the outdoors inside all year round and tends to draw in people in the healing arts, acupuncturists, midwives, masseuses and naturopaths who want illuminated colors into their offices and home studios for their own clients.

Petrillo’s lampshades are functional artwork molded into cylinders of Thai Unryu Paper, a lightweight, semi-translucent paper ideal for overlays and lamp shades.

"The imagery, the plants and vegetables–all of that comes out of a sculptural process," said Petrillo. "I especially love found materials, particularly industrial things."

She points to a lampshade dominated by greyish circles, reminiscent of a foreign coin.

"Believe it or not, that was made with a disc of hardware cloth mounted into a mixed media plate," she explained. "My family business was a hardware store, so I tend to gravitate toward metals, power tools, and all manner of construction materials. People walk in though, and have their own associations with it: they see a manhole cover or a 45 album. In others they might see a fingerprint or the growth rings of a tree."

Petrillo has been exhibiting and teaching in the Midcoast since she moved to Maine from New York City in 2000. She taught sculpture and printmaking with the University of Maine's Hutchinson Center since 2003.

"My work has always toggled between two- and three-dimensional, mixed media and sculpture," she said. "I create plates or molds first in my production studio and with every inking, get a new incarnation. I started making metal plate intaglio prints while I was a grad student and then faculty at Columbia during the 1990s, and then really dove deep into mixed media printing at UMO while teaching printmaking and sculpture. I had access to the print studio and I'd make these high relief collagraph carborundum plates that riff off the pressed and textured clay slabs used in sculptural forms. And out of that process, I experimented with using the textures that would eventually become the high-relief patterns on the lampshades. The textures are important, but I wanted to figure out how I could infuse them with color. In 2007, I spent a month in Vermont on a fellowship tethered to a large Charles Brand etching press. I brought along a huge number of plates, and worked feverishly day and night trying to figure how to print them. Experimenting with ink viscosity and modifiers, I layered papers and played with multiple pulls and ghost prints, until I got a result that qualified as a successful print. When I returned to Maine and the post office studio, these prints evolved into on-site art installations and commissions for sculptural light forms in April, 2012.”

Petrillo's show of collagraphs and light forms "Creature Botaniche: Piante e Forme Umane Congiunte" opened at Castello di Galeazza, Pepoli, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. By August, the light forms had become "lampshades" and in January 2013, the company was launched as Belfast Bay Shade Co. in NYC at the Javits Center's winter market NY NOW.

Her shop carries products that range from floor clothes to room screens, throw pillows to table runners, unique lamps and a wide array of wall and ceiling fixtures. Belfast Bay sees the evolution of the company as a collaboration with other artisans and their customers. "Bring Your own (old) Lamp" or BYOL engages folks in the design process themselves as shades are selected or designed for the very specific and often funky lamps they tote up the post office stairs.  An extension of their on-site light consultation, Belfast Bay can see growing into event lighting and pop-up installations.

"I'm happiest when I'm inventing and I work with people who share that excitement,” Petrillo said. “The maker movement in Maine is vibrant and I feel blessed every day that this is my home and the cultural garden where we can grow innovative applications for technologies and honor the life's work of so many deeply creative artisans!"

For more information visit: belfastbayshadecompany.com/.

For the holidays, we’re continuing our series to shine the spotlight on Maine craftspeople who make products by hand and work out of their homes and kitchens to make quality products and work. Here are three last-minute ideas that can be found in the Midcoast and online before the season is upon us.

Lovin’ Cups

Handleless pottery that’s part of Waterfall Arts’ Handmade show

The back story:

Linda Stec has been teaching clay at Waterfall Arts for over a decade. She has a degree in Fine Arts and has taken many masters’ level classes. Along with clay, Linda has been a performing puppeteer for 18 years and practices calligraphy, cartooning, and weaving. She is a master gardener and the Director of the Starrett Childrens' Center. These handleless, glazed mugs are all affordably priced and all proceeds go back into Waterfall Arts’ programs. Win-win!

Where to find it/price range:

$7-10 at Waterfall Arts Handmade show, only open until Dec. 23. She’ll make more after the holidays. Contact her at waterfallarts.org

In her words: “I do wheel work and I’m cold all of the time, so I always have one of these cups filled with something hot beside me and without handles I can’t accidentally knock it over,” she said. “They’re glazed to withstand heat and the dishwasher, and I just wanted to make them affordable for everyone. Each one of them is one of a kind.”

Laurie Bellmore Arts Photographic print

Birch Trees, Enhanced photography

The back story:

Laurie Bellmore, a Maine native, who has recently retired from being “back to the land” farmer with her husband, lives in Owls Head. She is a self-taught artist and jeweler. This artwork was printed in-house, an archival print on paper, along with a 5"x 7" mat with black core, in a plastic sleeve. “In my photographic work, I use the digital platform to enhance my photograph and create an entirely new piece of artwork; some call it digital painting,” she said. “My digitally enhanced work starts with my own photo, which is manipulated and transformed into a new image with the help of digital tools. I do all of the enhanced painting, photography, image editing, archival giclée printing also the matting and framing in my studio, with only my hand touching the work.”

Where to find it/price range:

$15 on Etsy or visit: www.lbellmore.com

In her words: “I took this photo on a back road somewhere in Midcoast, Maine. When I am out taking pictures, I often follow the beauty of the moment, and don't pay much attention to where I am, until I try to find my way toward home,” she said. “I love this picture; it is so exciting when you are in the right place, the lighting is exactly right and it all comes together and makes a great image.”

Balsamae

Wintermint handmade soap

The back story:

Allie Bowman, who works at the Camden Hannaford Supermarket, has a side business at his home in Swanville, where he makes all of handmade soaps, beard care and essential oils in his kitchen. Wintermint,  one of his most popular seasonal soaps, is SLS ( sodium lauryl sulfate) free, dye-free, all natural and vegan and made with a hemp seed oil base. Hemp seed oil is an amazing moisturizer for the skin.  It contains vitamin A, D, and E, and minerals  which help keep the skin smooth and soft. The oil is also known to soothe rashes, reduce redness, and itchy, dry patches on the skin.

Where to find it/price range:

$6 online or visit KatWalk, a boutique store in Belfast, which carries Wintermint, as well as other soaps in his line.

In his words: “It’s made with multiple mints and to me it smells like winter,” he said. “It smells like freshly falling snow. When you shower with it it just makes your senses come alive.”

Related: Shop Local: Three unique handmade Maine goods

Shop Local: Three unique Maine edibles

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Through December, we continue our series to shine the spotlight on local people who make their living by their home kitchens and small production facilities, using unique Maine flavors and ingredients no one can get anywhere else. Best of all, all of these items can be picked up locally and shipped.

Graffam Bros. Maine Seafood Rockport

A fresh Maine caught lobster roll delivered to your door with Maine’s Deep River Snack kettle chips.

The back story:

Maine Lobsters are 100% hand-harvested from small day boats one trap at a time to protect their quality and the marine habitat. And this time of year, it’s important to support Maine lobstermen as they go into their winter. What better way than to buy a fresh lobster roll through Graffam Bros. Seafood Market in Rockport. They’ll ship fresh live lobster and prepared seafood all across the country. They’ll send you a Country Kitchen bun and more than 4 oz. of flavorful lobster salad along with a 2 oz package of Deep River Snacks Potato Chips.

$20.00 online or locally at Graffam Brothers

In their words: “Just toast the bun, add the lobster and it will be almost like being at our Seafood Shack in the summer!”

Maine Chefs, Rockland

Citrus Rosemary and Ginger Sauce

The back story:

Maine Chefs, based out of Rockland Maine, is part of a “Neighbors Supporting Neighbors” model of housing local specialty food businesses under Pen Bay Distributors, run by Terri Mahoney, Terry Lawry, Rob Splaine and Richard Thompson. "Keeping with our motto, our all natural products are produced in small batches at commercial kitchens in Maine and New Hampshire,” said Mahoney. “Our distribution company has grown with support from other similar minded specialty food producers and can be found throughout New England. We also ship throughout the United States.”

Where to find it/price range:

$7.99 online or locally at French and Brawn, Market Basket, State of Maine Cheese Co., Jess's, Keag Store, Thomaston Grocery, Renys, Wentworth Family Grocery, Swanlake Grocery, Tobey's, Hope General Store and Red Barn Marketplace.

In her words: “Our Citrus Rosemary and Ginger Sauce is a nice thick sauce that you can drizzle on pork, chicken, beef and seafood,” said Mahoney. “I love putting it on potato salad, but it’s also great for grilling, baking and even the crock pot.”

French and Brawn Fresh Roasted Coffee

Bayview Street

The back story:

Camden’s specialty marketplace (in business since 1868) offers great coffee with historical roots. All of F&B Coffees are fresh roasted in small batches by Green Tree Coffee & Tea in Lincolnville and include: Bayview Street (French Roast); Chestnut Street (Medium Roast); Elm Street (Breakfast Roast); Main Street (Decaf Roast)

"We picked those street names because we are either on or can see those streets from our front door," said President Todd Anderson. "Most people from Camden or familiar with it would recognize the names. Many people currently or previously lived on one of those streets or know someone that does/did."

Where to find it/price range:

$10.99 at their store on 1 Elm Street or visit: frenchandbrawn.com

In their words: “Bayview Roast is consistently one of our top sellers of all of the beans we offer. It is also one of the brewed coffees that we offer by the cup every day.”

Related: Shop Local: Three unique handmade Maine goods

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

UNION — Sweetgrass Farm Winery and Distillery had a sweet idea this year: Invite the public and students from the Midcoast School of Technology culinary department to create a gingerbread house; put it on display. Invite the public for cocktails and vote for the best one.

Throughout the weekend, December 9 and 10, as holiday shoppers drifted through the tasting room, enjoying cranberry gin and Bixby Bar drinking chocolate with rum, one gingerbread creation stood out, drawing the most votes.

Rachel Nichols, a full time artist from Newcastle, won $500 for her elaborate rendition of the Rockland Breakwater. Having moved to Maine from California a year ago, she has walked the Breakwater many times. It took her nearly three weeks to assemble the entire piece.

“I went through so many batches of gingerbread,” she admitted.

The detail of her culinary artwork has to be seen up close to be appreciated. The granite “blocks” are made from caramel. The shingles of the lighthouse are something out of the game, Candyland. The raging surf was created from three layers of frosting and sprinkles. But, the real wonder is in the back of the house attached to the lighthouse. Deep inside the house, Nichols created a miniature candy Christmas scene within a scene with Santa, a tree, presents, and even a tiny clock on a peppermint made from edible ink.

“I always loved to make little doll houses when I was a kid,” she said. “This was the most fun part of creating this gingerbread house. If you look at it through the side window, you’ll see a candy fireplace with flames and little coals out of jellybeans. I love creating little details like that.”

The $500 prize is a big boost to help Nichols with her Christmas shopping. “That, and more art supplies,” she said. Nichols is currently working on finding a temporary home for the gingerbread house to be on display for the rest of the season.

The student winner of the contest had just as creative an idea. When Thomas A. Akselsen put together his gingerbread house, unfortunate circumstances caused it to collapse. So, he made the most of the disaster by turning it into a candy crime scene—winning the popular vote.

Constance Bodine, co-owner of Sweetgrass Farm Winery & Distillery said: “This is the first year we’ve done this and people loved it. None of the participants were professional bakers, but we had a lot of creative entries. And proceeds from our specialty cocktails benefit the MCST culinary program.”

Rounding out the event, Appleton Creamery offered samples of chèvre in olive oil; Bixby Bars had samples of candy bars and drinking chocolate and Sugar Spell Sweets offered mini bites of cookies, candies, and treats.

For more information on Rachel Nichols visit: rayfaithnichols.wixsite.com/artist

For more information about Sweetgrass Farm visit: sweetgrasswinery.com

For more information about the Midcoast School of technology visit: midcoast.mainecte.org

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

For the month of December, we continue our series to shine the spotlight on local craftspeople who make things by hand. It’s important to shop local and to support the innovators and entrepreneurs who keep the creative economy alive in the Midcoast. So each week, until Dec. 25, we will bring you this series until you can’t take it anymore. Ready. Set. Go.

Mainely Naturals, Belfast

“Bambi” White Tailed Deer Ornament

The back story:

Kris Chapman grew up just outside of Boston and moved to Belfast 18 years ago. She lives here with her husband and two kid, works in the kitchen at the Edna Drinkwater School in Northport and runs her Etsy store.

”I love creating gifts using local photos and ingredients found in nature,” she said. 

Where to find it/price range:

$10 online or locally at the Country Blessings shop in Belfast.

In her words: “The photo in this ornament was captured on the East side of Belfast. So sweet, the baby whitetail deer fawn ornament makes the perfect nature lover gift.”

Olio Designs, Belfast

Nautical Napkin Rings

The back story:

Meg Reilly is nspired by color and texture—anything from a beautiful piece of fabric or a great piece of paper to the unique shades found in the summer forest or on an ocean beach.

“I am proud to have been featured at marthastewartweddings.com as one of Martha Stewart Wedding's Favorite Etsy Crafters and included in the 2010 summer issue of Martha Stewart Weddings article ‘In Love With Etsy’,” she said.

Where to find it/price range:$12 Onlineor in Belfast at her store The Sail Locker.

In her words: “My nautical designs are inspired by summers sailing with my family growing up on MDI. Each piece is tied by hand using traditional maritime techniques.”

Jessica Schnell Knite, Monhegan/Rockland

Hand knit black and white wool fingerless gloves

The back story:

Jessica Schnell Knite has been knitting, crocheting, and beading since she was eight years old.

“I lived on Monhegan Island for almost a decade before graduating from the University of New England and moving to Rockland,” she said. “Monhegan Island is a very small community, including approximately 50-60 year-round residents, most of whom are involved in lobstering. Much of my inspiration comes from the colors, seasons, and people on Monhegan as it is both a beautiful and vibrant place in terms of scenery and companionship. It is also a very spiritual place that I am deeply connected.”

Where to find it/price range: $25 Online

In her words: “The white and black variation in these gloves is reminiscent of the ocean spray coating the island’s rocky coast in the winter and I chose wool because it’s a warm, sturdy fiber for what can be very bitter cold island weather throughout the season. I made the gloves fingerless, or wristlets as they’re often called, because there’s no better way to keep your hands warm and still retain the dexterity needed to do everyday tasks around the shop, fish house, and home.”

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

THOMASTON—There are ladies who lunch and then there are ladies who knit.  Likely the conversation and camaraderie are the same, but the half dozen women who form “Knit Happens,” an informal knitting group who meet once a week at the Thomaston Public Library, are doing their part to make Maine stand out for the 2018 Special Olympics Maine State Winter Games at Sugarloaf Mountain January 28-30.

For the last two years, Trish Smith and Ellen Schooley have gathered in the library, opening up their group to fellow knitters have met at the library, starting in the summer, knitting together once a week, all throughout the fall, in order to have a certain amount of hats and scarves ready to ship to Maine Special Olympics athletes before the games. Knit Happens is one of many informal knitting groups and individuals across Maine doing the same thing, so that 500 to 800 of Maine’s athletes will be wearing the signature colors of black, purple and charcoal colors with pride.

Katheryn Wilde, a volunteer for the project in Buxton, said that once the announcement went out on Facebook, the idea spread far and wide, nationally with the farthest donation coming from Honolulu.

“We have a lot of Mainers in Florida and Arizona, knitting stuff at home and sending it to us to represent Maine,” she said. “I think it’s the coolest thing in the world.”

Using color combinations specified by the Maine Special Olympics Maine, the ladies buy all of their own yarn and spend their time turning it into stylish hats, scarf and mittens.

But, the group isn’t all about work. “We chat about politics, religion, books, dogs and community—all the things you’d expect,” Alice Dashiell, said laughing.

“And anyone can join us,” said Smith. “We’re here to teach anyone who wants to learn some skills. You can even make a project with these colors from home and bring it in.”

Beyond the project, Knit Happens works all year long to provide items to other community organizations. The knitters are beginning to knit warm hats, scarves, and mittens to donate to Thomaston residents of all ages who are in need through the Thomaston Inter‑Church Fellowship Food Pantry has graciously agreed to distribute the items. In addition the library will add the knitted items to the donations collected at the library's monthly CommuniTea.

For more information: somaine.org/2018-scarfhat-project/

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com