When Sarah Perkins leaves as Alna's town clerk in late June, Deputy Town Clerk Lisa Arsenault, a familiar face at the town office and next door when it was the town office, will become clerk. Selectmen announced Arsenault's promotion after an executive, or closed door, session May 8.

Selectmen in March announced Perkins was resigning effective June 26. They said she was leaving because her farm has gotten too busy to balance with the job.

Hearty Roots is thrilled to welcome four new board members to their team: Alyssa Allen, Lisa Steele-Maley, Deborah Mills-Scofield, and Mary (Polly) Vaughan.

In the past year, MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital volunteers donated more than 8,000 hours across departments and different facilities. Their support includes greeting patients, assisting with clerical work, running errands, providing companionship and more.

But for many, including Laura Zajdel of Boothbay Harbor, volunteering is about more than just the giving of time. It’s about spreading joy and having fun.

Veggies to Table, a nonprofit farm committed to providing fresh, sustainable produce to our community, is thrilled to announce the receipt of a $1,000 check from the Damariscotta-Newcastle Rotary. This generous contribution will significantly support the farm's ongoing grow-to-donate program aimed at promoting healthy eating and food security. 

Horseshoe crabs will soon be arriving at the shores of the Damariscotta River estuary to lay their eggs. These fascinating creatures are actually not crabs at all, but are more closely related to arachnids – and they’ve existed in a similar form for over 250 million years.

Mason Station Redevelopment Co. might seek to coordinate with the town of Wiscasset on developing some of the town-owned land near Mason Station, Mason Station Redevelopment President Ryan Gahagan said. Besides that prospect, he said the company’s signed option on the former power plant is to either buy it or its owner, Mason Station, LLC.

He told selectmen March 18, the exclusive, three-year option began in August 2023.

A recipe for revolution (circa 1773): chilled saltwater, 92,000 pounds of tea. Mix.  

December 16, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded ships carrying British East India Company cargo. Over the course of three hours, the group smashed 340 chests of tea, dumping their contents into the frigid waters of Boston Harbor to protest trade restrictions. “Perhaps salt water and tea will mix tonight!” smuggler and trader John Rowe was famously quoted. 

Midcoast Conservancy is offering a one-and-a-half day Chainsaw Safety course at Hidden Valley Nature Center in Jefferson; the workshop is designed for participants who have little or no experience with a chainsaw, though it can also be an effective refresher for more experienced individuals who have developed some bad habits with a saw.

Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission (LCRPC) will facilitate a panel discussion with business support experts from APEX, CEI, SBDC, MTI, New Ventures Maine, and SCORE on Tuesday, March 11 from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. This workshop will be hybrid via zoom and in LCRPC’s conference room at 297 Bath Road in Wiscasset.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the termination of a multimillion-dollar award supporting the Maine Sea Grant this weekend. The program, overseen by UMaine, was in the second year of a roughly $4.5 million, four-year funding cycle, which was scheduled to end in 2028.      

The 2025 Windjammer Days will shine a spotlight on the dedicated individuals who have served, are serving, or are preparing to serve in one of the most respected branches of the U.S. military: the Coast Guard. From active-duty members and retired veterans to the bright future leaders currently enrolled at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, we’ll explore their personal stories, their contributions to the community, and the impact they've made on the nation's maritime security.

Ocean on Tap is an informal, ocean-centric speaker series organized by researchers from Bigelow Laboratory and hosted by Footbridge Brewery in Boothbay Harbor. Dr. Isaac Miller of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences will be speaking about what microbes eat in the sea and the cutting edge experimental methods he uses to study this from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 13.

Sales of single-family homes in Maine rose by double-digits over the past year. According to Maine Listings, Realtors reported 853 properties changed hands in January, an increase of 13.28% over January of 2024. The median sales price (MSP) reached $385,000 in January 2025—an increase of 9.07 percent compared to January 2024. The MSP indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less.

Grandfather clock sentries stand on either side of the entrance door. Crisp white walls and rich wood display cases present a wide array of nautically themed antique items. Paintings, sculpture, ship models, dioramas, nautical equipment and tools; silver, books, clocks, fishing gear, scrimshaw … it’s time to journey into the past at the new East Boothbay Trading Co.

Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission (LCRPC) will facilitate a panel discussion with business support experts from APEX, CEI, SBDC, MIT, New Ventures Maine, and SCORE on Tuesday, March 11 at 11 a.m. to noon. This workshop will be hybrid via Zoom and in LCRPC’s conference room at 297 Bath Road in Wiscasset. Hosted by LCRPC’s Economic and Community Development Planner, Alex Zipparo, this event will kick off the Business Booster Series, which will offer periodic workshops with business support service providers who are available to serve all types of businesses in Lincoln County.

In his peak seasons, Ken Elowe would build as many as 22 toboggans a year. In recent weeks, however, he’s been focused on construction oversight of three new wooden downhill racers—a project sponsored by the Carpenter’s Boat Shop and two groups of six students from Great Sale Bay School (GSB).

For Elowe and Carpenter’s it’s the second time around using tobacco-building as a teamwork-building program: A year ago, a small group of students at Maine Academy of Natural Sciences (MANS) trekked 70 miles from their Fairfield campus for the initial engagement.

Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons said Feb. 4, he had ordered work to stop on cleanup of the North Point area near the former Mason Station power plant. Simmons said the Environmental Protection Agency informed the town its grant for the work had been frozen.

“I do expect it to be unfrozen. But I don’t want to take a chance of us accumulating liabilities that we haven’t budgeted and don’t want to pay for," Simmons told selectmen. 

To celebrate our first year, we will be holding an Ocean Trivia Night on Thursday, Feb. 20, starting at 6 p.m. at Footbridge Brewery. The trivia will cover a variety of topics centered on the ocean and highlight topics discussed throughout the year. Should be a fun time to expand your fun-fact list and test your ocean knowledge!