by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

The Machias Wild Blueberry Festival will not happen for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic, festival organizers announced today, April 9.

“It was a hard decision. We really just did not see how we could safely put on a festival,” said festival committee chair Ellen Farnsworth, pointing to festival events that take place in close quarters, like the blueberry musical. “That couldn’t have happened. Even the vendors, how could we guarantee that we were keeping our vendors safe? There were just too many things.”

by Nancy Beal

Identical twins Rosalie Carver and Lucille Woodward were born in Jonesport 90 years ago and have lived there all their lives. Inseparable until the coronavirus pandemic-imposed isolation on their world, they had been in contact, physically, nearly every day of their lives. Last week, after the expiration of the two-week waiting period following administration of the COVID-19 vaccine they couldn’t get soon enough, they celebrated with huge hugs. This weekend, they will celebrate their 90th birthday together with family.

by Praise Moore

When entering the Glidden’s Cutler home, I was informed by one of the children that her mommy is a “yarn worker”.

Lacie Glidden, the mother of three, has been a distributor of Briggs and Little Woolen Mills since 2017, but she has been traveling across the border to Briggs and Little since she was a baby, going with her parents who raise sheep at Wild Wind Farm in Bucks Harbor. “They would trade wool for yarn because obviously, you get a lot more wool than you can spin,” Glidden said.

by Ruth Leubecker

Nationally the opioid crisis has achieved new heights, but in Maine the numbers are climbing at an even more devastating rate.

Between 2014 until 2019, drug overdoses claimed 1,630 lives in Maine. In 2015 alone, 272 Mainers died by drug overdose. But by 2020, in that year alone a record 502 deaths by overdose motivated Gov. Janet Mills to include in her budget $2 million to promote OPTIONS (Overdose Prevention Through Intensive Outreach Naloxone & Safety).

by Nancy Beal

Floats for the town landing generated the most discussion at the Beals town meeting March 29, as well as the highest single appropriation. After nearly an hour’s back-and-forth over types of floats, the 16 citizens that attended the two-and-a-half-hour session voted to raise $105,000 for seven steel floats and tacked on $4,000 for their delivery. Jenny Fagonde, who served as clerk and made the motion for the floats, expressed the hope that a matching grant could be obtained that would pay for seven more floats.

by Natalie Boomer

As summer approaches us here in Maine, many locals will be introducing their young children to the water.

Maine Families of Washington County has partnered with lifeguard, swim instructor, and USA swimming coach, Lindsay McMahon to host a water safety question and answer for parents who want to learn how to keep their children safe around water.

McMahon will lead an interactive group discussion over Zoom on Wednesday, April 14 at 10 am.

Bostonian Robert W. Hall felt fortunate to grow up along the New England coast. He and his family enjoyed so many summers on nearby Cape Cod that it’s no wonder that he went on to join the U.S. Coast Guard.

His parents, William and Ruth Hall, had family on the Cape, and Robert spent a great deal of his time fishing for stripers and hunting with his cousin. He attended schools in Milton and graduated from Milton High School in 1955.

by Jonathan Reisman

Eastport Arts Center’s KinderArts program, which launched a video series in October, continues with a customizable rain stick project for April. KinderArts video instructor Nia Aretakis will demonstrate a technique for creating a child-sized rainstick out of simple household materials, and encourages participants to experiment with different ‘fillings’ for their sticks to create different sounds. Free materials kits are available from EAC, or participants can easily assemble needed supplies at home.

“Assignments really help me. I get lost in too many options,” writes Sue Riddle of Pembroke, Maine, one of several artists who have participated for a year or more in the Eastport Arts Center (EAC) online portrait drawing group, interacting each week with a close-knit community formed despite social and physical distance. “I was desperately missing the arts and crafts programming I usually get through EAC and Peavey Library,” noted Riddle.