Summer 2014

Surprises add to night of arts in Wiscasset

Fri, 08/01/2014 - 5:00pm

Julie Groleau of Wiscasset and daughter Alanna Groleau were traveling Route 1 on July 31 when they noticed there was going to be music on the town common that night. The two don’t make it to all of the “Alive on the River” concerts, but they get to the ones they can.

The 5-year-old asked if they could go that night.

Groleau said they’d need to go home for something to eat first. Once there, the little girl still had the music on her mind.

“She wolfed down a waffle so she would make it in time,” her mother said.

They watched the Lynn Deeves concert from a blanket on the grass; Alanna, with a stuffed toy fox.

Down the hill, at a separate musical venue, the sidewalk on the northbound side of Route 1, Donna Sewall, on fiddle, and husband of 30 years Steven Sewall, on guitar, were playing for passersby, unexpectedly. The Bowdoinham couple, professional musicians who perform as The All Ways One Band, were in line at Red’s Eats earlier in the day when they pulled out the musical instruments they keep in the trunk of their vehicle and began playing.

“It was about an hour. And this woman comes up to us and says, ‘Musicians that were going to play on the street tonight can’t make it. Could you come and play tonight?’ So we said yes .... It was just serendipitous, so it was fun for us .... Music is our world,” Donna Sewall said.

They still took the time for their lunch of clams and fish at Red’s Eats. “And it was awesome,” she said.

Thursday night’s art walk netted sales for custom jewelry designer and Wiscasset resident William Paul, who learned how to bead while growing up on a Native American reservation. The enjoyment in watching a piece come together is what keeps him interested, Paul said. “Seeing that it’s nothing when you start, and the beauty it turns into when you’re done.”

This year’s two remaining nights of the Wiscasset Art Walk are set for 5-8 p.m. on August 28 and September 25. Upcoming Alive on the River concerts feature All Fired Up on August 7 and Dyer Neck Gang on August 14, from 6 to 8 p.m., according to the Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce’s website at www.wiscassetchamber.com.