Pine Tree Society’s holiday cards have been a Maine tradition for over 50 years. This year’s cards by noted Maine artists Sandy Crabtree and Jeannine Staples celebrate winter in Maine. Crabtree’s painting “December Cove” is new for 2024 and Staples’ “Afternoon Play” was selected from the archives for a special limited edition re-release of this customer favorite. One hundred percent of proceeds from card sales support Pine Tree Society’s programs.

Trompe L’oeil artist Mary Sue Weeks will present a slide program about Trompe L’oeil painting - including how to pronounce it – at the Bremen Library on Thursday, Oct. 24 from 4 to 6 p.m.

The Friends of the Old Head Tide Church are hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the steeple restoration. The ribbon cutting is on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 3 p.m. at the Old Head Tide Church in Alna. Please park at the dam or along Head Tide Road. 

Wiscasset Elementary School fourth grade teacher Becky Hallowell, Lincoln County Teacher of the Year, is now Maine‘s Teacher of the Year. In the WES gym Thursday morning, Hallowell got the honor, a surprise as it is each year with Maine Department of Education alerting the media earlier in the week about Thursday’s ceremony in an email that, as always, did not say who won, but said the time and which school in the state the announcement would be made. The information was, as always for the award, “embargoed,” or not to be published until the award was announced.

Apifera Farm, a non profit animal sanctuary at 315 Waldoboro Road in Bremen, is having a celebration of its newly built Healing Barn on Saturday, Oct. 19, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., rain or shine. All are invited. The event is free but is also a fundraiser for the farm’s animals and mission. The farm adopts elder/needy animals [and some young ones], but they also share their animals with elder/needy people. The farm is home to horses, donkeys, ponies, goats, pigs, fowl, and llamas, elder cats and rabbits.

Spain’s internationally acclaimed piper and musician Carlos Núñez is making a rare U.S. appearance this fall, with concerts scheduled in New York City and at Boothbay Harbor’s historic Opera House. It has been several years since Nunez last toured the Northeast United States. He returns to Boothbay Harbor on Thursday, Oct. 24 for a  7:30 p.m. concert.

It’s the season of goblins and ghouls, pirates and sirens, and witches and warlocks ... a.k.a. our favorite time of year!

Friday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26 from 4 to 9 p.m. it will be time for Charlie's "Howl-O-Ween Haunt of the High Seas" Halloween fundraiser! There will be free trick-or-treating, a haunted house (open 5-9 p.m.), a spooky maze for kids, a raffle and silent auction, food, a bake sale, a bouncy house, and more!

Boothbay Region Historical Society is holding its annual Cheese and Bake Sale on Saturday, Oct. 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the museum, 72 Oak Street, Boothbay Harbor. Generous volunteer bakers will provide a delicious assortment of homemade goodies. And they're also offering popular Maine-produced, 2-year-aged, extra sharp cheddar again this year. Perfect for mac and cheese, sandwiches, snacking, and gifts!

See you at the museum!

Pumpkinfest Weekend is here, and Lincoln Theater is ready to celebrate in style, offering the perfect way to usher in the spooky season with a lineup of family-friendly films and special events.

This online event is one of many ways the Finding Our Voices CEO and Founder is breaking the silence during October, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Patrisha McLean, founder and CEO of the Maine nonprofit Finding Our Voices, is a featured speaker on an Oct. 21 webinar co-sponsored by the National Council of Jewish Women.

Center for Teaching and Learning was honored last week with a visit from Penny Kittle and Linda Rief, two long-time teachers of writing and writers about teaching. Kittle is best known for her educational books "Book Love," "180 Days," and "Write Beside Them," which build on the writing workshop practices pioneered by CTL’s founder, Nancie Atwell. Linda Rief, a long-time friend of CTL, taught middle school in New Hampshire for forty years while also publishing eight books on teaching writing, most recently "Whispering in the Wind," and co-editing many more.

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” - H.P. Lovecraft

The autumnal spirit was in full swing at Boothbay Railway Village Museum (BRVM) Oct. 5 as the museum hosted its annual Family Harvest Day.  

A pair of Civil War reenactors dressed as Union soldiers greeted visitors entering the Village Green. The sun shone as children bumped along in a barrel train ride, played lawn games, painted miniature pumpkins, or got their own faces painted. 

Wiscasset’s longtime fall event Scarecrowfest at the town office Oct. 5 had the chili and chowder contest, Halloween costumes for children to pick out, and more, including the time-honored scarecrow-making on the lawn along Route  One.

Thank you to Bob Bond of 40 Federal Studio in Wiscasset for sharing these moments from the day.

The Cathance River Gallery at 18 Main St., Bowdoinham is hosting a gathering of artists who have been creating impressions of local scenery for several years. They have one thing in common beside their talent, they love to paint on location outdoors from May through October. The sites range from the historic homes in Wiscasset to the farms in the river valleys to the coves and harbors along our coastal regions. 

We found this photo of author Stephen King in the newspaper’s attic a few years back and recently sought some history behind it.

We contacted one of the people in the photo and got a response (see below). Responding was Wendy Walter (now Wendy Galgan, second from left in the photo). After she gave us a clue where we might find information about it, we checked our archived newspapers and found out it was published in the Aug. 26, 1976 issue.

On Sunday, Oct. 20 at 3 p.m., Edgecomb Historical Society member and genealogist Cathy Orne, will shine a spotlight on one of Edgecomb’s illustrious forefathers, Samuel Gunnison Wilson.   

Fall is upon us and we would love to have you celebrate the season with us. 

Come meet our new pastor Aram Mitchell, who began Sept. 29.  Worship services begin at 9:30 a.m. with coffee hour to follow. 

Enter a giveaway for a free holiday turkey.  Enter your name in our Thrift Shop on Tuesday or Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the drawings which Pastor Aram will conduct on Sundays, Nov. 3 and 17, during coffee hour at 10:30 a.m. Five turkeys will be given away on each of the two Sundays. 

Several of Kosti Ruohomaa’s haunting and desolate, yet often beautiful and welcoming photographs of Maine in an earlier time are included in Nocturne, the current exhibit at the Maine Art Gallery. But we will have an opportunity to view a wide range of the photographer’s work during an Art Talk at the gallery on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 3 p.m.

A Blessing of the Animals event will be held Saturday, Oct. 5 from 2 to 4 p.m. at St. John’s Church/Cultural Center, Dresden.

Join us on the lawn outside the church for a celebration of our beloved animals. Bring those pets who enhance your life. Or a beloved stuffed toy. We will bless dogs, cats, horses, frogs, toads, snakes, gerbils, guinea pigs, sheep, cows, ducks, chickens … basically whatever you bring we will bless.

Especially suitable for children, there will be some community singing and a lot of fun.