Holmes, Wood Crowned This Year’s Alewife King and Queen

By Will Tuell

Hundreds crowded into a steamy gym at Elm Street School in East Machias Friday night as the school bid adieu to its eighth grade class with ceremony, sentimentality, and, just as importantly, for those who know principal Tony Maker and his staff, levity. 

By Paul Sylvain

Coinciding on the 250th anniversary of the June 12, 1775, Battle of the Margaretta, local artist Tom Brennan and many of the town’s Revolutionary War reenactors will be on hand at Machias Savings Bank, 4 Center St., on June 12, for a 6:30 p.m. unveiling of an oil painting by local artist Tom Brennan, depicting one of the events of that historic day.

Burnham Tavern serves as the backdrop for the painting, which shows a group of Machias patriots on their way to capture the British vessel HMS Margaretta on that fateful day. “

By Paul Sylvain

Machias Arts Center has a new home at 277 Main St., and judging by the huge, enthusiastic turnout for its grand opening on June 6, it was an instant hit for those who create or simply appreciate the work of area artists and artisans.

The grand opening also coincided with the Machias Arts Council’s First Friday Art Walk of the summer, held at the center. In recent years, the First Friday Art Walk has been held downtown in Norman Nelson Park. 

By Paul Sylvain

Six months after the Machias Selectboard ordered an immediate stop to all work on a self-storage facility under construction on Dublin Street, work may soon resume on the project, depending on what the town’s planning board decides at its June 4 meeting.

By Paul Sylvain 

Anybody who has ever had to navigate the section of Beal Street from Court Street to the Beal Field baseball diamond to cheer on their kids playing a Little League baseball game can attest to the fact that driving on that road was more like negotiating a minefield.

By Paul Sylvain

Few jobs carry the responsibility school bus drivers have, ensuring they safely deliver what substitute driver Steven Tilney last week called “precious cargo” to school and back each day.

With that in mind, an unexpected wrinkle arose on May 27, during the annual town meeting vote on the 2025-‘26 Machias school budget. A seemingly routine funding article seeking approval for $170,886 for school transportation led to a 13-minute exchange about the need for a pay raise for substitute bus drivers.

By Nancy Beal

The Jonesport Elementary School Board met last week with one agenda item: Adjust the 2025-2026 school budget that voters rejected May 21 and send it back to voters in hopes of achieving a change of heart.

By Paul Sylvain 

Officers with the Washington County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) arrested 11 people on drug trafficking and other charges in Roque Bluffs and Centerville following the simultaneous execution of two warrants on May 29. 

Maine’s Department of Public Safety said in a media release Friday that the arrests came as a result of a months-long drug trafficking investigation at 75 Duck Cove Road in Roque Bluffs and 43 Mitten Mountain Road in Centerville. 

Arrested at 75 Duck Cove, Roque Bluffs, were:

Polls to Open June 10 to Elect Municipal Officers

By Paul Sylvain

For the first time in three years, Machias is holding its annual election of municipal officers and town meeting in June. As is customary in Machias, these two events are scheduled for successive days, with the elections scheduled from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at the Machias Memorial High School gymnasium, and the town meeting to act on a 47-article warrant, commencing at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, at the MMHS gym.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has announced that five tribal communities in Maine have been awarded $6,456,253 through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG). These grants support the development and maintenance of affordable housing.