By Paul Sylvain

Machias set a high bar on Friday for next year’s Semiquincentennial Independence Day parade. One visitor to the area from Bangor was overheard saying as the last vehicle passed by, “Wow, what a parade! It’s even better than Bangor’s.” 

By Will Tuell

Machias Area Little League’s Madison Berry was the toast of the town last week as she pounded a bases-clearing home run in the fifth inning of a 4-2 contest against Ellsworth 12U softball to claim the Downeast Acadia district championship for Machias July 1. Despite trailing 2-0 right out of the gate, and for much of the game, Machias plated twelve runs in the final three innings of Tuesday’s contest to secure their second district championship in three years, defeating Ellsworth 13-6 for their first road win of the playoffs. 

Selectmen Approve Feasibility Study

By Nancy Beal

Jared Farn-Guillette of the Maine Department of Transportation has been visiting Jonesport for two years. He periodically makes the rounds of the town’s roads with the selectmen, soliciting suggestions about what the town might want for improvements. 

By Jayna Smith

From Milbridge to Danforth and Lubec to Charlotte, Washington County residents and visitors have a wide array of farmers' markets and farm stands to explore this season. Offering everything from fresh produce and meats to handmade goods, these local markets not only support area farms but also provide convenient access to healthy, locally grown food.

In Milbridge, the Milbridge Farmers’ Market takes place every Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to noon, May through September, at Camden National Bank.

By Will Tuell

Residents of Whiting will have a rare opportunity to celebrate a two-hundredth birthday this weekend as town officials prepare for the town’s bicentennial July 11-13.

While the actual two-hundredth birthday of Whiting was Feb. 15, 2025, organizer Mary Alice Look said in a recent interview that locals have been planning a summer celebration for over a year now.

By Paul Sylvain

It took the Machias planning board a mere 10 minutes from opening gavel to adjournment to approve three building permits and call it a night at its July 2 meeting. Of more importance than the permit applications on the meeting’s agenda, however, was a scheduled discussion with West Branch Farm’s owner Chris Meroff over his proposed addition of four more rental cabins on his West Kennebec Road property. 

By Jayna Smith

After decades of planning and years of construction, a new six-mile stretch of highway connecting I-395 to Route 9 officially opened to traffic Friday, June 27, 2025, marking the completion of one of Maine’s most significant recent transportation infrastructure projects.

The $107 million project — formally known as the I-395/Route 9 Connector — extends east from Brewer to Eddington, creating a more direct route for travelers and commercial vehicles between the Bangor-Brewer area and eastern Maine, including access to Atlantic Canada.

Review by Paul Sylvain

In my Sept. 4, 2024, review of Pitch Black Ribbons’ Aug. 29 show at Bad Little Falls Park, I wrote, “As for me, I hope it's not another year before I see them again. Their show … was a genuine late summer treat.”

Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy, but fortunately, I didn’t have to wait a year and managed to catch brothers Clint and Cody Phipps on July 3, in the third of this summer’s Kitchen Concerts at Bad Little Falls Park. 

By Paul Sylvain

Station 1898 — the old repurposed railroad station near the dike and Lee/Pellon Event Center — has served as home to the Machias Bay Area Chamber of Commerce since the chamber signed a 100-year lease with the town for one dollar. In return, the Chamber agreed to maintain the building and allow its use for community events several times a year.

Fishermen’s Pottery Uniquely Downeast

By Nancy Beal

Broderick Alley is a full-time Beals Island lobster fisherman with the maximum allowable number of lobster traps — 800 — which he hauls from a 43-foot lobster boat named Miss Jennifer. 

The boat is named after his daughter, Jennifer Ciappetta, who also lives on Beals and, like her father, fishes 800 traps from her 36-foot Bigfoot & Carissa, named for her two standard poodles. They act as each other’s sternman, hauling his gang of traps one day and hers the next.