What’s Happening in Maine this weekend: Sept 15th & 16th 2012

There are so many times that I wish I actually was super woman, capable of being in many places at one time or able to handle some serious multitasking. Most of the time that crosses my mind it’s because I’m spinning too many plates and in danger of crashing.

This time it’s due to my desire to be able to attend more than one of the fun things going on in Maine this weekend. Our state is incredibly vast in size and offerings, so choose wisely!

Portland Head Light

One of the coolest things going on is happening all over Maine. It’s Maine Lighthouse Day, this Saturday September 15^th. This is the day that some of our famous and some of our little known lighthouses are open for the day and you can visit and tour them. The U.S. Coast Guard, the State of Maine and the American Lighthouse Foundation come together to sponsor and orchestrate this event each year. If you’re into lighthouses or visiting along the coast and want to check one out, here’s where you can find information.Maine Lighthouse Day

Mt Katahdin from Sandy Stream Pond

In one of my favorite parts of the state – the Katahdin area – is a fabulous festival that starts today.  It’s the Trails End Festival.  All trails lead to Millinocket this weekend.  Mt Katahdin is the northern end of the US Appalachian Trail, or the AT.  For those who’ve hiked any portion of this trail, you know how demanding it can be and certainly could see the desire for celebration upon completion.  The Trails End Festival will offer live music, food, a parade, a chili cookoff, and also the opportunity to do some gold star earning work on the trail.  Check out the whole schedule at their website www.trailsendfestival.org

Stephen King's house in Bangor

Stephen King Fans!  This tour only takes place a few times each year and Sunday September 16^th is one of those times.  Author Stephen King lives in Bangor and over the years has set many of his novels in Maine.  This tour is a gotta-go for you if you’ve ever wondered “where in Maine is that?”  

Get on the Tommyknockers and More Bus Tour and find out. Join your guide on an air conditioned motorcoach for a tour of Bangor as seen through the books and movies of Stephen King. You'll see where Ellie saw the "Skinny Santa". You'll see the "Sematary" where Stephen King presided over the funeral of Missy Dandridge. Do you dare stop in "the Barrens"?Tickets are $20 per person. Tour is on an air conditioned motorcoach bus. All reservations must be pre-paid prior to space being confirmed. www.VisitBangorMaine.com 207.947.5205

 

Bring on the pink!  Sunday is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Bangor

The Bangor Race for the Cure is the largest 5K run/walk in the State of

Maine, drawing about 5,000 participants and raising over $250,000 for

the Komen Maine Affiliate each year.  Preregistration and t shirt pick up is at a new location this year: Broadway shopping center.  Race day registration and the race itself is on the Bangor waterfront, Broad Street and Front Street in Bangor.  Registration opens at 7:30 with the race warm up at 9:45am.  Here are the complete details:  Komen Race for the Cure Bangor

Maine Coon kittens

 Another good feeling kind of happening this weekend is the Whisker Walk to raise money for the Human Society of Knox County.  Saturday, September 15 in Harbor Park, Rockland from 9:30-2:00.  Beyond the walk and the view there will be food, fun pet contests, raffles, an agility demo, kids crafts, a bounce house, and live music.  More info here:  www.hskcme.org

 

Yet another pet related event is taking place this weekend in Biddeford.  Friday, September 14 to Sunday, September 16; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m at PetSmart in Biddeford.  National Adoption Weekend will be held in Biddeford Sept. 14-16 (Fri, Sat & Sun). The Mobile Adoption Team will visit with adoptable dogs from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday. Adoptable cats will also be at the store. Adoption counselors will be available in the store on Thursday: 5-7 p.m., Friday: 9 a.m.-Noon, Saturday: Noon-5 p.m., and Sunday: Noon-5 p.m. For more information, call Animal Welfare Society at (207) 985-3244 or PetSmart at 283-6546.  Website:animalwelfaresociety.org

Ok --- is that a ton of great stuff to do or what?  Now Go!!

Remember Vanessa: A visit to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City

She was just two years old.  On the way to bring her to my mother's so I could go to work, I had a flat tire.  Her father came to meet me and fix the tire, while I entertained a two year old by the side of a country road in Lyman Maine.  The tire fixed, I got her buckled into her car seat.  The radio came on when I started the car and its then that I heard it.  I had been listening to Imus in the Morning.  Don Imus was talking about how many people worked in the World Trade Center, how many could be affected, how many hurt.  No one knew how far reaching this was going to become. 

We all have our memories of that day.  I wasn’t born when Kennedy was shot.  I was too young when Armstrong stepped onto the moon’s surface.  I have a vague memory of Nixon’s resignation, only because my father told me that I’d read about it in my history books. 

My little daughter doesn’t remember that she was asleep on the couch when I sat with my parents in their living room and saw the south tower crumble.  I can recall my father’s long low whistle, the one he uses when he sees something incredible, natural devastation or an unfathomable horror.

Here we are, so many years later, and watching the story unfold again as the anniversary nears reminds me not only of how fortunate I am to have been able to sit safely with my parents that day, with my little girl, my vibrant, sweet, healthy little girl, asleep within sight.  I’ve been able to watch her grow up and have enjoyed the every day things with her.  I have lived my life seemingly unaffected by the day.

But aren’t we all affected?  Its not just the changes in airline regulations or the New York skyline, yet those are regular reminders.  The mindset of the world is different.  We as Americans came together to mourn and then set out for restitution.    

In August, our family vacation was off to a wonderful start.  A beautiful Saturday morning, we left Maine, heading for New York.  We had plans to visit Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and with enough time, the 9/11 Memorial site.  We found out that although free to visit, you must make reservations to enter the grounds.  We took to ferry from Liberty Island to Battery Park and walked the few blocks to the site.  The line to enter the Memorial wound around and through several security checkpoints.  Once cleared, the clamoring of the crowd in line was hushed in reverence.  Entering the park like setting is unsettling in a way.  How can one person possibly absorb everything this space means?  The waterfalls that mark the footprints of the buildings seem to have been designed so that no matter how tall, a human cannot see the bottom of the falls.  It just pours endlessly.  I think that the sound of rushing water is an appropriate diversion from the sounds of the city around it.  How else to create a silence of sorts?  Piped in music would not have worked here.  Who could decide what would play?  What is right for one is not for another. 

We walked around and read names.  Someone had left flowers near one of the victims names.  It made me wonder whether that was a regular occurrence, whether somewhere in a room at the Port Authority offices, there is a collection of items left in remembrance.  

The names of all of the victims who were killed that day are there; the people in the buildings and those who went in to save them, those in the Pentagon and those killed in Pennsylvania.  Some of the names sounded familiar; perhaps they had been singled out for their actions or their strength. 

The names that made me stop and take a breath were trailed by “and her unborn child”, like this one.  Many women died here.  Many of them were mothers.  None so clear to me as those women. 

Maybe to me, it helps to find one story to focus on in this post.  This is what I found out about one of the women who died “and her unborn child.” 

 Vanessa Lang Langer was 29 years old and from Yonkers, NY. (Born: Bronx, New York). Vanessa worked for Regus Plc on the 93rd floor in the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

On September 11, 2001, Vanessa, who was four months pregnant, escaped from the South Tower. However, her quest for survival had fallen short. She ran as the South Tower collapsed. She did not make it. Her body, and in it the small body of her unborn child, was pulled from the rubble of the fallen tower on September 24th, just ten feet from an alley between Towers IV and V.

Vanessa's husband, Tim, fell into a spiral of alcohol abuse after the death of his wife and unborn child. He died of liver failure in 2005. He was 34.

The phrase "and her unborn child" follows the names of the expectant mothers -- who also include Monica Rodriguez Smith, 35, of Seaford, who was working her last day before maternity leave when she was killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and that of Jennifer L. Howley, 34, of New Hyde Park, who was expecting her first child in January 2002 when she died in the towers.

Vanessa’s story is so sad in so many ways.  Not only was she killed as she was so close to escaping, the story goes on to destroy her husband as well, years later.  Vanessa’s mother has been a vocal advocate for the 9/11 commission and investigation of the disaster.  How far does the web of pain thread in her family, amongst her friends?  What might her child have gone on to do in his life?  How would this world be different?

Today let’s honor Vanessa, her child and her husband for all that might have been.

What's Happening in Maine this weekend . . . Pirates, Wheels, Seaplanes, Dark Skies and Ducks

Wheels on the Waterfront in Bangor this weekend!

Listen up people!  This is a great weekend to be in Maine, especially in my neck of the woods (channeling Al Roker here). 

So, let’s start here, in the Greater Bangor, Maine area:

 

1                    Wheels on the Waterfront – the Greater Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau is again hosting the Bangor Car Show.  Having more than doubled last year’s entrants at this point, this show is gearing up to be a spectacular event.  It’s not too late to get in on the action either.  The weather’s looking good with plenty of blue sky and sunshine to showcase this collection of chrome and attitude.  Visit the CVB’s website for details:   Bangor Car Show

    

2                    15^th Annual Bangor Rubber Duck Race - The Rubber Duck Race is an exciting family and community event. The rubber ducks will dive off the footbridge behind the Pickering Square Garage and float to the finish line at the Central St. Bridge. Sponsors of the winning ducks will win one of several great prizes and there will also be a special prize for the last duck to cross the finish line. Come join the fun and cheer on your duck! You can participate by sponsoring one or more ducks. The sponsors of the winning ducks do not need to be present to receive a prize. Sponsorship forms are available at Good Samaritan Agency, and several greater Bangor area locations, or by calling Duck Central at 942-7211, you can also get your tickets at the race on Saturday. Proceeds from the 15th Annual Bangor Rubber Duck Race will support Good Samaritan Agency’s services for single parents, our childcare center and adoption program.  More info here: Bangor Runner Duck Race

 

3                    39^th Annual International Seaplane Fly In – in Greenville on and around Moosehead Lake, the Seaplane Fly In brings thousands of flying enthusiasts and spectators to the region.  Raising funds to sponsor aviation education, the event is also a feel good opportunity to help carry on the traditions.  Bring your chairs, binoculars, cameras, good spirit and love of flying to this little town on the south shore of Moosehead Lake.  You can find more info here:  Seaplanefly-in.org

Tall ships

 4                    Argh!  The Eastport Pirate Festival  is also happening this weekend in Maine.  Come in costume.  Come ready to have fun.  Just come.  This three day weekend event begins today.  Tall ships, Thieves Market with specials, parades, kids games, an Old Sow Pig Roast dinner, Cannon lessons, and Pirate and Wench parties all over town, this is a well organized good humored good time.  Bonus is the visit to the Lubec and Eastport area!  

5                    The MaineStarlight Festival .  It’s easy to take the dark skies for granted here in Maine.  We tend to forget that in many places in the world, light pollution obscures the stars.  There’s a small stillness that you feel when you see that huge expanse of deep dark night sky.  This event is a coordinated effort all over the state and goes on from today, September 7^th until September 16^th.  Check out the website for details, schedule and inspiration.

   

6                    Harvest Hoot 2012 in Camden - A full day of fun for the whole family on the mountainside at the Camden Snow Bowl. Four live bands......Kelly Parker Band, Jerks of Grass, Three Button Deluxe, Everard Dodge...Grammy-nominated children's entertainer, Judy Pancoast and tons of children's activities.  Local food vendors, chair lifts open all day.  Barefoot on the grass, great music and food - a blast for adults and kids!  

Garlic & Press

 

7                    MDI Garlic Festival -  More than 800 people attend the Mt. DesertIsland Garlic Festival. Held at the Smugglers Den Campground, in Southwest Harbor, the 14th annual event will feature local restaurants, musicians, brewers and garlic growers.

If you can’t find something to do in Maine this weekend . . . you’re clearly not looking hard enough!  Late summer is clear, cool, and dry here and perfect time to visit.  Check out a festival, try something new, explore this fabulous state, and keep coming back.  If you live here, all the better!  Get out and support your communities.  Meet some new people.  Encourage visitors!  All boats rise with the tide so when we share our state with others, we all benefit.  Come and spend the day, spend the weekend, enjoy Maine. 

“Everything is so superb and breathtaking. I am creeping forward on my belly like they do in war movies.”
-Diane Arbus

Good Times Review: The Big E, West Springfield MA

Agricultural art is only the start of what you'll find at the Big E.

 

The road that leads through the Big E

Here it comes, folks!  Each year in West Springfield Massachusetts, the Eastern States Exposition, affectionately known as The Big E, consumes 17 days of life in that part of the state.  Self dubbed “New England’s Grandest Fair” the Big E is a BIG DEAL.  While open for business for those 17 days, the preparation for this fair goes on all year long.  With full time staff and specialized buildings on the grounds, the actual fair days are the culmination of hard work done by so many people that you can almost sense a cumulative sigh of relief at the end of day 17. 

This year’s Big E beings on September 14^th and ends September 30^th.  Tradition rules here.  Each of the six New England states has its own building on the Avenue of States.  The buildings are bona fide brick and mortar replicas of each state’s original state building.  Inside, the state’s finest products and places are celebrated.  There are of course the things you would expect from each state, based on its history and lore, like maple products in the Vermont building and clam chowdah in the Massachusetts building.  There are also many vendors whose products stretch your perception of their state.  In the Connecticut building last year, I had some crunchy, cheesy, savory brick oven pizza.  The guys set up behind the New Hampshire building had the best kettle corn on the avenue.  I tasted lobster ravioli in Massachusetts and bought some really cool pottery in Vermont. 

Vermont pottery

Each state’s building also has tourism information.  That’s where I come in.  I went to the Big E last year for my tourism work, spending the better part of two weeks there in the Maine building.  I’m not sure that this is the case for all the states, but the Maine building is operated by our Department of Agriculture.  This is a true agricultural fair, as I’ll show you later on.  The Maine building’s vendors had products that included our traditional lobster rolls, whoopee pies, blueberry cobbler, and what I think is the biggest food hit of all, the baked Maine potato.  My organization’s booth was set up across from the potatoes and the line to get one was out the side door the entire time.  The line was so long, and the tradition of getting a Maine baked potato so entrenched, that the building operators have had to add a queuing area outside, complete with an awning for protection from rain and sun.  you can get that potato covered with sour cream, bacon, cheese, chives, or loaded with all of them.  Smoked salmon on a stick was also available.  Fine art paintings and beautiful silver jewelry could be yours, too.  

The Maine building on the Avenue of States

The buildings house specialties from each New England State, like lobster rolls in Maine.

The fair has special events and parades every day.  Each state gets a day of its own, and then there are days that salute the local towns, Agawam, Westfield, Springfield and Chicopee.  4H day, Harvest New England Day, Salute to Girl Scouts are planned for this year. 

 

As you would expect with an agricultural fair, there are the animals.  The animals come with their people, the kids and teens who work all year to be able to show here.  Cows, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, the whole barnyard is a-coming.  I went into the Mallary Complex last year and was simply stunned at the number of goats in the building.  Rows upon rows of pens with little goats and big goats, some shorn, others not, the sounds of their rustling and communication just deafening, each of them sporting some insignia or ribbon to announce their success.  Apparently, that was when the goat competitions were scheduled.  In the next days, the animals and the people changed over in a smooth transition. 

looks cozy huh?

Room for the whole barnyard!

Another part of the agricultural aspect of this fair is the produce.  This is where you can check out the giant pumpkins and blue ribbon winning berry pies.  I’m not sure exactly what the competition is built around, but there are beautiful presentations of garden vegetables.  Gorgeous fanned peppers balanced with purple skinned new potatoes and wedged in with bright carrots, the displays are art, or as I like to refer to it, food porn.

Here are a few of the photos I took at last year’s fair:  

Chicks hatching with supervision

Piglets born at the fair

A big winner

 More agricultural art:

Buildings on the grounds, such as the Better Living Center and the New England Center have demonstrations and crafts, gadgets and bargains.  There’s a Super Circus, an Auto show, a petting zoo, and you can even check out a butter sculpture.  There is so much to see and take in, you’ve got to plan at least a whole day. 

And I haven’t even touched on the food . .  yet.  Let’s just go with this:  Deep . . . Fried . . things I didn’t even think you would fry.  Now of course I’ve seen or heard of or tried quite a few deep fried things in my life.  There are things here that I need to study further, like deep fried – get this – kool aid.  Deep fried – yep – BUTTER.  How do they do that?  Okay, so not in the mood for fried food?  How about barbeque or dessert?  The Big E has two historically significant desserts – the crème puff and the éclair.  I’m not sure how they came to be such traditional treats here but the lines for them make it clear that they’re fabulous.  Put them on my list for this year’s fair food.

The Big E also has a never ending midway, with games and rides, and each year brings in some big names for concerts at the Comcast Arena Stage.  This year’s stars are Billy Currington, Jeff Dunham, and Alan Jackson. 

I’ve used the word “tradition” a lot in this post.  I’ve done that on purpose because tradition here goes way beyond the fair’s events and other draws.  What I’ve found, from the years I lived in southern New England to the discussions I had with people at last years show, going to the Big E is a tradition in itself for many families.  People take vacation days and plan family reunions around this fair.  I heard lots of “oh I’ve got to get my baked potato” like the day wouldn’t be complete without it or without seeing the butter sculpture or getting a crème puff or visiting the Maine building just for a whiff of home (I did that!) or participating in the parades or working the parking lots or spending too much money and buying things you don’t need (I did that, too) but having a great time while you’re there.

SO GO!  Spend the day at the Big E.  Come to the Maine building and say hi when you’re in line for that baked potato, too!  Make it a tradition for your family.  Schedules, daily events, and lots of fun can be found at www.thebige.com

In Maine this weekend: Summer’s Last Hurrah

 It’s Friday afternoon and you’ve got the whole long holiday weekend ahead of you.  Got any plans?  It IS kind of the end of summer.  Kids have or are soon going back to school.  The weather forecast actually used the word “crisp” to describe the weather a couple of days earlier in the week.  And there’s absolutely no chance of being able to shop for cargo shorts or air conditioners, even if it’s supposed to reach ninety degrees tomorrow.  Nope.  The “seasonal” aisle at the supermarket is chock full of Halloween candy.  I know, I was there yesterday looking for a bag of freeze pops (not yet frozen) and had to traverse multiple aisles with a laden shopping cart, only to find one bag – ONE bag sitting alone on a sad low shelf near the juices and baby formula. 

But I digress.

What I’m getting at it that with so many obvious signals, it’s clear that we’re at summer’s end.  So what are you going to do about it?  I say cling to the last vestiges of summer while you can! 

Baseball games.  Campfires.  Watermelon.  It’s your last chance to do it all! 

So with this post – my first after a few weeks vacation that will lead to many, many more posts – I’m going to tell you about a few places to go if you’re in or near Maine and want to do what my daughter claims is the BEST of all summertime activities:  SWIM!

For her it’s about the swimming – for hours – for me its about the leisure and relaxation of having my toes in the sand, a good book in my lap, some Coppertone sunscreen wafting through the air, and a cooler packed with a selection of goodies to last the whole day. 

Here are some of my favorite spots for all of that:

1.                  I’ve told you about Old Orchard Beach in the past but want to remind you that the ocean water has finally warmed up and you can actually swim in it and despite its carnival atmosphere really is a beautiful beach.  I recommend going to the left or east of the downtown area.  The sand is powdery soft and the beach is wide.  The crowds of the pier area are disbursed and you can find some space.  Plus, when you need a walk, you can walk downtown and get you and your kids some idea cream or deep fried something.  

East of the pier in Old Orchard Beach

2.                  Here’s a place that I’m really hesitating to expose to the world.  I’m not sure how many Long Ponds there are in Maine.  It seems to be a common descriptive name for a pond.  The one I’m talking about is in Parsonsfield, which is in the western part of Maine, near the New Hampshire border.  Find Route 5 that goes through Dayton, Waterboro, and heads into Cornish.  Tell your GPS to search for “The Road between the Ponds” (really is the name) in Parsonsfield/North Parsonsfield.  There’s West Pond and there’s Long Pond.  I grew up going to Long Pond.  Somewhere back in my family history there was a camp there, on the eastern shore, but that’s long gone.  We had family reunions there and lots of great times.  What you’re looking for is a section of the pine enshrouded road where there’s a stone wall, a blocked entryway, and lots of cars parked for no good reason.  Go through the entryway and follow the path that leads to the water.  Note the signs that tell you you’re on the property of the West End Camp.  They’re cool with visitors.   

It's about the water at Long Pond.

 The beach there maxes out at about 5 feet at its widest.  You’re not there for the beach.  What you’re there for is the water.  They say it’s a spring fed pond which would account for the clarity but the best part is that it’s so shallow and for a lonnngggg way out it remains so.  You can plunk your chairs in the ankle deep water and watch the kids play ball or Frisbee in the knee deep water.  You can wade out – out – out and still only be up to your waist.  Being so shallow allows for it to warm up relatively fast in the summer sun.  It’s like bathwater sometimes.  So now that I’ve let you in on this one, do me one favor:  don’t trash the place.  Don’t make the property owners have to close access to the beach.  Go and spend the day and make great memories with your family and enjoy it, but let’s keep it our little secret.  

Clear, shallow water at Long Pond Parsonsfield, ME

3.                  Ok, one last one before I wrap it up for today.  This is a new thing in Brewer.  A while back, a place opened in Bangor called The Maine Jump, filled with bounce houses and other bouncy things for little kids to go and jump their little buns off.  Seeing its success, Playland Adventures opened in Brewer on Wilson Street.  It’s across from Dairy Queen (which comes in handy) and is housed in a former soda distributor’s warehouse space.  This is a bounce and activity place that can handle the older kids and adults.  If you’ve got tweens or teens just itchin to get out of the house and play rough, this is the place for you.  The cost for the Bounce Zone is $15.00 for the day or whatever amount of hours you choose.  Giant inflated boxing ring and boxing gloves so the kids and bop each other around, human bowling, some air filled knock each other over with a wrecking ball kind of thing, it’s great fun for everyone.  They also have teen night.  Ages 12 – 18  can go from 8 – midnight every Saturday night for $10.00.  Why am I telling you this in a post about summer water fun?   

In Brewer, Playland Adventure's Splash Zone

Because outside Playland Adventures they’ve set up other inflated things for kids to play on that are either spraying with water, plunk you in water, or slide you through water.  It’s called the Splash Zone and is an extra $4.00 on the day pass and is a ton of fun on a hot day.  Slide, slips, splashes.  Here’s their website for more photos and details:  Playland Adventures

So enough out of me for today.  All this writing about summer fun, I’ve got to get outside!  Enjoy your summer folks!