Issue for February 13, 2025
Variety store in China Village celebrates grand opening
China’s newest specialty store & deli, China Lake Provisions, is hosting its official grand opening this weekend. Located in China Village near the Post Office, the store is having a ribbon cutting ceremony this Friday, February 14th at 3:30pm. The celebration coincides with the China Lake Fishing Derby and all community members are invited to join the festivities and explore the new store’s offerings! They plan to be open for business at 7:30am on Derby Day… by Gillian Lalime
Town News
Select board reviews manager’s budget draft
VASSALBORO – Vassalboro select board members held their first review of Town Manager Aaron Miller’s draft 2025-26 town budget at a Feb. 4 workshop meeting. They went through the document category by category and frequently line by line…
Planners approve new 7-lot subdivision on Seaward Mills Road
VASSALBORO – Vassalboro Planning Board members unanimously approved a new seven-lot subdivision on Seaward Mills Road at their Feb. 4 meeting…
Select board discourages two residents asking for town expenditures
CHINA – At their Feb. 10 meeting, China select board members discouraged two residents recommending town expenditures…
Area scouts earn merit badges at badge college
AUGUSTA — Scouting America, formerly the Boy Scouts of America, turned 115 years old on February 8. Scouts from central, western and southern Maine celebrated by doing something Scouts have done since the program began. – they earned merit badges… by Chuck Mahaleris
Winter greetings from SymmeTree Arborist
VASSALBORO — Gosh it feels nice to have a protective and insulative layer of snow on the ground. We hope you have been staying safe and warm during these winter months. This time of year, cozied up by our woodstoves or taking long walks through the woods, we begin to remember the cold season of trees and the transformations they, too, experience…
Students at Winslow inspired to start first unified cheerleading team
WINSLOW — When a group of special needs students at Winslow High School expressed interest in being cheerleaders, senior Adeline “Addie” Blackstone decided to make it happen. With full backing by school administration, a commitment by 13 of her fellow Winslow varsity cheerleaders to be mentors, and financial support from the ShineOnCass Foundation, Coach Addie is now leading the school’s first Winslow Unified Cheer Team… by Monica Charette
EVENTS: China Ice Fishing events – February 14-16
CHINA — Listing of events for China Ice Fishing weekend.
PHOTO: Champions
OAKLAND — Messalonskee boys grades 3/4 travel team won an absolute thriller on Sunday. Playing Corinna in the championship game, the Eagles went to sudden death overtime.
Area students named to president’s list at Plymouth State
CENTRAL ME — Area students named to the Plymouth State University president’s list for the Fall 2024 semester, in Plymouth, New Hampshire. They are Kaiden Kelley, Art and Design major, of South China, Dylan Flewelling, Exercise and Sport Physiology major, of Oakland, Sidney Hatch, Social Work major, of Oakland, and Riley Johnson, Psychology major, of Windsor.
Oak Grove School Foundation offers grants
CENTRAL ME — The Oak Grove School Foundation is accepting applications for grants to support the education and cultural needs of students and non profit organizations in the greater Central Maine area…
Name that film!
Identify the film in which this famous line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to The Maine Film Center, in Waterville: “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is March 6, 2025.
Local happenings
EVENTS: Shakespearean Homeschoolers to present The Merry Wives of Windsor this weekend
MONMOUTH – This year the Southern Maine Association of Shakespearean Homeschoolers (S.M.A.S.H.) is performing The Merry Wives of Windsor…There are two performances left 6:30 p.m., on February 14, and 2 p.m., on February 15, at Cumston Hall… by Abigail Maxwell
EVENTS: Lincoln County Historical Association offers heritage craft workshops
WISCASSET – During the month of March, Lincoln County Historical Association’s education outreach program will offer a series of heritage craft workshops. The workshops will be held on March 2, 16, and 30 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. They will feature stenciling on canvas, basketry, hand brooms, and foil art. The program is generously supported by a grant from the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust…
EVENTS: Palermo planning board postpones meeting
PALERMO – The Palermo Planning Board meeting, schedule for Thursday, February 13, 2025, at the Palermo Town Office, at 6 pm., the purpose to conduct official review of plans for the proposed Pine Hill subdivision on Hostile Valley Road, Tax Map R11, Lot 27C, has been postponed.
EVENTS: Gene Letourneau ice fishing tourney on tap for Sunday
WATERVILLE – The Annual Gene & Lucille Letourneau Ice Fishing Derby will take place on Sunday, February 16, at the Muskie Community Center, 38 Gold Street, in Waterville, as a fundraiser for Spectrum Generations (Meals on Wheels)…
EVENTS: Waterville Historical Society monthly history talk on Ed Muskie
WATERVILLE – February’s history talk is on the road, just a few streets away at 38 Gold Street, Waterville, at the Muskie Community Center of Spectrum Generations! It is a fitting place since this will be about Edmund S. Muskie…
EVENTS: The Waterville Opera House raises the curtain on its 2025 season with The Cottage
WATERVILLE – The Waterville Opera House (WOH) kicks off its 2025 theatrical season January 31 – February 9, with The Cottage, a hilarious new comedy by Sandy Rustin…
EVENTS: Erskine Academy to host 8th grade open house
CHINA – Erskine Academy invites all eighth-grade students and their parents from the surrounding communities to attend the 8th Grade Open House, on Wednesday, February 26, at 6:30 p.m., in the gym…
CALENDAR OF EVENTS: So. China library to hold open house
CHINA – The South China Public Library will hold a free open house on Wednesday, February 19, from 10 a.m. – noon, at 27 Jones Road… and many other local events!
Obituaries
SIDNEY – Ginna Dix, 48, of Sidney, died unexpectedly on Saturday, February 1, 2025, at Maine Medical Center, in Portland. She was born in Augusta on November 7, 1976, the daughter of Wayne Flagg and Nanci Stitt Kittredge…
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Palermo elementary schools (new)
PALERMO HISTORY — The Town of Palermo’s first settlers arrived around 1776 or 1777. By 1778 the area was called Great Pond Settlement, because, Milton Dowe explained in his 1954 history, it was “near the Sheepscot Great Pond,” now 1,193-acre Sheepscot Lake (the third largest in Waldo County, according to state data last reviewed in 1992)…. by Mary Grow
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Albion schools
ALBION HISTORY — The Town of Albion, north of China and east of Winslow, had half a dozen European families by 1790, according to Henry Kingsbury’s Kennebec County history. The area, including until 1818 the north end of present-day China, was organized as Freetown Plantation in 1802… by Mary Grow
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: China High Schools – part 2
CHINA HISTORY — Yet another private high school in China, Erskine Academy, opened in September 1883 and is thriving today. The China bicentennial history gives a detailed account of its origins: it became a private academy because China voters at the beginning of the 1880s refused to accept donated money for a public high school… by Mary Grow
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: China High Schools – part 1
CHINA HISTORY — The Town of China had five high schools at various times in the 19th century. The one in China Village lasted into the 20th century; Erskine Academy in South China (next week’s topic) was founded in 1883 and is thriving in 2025… by Mary Grow
Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!
DEADLINE: Wednesday, February 13, 2025
Identify the people in these three photos, and tell us what they have in common. You could win a $10 gift certificate to Hannaford Supermarket! Email your answer to townline@townline.org or through our Contact page. Include your name and address with your answer. Use “Common Ground” in the subject!
Previous winner: Nichole Bilodeau, W. Gardiner
Town Line Original Columnists
SCORES & OUTDOORS
by Roland D. Hallee | While pulling my car out of the garage the other morning, I noticed three robins in a tree across the street. What is more inspiring than seeing that first robin of the spring?…
REVIEW POTPOURRI
by Peter Cates | The 1987 Maine Speaks anthology contains what has elsewhere been often considered the most famous 20th century short story from our Pine Tree State – The Ledge, by Lawrence Sargent Hall (1915-1993)….