By Paul Sylvain & Will Tuell

It’s been said that everybody loves a parade, and that was never more evident than on May 27 in Machias. That’s when a crowd of parade-goers lined Court and Free streets, Colonial Way. and Main Street/Route1 to watch and cheer on the many community groups that participated in this year’s Memorial Day Parade.

by Jonathan Reisman

By Will Tuell

While most teachers and students are eagerly counting down the days until their summer vacation begins, Elm Street’s Karen Fulmer said in an interview last week that this, her forty-third -- and final -- year teaching a third- or fourth-grade classroom at the East Machias elementary school “will be bittersweet.” As much as Fulmer enjoys her students -- every day, every class is different -- she knows that physically she just can’t keep up with another class of energetic and inquisitive nine-year-olds. 

By Paul Sylvain

The Machias selectboard, on May 22, authorized Police Chief Keith Mercier to hire Cutler resident Jim Frauenhoffer as a full-time patrol officer.

Frauenhoffer is a 27-year veteran police officer and detective who retired from the Baltimore Police Department. Mercier told the board that Frauenhoffer moved Downeast around three years ago and only recently began working as a corrections officer at the county jail for the Washington County Sheriff’s Department.

By Jacquie Leighton

On May 13 and again on May 17, students from two local elementary schools in SAD 37 visited the Milbridge Theater & Community Arts Center (MTCAC) for a Maine-themed game and a visit from a local celebrity, a teacher who taught Maine and United States History for more than forty years. 

By Will Tuell

In the 150 years since Charley Jones thumped two homers in the same inning for the long-defunct Boston Red Stockings, 61 Major League Baseball players have achieved the same feat. Last week, Washington Academy first baseman Colby Moholland ripped a pair of fourth inning home runs to put the high-flying Raiders squarely in the driver’s seat against the Golden Bucks of Bucksport. 

By Will Tuell

Blue skies and a warm breeze greeted the 68 cadets -- soon to be law enforcement officers -- graduating from Maine’s Criminal Justice Academy on May 17. The graduates, with throngs of family and friends watching on, began their journey eighteen weeks ago in the dead of winter, leaving loved ones behind as they went through a rigorous training program designed to initiate them into the ranks of Maine’s law enforcement community. 

By Paul Sylvain

Northfield developer Justin King is eyeing a patch of land he owns on King Avenue in Machias to build a “Scandinavian-style” apartment building featuring four 800-square-foot, one-bedroom apartments.

A building permit application was presented to the town’s planning board in April but was denied. The permit was discussed again earlier this month and was granted conditionally over flood zone concerns, King said in an interview last week. King claims those concerns are non-existent in that elevated section of land off Court Street.

by Jonathan Reisman

A 5 a.m. trip to the garden (the black flies are not early/cool morning risers) sometimes clears the head and fuels the column, but when horticultural discipline fails to inspire, careful inspection of the inbox and assorted internet flotsam offers copious column fodder.

Possible People’s Veto of National Popular Vote 

The countdown has begun for the much-anticipated third annual Rhubarb Festival, set to take place on June 1, from 12-5 p.m. at Kendall Farm in Perry. This spring event promises a day filled with vibrant art, delicious rhubarb creations, live music, and family-friendly activities.

By Will Tuell

By Will Tuell

In yet another sure sign of spring, state officials have opened the Down East Sunrise Trail to ATV use. Game Warden Joe McBrine of the Maine Warden Service said in a message prior to the trail’s reopening that, despite severe flooding in January which caused extensive damage to the throughway, ATVers could expect things to be fully back to normal by early-to-mid summer. 

By Nancy Beal

Conversation (and disagreement) recently reported about Union 103 (Jonesport-Beals High School and the Beals and Jonesport elementary schools) and the auditor who reviews its books was prompted by a decision by the superintendent, not by the high school board, as reported in these pages last week (see “Jonesport Selectmen Disagree with High School’s Auditor Change,” Machias Valley News Observer, May 8, 2024). 

By Will Tuell

After months of practice, students from Elm Street School in East Machias (and the surrounding homeschool community) regaled audiences last week with “The Curse of the Frog Prince” -- an adaption of the classic Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale published in the early 1800s that follows a spoiled princess, a cursed frog prince, and their efforts to reverse the curse. The performance was directed by Melina Neilson and produced by Eustacia Landrum.

Calais Community Hospital and Down East Community Hospital are once again bringing in a national speaker for Washington County students.  Last fall, area high school students attended the presentations.

By Nancy Beal 

Jonesport selectmen met for the first time since mid-March last week (Board chair Harry Fish had been on a trans-Atlantic cruise) and tackled an agenda with 11 items on it. The last of these, concerning the school board’s request for a new auditor for Jonesport-Beals High School, prompted most of the discussion. 

By Wayne Smith

C.H. Mathews Store in Cherryfield is in the process of being sold this month. The store has been in the Mathews family since its opening in 1891. It’s being sold by Bruce and Karen Mathews of Milbridge and bought by Ahmad Rehman of Augusta, Maine. Mathews talked with me about his memories of the oldest family-run store in Maine recently, and this is what he said in his own words.

Down East Hospice Volunteers of Washington County proudly accepts a grant award from Bangor Savings Bank through the “Community Matters More” program. We want to thank everyone who voted for DEHV along the way.

You can also apply for the June 2024 volunteer hospice training and join our team at www.downeasthospicevolunteers.org, [email protected], or 454-7521 ext. 9126.

The Polar Treat in Perry is ready for its 75th season.  

After John and Mary Macdonald operated the take-out restaurant for 50 years, Jack and Bernadette Maloney did another 19, and, now, in their sixth year, Judson and Michelle Curtis recently held a ribbon cutting to commemorate the milestone.

The Polar Treat has been recently renovated, with the building having been expanded and outdoor seating included. 

By Will Tuell

Sergeant Josh Beal of Marshfield and University of Maine at Machias professor Dr. Gerard “Gerry” Zegers came away from the annual Maine Warden Service awards ceremony on April 26 with two of the organization’s highest honors. Beal, who was tapped to lead Downeast game wardens in 2021, picked up 2023 Supervisor of the Year, while Zegers brought home the 2023 MWSA Merit Award for his work using cutting-edge DNA technology to solve several high-profile crimes the Warden Service has been investigating. 

By Nancy Beal

Following an eventful special town meeting on April 19 in Beals, where an old hand in town affairs was returned to the select board and joined two new members (please see Machias Valley News Observer, April 24, 2024), the three met for the first time on April 23, spending three hours covering old ground and new.

by Jonathan Reisman

I worked in my garden last week. A string of sunny sort of warm early spring days dried it out enough to get it tilled and to get peas and greens planted by Earth Day. My twenty-plus-year tiller started right up and ably prepared the soil, but loudly announced, just as I finished, that a trip to the tiller doctor would be required before further loam was lifted.