On June 10, the celebratory crowd at Boothbay Region Boatyard in West Southport included local officials, folks from neighboring boatyards, Susan Swanton, executive director of Maine Marine Trade Association (MMTA), Barbi Coyne from Hodgdon Yachts, happy customers and boat owners and about 30 of the staff from the yard who were able, however briefly, to
Seven Tips from the Experts
Real estate experts who have been at this for years know very well how to manage visitor expectations so as to deliver on the vacation promised. The experts offer tips: 1. Clean up the personal clutter and make your home tourist-friendly. “All your toys and fuzzy stuff would get in the way of someone having
Dyed gulls: an old story
To the editor: After reading articles by Carol Thompson and Wing Goodale (WWF June 04) about coloring of seagulls, here is my 1936-1937 story involving the same. Joel Marsh, Karl Jacobson and I were the first three wildlife students at the University of Maine led by Professors Aldous and Swanson who were wildlife professors at
Vinalhaven dedicates its new performance space
Partners in Island Education (PIE) paid tribute to Vinalhaven’s long-standing performing tradition last month as it dedicated the new school auditorium, Smith Hokanson Memorial Hall. The auditorium is named for native island musicians Kilton Vinal Smith and Leonard Hokanson, as well as the island’s previous performance space, Memorial Hall (1895-1973.) Both Smith and Hokanson began
Two-Way Teaching: On Cliff Island, college students and island kids teach each other
What does it mean to be an islander? What defines island culture, community, and interpersonal experiences? How do island students learn about their culture, and how can they pass on their knowledge to outsiders? Moreover, what happens when college students attending a prominent liberal arts institution enter in collaboration with elementary students attending a one-room
Creativity, voluntarism make island fire departments work
The eastern islands of the Maine coast are some of the smallest and most remote towns in the state of Maine. The residents of these islands are used to making do and scrambling for new ways of accomplishing tasks. This resourcefulness is reflected in the region’s fire departments, which have developed new and innovative ways
Little Ray never even got his feet wet
By the afternoon of May 11 the weather had warmed up to 70 degrees, and the leaves we’d been waiting so long to see finally popped out on the trees. Our postmaster, Joy Sprague, took advantage of the warm afternoon to set her lobster traps in the harbor for the first time this year. Joy
Islesboro builds a_community center – without a building
In January of 2000, a group of Islesboro residents formed a nonprofit organization to create an island Community Center. Over 140 volunteers worked to make this plan a reality by establishing goals, surveying townspeople, promoting community events and looking for a building. Richard Gilder, an island summer resident, donated his up-island barn and property for
North Haven school finds – and then loses – a whale
The North Haven Community School has a history of innovative educational projects, including building an electric school van and constructing a six-oared rowing gig from scratch, as well as having recently started a collection of student-mounted local birds. When vocational arts teacher Terry Goodhue heard of a small, 11-foot-long whale washed up into Seal Bay,
So You Want to Rent Your Island House? Many factors affect the summer market, and trends are seldom clear
Summer tourists, of course, have been renting a week’s vacation in Maine since forever – since before the lobster bake was invented, even. “Back in the Teens and the Twenties, my grandmother rented cottages for a dollar a week,” muses Ralph Ashmore, long-time real estate broker on Peaks Island. “Told them all they needed to