The marquee event of Wiscasset Parks and Recreation’s Halloween season, the annual Ghost and Goblins Halloween Parade, was its colorful self on Saturday, Oct. 31.Children, adults and some dogs took on roles from television’s “Once Upon a Time,” the movie versions of “The Hunger Games,” or participants’ own imaginations.The weather was cool, but recent days’ strong winds had departed, making for a comfortable late-day lineup at Wiscasset Elementary School. School Resource Officer Tom Hoepner led... Read more
Midcoast Maine’s best of fall 2015: Fall Foliage Festival, Pumpkinfest and more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCU_uO4I7OE
Fall 2015
Cleopatra and the paramedic-witch
With 5,000 eggs behind Wiscasset Community Center Friday night, they couldn’t all be golden. Most were orange and black, and holding goodies for the approximately 100 children who found them in the Parks and Recreation Department’s Halloween Raven Egg Hunt..But a blue-hooded 6-year-old, Wiscasset’s Joseph Cooper, found one of the golden few, in what he called “the egg field.”As always, the after-dark event was flashlit and fast-paced, with friends calling updates to one another and their... Read more
Find the golden pumpkins at the Great Pumpkin Hunt
From butternut squash bowling and the scarecrow relay race, to the pumpkin pie contest and prizes galore, the second annual Great Pumpkin Hunt at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens promises to be fun for the whole family this weekend.Come to the Gardens from 1-3:30 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 24, for a fall day that is packed with games, contests, activities and prizes!Admission will be free during this event and donations to the Boothbay Region Food Pantry will be gratefully accepted.Kids can hunt... Read more
Fall 2015
Scenes from Wiscasset Scarecrow Festival
Cool winds, changeable skies and families looking to make scarecrows visited the municipal building lawn Saturday for Wiscasset Parks and Recreation Department’s Scarecrow Festival.The Oct. 17 event included a touch-a-truck area with a race car and a Wiscasset police cruiser. School Resource Officer Tom Hoepner gave out stickers.Still to come this Halloween season are the Parks and Recreation Department’s magic show and Halloween Raven Egg Hunt on Friday, Oct. 23 and Halloween Ghosts and... Read more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz5EI8GEQaw
Fall 2015: Video
For all your pumpkin destruction needs
It's hard to quantify pumpkin destruction, but here goes:Three cameras, one waterproof housing, two clunkers, one pool, hundreds of people, 180 feet, more than a ton of pumpkins and more than two hours of footage.All of that leads to about a minute's worth of pumpkin destruction set to a classical soundtrack.Watch and relive the majesty of pumpkins falling from a 180-foot crane on Sunday, Oct. 11, because Damariscotta’s Pumpkinfest and Regatta happen but once a year.For more fall events in... Read more
‘Round Town
Color
Late summer and early fall seemed unusually warm and dry to me. Experience, as a well documented “fall lover,” tells me that this is not a good combination for much color in the trees, which is another nostalgic favorite of mine.But, so far, it seems my past recollections are incorrect — imagine! This fall is turning up some dandy color, in sort of fits and starts, as it were.Autumn color along the shore has always seemed elusive around here, for me at least. There’s something about the... Read more
Think pink to make strides against breast cancer
The leaves are turning red and gold, and orange pumpkins line the streets of the Twin Villages, but now is the time to think pink. The 15th Damariscotta Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk will be Sunday, Oct. 25. In the years since that first walk, walkers in Damariscotta have raised more than a million dollars to help fight breast cancer and help breast cancer patients in Maine. We walk each year to remember those who lost the battle with breast cancer and recognize those who have... Read more
Fall 2015
Halloween traditions continue in Wiscasset
Wiscasset Community Center’s guest services manager Bonnie Blagden’s favorite part of the annual scarecrow festival is seeing the people come out for it.“It’s family time, and it’s inexpensive family time,” Blagden said Oct. 8. “We have some families that come out every year.”This year’s chance to build a scarecrow for the municipal building lawn, or to take home, comes this Saturday, Oct. 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the municipal building. The event is the first of a series of seasonal... Read more
Canny, Rock claim Pumpkinfest pie eating contest victories
The 2015 Pumpkinfest pie eating contest had strong family ties in the 12 and under and 12 and over contests. The Canny and Rock families had competitors who placed in both competitions.In the age 12 and under, Carlos Canny was the winner. He was followed by runner-up Zachary Reed, and third place finisher Alexa Rock.In the age 12 and over, Canny’s father, Bob, finished third, while Alexa’s sister, Daja, finished first. The 12 and over runner-up was John O’Leary from Kerry County, Ireland.
Crafters galore at St. Patrick's Christmas Fair Nov. 21
Thirteen new and returning vendors have reserved tables at St. Patrick’s Christmas Fair and will sell locally made items on Saturday, Nov. 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Cheverus Hall. Cheverus Hall is located at St. Patrick Church on Academy Hill Road in Newcastle. There will be something for everyone from soaps and creams to baskets and wood turned crafts to hand knitted items and ornaments. Highlighted below are some of the region’s finest crafters and the items they will be displaying.Ann... Read more
Fall Harvest Fair
Great Salt Bay fundraiser to be ‘insanely’ fun
This year, the lunatics will get a shot at upper management at the asylum.Or something like that.The annual Great Salt Bay School Fall Harvest Fair is scheduled this year for Halloween, and with that spooky date the eighth graders have started packing in the scares.“Each year there's a different theme and this year's theme is going to be different,” said Grace Canny, who is one of the GSB eighth graders in charge of running the haunted house. “We're going to have an insane asylum theme.”Like FX... Read more
https://youtu.be/HIIq7lPOiQU
Video
Giant pumpkin destroys pool at Pumpkinfest
The annual Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta features pumpkins in many settings — as boats, as art, and as spectacle.On Sunday, Oct. 11, one of the massive squash was dropped 180 feet into a large inflatable pool.See more Pumpkinfest videos and coverage on the Boothbay Register/Wiscasset Newspaper Best of Fall page by clicking here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrtkymfAHLc
Nearly 3,000 attend 48th annual Fall Foliage Festival
One tell-tale sign that attendance is good at the annual Fall Foliage Festival is that the Boothbay Region Lions Club's fish chowder booth gets sold out on the first day.
And what a first day it was, according to Margaret Hoffman, executive director of the Boothbay Railway Village, which hosts the festival, now in its 48th year.
Approximately 1,624 people passed through the gates on Saturday, Oct. 10, despite the overcast skies and cool breezes during the first few hours of the event. The... Read more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4c-zQEO_eU
Fall 2015
Pumpkin Derby a sunny success
A large crowd meant large, repeated cheers going up in the vicinity of Damariscotta’s Elm Street on Sunday morning, Oct. 11 for heat after heat of the Pumpkin Derby.The third annual event, part of the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta, had light moments when alleged overweight pumpkin entries were smashed by smiling officials; and exciting ones as entrants progressed to semi-final and final rounds.In results provided by event volunteer Beth Morris, Amelia Rice won the youth category; Chris... Read more
Fall 2015
Running with (and from) the ‘zombies’
If Joe Hoyt of Edgecomb hadn't broken his leg playing basketball at CLC YMCA in Damariscotta in late September, he thinks he probably would have run in the Y's Zombie Run on Oct. 10.Instead, he was standing next to the course in his cast Saturday, volunteering his help at one of the event's features: a new addition this year, several hanging strips with a florescent orange coating that caught on runners' clothes, as planned.The orange comes off, Hoyt said.On the other side of the field, Bristol... Read more
Warm coats for cold dogs
With colder weather coming on, a brisk walk may be a frigid experience for your dog, especially if it is a small breed, such as a chihuahua. The Lincoln County Animal Shelter in Edgecomb may be just the answer, as it has a supply of doggie coats for sale at reasonable prices."A lot of small breeds are susceptible," said Shelter Executive Director Joe Montisano this week.Montisano said that the shelter has a limited supply of donated dog jackets in good used condition to go along with leashes... Read more
https://youtu.be/oJD0TMJCA7Q
Pumpkinfest 2015
Let the painting and carving begin
Despite rain in the forecast, pumpkin artists showed up early on Friday, Oct. 9, to begin carving and painting giant pumpkins on Main Street in Damariscotta.About a third of the artists assigned began the process of sculpting, painting and decorating 75 pumpkins delivered from Pinkham’s Plantation on Thursday afternoon. Some artists were sheltered by tents while others deferred action until Saturday and drier weather.Artists and observers commented how this year's crop of art pumpkins appeared... Read more
Fall Foliage Festival
Thomas Block takes on giant pumpkin carving
The Boothbay Railway Village has grown two Atlantic Giant Pumpkins this season and both will be carved live throughout the day on Saturday, Oct. 10, by artist Thomas Block of Boothbay Harbor.Block is the beloved illustrator of many Maine children’s books including “Togus” by Don Carrigan, “Star of Wonder” by Paige Pendleton, and the newly released “Bear Moonlight Sonata” by Stephen Powell.
Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta
Maine pumpkin record squashed
Another year, another record squashed.Literally.During the professional growers' weigh-in Sunday at Pinkham's Plantation in Damariscotta, a new Maine State pumpkin record was established when Jefferson's Edwin Pierpont's pumpkin tipped the scales at 1,727.5 pounds, which obliterated last year's record, which was also set during the Pumpkinfest weigh-in.Pierpont, who set the record in 2010 with a 1,471-pound pumpkin, saw his record smashed last year when Readfield's Joe Gaboury's 1,625-pound... Read more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaxModJCQ5Y
Fall 2015
Bountiful Oktoberfest in Wiscasset
Katharine Martin-Savage had good luck finding gifts for family members Saturday at First Congregational Church’s Oktoberfest in Wiscasset. The Wiscasset woman bought kitchen knives for her grandson, a college sophomore with his first apartment this year.She got four birdhouses for her daughter and son-in-law who will be building a home on a property abutting hers. The nautical-style wine glasses might go to her daughter-in-law who has a nautical theme at home.Martin-Savage got herself a quilt.... Read more
Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta
It’s Pumpkinfest season
Autumn: When pumpkins fall like leaves in the Midcoast.When wood and aluminum and fiberglass boats are put away for the winter and pumpkin boats instead dot the Damariscotta River, it’s fall.That's right: Summer may be over, but the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta is about to begin.The Twin Villages celebration of all things pumpkin (and squash) kicks off officially on Saturday, Oct. 3, when volunteer pumpkin growers drop off their monsters at Pinkham's Plantation on Biscay Road in... Read more
Morris Farm Store begins fall/winter hours
The Morris Farm Store will be transitioning into fall hours beginning Friday, Oct. 2. The store will be open Friday, noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Monday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.We will be offering a selection of holiday items including Christmas trees, wreaths, and other decorations. We will continue to offer a selection of local food products, including raw milk, farm fresh eggs, cheese, seasonal produce, local preserves and frozen meat. We will also have... Read more
Red Cloak Haunted History Tours announces local October dates
Discover history and mystery on a lantern lit walking tour led by The Lady in the Red Cloak. Tour the streets of Boothbay Harbor and Wiscasset this October and get into the “spirit” of the season.Sally Lobkowicz, an experienced genealogy researcher — and the original Lady in the Red Cloak - began looking into local ghost stories after hearing tales from in-town residents and businesspeople.“I discovered that there are quite a lot of buildings that people feel are haunted in each of these... Read more
St. Patrick’s Church Christmas Fair welcomes crafters and artists
October is just around the corner, the evenings are drawing in, and all over Maine craftspeople and artists are preparing for the busiest shopping season of the year.As in previous years, a number of them will join the crafters of St. Patrick’s Church from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, in Newcastle, for the 2015 St. Patrick Church Christmas Fair. They join us because so many shoppers come along each year looking for the opportunity to choose from the wide array of unique and... Read more
Fall festival at Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway
Everyone is invited to come celebrate Sheepscot Valley’s narrow-gauge railroading history at the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum in Alna on Saturday, Sept. 26.The museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with trains departing from Sheepscot Station in Alna from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Special events include steam-train rides, Model AA truck rides, Model T rail-Car rides, hand-car rides, children’s games, pumpkin patch, pumpkin painting, bluegrass music plus more, and light... Read more
Photo
Halloween comes early to Wiscasset
Store aisles are not the only place where Halloween is on view several weeks before trick-or-treat time.Travelers of Route 144 in Wiscasset on Sept. 19 were treated to the sight of a lawn decked out in festive ornaments.Many of the figures wore smiles; some were waving; and one dangled from a pole over shrubbery.Halloween, Oct. 31, falls on a Saturday this year.
Pemaquid Oyster Festival
Shucking contest sends out challenge
David Seybold, coordinator of the Maine Champion Oyster Shucking Contest, has issued a challenge to oyster shuckers statewide: “You may think you’re the best shucker in the state, but there’s only one way to prove it — by winning the Maine Champion Oyster Shucking Contest.” The Maine Champion Oyster Shucking Contest will be held at the Pemaquid Oyster Festival, on Sunday, Sept. 27. The festival, now in its 15th year, is a rollicking celebration of Maine’s working waterfront and the... Read more