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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

Manager Zach Niles, describes as “roots pop.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

Standing Out

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more information visit: Yoga with Cats!

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

Belfast

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

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

Lincolnville

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

Camden

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

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

Rockland

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

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

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

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

Hope

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

Waldoboro

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

Boothbay

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

Stay tuned as more listings are added.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fastest

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

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

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

Most Creative

WGH Racing #24
• Wyatt Heal (9)  Warren

Best Costume(s)

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

Most in a Box

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

Most Spirited

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

Photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

The third component will turn the collected stories into podcasts.

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photos by Kay Stephens

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He endured the usual jibes over it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photos courtesy Lucinda Ziesing

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It’s been cool. I love it,” he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

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

Dear Barbara,

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

The note was signed with a little red heart.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN—Some like it hot. And some like it spicy. Camden resident Arif Shaikh plans to give Valentine’s Day it’s own unique flavor when he presents “Farms & Food: Kolkata to Camden” along with a vegetarian curry and chai tasting on Feb. 14 at the Camden Public Library from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Shaikh, who moved to Camden from Boston six months ago, loves to cook food that originates from his family’s region of Kolkata, India. “I really love food and that quickly forced me to learn to cook the kind of food I love to eat,” he said. “I also love the outdoors and hiking, and when I was in Boston, I’d organize these outdoor hikes and end up cooking for large crowds of people. It was just a fantastic way to get to know people. When I moved to Maine, I thought, ‘what’s a good way to make friends?’ and this is what I decided to do.”

Shaikh decided to introduce his Boston events in his new town of Camden, where he set up a closed Facebook page called Camden Top Secret Curry Club.

“It went from nothing about a month ago to about 450 people who joined,” he said. “I meet a lot of great people and trade my curry for other things such as bread, honey, maple syrup, and yoga lessons among other things,” he said.

He sources his spices from around the world, some from physical stores, some from online. The vegan meal he plans to prepare is sourced as much from Maine as winter produce allows and will include chickpeas, garbanzo beans, garlic, onions, ginger, red peppers, carrots, potatoes and cauliflower. “Curry is made with a lot of high heat and that unleashes a lot of flavor in the vegetables,” he said.

Part of Shaikh’s presentation will encompass his role as an entrepreneur as the founder of Foodslack.com, a platform that connects Midcoast farms to co-ops and restaurants as a way to provide an easy way to source local produce.

We at Cheap Dates Central always appreciate anything that involves food, but more importantly, it’s only $5 per person to try Shaikh’s curry and a hot cup of chai. Registration is required so please go to www.librarycamden.org to reserve a space.

If you miss it tonight, he’ll be doing another demonstration with his homemade curry at the Good Tern Co-op. Call for more information. 207-594-8822

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

In the 10 weeks we’ve covered Zachary Fowler from Appleton, Maine on his journey through HISTORY’s Alone unscripted series, pitting nine contestants all over the world to survive in Patagonia without any assistance, it’s down to the final episode ....and tonight’s finale announced the winner. Can you take a guess who that was?

Pilot: Wow! Chills and happy tears watching your wife, Jami come up after nearly 90 days to hug you and tell you that you won. Can you describe what was going on in your head as you both took off in that helicopter looking down at Patagonia?

Zach: The helicopter ride was stunning; it was amazing to see my camp and surrounding area from a fresh perspective after 87 days. It was hard to take in the breathtaking scenery though because my mind was swirling with thoughts of what I had just accomplished;thoughts of my kids and getting back to my family and all the pizzas I wanted to cook when I finally got back home.It was extremely hard and the most challenging at the beginning when people around me kept saying ‘Oh, you’re back so you must not have won.’ But, I just kept thinking of my experience as a story and I didn’t want to give away the ending before anyone had a chance to enjoy it. That mentality helped me stay quiet on my outcome as the season unveiled.

Pilot: You've now had all of this time to contemplate what you're going to do with the $500,000 prize money. What are your plans?

Zach: I want to build a space for my wife so she has room to get creative without our kids always being underfoot. I plan on paying off all of our back debts to give us a financial fresh-start, build a beautiful home for my family, and invest in equipment to make my YouTube Channel "Fowler’s Makery and Mischief" better than ever.

Pilot: You lost more than 77 pounds on the show by your last medical exam. Have you gone back to a healthy weight? What Maine food did you crave the most when you got home?

Zach: I started to regain a lot of weight very quickly. I didn’t understand what re-feeding syndrome was or what happens to a person who is starving and then suddenly has food to eat again. I got back and thought I could just jump back into all my favorite old foods, but it put me at risk of heart failure and even more severe nutritional deficiencies, ironically. It was so hard when I got back. I was hungry all of the time. Even more hungry than I was when I was starving at the end of my stay at my camp in Patagonia. It was my biggest frustration of the whole ordeal. I got a handle on the carbs and re-feeding syndrome and found that if I ate a ketogenic diet I could still enjoy a lot of great food while feeling healthier than I did even before I went out to Patagonia.

Pilot: We know how gratifying it was to reunite with your family again. What other little things did you appreciate after not having them for nearly three months?

Zach: It was so good to have coffee again. I spent a lot of time laying around in the sun at the pond while my wife took our daughters swimming, just soaking up the rays. And it was great to have all of my tools in my workshop back when it comes to making things.

Pilot: Will you still work as a boat builder now that the cat's out of the bag?

Zach: I'm pretty much done building boats on a full-time basis. I may go back to help out on a project or away trips here and there. My plan for the future is to make "Fowler's Makery and Mischief" a full time job. I want it to be more than just a YouTube Channel. I really enjoy making things. I’m thinking of writing a book on all of the things I make as well as t-shirts and how knows what else. The possibilities are endless!

Pilot: Having gone through what you did, what's your advice to Mainers who work hard every day to just carve out a good life here? What's the most important thing to focus on in your opinion?

Zach: This reminds me of the movie Conan the Barbarian; I thought about this a lot while I was out there and said it to the camera more than once. ‘Conan! What is best in life?’ ‘To crush your enemies — See them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.’ But for me, what is good in life? ‘To work hard, make stuff and love your family.’

Pilot: Do you have a good answer for all those people at Thresher's who are going to now hit you up for a round?

Zach: The check's in the mail. Come back in a couple weeks !!

Congratulations Zach, Jami, Abby and Sparrow!

Related stories:

• Alone Week 9: Zach makes it to the final episode!

• Alone Week 8: Zach’s one of the final four

• Alone Week 7: A bird sacrifice for Zach

• Alone Week 6: Where is Zach?

• Alone Week 5: Zach versus Dan

• Alone Week 4: Zach fashions a Duck Hunter 3000 out of driftwood

• Alone Week 3: Things start to get serious for Zach

• Alone Week 2: Zach throws a shovel

• Appleton survivalist Zachary Fowler competes on new season of the History show 'Alone'

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT—In the last few years it seems as though one had to slog through sleet and snow just to make it to the Banff Mountain Film Festival, held annually at the Strom Auditorium at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport.

For lovers of extreme outdoor sports and daring filmmaking, this is a treat to have in Rockport as the festival is shown in 40 countries across the globe.

This year’s lineup includes 17 new films spread over two nights, ranging from shorts to longer features and from outdoor superhuman feats to heart-tugging documentaries.

Jeff Boggs, manager and buyer for Maine Sport Outfitters, runs the festival every year. This year, Boggs predicts they’ll be able to squeeze in two shows in between snow storms.

“The feature films have a nautical theme this year," he said.

There are also two dog-centered films he thinks audiences will love.  Since the film festival is taking place both weekend nights, he’s got a few film favorites he recommends:

Friday Night

Sea Gypsies: The Far Side Of The World

The vessel is Infinity, a 120-ft hand-built sailing ketch, crewed by a community of wanderers. The journey – a 12,800-kilometre Pacific crossing from New Zealand to Patagonia, with a stop in Antarctica, weather permitting.

Boggs said: “This film epitomizes the spirit of adventure.featuring a crazy crew sailing from New Zealand to Patagonia via the wild winter seas off Antarctica. I'm looking forward to settling into my seat and watching all the films, but this one gets my blood pumping!”

Dog Power

Get a fascinating view of the world of dog-powered sports and the special bond between dogs and their humans. Both share a passion for living, working and playing together outside in different forms of the sled-dog and musher relationship.

Saturday Night

 Four Mums in a Boat

When four middle-aged working British mums announced they wanted to row the Atlantic Ocean, their families thought they had lost their minds.

Ace and the Desert Dog

For his 60th birthday, adventure photographer Ace Kvale and his dog, Genghis Khan, set out on a 60-day trek in Utah’s canyon country.

 Maine Sport Outfitters is selling tickets online until Thursday night. Or you can buy them in person at Maine Sport in Rockport and Camden.Go to www.mainesport.com, click on "Buy Your Banff Tickets Online Now!" For more info on the lineup visit: Banff Mountain Film Festival films.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Burlesque dancing, like many other fringe art forms, enjoys a mysterious, titillating reputation, because most people only have a vague idea of what it’s all about. Burlesque embodied a particular female performance usually in a variety show featuring bawdy comedy and a bit of a striptease. Going back the 1860s, it became a staple of Prohibition entertainment, until it phased out roughly the 1950s.

Today, the costumes might be similar (lots of corsetry, feathers and pasties), but the art form has morphed into a representation of female empowerment. From Belfast to Rockland, a group of burlesque enthusiasts has emerged, reviving the dance form with classes and, eventually, a public performance.

Jenny Cobuzzi, a professional dancer with a Broadway and Las Vegas-style show background, recently moved back to Maine from New York City. Before she left for New York, she had been running burlesque classes at the Belfast Dance Studio since 2013.

“When I came back to Maine in 2016, I heard there was more interest in burlesque up in this area,” she said. “And dancer, Jessica Libby from Swing and Sway in Rockland was running a class, as well.”

True to the ideal of the burlesque art form, neither woman saw the other as competition, but, instead worked collaboratively, with a third woman, Rae MacNair, a fan of burlesque, to offer classes in both areas and to set up a network. MacNair serves as the liaison between the two dance instructors and runs a closed Facebook page for burlesque enthusiasts in the Midcoast with approximately 20 members.

“It’s my goal to have it be a very supportive environment so women can express themselves artistically,” said MacNair.

Libby added, “I ran my first class this past December for about nine women, and I call it my ‘Inner Diva Class’ because I feel like a lot of women either don’t know how to or feel like it’s not acceptable to be sexy, so this is an opportunity to let them get more comfortable with themselves and feel OK about themselves.”

Cobuzzi said: “Burlesque has really changed over the years. It started as a parody and transformed into showing a little leg, then into showing a little more than leg. It really incorporates the art of the tease. For me, it’s not about just being sexy. I’m a dance/movement therapist, so I’m really interested in having a place for women to come in, start to feel comfortable with their bodies, start to own their sexuality and be able to express themselves by integrating all of those pieces.”

A typical class in Belfast and Rockland runs about one hour in which Cobuzzi and Libby teach the participants classic burlesque moves. (See our accompanying video for several G-rated moves!)

“Some women come in shy and some come in rarin’ to go,” said Cobuzzi. “They’re usually worried about how much dance experience they need, and I always reassure them they need to have none; they just need to have fun.”

The typical age range of Cobuzzi’s classes is from 20 years old to 60 years old.

“Every once in a while a teenage girl will join, if it’s fine with her parents,” Cobuzzi said and added, “We had a 74-year-old woman join our class who had a ton of fun, but she said her body hurt from all the moves she practiced.”

To join the Midcoast burlesque troupe, search for Midcoast Burly on Facebook and request to join. All requests are accepted.

For more information on Cobuzzi’s next classes with Belfast Dance Studio email midcoastburlesque@gmail.com

 For more information with Libby’s next classes with Swing and Sway visit www.swingnsway.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Behind the Slides, our ongoing feature, is where we meet up with an artist who presented at a PechaKucha event and find out the deeper story beneath the images they chose to portray. Dave Morrison was one of the presenters at the most recent PechaKucha Night held at Rockport Opera House January 27.  His presentation was about the art of building an electric blue guitar. Morrison has published 11 books of poetry including Clubland (poems about rock & roll bars in verse and meter, Fighting Cock Press 2011) and Cancer Poems (JukeBooks 2015), plus a CD (Poetry Rocks - Mishara Music).

Note: Morrison’s slides appear in the right column. Click on the photos to match them with the actual slide notes (in italics). Beneath the slide notes will be the deeper story.

Boston

I worked hard, I wrote lots of songs, good songs, and played pretty much every club and college in New England. But at some point I lost the simple joy and replaced it with the compulsion to 'make it', which proved to be a fatal shift. Bands broke up, friends moved on, and I dragged my dream from town to town.

I started playing in clubs around Boston when I was 17, and I thought I had found the one thing that I was equipped to do, so I put all my eggs in that one flimsy basket. It was, I discovered, a lot easier to do when one is young.

 Poetry

So, I began to write, which had its advantages; I didn't need much gear, or a van, or rehearsal space, I didn't have to keep a band together. I became a 40-year old freshman at the New School, nights. I wrote novels and short stories and finally, at the gentle urging of my much smarter wife, poetry.

Works with a long arc were hard for me, but poetry was more like songwriting, or even photojournalism— it was about capturing a moment.

New Direction

And then the poems...stopped. I was so tired that I don't know if I cared, I didn't know if it mattered. I questioned my reasons for writing poetry; I questioned its value. This left me with no creative outlet, until the day I saw an ad on Facebook for an Australian company called Pit Bull that said the magic words— build your own guitar.

During being treated for cancer I wrote, but it felt like it used up whatever poetry was in me. I knew that I needed some sort of project to keep me from howling at the moon.

Wonderboy

By embracing this project I would overcome years of being impatient and compulsive, I would learn care and craftsmanship, I would be deliberate. I realized that the logical and satisfying conclusion to the story had to be me playing Wonderboy, onstage, with a band; the circle completed, me back in my element, just like Roy Hobbs returning to baseball as an older man.

As my father used to say, 'you can talk yourself into anything'. I wanted to get un-lost, and I wanted a single thing to accomplish that, I wanted my own mythology.

 Guitar Parts

At last, the kit arrived. It did not glow with mystical power, like the Ark of the Covenant; it was a box of parts, the Hamburger Helper of guitars. The neck and body looked pretty good, the hardware on the cheap side. It contained everything I would need, except tools and patience and skill. It was time to begin.

Reality was delivered to the Camden post office. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it — it was a sort of kit, like the models we used to build as kids. It would only be as good as I made it.

The Blue Guitar

I had an idea for the head stock shape — I made a template on paper using a cat food can and a nickel to draw the curves. I cut it out with a coping saw, smoothed it with sandpaper wrapped around a broomstick. The first coat of stain brought out the wood grain nicely. The whole process took less than two hours. It was very satisfying, and I learned nothing.

I learned much more when things began to go wrong, when things became difficult. Reality is funny like that. the notion was to write a sort of memoir about the process, both interior and exterior.

For more information about Pecha Kucha visit them on Facebook.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—The former Crosby High School on 96 Church Street in Belfast is one of those residential monoliths one might pass by for 20 years and forget it’s there. But this past December, Belfast resident Kiril Lozanov, purchased the 38,000-square-foot building with big plans to renovate it into a community building that promises huge potential for Belfast’s creative economy.

Built in 1923, the William G. Crosby School was featured in the 1957 movie, Peyton Place and remained a school until 1993, when it was purchased by the National Theatre Workshop for the Handicapped, a nonprofit that spent $3.5 million to renovate it. After several years in disrepair, the Workshop put the school on the market in 2013.

After several unsuccessful attempts to sell, then auction, the building off, Lozanov decided to take a look at its potential.

“I’d heard a lot about this school and I knew I had to see it for myself,” he said. “So, it took three hours to walk through all of the spaces and by the end, I said, ‘I’m getting this.’”

Lozanov plans to converts the top floor of 14 residential rooms into long-term co-housing, the second floor for shared office space and “office and residential pods” as well as dance space. The first floor, with its enormous theater, will be used for public performances and its commercial kitchen for a public restaurant.

The residential areas on the third floor, renovated by the Workshop, are all handicap-accessible with the majority of rooms sharing a common bathroom area.

The set up is ideal for families and single people of all ages and backgrounds, but because of potential allergies, pets cannot be allowed.

There’s one integrated apartment with its own bathroom, which Lozanov said would be ideal for one family. He, himself, will occupy one of the shared rooms and share it with his kids. The school also houses a working elevator, but Lozanov is not sure if they will be needed.

The building is naturally suited for multi-use purposes. Lozanov envisions the office pods on the second floor will be based on the hostel concept of shared open living space within one room among digital nomads. Each partitioned-off pod would have a bed and a desk.

“I want it to be efficient, but at the same time, affordable,” said Lozanov. All residents and office pod residents would have access to shared bathrooms and a shared kitchen on the third floor.

“Everybody will share in the cooking, which will save everyone an enormous amount of time and resources.”

All space will be rentable, not owner-occupied.

Lozanov said the roof needs extensive repairs, along with the boiler system and sprinkler system. Because of water damage from the roof, many of the interior walls and ceiling have mold issues and will need to be reconstructed. He’s looking into grants to help alleviate some of these costs and hopes work will be completed within five years.

The real jewel of The Crosby School is the gigantic theater with its original wooden seats, balcony and enormous wooden stage.

“This would be for concerts, for music, for performances, poetry, dancing, anything you can think of. I want it to be used for everybody who needs a space like this in the community.”

Behind the stage are dressing rooms for both men and women, as well as a fully equipped backstage with a moveable stage, so that theater troupes can perform outdoor shows on the school’s property.

“Community living is important for everyone,” he said.

A Bulgarian native, he moved to the United States in 1998. As a resident of the Belfast Co-housing and Ecovillage, he knows first hand its benefits.

“It’s an element that has been missing in today’s society. In the old days, that’s all there was. When I go back to Bulgaria, I always joke with my mother who lives about a 10-minute walk away from the store, that it takes an hour, because she stops and talks with everyone. You get to know people and feel like you’re part of something.”

The restaurant concept is another way to gather people in the community to socialize. He hasn’t yet contracted a chef or restaurant yet, but he wants the food to be locally sourced.

Penobscot Bay Pilot will follow up with this story when more progress on the building has been completed.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

We’re down to the home stretch, with Appleton resident Zachary Fowler making it to the last episode on the HISTORY survivalist show, Alone. After nine episodes and 74 days surviving alone in the Patagonia wilderness, Zach has managed to hang on along with two other female contestants, Megan and Carleigh. Next week’s final episode will determine the winner of $500,000.

Pilot: I’ll bet there was a lot of cheering at Thresher’s Brewery last night when all of the folks coming out to watch your show week after week realized you still hadn’t tapped out.

Zach: They were loving it. It was funny. Not only were they cheering, but they were yelling at the TV screen, “Don’t give up!”

Pilot: It’s interesting; pretty much every episode we see you with an upbeat attitude, yet this is the first time we’ve seen you frustrated, angry and feeling a little desperate about your situation. What was happening this episode?

Zach: I had so many good days out there, but this episode showed one day that everything went wrong. I called it my “Zero Day.” It literally was the only day I came up with nothing. It was just ridiculous. The lake rose so much; I lost most of my dock. I couldn’t get the fire going. It had been raining for days and I hadn’t caught any fish. I was exhausted. I was so hungry. I was like ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.’ I hung out down at that dock until dark hoping I could just catch one more fish and it didn’t happen. So, I made it back up to shelter and ended up burning my boot insert in the fire a bit. I was trying to dry out my feet because they were wet. I had a leak in my shelter that I hadn’t taken care of and it was leaking on my head as I was trying to go to sleep. So I ended up having to fix that and stay up til one ‘o clock, extremely exhausted.

Pilot: Tell us what did chronic hunger do to you?

Zach: By the time of this last episode, I was eating about a fish a day, and the days I didn’t have a fish, I had fish head soup. So, I hadn’t actually experienced extreme hunger until that Zero Day. And by then I’d probably gone seven days without a fish. I’d had dandelion roots and grubs, but you get to a certain point, like Dave, where you think you’re doing well, you’re doing okay. But, the reality is, your body is consuming itself to give itself energy. You can only go through so much of that before you start to degrade. I was sleeping up to 12 hours a night to make up for the lack of calories I was getting. I was at the point where I was starting to get euphoric and not making good decisions that contributed to that Zero Day.

Pilot: That long in the wilderness, did you have any spiritual breakthrough or moment where you had absolute clarity or a new insight about yourself?

Zach: After that bad day, I realized I’d been just waiting for it to be over. You heard me say “I wish the others would hurry up and just quit.” And when I said that, I thought about it and realized I wasn’t going to make it any further if that’s all I was doing—waiting for it to be over. So, I rededicated myself and repurposed my mental strength to making the best of my situation there. So, that next day, you saw me going back down to the lake and dragging that log out to repair my dock. It was a boost of mental and physical effort to retrain my will to stay there.

Watch to see what happens in the last episode, and what happens to Zach in HISTORY’s next episode of Alone, airing Thursday at 9 p.m.

Related stories:

• Alone Week 8: Zach’s one of the final four

• Alone Week 7: A bird sacrifice for Zach

• Alone Week 6: Where is Zach?

• Alone Week 5: Zach versus Dan

• Alone Week 4: Zach fashions a Duck Hunter 3000 out of driftwood

• Alone Week 3: Things start to get serious for Zach

• Alone Week 2: Zach throws a shovel

• Appleton survivalist Zachary Fowler competes on new season of the History show 'Alone'

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ELLSWORTH— Rachael Beal and her soon-to-be daughter in law, Rebecca Blackington, from Ellsworth, were unable to attend the Maine marches the day after the Inauguration, but the activism of women around the world made a deep impression on them both.

“Watching these women go to all of these marches was so powerful that I felt moved to do something,” said Beal.

Beal, who is disabled, and Becca Blackington, who is currently unemployed, wondered what could they do to contribute to women’s causes.

“Becca is the knitter and we were just so inspired by the number of pink ‘kitty’ hats women were wearing around the world,” said Beal. “I thought why not make them ourselves? It’s something we really feel strongly about.”

The now iconic “kitty” hat is a symbolic knit hat with pointy cat ears, protesting President Donald J. Trump’s on-air use of a vulgar term where he bragged about grabbing women "by the p---y" in television footage from 2005.

“We’re calling it the “Kitty Cat Hat” because that’s a nicer term, said Beal. Ironically, Blackington’s Facebook page for her knitting projects is called Knittin’ Kittens.

After figuring out how to do the pattern herself, Blackington has made dozens of hats in the last few days out of pink acrylic yarn  In two days since the hats were announced for sale on Facebook, she has received more than a dozen orders.

At 23, Blackington has been knitting since she was nine years old. It takes about three to four hours to knit each one and this side gig has now become her full time job.

The Kitty Cat Hat’s are selling for $15 through the Facebook page and Beal, who is doing the marketing, has also arranged for them to be sold in a Rockland store called The Flower Goddess.

Beal said that a $1 from each hat sold will be earmarked for women’s charities in Maine and nationally.

“As Maine women, we want you to know that even though we live in Maine, we won't be silent,” said Beal. “Our voices will be heard and the march for change will continue on with determination, hard work and a sea of pink.”

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

PORT CLYDE—After 40-plus years in the fishing industry, you’d think you’d run out of things to say about it, but not commercial fisherman and owner of Port Clyde Fresh Catch, Glen Libby.

“The fishing industry has changed since the 1970s due to various technologies and from a personal standpoint, it was either change with it or keep complaining about it,” said Libby, “which was literally driving me crazy.”

He teamed up with Antonia Small, a fine art and documentary photographer, who had been photographing aspects of the fishing culture for several years. Together, they’ve produced a first person account called Caught, about life in the Port Clyde fishing communities; specifically what it’s like to go from being a fisherman struggling with a depleted fishery to starting a innovative fishing cooperative that allows local fishermen to sell directly to their community through CSA-like shares, farmer’s market and individual orders.

“I call it the World According to Glen,” he said.

Caught is an account of the beauty, fragility and profound change that characterizes fishing, fishing families, and the communities who depend on them in the 21st Century. Based in the tiny village of Port Clyde, but reaching globally, Caught chronicles the struggle to transform a way of life for all who depend on our planet’s bounty. Small’s black and white photographs convey not only the details of the fishing world, but also the emotional resonances when a way of life is being forced to change.

Caught is also about how Libby had to develop an entirely different set of business skills into order to keep up with the fisheries’ evolution. “

We had to learn how to figure out price fish and actually generate a profit,” said Libby. “We all had a fishing background, but nobody had any experience in marketing.”

In one of the book’s chapters, he discusses what it was like to start a business and try to advertise for “fish cutters” — not exactly a common skill in this day and age.

“We thought we would just advertise to hire fish cutters and said, ‘well, we’ll just put the ad in the paper: that’s solved, people will be calling.’ Nope. Nobody called and we realized because nobody knows how to do it. We had to teach ourselves how to do it.”

Libby purchased 1,500 pounds of small grey sole, “which is arguably the hardest fish to cut,” he admitted.

He took the fish to Port Clyde Fish Catch and taught himself how to cut through all of that fish.

“And of course, these things had a shelf life,” he said.

It took him the better part of five days.

As the company president, he knew he couldn’t be spending the bulk of his time doing this, yet the realities of the industry were there.

“Even today, I do most of the fish cutting,” he said.

Libby and Small recently had a reading a the Jackson Memorial Library in Port Clyde with more than 40 in attendance.

“Most of them were my neighbors and customers,” he said.

To learn more about the book and when to catch Libby and Small in their next public talk visit its publisher wracklinebooks.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

We’re now down to the last two episodes of A&E Networks' HISTORY survivalist show, Alone. This past episode revealed that Appleton resident Zachary Fowler has not yet thrown in the towel.  After 72 days surviving alone in the Patagonia Wilderness, he’s up against the last four contestants.

Pilot: When you saw that foreshadow of the boat rescue coming, did you know who it was going to be?

Zach: Actually, no, at first I thought it would be Dave, because he was so skinny. But, you never know. The show switches it up so much. I thought maybe someone might have gotten hurt. When I heard Callie’s voice over the radio, man, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It actually broke my heart a little bit to see her drop out.

Pilot: Speaking of which, as we’ve all invested in you over these last eight weeks, seeing you break down at the end a little kind of the last show gave us a heart tug as well. Was it hard to watch that flashback to your family?

Zach: Oh yeah, watching that episode last night brought back huge emotions. That was so tough to say goodbye to them on the side of the road like that. I was feeling it just as strong watching it all over again last night.

Pilot: Megan had to miss her 6-year-old’s birthday. After 72 days, did you miss any important milestones?

I missed Sparrow’s first birthday, but we’re not crazy big birthday people. I usually forget everybody’s birthday all year long and then make up for it at Christmas time.

Pilot: What did you make in this show?

The wizard staff was like my journal. So, I grabbed a stick and began carving my entire story on it. I made hash marks for each day with a bigger one for each Sunday. Then, I made symbols of different things I’d achieved, or important things that happened, such as a carving of the sun for the first day the sun had finally come out. Then, I had a daily carving with symbols for whether I got my fire going that day, and one for my physical state. For example, if I chopped firewood, I’d carve a little log symbol times 10. Every time I got a fish, I’d carve a symbol. A line down the middle of the fish meant it was a rainbow trout or two hash marks meant it was a paint trout. The next symbols were emotional. I’d carve three little people (Jamie, Abby and Sparrow) if I was really missing them that day.

In the show you’ll also see a little wand I carved for Sparrow and one for Jamie, which she actually uses to wind yarn upon. See his past Makery and Mischief video in which his daughter uses this “magic wand.”

Pilot: You were looking pretty skinny in this episode. How many pounds did you lose?

Zach: At that point, I was down 50 pounds.

The last two episodes are going to be exciting! Stay tuned to watch Zach in HISTORY’s next episode of Alone, airing Thursday at 9 p.m.

Related stories:

• Alone Week 7: A bird sacrifice for Zach

• Alone Week 6: Where is Zach?

• Alone Week 5: Zach versus Dan

• Alone Week 4: Zach fashions a Duck Hunter 3000 out of driftwood

• Alone Week 3: Things start to get serious for Zach

• Alone Week 2: Zach throws a shovel

• Appleton survivalist Zachary Fowler competes on new season of the History show 'Alone'

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — One of the questions Maine Arts Commission Executive Director Julie Richard asked a crowd of about 25 artists at Waterfall Arts last week was “what has changed for better or worse” for Maine artists in the last 15 years?  As part of a traveling Maine Arts Iditarod, which hit Belfast on Jan. 26, the first session of the day focused on Connecting Creativity and Cultural Equity in Maine.

Several participants in the audience thought the Midcoast’s strengths included the emergence of a Creative Economy, a resurgence in cultural planning, an increase in technology and digital connections and an interest in globalization.

However, for every positive, there’s a negative, and in the last 15 years, several Midcoast residents said they’ve seen a steep decrease in affordable housing, which makes it extremely difficult for artists inspired by Maine to actually live here. There were multiple arts education teachers in the audience who’d seen drastic cuts in arts education spending in schools, first hand, whereas others expressed the frustration of a bureaucracy that demands more collected data to prove that arts education is beneficial, or “works.”

A special education teacher said, “When you work with kids in this field, you know that art education works. They become better students; they are more excited to learn and become more inclusive with one another.”

Economics, not surprisingly, are still the heart of most artist’s woes. As another audience member put it, “I feel as Mainers, we’ve never quite gotten out of the Great Recession. People are still holding tight to their pocketbooks and with the uncertainty of this administration change, no one knows when the scatological element is going to hit the oscillating blades, you know?”

David Estey, a Belfast artist said, “One of the positives has been the Maine Arts Commission and the whole notion of the Creativity Economy. There have been a lot of advancements in the arts in the last 15 years. In talking to the local businesses, I can tell you that business owners have seen the difference that has made in Belfast — particularly in how much money people have spent on art. In terms of where we are after the last decade, Belfast has enjoyed a reputation for the arts, but now things are shifting a bit, so we’ve got to pay attention to keeping the arts up front and making those connections with businesses.”

Brenda Harrington, Belfast Free Library’s adult programming coordinator, is heavily involved with area artists and writers. She routinely curates from a list of first-time exhibitors to established artists who apply to show their work library’s Barbara Kramer Gallery. She’s also responsible for Maine Writers Talk about.... series.

“There has been an explosion of interest in the arts in the last 10-15 years,” said Harrington. “I have so many artists who come to the library wanting to exhibit in the gallery. But, also in terms of adult programming, it has grown as well, both in interest from the public and in artist/writer participation. But as mentioned in the first session, money is always an issue to support artists. It’s hard to get grant money. We’re all cheerleaders for each other, that’s one thing I’ve noticed.”

Part of the morning session also included some little-known resources from the National Endowment for the Arts, specifically, its Creativity Connects, a three-part-initiative including an infrastructure report, Bright Spots (successful projects across the country where arts and non-arts collaborators work to further common goals, which you can contribute to) and where artists can find information on Artworks Grants.

For more information visit: mainearts.maine.gov

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST— Inside Bowens Tavern in Belfast, a local’s joint with wood paneled walls and sports usually on the tube, it seems an unlikely scenario to see easels set up all around. The TV is off. Instead of drinks, plastic cups are filled with blue or purple watered down acrylic paint as people gather around to enjoy a couple of hours to explore their inner artist.

Amiee Twigg, of Searsport, a.k.a. the Paint Chic, is the one-woman operation behind pop-up Paint Nights in the Midcoast this winter, providing private paint night events, private art lessons and commissioned work.

A single mother of four, Twigg, 36, also juggles a second job. On a weeknight last week, after she finished her day job at athenahealth, she gathered all of her materials, paints, easels and brushes and headed to Bowens to host her first public Paint Night. Inside the tavern, the sold-out crowd, mostly women, sat behind their easels eagerly awaiting her instruction.

Creating a relaxed atmosphere, Twigg spent the first part of the evening with some instruction and allowed the participants to make the artistic vision their own. With the nighttime scene of northern lights as the Paint Night’s theme, Twigg offered some techniques, before turning the participants loose on their own painting.

“I give everybody a photo to go by at first; but, then, I don’t allow them to look at the photo again once they’ve started,” she explained. “Otherwise, they get stuck on comparing what they think they should be painting to the original photo.”

Living the artist life with two jobs in Maine is fairly standard, but Twigg has pushed through far harder obstacles than this.

When she was 17, her mother, who was single, developed cancer. Twigg decided to be partially homeschooled at that point, so she could take care of her mother and two younger sisters and earn some money for the family with parttime jobs.  All while raising three daughters, as well as foster children — and even through her cancer treatments — her mother pushed Twigg to pursue her artistic talents.

“Growing up, my grandfather was very supportive of the arts and bought me all of my art supplies and my mother really pushed me to develop my skills,” Twigg recalled.

Twigg’s mother passed away just nine months shy of Twigg’s graduation.

Her father, stationed in the Navy, made the difficult decision not to uproot all three girls from the stability of their hometown of Fort Fairfield in Aroostook County, so he placed them with three different family friends in Fort Fairfield to allow them to stay in their same school.

“I dropped out of my advanced art in high school because my mother had been such a driving force for me,” said Twigg. “I felt I didn’t have anybody left to create for. After I turned 18, my younger sister left the home she’d been staying in and came to live with me, so I could take care of her for awhile.”

Fast forward through two marriages and four children. Twigg was doing her best to survive and yet, the one thing that fed her through the long, struggling years, was art. 

“I was very lost for a long time,” she said. “My mother’s passing was a huge loss for our whole community.” 

At 25, she put herself through college at University of Maine at Presque Isle and earned her bachelor’s degree in art education.

“It was the first time I’d picked up a paint brush in a long time,” she said. “When I did pick up painting again, it was like coming home. It felt like suddenly I could take a deep breath again.”

She moved to the Midcoast several years ago. With the help of a friend, she was encouraged to start teaching art in private parties.

“It’s so personal to me, all of my feelings and emotions into a piece, so it was hard to put myself out there,” she said. “So, I started Paint Nights for just friends about a year and a half ago.”

The Bowens Tavern Night was her first public event and it went extraordinarily well, so much, in fact, that within days of announcing her next Paint Night there in February, it has sold out.

“This doesn't feel like a job to me because it's what makes me complete and I'm not whole without it,” she said.

Her next public offering, Parents and Picassos, is a Paint Night geared toward a parent and child pair. For more information on upcoming Paint Nights, visit her Facebook page.

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

For the last six weeks, Penobscot Bay Pilot has been following Appleton resident Zachary Fowler, a contestant on A&E Networks' HISTORY survivalist show, Alone unscripted series and every Thursday night we’re waiting to see if he made the cut. Well, he’s still hanging strong. After two months surviving alone in the Patagonia Wilderness, he’s up against five other contestants with only three episodes to go!

Pilot: Poor Greg who tapped out this episode due to extreme hypothermia. When he said his dreams of retirement are gone, his dreams of building a house for his daughter dashed and all he has to look forward to now is going back to drywall. Did that hit home for you?

Zach: Yeah, it did. I feel the same way. I wanted to be able to come back to build a house for my family. [Note: Zach, like the rest of the contestants, still do not know who has won the $500,000 prize.] 

Pilot: Do you have empathy watching the circumstances in which the other contestants have to tap out?

Zach: Um, yeah. I do now. But, when I was out there, there were a few moments when it would be snowing or sleeting and I was having a bad day and hoped they were too, and that it would be enough to make them tap out.

Pilot: In this episode you made what is called an arapuca bird trap used by the Guarani people of South America. How did you know how to make that?

Zach: I read about it in an old book and I tried making one at home first. When I was in Patagonia and saw that little bird poking around I decided I was going to make one and have him for dinner.

Pilot: What else did you make this episode?

Zach: I made a fire blower and chopsticks. The fire blower was a hollow bamboo tube that worked as bellows. You blow it into the embers and it sparks up pretty quickly. I saw that someone had made one is Season 2 of Alone, so I wasn’t going to do it. But, after a couple of days thinking of projects to do, and after making this, I decided l’d never go camping without a fire blower again. What a difference that little piece of tubing makes.

Pilot: After dancing around with that bird and it outsmarting your trap this episode, you finally trapped it and had it for dinner. Only 20 calories and a few grams of protein came from it; was it worth it?

Zach: There was so much more to it than that. It wasn’t just dinner. I felt like it was my daughter’s spirit bird, a sparrow. We chased each other around and he escaped my trap several times. It was a battle and I finally got him and had him for dinner and achievement wise, it was worth so much more than the calories I got.

Pilot: How are you making your Makery and Mischief videos in the yurt?

Zach: I actually have a Macbook Pro that my brother gave me and edit them on it. I either fire up the generator and work on videos at home or I’ll go to the library and work on them.

Stay tuned to watch Zach in HISTORY’s next episode of Alone, airing Thursday at 9 p.m.

Related stories:

• Alone Week 6: Where is Zach?

• Alone Week 5: Zach versus Dan

• Alone Week 4: Zach fashions a Duck Hunter 3000 out of driftwood

• Alone Week 3: Things start to get serious for Zach

• Alone Week 2: Zach throws a shovel

• Appleton survivalist Zachary Fowler competes on new season of the History show 'Alone'

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST— A trend in Portland, where food truck owners test the waters by going mobile with a small menu and then take it to the next level with restaurant space, has taken hold in Belfast, where two new restaurants are slated to open.

Neighborhood

Four years ago, Seth Whited and Sarah Waldron were co-owners and operators of the Good ‘N’ You food truck in the back parking lot of Rollie’s Bar and Grill. They served up healthy, locally sourced Mexican and Mediterranean fare before they chose to close in 2016.

On Jan. 20, Whited and Waldron will open their first restaurant, called Neighborhood, at 132 High St., formerly home to La Vida’s Mexican restaurant.

“We realized by our fourth year in the food truck, we’d just outgrown the space. And we took a break in order to figure out how to make that happen in a bigger space,” said Waldron.

The name Neighborhood conjures up a friendly locals watering hole, something Whited felt was representative of his experience growing up in Belfast and living there.

“I feel very strongly about our community here and really proud to be a part of it,” he said.

The restaurant has been repainted a cool grey, with artwork on the walls by Whited and Waldron, as well local artists like John Byrer. The split level bar was completely handmade by Whited in a small parquet design of Douglas fir.

“Our hope is that people will see this bar as an extension of the dining room and a place to come just for the drinks,” said Bar Manager John Poto, who has created a diverse cocktail list using house infused spirits such as a five pepper tequila and and ingredients such as balsam, lavender, ginger and cilantro.

“We’re trying to match some of the cocktails with flavors coming out of the kitchen. The beer is all local with a tap dedicated to Marshall Wharf, where Whited previously worked (and whom we covered in a “What’s In That Cocktail” story), as well as a small wine list with more of a focus on South America.

Fans of Good ‘N’ You’s food will see that Neighborhood’s lunch menu is nearly exactly the same.

“We wanted to make sure that people have their old favorites back,” said Whited, who said that like the lunch menu, the dinner menu will still be locally sourced. “I want people to know their food is coming from a place that they trust.”

He also said he imagines the menu to be simple, comfort food with offerings such as shrimp and grits and braised short ribs.

For more information and updates visit: Neighborhood

The Hoot

Anna Wagner, former food truck operator of Wags Wagon, which coincidentally took over the Good ‘N’ You food truck and location in Belfast, decided also to put the permanent brakes on the food truck and instead expand her menu to a new restaurant space. A resident of Northport, she saw the opportunity and bought the multi-colored, long-vacant former Dos Amigos building on Route 1, in Northport.

Taking a break from working with her father to renovate the older building, which had been sitting on the real estate market for a few years, Wagner took a few minutes to speak about her new restaurant venture, which she wants to call The Hoot.

“Basically I’m hoping to have a coffee shop with lounge, serving breakfast and lunch with occasional pop-up dinners,” Wagner said. “I’m mostly a morning person, so I’m building the coffee lounge around more of a daytime feel.

Wags Wagon featured sandwiches and salads with a menu heavy on locally sourced meats and cheeses, which Wagner said, might still end up on the menu.

“I’m still working on the menu, seeing what people want and build it around that,” she said.

As for the neon green and pink colors of the old Mexican eatery, Wagner said she’s going to tone it down and side it with cedar shingles. Wagner anticipates the work on the building structure and interior will be done in the spring, when she can start focusing on the kitchen and the menu.

Penobscot Bay Pilot will update this story when the new venture opens.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — Last year, when I was traveling around Scotland with a tour bus called Rabbie’s, our guide told us what the name meant.

“First of all, it’s not pronounced Rabies,” he said. Turns out like most clueless Yanks, I didn’t know the name was a Scottish diminutive for Robert, and that the company was an affectionate nod to Scotland’s most famous poet and lyricist, Robert Burns.

I also didn’t know that around every Jan. 25, pubs and restaurants all around Scotland (and the world) fill with extremely enthusiastic “Rabbie” Burns’ fans and that everyone looks forward to eating haggis, ceilidh dancing, singing songs, reciting poetry and of course throwing down the good whisky. (Another fun fact: only in Scotland do you spell whisky without the ‘e’.)

The Maine Celtic Celebration wants all the local Scots and Scots-at-heart to have the same celebration, and on Jan. 21, they’ll host Burns Night at The Waldo County Shrine Club on Northport Avenue in Belfast.

“The program starts with the piping of the haggis in which the centerpiece of the feast is ceremoniously carried into the room,” said Burns Night representative Claudia Luchetti. “Next will come the ‘Address to a Haggis,’ one of Burns’ more famous poems.” (See accompanying video to hear the original dialect of the poem.)

“It’s written in Old Scottish so it’s a little hard to understand exactly what it means. The address this year will be given in authentic dialect by James Rodden, a recent Scottish immigrant and former member of Scotland's Black Watch regiment. Once the Address is recited, the haggis will be ‘smote’ and chopped up so that people can taste it,” she said. “Then our host Chris Brinn will invite audience members to give toasts to the lads and lassies. He will also lead a group of local Celtic musicians.”

Beyond haggis, other local organizations have contributed food for the evening including smoked salmon from Ducktrap River, State of Maine cheeses, soup from the Belfast Co-op and appetizers from Darbys Restaurant and The Penobscot Shores kitchen.

The Burns Night will start with a traditional Scotch tasting led by Barry Grant from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Advance registration required. Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door for the entire event, including the whisky tasting. Barry will offer interesting details about various single malt Scotch whiskies as the samples are tasted.

If you want to skip the whisky tasting and just come for the food and entertainment, the doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the program begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door for the food and entertainment. Advance tickets are available on line at mainecelticcelebration.com.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Another week has gone by for us, but for those hanging tough on the A&E Networks' History survivalist show, Alone, it's been 50 days. Appleton resident, Zachary Fowler, is still in the running among six other contestants as they try to survive, all alone, in the Patagonia wilderness.

Pilot: We didn’t even get to see you once in this week’s episode! Were you bummed?

Zach: No, Dan got left out of two whole episodes before. I thought it was bound to happen.

Pilot: Callie got bitten by a Chilean recluse spider and used her herbal medicine knowledge to try and make a poultice. Did you have any of that kind of knowledge before you went to Patagonia?

Zach: Just the same as Callie; I knew where to find plantain and Old Man’s Beard. They grow all over the world and both are very antibiotic. I had to use it myself almost every day. I’d eat a leaf of plaintain every day for the vitamins and I’d chew it up and place it on my fingers because they were so dry and cracked because of the lack of fat in my diet. It would make it better for a few hours and I’d have to apply it twice a day for about 20 minutes.

Pilot: 50 days in, were you losing considerable weight like every one else?

Zach:  I was eating about one fish a day; I was doing pretty well with my fishing. At the same time, there’s not a lot of fat and calories in one fish, so my body was consuming all of its extra reserves quickly.

Pilot: On the last episode, you mentioned you had dyslexia and you’ve worked hard to overcome that. Can you elaborate?

Zach: The adversity I went through in school made me have to strive harder at things. I realized I was weak in the area of reading, but that much more gifted when it comes to working with my hands. I'm a maker, so I strive that work well with my niche. You know, I wouldn't try write a novel on literature. 

Pilot: Dan tapped out! We didn’t see that coming, did you?

Zach: It’s a long 50 days that people don’t see watching the show. I understand. I was missing my family something fierce by 50 days. But, at the same time, I was staying in Patagonia for them. Our yurt is wonderful, but we outgrew that over a year ago. So, as much as I missed them, they were my drive to stay out there. Dan didn’t seem to have that same drive. He was secure in that he’d done as much as he could and wanted to be with his family more.

Check out Zach’s latest DIY match-lighting slingshot video. Stay tuned to watch him in the History’s next episode of Alone, airing Thursday at 9 p.m.

Related stories:

• Alone Week 5: Zach versus Dan

• Alone Week 4: Zach fashions a Duck Hunter 3000 out of driftwood

• Alone Week 3: Things start to get serious for Zach

• Alone Week 2: Zach throws a shovel

• Appleton survivalist Zachary Fowler competes on new season of the History show 'Alone'

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Black cats always seem to get the short shrift. For centuries, people in the Middle Ages thought they were the companions and couriers of Satan or witches. According to American Folklore, they were a symbol of evil, and an omen of bad luck and that superstition has remained for some people even up to the present.

And then there are the cats who always seem to get overlooked for adoption. Statistics routinely show that black cats have a lower rate of adoption than any other type of cat. Whether it’s their coal black pigment that doesn’t provide enough interesting color or contrast, or their lingering supernatural reputation, they need a little spotlight now and then to show how beautiful they really are.

This Friday the 13th, Pope Memorial Humane Society of Knox County is offering the public a chance to check out their black and tuxedo (black and white) adult cats. For two days (Friday, Jan. 13 and Saturday, Jan. 14) all of the adoption fees for adult black and Tuxedo cats will be waived. That includes a $50 adoption fee and another $85 spay/neuter fee that the shelter will absorb, just so these cats can find a good, loving home.

Some of these cats were brought in as strays, some rescued from hoarders and some relinquished by their owners.

“Their sad stories stop when they get here,” said Anna Adams, Community Outreach and Events Coordinator. “We turn them into happy stories from the moment they arrive.”

She gave us a tour of the black and tuxedo cats awaiting adoption with a little insight into what makes them so unique.

Brody probably needs the most TLC. At eight years old, he has diabetes and is FIV-positive.

“It’s basically a form of feline HIV, but it’s not as scary as it sounds,” said Adams. “It’s not transferable to human beings and they can often live out their lives and have no symptoms or effects from FIV.” Brody began kneading and purring the moment we walked in. “He would be free to adopt beyond Friday the 13th, but he’s also eligible for a medical foster,” said Adams.

Apple is another mostly white tuxedo who needs an empathetic owner. “She’s about four or five and is very shy,” said Shelter Manager of Theresa Gargan. “She was taken out of a hoarding situation and had a bad eye, which got worse. By the time she got to us, we couldn’t save it and had to remove it. In the situation she was previously in, she relied on one person for her needs, but probably didn’t get a lot of attention. You can tell that she wants to have more affection from people.”

Gargan has seen a lot of black cats get passed by in her career.

“I think people come in and their eyes are naturally drawn to the calico or the tiger cat because their colors are more contrasted and interesting, but I love black cats,” she said. “You can’t go wrong with a black cat. They tend to be very loving and cuddly, a more laid back cat.”

Adams said, “We’ve got a few more Friday the 13ths coming up this year and we’ll make this special deal available for adult black cats and partially black to have their adoption fees waived. Like all of the cats we adopt out, these cats will be neutered and spayed and have all of their shots.”

Check out our small gallery for more information on each cat and visit the shelter in Thomaston on Friday and Saturday to see these sweet cats yourself. For more information on an adoption application visit: Adoption Page

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

SEARSPORT — In 2012, National Fisherman, a preeminent national magazine detailing life in the commercial fishing industry, donated the publication’s entire pre-digital photographic archive to the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport. It was a significant gift, a visual record of every nuance of American commercial fishing during four decades, from the 1950s to the 1990s, and it’s taken museum staff nearly five years to digitize, catalog and publish the images to their website, in groups of 5,000 items.

Now, the National Fisherman Collection is available to the public.

We have selected five photos to tell the stories of people and scenes from daily life, long forgotten, with two perspectives. The first perspective provides context and history; Penobscot Marine Museum Curator Ben Fuller provided some of this commentary, while some was pulled from the original photo descriptions. The second perspective — the art of the photograph — comes from one of the museum’s photo archivists, Matt Wheeler.

Stop Seining (photo by Red Boutilier)

Ben: When a net was strung across the mouth of a cove (as here, in Greenland Cove, ME) to trap a school, it was called “stop seining.” If a very large school was trapped, it could take several sardine carriers many trips to get the fish to the nearest cannery. The crew shown in this 1962 photo, tending the carrier Muriel (at left), was from nearby New Harbor. Pictured left to right are Caleb K.O. McLain, Levi Hupper, Don Riley, Capt. Lee Riley, and “Biscuit” McFarland. A few years later, McLain was one of four men lost during a stormy night disaster off Monhegan Island.

Reader comment: Upper right hand side of photo is “Uncle” Ford Davis from Port Clyde, ME, in a double ender with hi-jack oarlocks.  He was a semi-retired lobster fisherman in his older years.—Russell Anderson, Waldoboro.

Matt: A wriggling catch of sardines lies pursed up between the carrier and the purse boat; their mass of white bellies is almost an abstraction. The curvature of the net edges and the gunwales of the boat are well-framed between the two sweeps of the cork line. The strain in the arms and on the face of the fisherman in the center is palpable, and in humorous contrast to the easy stance of the men standing by in the bow.

Setting a Pot (photo by Bryan Hitchcock; used by permission of the photographer)

Description: Bryan Hitchcock was aboard the Elsie D when he captured this shot. As he puts it: "The fisherman's name is Skip Collins. He was Rusty Court's sternman. The time was January 1970. The boat's name was Elsie D, named for Rusty's mother, I believe. We were in an area just inside of a piece of bottom called Horn's Hole. The islands in the background are Burnt (right) and Allen's (left) Islands. Jamie Wyeth owned Burnt Island and his mother, Betsy, owned Allen's a few years after this shot was taken."

Matt: Quick reflexes, luck and a good vantage produced this photograph. The pot seems to float against the featureless sky, though the arc of the pot line testifies to its motion. The contrast in the image is dramatic—the figure and the flying trap are half lit by the morning sun, and half steeped in shadow. The competing angles of the fisherman's arms and the exhaust pipe are terrific, and you have to love the top knot on that cap.

Bait Fishing (photo by Ellen Banner; used by permission of the photographer)

Description: Mello Boy was a bait boat owned by Skip Sadow, who also ran Port San Luis Sport Fishing, a charter company. She was used to catch anchovies, which the crew (Dan Courtice, left; Capt. George Grafft, right) kept live in bait wells in the harbor and sold direct to tuna trawlers. [The museum thanks Dan Courtice for providing descriptive information for the photo]

Matt: This photo has great balance—the two figures, the gleaming arc of the reel flanking the lampara net, the bunches of net gripped by the men, the two rows of white floats receding out behind the boat where they merge into the circular reach of the cork line in the water. The fishermen's intent expressions, the tension in their arms, and the motion blur in the immediate foreground suggest the danger inherent in this occupation. Note the reflection of the man on the right in the wet surface of the reel on the left.

Launch Day (photo by Red Boutilier)

Ben: Red Boutilier took this picture of "Pete" Culler, noted designer and builder of traditional boats, at the launch of the Win Lash-built schooner Joseph W. Russell. In the original, Culler posed onboard among the crew.

Matt: The photographer printed this detail from a larger scene—the big 4-inch-by-5-inch negative he started with gave him the latitude to crop aggressively—resulting in a fairly striking portrait. The plaid cap and jacket create a diagonal symmetry from top to bottom in the frame. The set of the man’s jaw against his pipe and his unflinching gaze imply a resolute character. He’s flanked by someone on his right, but all we see is a shoulder and the shadow of a head. At right, a wisp of hair from his other neighbor strays comically into the frame.

Georgina (photo by Red Boutilier)

Description: Georgianna was a 1970s sail trawler that, during a journey in the late 1960s from Antigua to Boothbay, tangled with a nor’easter, as evidenced by her crushed gunwale and davit. Crewman James Bristol of Kingston, St. Vincent, poses here on the deck of the then 40-year-old vessel, whose passages between the two ports were excerpted on film for the documentary, Sail to Glory.

Matt: The plethora of lines in the image is striking. They converge, diverge, replicate—the pilings, stays, deck planks, and so on. Then there’s the composite line suggested by the broken gunwale and davit, the man’s leg, and the boom. This divides the frame diagonally—nicely balanced. It all converges in the figure of the man, who straddles this division, and is a study in contrast himself, with his dark skin and clothing, black boots and hair, and white sweater.

To see more photos and to learn about the back story of the Featured Photo of the Week visit: penobscotmarinemuseum.org/national-fisherman

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — If you’re a young person in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, or a youth ally who has some definite ideas on issues that can be improved in the Midcoast, OUT Maine wants to hear from you.

After receiving a contract from Maine Youth Action Network, OUT Maine is now putting out a call to anyone age 14-22 from Knox, Waldo, Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties who is community-oriented, an advocate for social justice, wants to develop leadership skills and to have a voice when it comes to the Midcoast’s schools and communities.

“We invite young people who are really into activism and are willing to identify issues in their community — what’s working and what can be improved — to better serve the needs of today’s L.G.B.T.Q. and allied youth, ” said OUT Maine Program Director Sue Campbell. With this contract, OUT Maine wants a number of youth to be advocates for their peers in the areas of race, ethnicity, and/or national origin; gender expression and/or identity; sexual orientation; socioeconomic status; age and disability.

“In the first year what we’re looking to do is develop a volunteer Youth Board to do a Leadership Retreat with a program advisor,” said Campbell. The Youth Policy Board will meet monthly, February through April, at OUT Maine headquarters in Rockland, and participate in a weekend retreat at Camp Kieve in May. Those who participate will be given a small financial stipend.

OUT Maine has helped to create and is now supporting gay-straight/transgender alliances in all of the high schools in Lincoln, Knox and Waldo counties, as well as on North Haven Island.

“Last year we were able to train 1,500 people that work with youth, from libraries to schools to medical providers to social services,” said Campbell. “And now we’re getting more and more requests for training, particularly in rural areas. As an adult, I can talk to people as much as you want, but real change is going to come from young people in this group.”

One topic that Campbell gives as an example she anticipates the group will talk about is health care.  

“We really need to take a look at L.G.B.T.Q. access to appropriate health care in Maine,” she said. “Ideally, we want the youth to come up with the topics, but, based on what we hear a lot from youth already, access to doctors, therapists and medical services is a real issue, particularly for transgender youth. For example, just having a primary care physician who knows how to talk to these kids and work with them is very important.”

The Youth Policy Board will meet Sundays, Feb. 12, March 12, April 2 and April 30, noon to 5 p.m., in Rockland. Carpooling, transportation options and meals can be arranged. Youth and youth leaders are encouraged to apply online at outmaine.org/youth-policy-board. The application is also attached to this story and can be downloaded. Application deadline is Jan. 23.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

We all remember the dude who sailed around the roller rink, swaying to sweet disco moves from when we were kids, and soon a new film will conjure up those memories again. Independent Maine filmmakers Jeffrey Charles Day and Michael Panenka are in post-production of their newest self-financed comedy film, Wheel It Hard!, co-produced by Andrea Nilosek. Judging by the trailer alone (set primarily around Portland's Happy Wheels roller rink), this film is going to be rolling in the laughs.

The story centers around two impassioned groups of devoted roller skaters who plan a voting party for the coveted Friday night time-slot at their local roller rink.

The film expanded out of a seven-minute short film that Day, Panenka and editor Geoffrey Leighton co-wrote, co-directed and produced in 2009 called Flippy Day, about a similar band of wayward characters that frequent a roller rink. Day and Panenka had just two full days to make that short for Portland's 48 Hour Film Project, whereby everyone got a prop, a tagline and a character they had to work with and incorporate into the short.

"The owner of Happy Wheels, Danny Dyer, allowed us use of the rink, exclusively, provided we were 'family-friendly,'" said Day.

Flippy Day happened to win the 48 Hour Film Project, which got Day and Panenka thinking: "Why not make this into a feature?” said Day. “I sent Bob Marley, the comedian, a link to the short film after it was finished and within 10 minutes, he said 'Holy crap, this is wicked funny.' Marley declined the role due to scheduling conflicts, but recommended Jake ‘Krazy Jake’ Hodgdon, who signed on immediately.”

Wheel It Hard! is a new film loosely based on some of the characters from Flippy Day. "It's a whacked out comedy in the format of Frederick Wiseman documentaries, with a tip of the hat to Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer mockumentaries," said Day.

Even after viewing the trailer, many people told Day they didn't realize it was a comedy because the characters were so realistic. "We wanted a lot of verisimilitude," he said. "Because when you watch the trailer, we all know a few people in Maine who are just like our characters."

Unlike many feature films shot in Maine, this one didn't have a big budget or a lot of backing. "It's taken a lot of time to write and shoot this film," said Day. "We worked on it when we could, and it was entirely self-financed. I'd earn the money and then Andrea would assemble the cast and crew. And we told all of the crew members, the night before a shoot, look, if you have a paying gig to do tomorrow, take that instead. Sometimes, they did and we had to scramble. But, we were going to get this done come hell or high water."

Day also appears in the film himself as the guy with the mullet (watch for him in the trailer). He said he had to wear that hairstyle for nearly a year and a half, never sure when they'd have time or money to shoot.

Not only did he co-write the film, he had a very special soundtrack in mind with original music crafted by The Rustic Overtones, ShaShaSha, Hessian, and Jennywren Walker & Nate Soule of the Mallett Brothers.

Day is working from a rough cut of the film now and it will be feature length when done — he hopes late fall.

For more information visit the movie’s Facebook Page or visit the website: Wheel It Hard!

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

We’re now 40 days into the fifth episode of A&E Networks' History survivalist show Alone, where seven people are still hanging on in the wilderness of Patagonia, trying to be the only one to make it to the end to win the $500,000 prize. They’re hungry, their emotional and mental endurance is strained, and our Appleton guy, Zachary Fowler, is still hanging strong.

Pilot: What was that cool water bottle you made out of wood? How did you make that?

Zach: I just worked a piece of wood and carved inside out on both sides, then calked the seam with some cotton threads from my shemagh. I lashed it back together and made a stopper and I was good to go. The whole point was I’d been going up and down the whole day and I was so thirsty. (The show estimated he climbed eight stories every time he went from the lake up to his shelter.) I realized if I was going to keep working on that shelter, I needed to spend more time on creating a water bottle so I could be up there longer.

Pilot: Where did you get your water?

Zach: I’d have fish head soup every morning and when I was done I’d put fresh water from the lake in my pot and boil that. Afterwards, I would pour that clean water in the bottle and head up the hill.

Pilot: We finally got to see the hurdle wattle shelter you talked about last week and how you made it. Is that something you’ll plan on re-creating with your daughters when they get older?

Zach: Oh totally, that is the plan. We use that hurdle wattle design all over our property like for a compost shelter. That was my plan from the beginning to make that kind of fencing in Patagonia if I had the right material. (See Zach’s latest Makery and Mischief video in which he fashions a DIY snow fort with his young daughter, Abby).

Pilot: We also got to see the traps you were talking about last week. What was that little spike bait trap supposed to be for?

Zach: That was also for boar. In my research I found that small hedgehog also lived in Patagonia, which that would have worked for too, if it was no bigger than a foot long. The spike would wind around and down and pierce its skull.

Pilot: But we didn’t see anything caught this week. Is that still a surprise in the next episode?

Zach: Right, all you saw this episode is me setting the traps.

Pilot: Carleigh saw some eyes of an animal and tried to pursue it in the dark. Do you think that’s smart?

Zach: Ever since I bought my land in woods, if I saw animals in the dark, I have gone out in the dark and checked it out with my knife and flashlight, because I’m not going to be afraid of them, so yeah, I would have done the same thing. It almost always turns out to be a raccoon or something, but I like to face things head on. It’s better than sitting there by yourself and letting your mind race making you more scared than you have to be.

Pilot: We like how you positioned your camera when examining your traps like you were the gopher in Caddyshack. Did your camera become sort of a friend to talk to?

Zach: The camera became my Wilson ( the volleyball from Cast Away). It was my buddy. There wasn’t any one else to talk to. So when I was bored I’d turn it on and start discussing, “So...Spiderman versus Superman...”

Pilot: Now that the show is half over, there’s quite a few blogs and forums playing armchair psychologist with you all, estimating who is going to tap out next and critiquing and criticizing your outdoor survival skills. Do you read any of that and does it bother you?

Zach: I read it all; I love it. I just read something this morning titled Dan versus Zach and I’m trying to get him to do a boxer pose with me because it’s so funny because his technique of survival is so different from mine and you see that on the show. Does it bother me? No, I don’t care. All publicity is good publicity and our fans stick up for us anyway.

Stay tuned to watch Fowler in History’s next episode of Alone, airing Thursday at 9 p.m.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Whether you're new to the Midcoast and just want to find something social to do during the week nights or you're sick of being cooped up inside as winter sets in, we've got a rundown of the most social happenings every night of the work week. Come with friends or come alone and meet new friends.

Monday

Open Mic Night,  FOG Bar & Cafe (Rockland)
6:30 to 11:30 p.m.

Vibe: The downtown hot spot just moved their Open Mic to Monday night to make room for more theme nights. Most of the acts are musical at this point, with a nice diversity of styles ranging from comical to serious. They'd like to open it up more to poetry and performance art.

Tuesday

Trivia Night, The Drouthy Bear (Camden)
8 p.m.

Vibe: This is a homey Scottish pub with delicious food, fantastic beer, great people and a wonderful atmosphere for sitting by the fire. Trivia Night offers 60 questions in six different categories that change every week. Teams of four or fewer can play with a suggested donation of $1 per person. All proceeds to charity. Don’t feel like Trivia? They also have lots of board games available at any time.

Wednesday

Trivia Night, Badger Cafe & Pub (Union)
7 to 9 p.m.

Vibe: The Badger Cafe & Pub has an open, neighborly feel to the restaurant and tiny bar (with outstanding craft brews). Anyone can drop in and play on trivia teams (up to five people per team) and it costs $2 per person to play. The winnings are split between the first place team and the middle place team. If you show up alone, you can either play as your own team or join up with a team that is short. As one player said, “Swearing is allowed and only sometimes frowned upon.” They’re taking a winter break and starting back up Feb. 22. Call ahead for any questions 207-785-3336.

Open Mic Night, Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery (Rockland)
8 p.m. to midnight

Vibe: Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery is Rockland’s only microbrewery and it's got a homey, pub feel where the audience can belly up to the bar while the performers do their thing. The crowd is wide-ranging, from late-20s to 60s. They offer a drum set for performers and one of their regulars can always be counted on to bring his stand up cello bass to accompany musicians. The gentleman who runs it can also play almost any instrument to accompany newcomers as well. The Open Mic is mostly musical, but they're open to any form of performance.

Open Mic Night, Speakeasy (Rockland)

Blues musician Vince Gabriel hosts open mic for original and public domain music at The Speakeasy, under the Eclipse Restaurant for aspiring and seasoned performers.

6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Game Night, Belfast Breeze Inn (Belfast)
4 to 7 p.m.

Starting on Wednesday, Feb. 1, the inn is offering an adult game night with a different game each week such as Scrabble, Cribbage, Charades and various board games, along with a selection of soup, sandwiches salads, pizza and bar snacks along with beer and wine. Game Night goes until April 26. There’s a $5 minimum per person. Reserve your space by calling 207-505-5231.

Cards and Cribbage, Hatchet Mountain Publick House (Hope)
7 p.m.

Vibe: This cozy, rustic pub wants to offer a mid-week reason to get together and this is a great spot for folks who live farther from the coast to gather and play some games. Starting Wednesday, Jan. 11, they’ll start with cards and cribbage and offer something different on Thursday nights.

Thursday

Thirsty Thursday Trivia, Sea Dog Brewing Company (Camden)
7 p.m.

Vibe: The upstairs of the Sea Dog is turning into a winter haven for locals with their new Thirsty Thursday Trivia Night. Johnny Tofani is the emcee. Every week it will be a different theme. $5 to play and teams can be any size. A cash prize awarded at the end as well as a “loser’s prize.” Check their Facebook page, because once a month they also offer a Paint Night.

Darts and Dice, Hatchet Mountain Publick House (Hope)
7 p.m.

Vibe: See description in Wednesday’s listing. They’re considering a dart league, Texas Hold’em tourney as well as grub and grog specials.

Friday

Karaoke, Myrtle Street Tavern (Rockland)
9 p.m.

Vibe: This is one of Rockland's longstanding local taverns with a range of participants in their 20s to 40s. Nice, friendly people. The Open Mic sets are mostly musical. There's always a core group of talented people who come in rotating with new people who drop in. The music can range from bluegrass to country to rock and roll.

Cupcakes and Canvases Paint Party, LAUGH loud SMILE big (Rockport)
6 to 9 p.m.

Vibe: Twice a month, LAUGH loud SMILE big, a cupcakes and custom party supplies store in Rockport, hosts a fun evening of eating, drinking and painting. They provide cake pops, cupcakes and snacks, as well as water and coffee. You are welcome to bring a BYOB, if you'd like. They provide ice, wine glasses and openers. They also provide paints and materials to create a masterpiece for $30 plus tax. Call to learn which Fridays they are offering this event and reserve your seat: 230-7001.

Camden Public Library, (Camden)

3 to 5 p.m.

Open tabletop gaming space for tweens, teens, and adults. Come play Magic the Gathering, classic board games, and modern board games. Bring a game or cards or there will also be some games available for all to share. Snacks to share are welcomed.

Saturday

Karaoke, Cuzzy's Restaurant and Pub (Camden)
9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Vibe: Cuzzy's is the only local's tavern left in Camden with the unofficial motto of “The liver is evil and must be punished!” Held upstairs in the bar, their Karaoke Night has a pretty big following with its regulars, who even made their own Facebook page dedicated to it. The vibe is fun and supportive, especially in the case when someone without a whole lot of vocal training gets up to sing. Some pick goofy songs and others really nail it.

Restaurant/bar owners: For additions or corrections, contact Kay Stephens below.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

PORTLAND — It’s no secret in the film industry that Maine has some of the most beautiful locations in the United States, but for various reasons — largely economic — there are very few motion pictures and TV shows shot in this state. The Maine Film Initiative, a new project from Allen Baldwin, a Maine filmmaker from Portland, aims to change that by offering indie screenwriters a chance at winning the opportunity to have their film financed and shot in Maine.

“The big issue we face in the Maine film community is we’re missing out on a lot of screenplays that can be shot in Maine and the resources to make it happen,” said Baldwin. “We have sort of cannibalized our independent film audience and we need to get outside resources into Maine in the form of scripts and finances. We need to break out of our bubble here.”

The competition, which intends to fund the winning film from the entry fees, is open worldwide to film and TV writers, not just Maine filmmakers. Baldwin just wants to highlight Maine as the ideal place for for a low-budget film making destination.

“The story doesn’t have to take place in Maine,” stressed Baldwin. “It could take place in a small town in the Northwest, or any number of places, but it just has to be something we can shoot here. For example, we can do a small town atmosphere in Lewiston to a larger city in Portland.”

Allen, a co-producer of DamnationLand, an annual film showcase featuring classic thriller and horror Maine films, will have a team of readers checking out the scripts and teleplays as they flow in. Given Baldwin’s proclivity toward material that’s left of center, the criteria for the winning film (and runner ups) skew toward films and pilots that are bold and original, slightly weird and strong in character and diversity. Cash prizes will be given in a number of categories, including “Best Feature About Funny Stuff” and “What Did I Just Read? (Genre Defiers and Weird Stuff).”

“That’s kind of my own flavor; I’m mostly interested in those kinds of films,” said Baldwin. “What I’m not interested in is reading something that is that terrifically derivative of stuff we’ve already seen. Also, we are limited a bit by resources. We don’t have the kind of high-end effects, color or post-production facilities you will find in a bigger market.  We won’t be able to do big crowd scenes and high-end effects. So, there has to be a simplicity to the production.” 

Baldwin said filmmakers should be thinking broader than “pine cones and lobsters and lighthouses” in terms of locations, although he would still be interested in a script that showed the diversity of the populations in this state. Offering some examples, he said, “It would be great to see something about Maine’s immigrant population or even a close look at a couple from out of state in some high-end lakefront home. The most important thing when we finish a script is if we say to ourselves, ‘Wow, I’ve never read anything like that before.’ That will likely get you in the finalist category.”

Currently, there is no dollar value affixed to the final winning script, because scripts and teleplays are just starting to roll in and the final production budget will rely on the final number of entries. The final production might be a $500 short or a production budget in the $200,000 range. Either way, contestants are assured that aside from the fees associated with running and producing the contest, all funds will go into the production of one of the winning pieces and MFI will collaborate directly with the winning writer, inviting them to participate in every step of the process.

The entry deadline is set for Tuesday, Feb. 28, with Thursday, April 30, set as the extended deadline.

To learn more about Maine Film Initiative and the categories visit: mainefilminitiative.com

Note: if you are a Maine filmmaker who submits a script or pilot to this competition, feel free to drop us a line at kaystephenspilot@gmail.com.

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

We’re following A&E Networks' History survivalist show Alone series, Season 3, thanks to local survivalist, Zachary Fowler of Appleton, one of the remaining eight contestants on the unscripted show as they try to survive all alone in the Patagonia wilderness.

We’re now on Episode 4 and it’s been about a month that Zach and the gang are toughing it out in the woods.

Pilot: So, the big cliff hanger last week was that you shot a duck with your slingshot, but turns out...that didn’t happen, right?

Zach: No, and actually, it was a cormorant, which tends to dive, so that’s what you saw just as I thought I’d gotten it. We each were allowed to 30 pieces of ammo and I chose to bring half-inch steel balls coated in hot pink, so I could retrieve them. And after practicing a lot using my slingshot with rocks at 30 feet, I took a crazy shot. It was about 70 feet out there, so I have to use up one of my coveted 30 pieces of ammo.

Pilot: In this episode, you seemed to focus all of your energy on the duck and fish, while some of the other contestants were going after bigger game like fox and boar. Did you not want to hunt bigger game at that point?

Zach: I’d actually been working on a little bit of everything. I had other smaller traps out there for small game, but you didn’t see that in this episode.

Pilot: How did you come up with the idea of making the Duck Hunter 3000?

Zach: I’d seen the original concept in an old book, which had a little floating platform with a fishhook and a large rock. But, I came up with the idea of making a paddle to go with it, so it could go way out beyond the reeds. After a day of it floating out there, I realized it could fish for me, as well. So I altered it a little more with this little spring pole that had a trigger on it like a primitive ice fishing trap. When the fish took the bait, the pole would spring up.

Pilot: I was surprised to see Britt was the one to tap out (leave the show) this episode, because he was surviving really well. Twice, now the two guys that have tapped out because of extreme loneliness for their families. How did you continue to cope with this by day 30?

Zach: It got a little easier after the first two weeks. I was doing pretty well catching a fish a day, and pretty focused on making cool things. Making stuff just made me feel better. When I made the Duck Hunter, it was not something anyone ever made before. It was something my dad made for me as a kid, these little paddle boats with rubber bands that swam around in the tub and I turned that into something pretty amazing for out there in the wild. I was like, man I can’t wait to get back and show it to the world.

Pilot: What’s new in your Makers and Mischief video series this week?

Zach: I made a new video [see video to the top right] in which I carved for my daughter, Abby, a magic wand out of driftwood in Patagonia and brought it back home with me. When she opened it at Christmas I made her think it was really magic, because we put a small explosive in a teddy bear and when she went to point the magic wand at it and command it to get bigger, it blew up. She though it was a real wand.

Stay tuned to watch Fowler in History’s next episode of Alone, airing Thursday at 9 p.m.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

From bonfires to ultra fun dance parties, here is the New Year's Eve rundown for 2016 with a lot of new venues and events from last year. Whatever you end up doing, enjoy and drive safely!

Belfast

New Year's by the Bay

This is the 20th anniversary of the New Year's by the Bay and they’re doing it up big! The arts, music and entertainment extravaganza starts in the day time and goes until midnight. Three not-to-miss bands this night include Jennifer Armstrong, The Sauternes, Sugarbush, Strait Up, Mes Amis, Positive People, Ann Delaney, People of Earth, and Monday Night Jazz Orchestra.

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. Adults – $20; children under 5 are free. For more information visit nybb.org.

Front Street Pub

Ring in the new year with champagne, passed hors d’eouvres, prizes giveaway and dancing from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. $5 cover and 21+

Bowen’s Tavern

The band No Warning! will be on hand for the evening. $10 cover at the door includes a champagne toast at midnight. $3.50 well drinks open to close & $1 off all nachos.

Camden/Rockport

16 Bayview

Sold Out Ring in the new year with style and funk with their Midnight Masquerade. Dance the night away to music from Zeme Libre, a popular New England-based band known for a high energy blend of Afrobeat, reggae, ska and funk. Tickets are $25, and include heavy hors d'ouevres and desserts, champagne toast at midnight, countdown and balloon drop, and a grand prize vacation giveaway. Event goes from 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Nina June

Nina June, Rockport’s newest restaurant, has planned a great celebration from 6 p.m. on as they serve up an abundance of great traditions, oysters, lentils and lots more. Lift your glasses to the best of the year ahead with everything from the finest champagne to the finest local brews. Call for a reservations 207-236-8880 or make one through the website.

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

Trackside Station

Ring in the New Year at Trackside Station! Watch the ball drop on their 150-inch screen and other TVs. Champagne toast at midnight. Live tunes by Young Woody, a guitar duo from Matinicus.  Music starts at 9 p.m. No cover.

Trade Winds Inn

An annual NYE blues dance will be held performed by the Johnny Rawls Band. Space is limited. Tickets are $139 per couple, which includes a room, the dance party including favors and a champagne toast at midnight, continental breakfast the next day and use of the inn’s pool and hot tub.

Fog Bar and Café

Blind Albert is headlining their NYE party starting at 9 p.m. Cover is $5 and there will be drink specials.

Myrtle Street Tavern

They’re throwing a NYE party starting at 9 p.m.

Samoset Resort

Dinner and dancing with a Hawaiian Luau dinner and Creatures of Habit playing all the greatest hits. there will be party favors, a cash bar, champagne at midnight as you watch the ball drop on Times Square.  The festivities kick off at 7 p.m. Tickets: $60. Advance reservations required, call 594-1544.

Waldoboro

The Narrows Tavern

The St. Huckleberry Trio is back with their Celtic-tinged evening of fiddle, sax and guitar starting at 9 p.m.

Tenants Harbor

East Wind Inn

You want a mellow, home by 11 p.m. kind of night? By the Bay jazz Trio will be playing with vocalist Cindy Millar from 7 to 10 p.m. from the Golden Age of American songs. For more information call the inn at 207-372-6366.

Note: If your establishment isn’t listed here it’s because we were unable to find any details of your event posted online. 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

We’re following A&E Networks' History survivalist show Alone, Season 3, thanks to local survivalist, Zachary Fowler, of Appleton, one of the remaining nine contestants on the unscripted show who try to survive all alone in the Patagonia wilderness.

In last week's episode, the euphoria of being in Patagonia has pretty much worn off for most of the contestants by nearly the third week as the temperatures dropped.

We had some more questions for Appleton resident Zachary Fowler to explain what we saw in the show this week:

Pilot: Describe to us the terrain you were dealing with.

Zach: We had our territory between 6 to 10 square miles and about a quarter of a mile of waterfront on the lake. I had to stay within a certain distance of my water source, but it was really dark down there under the growth, so I looked for a better spot higher on the mountain. It was about a 45 degree angle going up. I spent a lot of time making trails and switchbacks to get up to where I wanted to build a more permanent shelter.

Pilot: Why did you want to move your shelter?

Zach: Patagonia has an extreme climate change. The lake could rise three feet over night and there was only 15 feet between the steep hill and the water's edge. It wouldn't have been a long-term solution to stay there.

Pilot: You seemed to get the short end of the stick when it came to your camping spot.

Zach: Yeah, I might have been the only one in the group that drew a lot that didn't have a sunny area.

Pilot: Tell us what was going on in your mind when you got emotional over not having any sun for more than a week. 

Zach: After spending a week under clouds and overcast sky, I thought the sun was eventually going to come out, but I was disoriented. Once I realized I was on the south side of the mountain and that spot wasn't going to get any light even when the sun was out: that was hard. I managed to hike up to one spot on the mountain where a single ray would shine though, but it was very rare. Most of the time the mountains had clouds all around. You don't think about it in the civilized world, but if you don't have sun for the foreseeable future, it's painful.

Pilot: The show depicted you making an ancient style of wattle fencing for a retaining wall. Did you already know how to make that kind of fencing?

Zach: You're going to have to wait and see.

Check out Zach’s latest Makery and Mischief video to see how he makes and uses his own slingshots.

Stay tuned to watch Fowler in History’s next episode of Alone, airing Thursday at 9 p.m.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKPORT — With just days to go before the holidays, four high school girls from Camden Hills Regional High School arrived at Knox County Homeless Coalition/Hospitality House on Wednesday, Dec. 22, ready to go gift shopping. All of this month, the Hospitality House has gathered wish lists from their families and invited the community to 'adopt a family' for the holidays by shopping for gifts and giving them tot he families. As of Dec. 22, the day the girls arrived, all 84 families (230) people had been adopted.

Mallory Caron, 17, Alli Wells, 17, Grace Iltis, 15, and Lauren Rothwell, 15, are part of a school club called ‘Camden For Community.’

“We started the club last year to try to connect students with community service opportunities,” said club founder and treasurer Caron. “So we saw the article from Penobscot Bay Pilot ‘All I want For Christmas is.....driving lessons’ and we decided to get involved. We were reading it and saw the part where someone our age was asking for driving lessons as a Christmas present and since a couple of us are taking driver’s ed and getting our own licenses we could really relate.”

The girls connected with a family who has two teenagers 14 and 18. With money the club raised from a Christmas By The Sea 50-50 raffle as well as a bake sale, they were off to go shopping at Reny’s Plaza, T. J. Maxx and Walmart for gifts that were on the family’s list.

“It makes me really happy that we can give back to others and that our club has the support to help other families,” said Iltis.

“Our next project for the club is to give more support to several local food pantries,” said Caron. “With the last of the money we raised, we’re going to go buy food and donate it.”

Ev Donnelly, the initiative’s coordinator, was all smiles as she carried a load of packages to the barn for volunteers to wrap. “The community really came through for us,” she said. “I’m still getting emails and calls from people looking for ways to help.”

To learn more about Camden For Community visit: facebook.com/camdenforcommunity

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — The Knox Mill has come to life once more with Ebantide, a new restaurant that officially opens next weekend. More than just a play on words (named after co-owner Joseph Goudreau’s three-month-old grandson Eban) the name Eban also represents a West African symbol for family, love and security.

Chef and co-owner Ean Woodward comes to this enterprise with a humble appreciation for food.

“I don’t want people thinking this is a high-priced bistro,” he said. “’Our tag line is ‘Where you want to be a regular.’”

Woodward grew up with his grandmother in Ireland. After culinary school in London, he did his first two years of training in Paris before moving to the U.S. After several years cooking in North Carolina and Philadelphia, Woodward decided to move to Maine where he often visited his grandparents summers in Winter Harbor.

“In Ireland, I lived with my grandmother and a French housekeeper who were my favorite two people in the world,” he said. “So I spent every day with them in the kitchen watching them cook and grew up with a passion for it. We’re doing a lot hearty delicious dishes like duck confit, pappardelle, lamb bolognose. We’re taking a lot of traditional dishes from Maine and across Europe-dishes our grandparents cooked and that the working class people would have enjoyed throughout time. Then, I’ll add a little French twist to that.”

The Shepherd’s Pie on the menu comes from his great grandmother’s recipe Woodward discovered in the family Bible.

“A lot of younger people are foodies these days, but their parents or grandparents want food they remember from their childhood, so we’re incorporating both on the menu,” he said.

Renovations have been slowly unfolding in the last several months, unearthing many of the Mill’s old “bones.”

The closed-off area (where the Sea Dog bar used to be) has been opened up to become a lounge area next to a stone fireplace. The ranch windows over the bar, covered over for many years, now let in light, along with oversized bare vintage bulbs over the bar.

The open kitchen has a reconfigured “pass” and the best seat in the house — the window to the waterfalls — is now a long chef’s table for eight. Woodward will periodically offer beer pairing dinners and other chef dinners with a prix fixe menu and additional surprises as he interacts all evening with the guests.

The bar is modeled after a restaurant bar, staying open til 10 or 11 p.m. with no live music, but instead, offering a selection of predominantly Maine beers, rotating taps, select wines and an emphasis on good bourbon. 

“We want the food and the atmosphere to be approachable and the beers and wines to complement the dishes,” Woodward said. “Everyone who works in this kitchen has been a chef somewhere else and we all work together very well.”

The restaurant will launch with a soft opening for family, friends and invited guests Thursday evening, then open to the public on Wednesday, Dec. 28. They will be open Wednesdays through Saturdays for dinner.

Knox Mill owner Joseph Goudreau received several licenses Tuesday evening, Dec. 20, at a regularly scheduled Select Board meeting for Ebantide. There, the board members unanimously approved granting a victualer’s, vinous and restaurant license to the business.

When select board members asked him about live music, Goudreau said there would be no entertainment, other than, “my brother will bring down his big grand piano and play.”

The board also asked Goudreau how the Knox Mill residential project was proceeding, in general.

He responded that 14 to 15 units are occupied. Goudreau converted the Knox Mill into 32 apartments over the past year.

“The town will appreciate changing the restaurant from what it was to what it could be,” he told the select board.

For more information on Ebantide visit its Facebook page.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com