The Best of All Things Irish in Maine 2020, a live virtual show featuring a delightful mix of all things Irish in Maine, will be held on Sunday, November 22, from 4 – 6 p.m. on YouTube.
Enjoy some of the best Irish talent from across the state of Maine. Music, dance, theater and more. Go to maineirish.com/best to register for the event. Help celebrate Maine’s bicentennial by honoring the Irish culture and history of the state.
The Vassalboro Business Association is sponsoring a Light Up The Season in Vassalboro outdoor holiday display contest, for and in Vassalboro.
To enter simply call or text your name and the address of the display site to 631-3303 or email the information to lindatitus@hotmail.com, before December 15. It is free.
Prizes will be awarded in two categories, Best in Town, and Most Creative. The prizes will range from $50 – $150 and the winners will be announced on December 19.
The sites will be judged between December 16 and 18. It is asked to have your lights on from 5:30 – 9 p.m. Only addresses – no names – of the participants will be published online so the community may drive by to appreciate all your hard work.
Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District is holding a pie sale and fundraising raffle in conjunction with their first virtual awards celebration on November 10. All are invited to pre-order a pie or purchase raffle tickets for great prizes, whether attending the awards celebration or not.
Raffle tickets are $1.50 each or $6 for five and must be purchased by Sunday, November 8. Local businesses and organizations have donated the following prizes:
ReVision Energy Gift Basket: Gift Basket includes $500 gift certificate toward a solar array from a local, employee-owned full-service solar company with in-house engineers, highly-qualified and experienced solar installers, and a dedicated support team with 24/7 emergency service. Retail value: $550
Hidden Valley Nature Center Overnight: Spring, summer, fall or winter – spend the night at one of HVNC’s wilderness yurts or lakeside cabins complete with woodstove, wood and outhouse. Bring sleeping bags, food and water to enjoy “getting away from it all” so close to home. Retail value: $60 – $80
Mystic Woodworks Cutting Boards: Beautiful and functional, these boards have been locally-made in Warren for 30 years. Mystic Woodworks has closed, so this is your last chance for one of these beauties. Each board is 7″ x 16″, not including the handle. Take your pick of maple/walnut or oak/walnut. Retail value: $62 each
Knox-Lincoln SWCD 2021 Plant Sale Gift Certificate: Choose from more than 200 varieties of fruit trees, berries, native trees & shrubs, and organically grown native perennials. Our 2021 sale will be pre-order only with scheduled curbside pick-up at Union Fairgrounds on May 8, 2021. Catalog and certificate will be mailed in January. Retail value: $50
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Family Membership: Membership for two adults & children/grandchildren in the same household includes one year admission to CMBG and other botanical gardens, member discounts to events, programs and the Garden Shop, and lots more: Retail value: $100
Sasanoa Brewing Gift Basket: Sasanoa is a rustic, coastal brewery and one of the few certified organic breweries in the US. The beers & ales are made with certified OG fruit, herbs, nuts, NE sourced grains & hops, as well as wild foraged ingredients.
Nine varieties of freshly baked, homemade pie will be available from D-Zerts by Daphne, of Westport Island. Your choice of Apple, Apple-Cran-Raisin, Blueberry, Four-Berry, Peach-Blackberry, Peach-Blueberry, Peach-Raspberry, Pecan and Tollhouse. Pies are $17 each and must be pre-ordered by Tuesday, November 3, for pickup on Monday, November 9, in either Rockport or Edgecomb.
All prices for tickets and pies include tax and processing fees. For more information and to purchase raffle tickets and place pie orders, visit our website at www.knox-lincoln.org/pie-raffle-tickets, call 596-2040 or email julie@knox-lincoln.org.
The Alfond Youth and Community Center, North St., Waterville, will host a Drive Thru Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, November 21, from 1 – 3 p.m. in the AYCC parking lot.
The dinner is open to everyone in the community. Simply drive up and tell one of the happy volunteers how many meals you want – then enjoy!
There will be 800 individually-packaged meals handed out.
Feast Fixings to Go will be held on Thursday and Friday, November 19-20. These will be available at the Alfond Youth and Community Center’s after school program youth in Waterville, at the Fairfield Community Center and RSU #18 Williams and Atkins.
Thanks to the generous support of Central Maine Motors, youth will be taking home the ingredients for their respective families to cook a full Thanksgiving dinner, including the frozen turkey!
A trunk or treat drive through sights and sounds spectacular will be held at the China Regional Church of the Nazarene, at 898 Rte. 3, in South China, on Saturday, October 31, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Come and safely enjoy a drive through adventure featuring lots of sights, candy, and an early visit from Santa. Candy is being packed with gloves and masks on. This is not a school-sponsored event.
Shawn O’Leary
Shawn O’Leary, retired Winslow chief of police, and executive vice president of Dirigo Safety will deliver a presentation discussing the importance of preparation of your business for an active shooter threat or incident. He will cover requirements under OSHA and important safety training tips to include in emergency action planning.
O’Leary adds: “Active shooter training is one of several proactive steps organizations can take to prepare employees and managers to respond appropriately to an active shooter incident. While the likelihood of an active shooter event is rare, all employees should know how to recognize the signs of potential violence and what their role is during an active shooter situation. Active shooter training strengthens and reinforces an organization’s emergency action plan and can help reduce the risk of an incident occurring.”
This informative presentation will be the focus at Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce’s November Business Breakfast. This month’s breakfast will be held on Thursday, November 12, from 7:15 to 9 a.m. in the Waterville Country Club Banquet Room, at 39 Country Club Road, in Oakland.
Shawn O’Leary’s career has included time with the Brunswick Police Department, where he eventually retired as a patrol lieutenant; the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, and as leader of the Criminal Investigations Division that handles all major criminal cases. O’Leary served as the Chief of Police for the Town of Winslow from 2014 until his retirement from full time law enforcement in July 2020.
Shawn is now the executive vice president of Dirigo Safety, where he oversees daily operations of law enforcement training and executive services and manages all workplace safety components, including training, onsite security assessments, and security consulting.
Shawn holds an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice, a Bachelor’s Degree with honors in Business Management with a minor in Human Resource Management, and is a graduate of the prestigious Senior Executive School of the FBI National Academy.
Some items regarding CDC guidelines for attendance: out of concern for the safety of attendees, registrations at this indoor event will be limited to a maximum of 50 persons. Tables and seating will be spaced out, and a plated breakfast will be provided, as opposed to the buffet offered in the past. Masks are requested to be worn for registration, and until seated. Separate entrance and exits are offered to minimize passage of attendees, upon arrival and departure, and hand sanitizer will be provided.
by Jeanne Marquis
Raigen Messier York, organizer
There aren’t many groups of people more resourceful than parents of school-age kids, except maybe crafters. It’s the resourcefulness of parents and crafters that’s making the 41st Annual China Maine Craft Show possible this year. Raigen Messier York and Melissa Clement, both of the China Schools PTO recreated the fair experience online, bringing crafters and consumers, together at ChinaMaineCraftSho.wixsite.com, from October 7 to November 7.
The craft show has been a major fundraiser for the China Schools PTO for over four decades supporting their programs. All the money raised by the craft show fund school events, educational materials and field trips. Local and regional crafters have also come to depend on the annual income from sales at the craft fair so they return year after year. The concern about Covid could have derailed plans for the 41st fair until the leaders the PTO thought out-of-the-box to go all online.
Crafters who participate receive their own page to display images of their handmade products. Purchases will be made directly through the crafter by their preferred method of communication as indicated on their page. Organizers encourage visitors to the site to visit frequently as they expect more crafters to come onboard through the duration of the show.
Crafters include:
Seaglass Creations – Creates wind chimes, mirrors, jewelry and key rings from seaglass collected from the Maine coast.
Cindy’s Quilting Connection – Offers table runners, snowmen, wall hanging, mini-duffles, and pot holders in beautiful fabrics.
Cedar Post Farm – Makes homemade, naturally based body care products including goat milk soap, lotions, scrubs and bath bombs.
Sandy Messier Designs – Sews new life into recycled denim and sweaters by creating ornaments, wreaths, teddy bears, tote bags and pouches.
Kaleidoscope Beadwork – Designs jewelry full of color and whimsy from beadwork and polymer clay.
Raffle baskets are on display on the China Maine Craft Show website. The photos will be updated regularly as new baskets are donated. Raffle basket tickets are $1 or 6 tickets for $5. Raffle tickets will be on sale through November 7, 2 p.m. To purchase tickets, contact BasketsPTO@gmail.com. The drawing date is November 7, 2020, at 4 p.m., on Facebook Live, from the China Maine Craft Show page.
Melissa Clement, who has run the Basket Raffle for the past three years, explained, “I have two daughters, a seventh grader and a kindergartner. I am thankful for the chance to give back to the school community; increase involvement between the parents, students and staff; and have fun doing it.”
The Maine Film Center continues its new virtual series, “Cinema in Conversation,” where filmmakers, film experts, policymakers, and journalists from around the world converge on Zoom to discuss important films with the community.
The next event in the “Cinema in Conversation” series will take place on Sunday, October 18 at 2:00 p.m., and will be led by filmmakers Anna-Sophia Richards and Astrid Schäfer (IN MY SKIN), and founder/president of Finding Our Voices Patrisha McLean (producer, “Women in Windows”). Both films address the issue of domestic violence and will bring Domestic Violence Awareness Month into focus. To view the films and register for the discussion, visit RailroadSquareCinema.com. The screening cost is $10 for both films, and proceeds will be split with the filmmakers.
Made in Germany, IN MY SKIN (72 minutes) asks, “Why do women stay in violent relationships even when they have been abused for a long time?” The film chronicles the experiences of the daily lives of three women with different backgrounds as the camera takes on their point of view. We hear their thoughts and suffer with them as they struggle to become more independent and break free. Based on true events, all voice-over texts were taken from interviews with the portrayed women.
WOMEN IN WINDOWS (7 minutes) is a portrait of domestic violence in our own Maine community. As COVID-19 took hold, domestic violence started to spike. The non-profit Finding Our Voices responded with “Women in Windows”: a campaign of huge (2′ x 4′) banners in the windows of 70 downtown businesses in Midcoast Maine, each featuring one of 25 Maine Survivors of domestic abuse, a nod to the abuse and the woman’s transcendence of it, and the local domestic violence hotline phone number: Getting word to women trapped more than ever with angry and controlling family members: “You are not alone” and “There is help out there.” Award-winning film director Daniel Quintanilla captures and preserves this campaign, now touring the state, in this seven-minute film that has a woman taking in the actual words of the actual women in a drive through town, inspiring her own coming out of the darkness and into the light.
A slate of discussions over the coming months will consider a wide range of films: LA LLORONA (dir. Jayro Bustamante, 2019), BIG NIGHT (dir. Stanley Tucci, 1996), and CODED BIAS (dir. Shalini Kantayya, 2020). Each discussion will be led by either the filmmaker or a film expert.
A turkey pie sale, curbside only, will be held at the back entrance of the Madison American Legion Hall, on Saturday, November 7, 2020, from 3 to 6 p.m., at 20 S. Maple Street. Each pie is $10, and pre-orders are encouraged, call Charlotte at 696-3375 by October 30. For every purchase, your name will go into a drawing. Proceeds to benefit the local food cupboards. FMI: call Charlotte at 696-3375 or Harriet at 635-2051.
This event is hosted by Tardiff-Belanger American Legion Auxiliary, Unit #39, Madison.
Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village.
The China Library Association invites China residents to a virtual candidates’ forum hosted by the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library, China Village. The ZOOM event will take place on Sunday, October 18, 2020, at 2 p.m.
Dr. Louisa Bernhardt, vice president of the library’s board of directors, will interview the five candidates running for three positions on the China Board of Selectmen, providing an opportunity for voters to become better acquainted with their platforms.
Capacity limit is 100 for the live ZOOM event; however, the forum will be recorded for others to view online at their convenience. Access to the log-in link for the live and recorded event will be available on the library website at chinalibrary.org. Interested residents are invited to send potential questions for consideration to chinalibraryacb@gmail.com. Please submit your questions by 6 p.m., October 16.