Summer Traditions and Patriotic Legacies

by Esther J. Perne

Where water, woods and close communities are the fabric of the region; where outdoor recreation, appreciation of nature and a relaxed pace are the lifestyle of the summer; where independence, survival and self sufficiency drive local lifestyles, the 4^th of July, the traditions of the day and the rewards of the long holiday weekend are the high point and the best part of summer.

Flags and music, parades and picnics, food, fun and family togetherness and all the rites of celebration will be widely available this July 4 in central Maine. These celebrations are family-oriented events, wholesome, safe, good fun, and a short destination drive. Most of the programs include children’s activities and contests. The locations are near waterways, rivers, streams or lakes — reminders of the reasons to celebrate independence in this beautiful part of the world and reminders that it’s possible to attend a 4^th of July celebration and enjoy the recreation of the region, too.

And, for a finale, there will be fireworks. In 1776, early in the Revolutionary War, the United States declared its independence from England and celebrated with fireworks. The tradition continues … a celebration of independence, and a celebration of summer.

Atlantic Music Festival Offers Free Classical Concerts

by Gregor Smith

The Atlantic Music Festival will launch its eighth season on Saturday, July 2, with renditions by the AMF Orchestra of Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and Mozart’s final symphony, # 41 ("Jupiter"). Conducted by Maestro David Amado, music director of the Delaware Symphony and an AMF favorite, this free concert will, like the majority of AMF performances, take place in Colby College’s Lorimer Chapel and will begin at 7:00. The orchestra will also perform on July 16 and July 23.

After that first orchestral concert, the next scheduled performance will be a chamber music recital on Wednesday, July 6. From that point on, there will a concert or recital nearly every evening — and some afternoons too — through Saturday, July 23. There will be around two dozen performances during the festival, all at Colby College and all with free admission.

The performers are drawn from the 160 to 170 students and fellows, mostly in their 20s, and the 35 to 40 faculty members at the AMF Institute, which runs from June 27 to July 24. According to the AMF website, the institute "offers programs for composers, conductors, instrumentalists, and singers. Those admitted … receive lessons, coachings, master classes, and have opportunities to perform alongside world renowned artist-faculty members …" This year, roughly three quarters of the participants will come from the United States and the rest from other countries, mainly Taiwan, South Korea, and China.

The chamber concerts will feature a variety of works performed by duos, trios, and other small instrumental ensembles. Chamber concerts will be held each Wednesday and Friday evening (six performances); on Saturday, July 9; Sunday, July 17, 2:00 p.m.; and Thursday, July 14, 3:30 p.m. The two afternoon concerts will take place in the lobby of the Colby Art Museum — the others will all be at 7:00 p.m. in the Chapel — and the July 14 and 15 recitals will feature the Cassatt String Quartet, who have also appeared at the past two festivals.

Thursday evenings will be devoted to vocal music. The first Thursday’s program will be art songs; one week later, it will be opera arias. On the final Thursday, July 21, members of the AMF Opera Workshop will present full opera scenes on stage with costumes, props, set pieces. This last performance will take in Strider Theater in Runnals Union.

On Saturday afternoons in the Chapel, one will get to hear new music by participants in the AMF Composition Program. Contrary to what one might think, "new" does not mean weird and atonal; most of the music is quite melodic. These musical matinees will take place at 3:00 on July 9, 16, and 23.

On Sundays, July 10 and 17, at 7:00, AMF will hold Salon @ The Bar concerts at the Marchese Blue Light Pub in Cotter Union. These informal events each feature a succession of soloists and small groups playing and singing anything from baroque to folk, including works they have written themselves. Salon programs are never announced in advance, but are always eclectic. Patrons may come and go at will and may order food and drink to enjoy while listening.

Other performances during the festival will include piano recitals on Tuesday, July 12, and Monday, July 18, and a Future Music Lab, on Thursday, July 21, at 3:30 in the art museum lobby. For the latter performance, musicians use "interactive computer technology" to augment performances on traditional instruments.

Unlike at most concerts, attendees at AMF performances are encouraged to bring their Smartphones to see which works are being performed and read the program notes. (Please turn off the ringer and please don’t make or take any calls during the performance!) A few printed copies of the program will be available for the Smartphone-deprived.

Except where otherwise noted, concerts will be held in Lorimer Chapel and will start at 7:00. The schedule is subject to change and more performances may be added. For the latest information, visit the AMF website or call the festival office at (888) 704‑1311.

AMF

Memories of The Old Belgrade Lakes Library

by Rod Johnson

The quaint little library that you see in the photo once was alive and well right in the middle of Belgrade Lakes village. Sadly, it no longer exists, and this is the true story of its demise.

My parent’s house was ten feet or so to the south with barely enough space to drive an auto between the two. My friends and I played around the building from the early 1950s, though it remained locked and we were not allowed inside. Peeking in the windows was common of course, and the building was totally intact and still had a few books on the shelves. The straight-back oak chairs and a library-type desk or two were in perfect order.

To my knowledge and memory, the library was never operated during that era and had essentially been abandoned. This is only a guess, but I imagine it was only ever used in the summer months, though I do recall a small wood or coal stove and a fieldstone hearth and chimney.

As the years went by the building showed more and more the lack of maintenance. During the 1960s I recall the roof had started to leak and water puddles could be seen through the windows accumulating on the floor.

When I came home from my service time in 1971, my wife and I bought the house on the north side of the library property. My mother was still living in the house on the south side. It was clear that the building was an eyesore and the idea came to either fix it and make it usable or tear it down if we could.

After inquiring at the selectmen’s office as to the ownership, we were told that the property and building were donated by the Hersom sisters, founders of the Camp Abena girls camp — I do not know when. The women had stated in the deed that the property would revert to them or their heirs should the library cease operating.

The selectmen decided to begin taxing the property so they could take ownership and then dispose of it. A tax was levied on the property that year to the Hersom heirs, but none was found, so the tax was left unpaid. The town took the property and claimed it a liability.

At town meeting in 1972 or 1973, I offered to purchase the property for the back taxes of $26 (yes, twenty six dollars). The voters agreed, with the stipulation that the building be torn down and the small lot of 40' ext. 60' be attached to my lot.

Over the next few months my friends and I tore it down piece by piece and burned it in a bonfire right on site. The only known pieces that were saved are the two white pillars and they can be easily seen on the house owned by Jan Partridge just south of Day’s store. I still have two of the oak chairs.

We asked the Colby College library department to come see, if any of the remaining books were special in any way. They found and took a few Maine authors but found that silverfish were in some of the books and couldn’t risk contaminating another library.

The current group called Friends of The Belgrade Library are working on recording any information that can be collected about this library and also a precursor to this that was located in a private home of a Damren family member. If anyone has any remembrances, photos or written documents concerning this piece of our Belgrade history please contact my sister-in-law, Friends member Judy Johnson at 495‑2101, or Linda McLoon of the Belgrade Historical Society. Thanks, TLB

High-Spirited Art on Display in Mount Vernon Village

Three accomplished women artists, who took very different paths to make the lakeside town of Mount Vernon their home, have created an art collaborative producing some of the most high-spirited monotype prints in the region. Their styles, like their backgrounds, are very different. What they all share is the love of monotype printmaking — where the artist puts paint or ink on a glass or metal plate and then applies it to paper on an etching press, creating a one-of-a-kind textured print.

The three — Ann Warren, Jan Webber and Judith Krischik-Brinton — work together in Warren’s renovated barn turned studio under the name of Flying Bear Prints, a nod to the bear sculpture outside the studio window. (The bear, created by Dennis Pinette, was part of the Belfast Bearfest.)

They will show their prints this summer in Webber’s Minnehonk Gallery in Mount Vernon’s village center on the shores of Minnehonk Lake. The show opens on July 1, and the gallery will be open Thursday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., until Labor Day.

The village center is a nexus of summertime activity in this community that was once part of the back-to-the land movement. In addition to the gallery, which is attached to the Webber Real Estate office, are two antique shops, The Olde Post Office Café, a fine arts furniture maker, country store and Mount Vernon Community Center — which hosts community breakfasts every week.

Warren was born in Bangor and graduated from Mount Holyoke College. Before moving to Mount Vernon in 1999, she and her husband lived in New York, and she returned to painting when her son started school. She was part of a landscape group and participated in workshops from Alaska to Cape Cod. Monotype, she said, has given her the opportunity to test her limits.

"The variety of tools — anything from brushes to rollers to palette knives — can be used to ink the plates. Any number of materials can create forms and shapes from paper cut outs, string, rug liners and on and on," Warren said. "Marks in the ink can be created with Q-tips, combs, fingers. The image once pulled can be altered on the paper with pencil, crayon, collaged elements."

Webber, who sells real estate with her husband, operated the Minnehonk Gallery from 1993 to 2006 and then reopened it again in 2015 for Flying Bear Prints. She grew up in Wilton, Maine, graduated from Colby College, and ultimately settled in Mount Vernon where she met her husband, and the couple raised their two sons.

Webber has been fascinated with printmaking since the 1980s.She has attended workshops at the Round Top Art Center and Midcoast Printmakers in Damariscotta as well as the Great River Art Institute in Vermont.

"I experiment with collagraphs, gel plates, collage, and other methods to make one-of-a-kind works. One print may involve a number of layers, always a surprise in the final outcome," Webber said. "I have been influenced by abstract Japanese printmaker Hideo Hagiwara, and poetic artist Paul Klee, among others. I try to make each print, like a poem, speak from the heart. Moods, rhythm, color and structure all play a part in my work."

Krischik-Brinton grew up in the Ruhr Valley in Germany and worked in Switzerland in her 20s as a writer and editor in the headquarters of the Rudolf Steiner movement, inspired by the Austrian philosopher, author and social reformer. She met her husband while doing an interview and ended up following him to the states, ultimately coming to Mount Vernon.

While in Switzerland she had taken painting classes, but said it’s when she finally came to Maine that she started taking her art more seriously. Her work has been shown in Portland, Hallowell, Milbridge and Rockport. In recent years, her interests shifted from acrylic painting to monotype printmaking.

"I love working with translucence and multiple layers, and printmaking has proven to be an excellent medium for it," she said. "Art for me is all about abstract shapes and how they relate to each other. I am fascinated by the edges and contours which manifest when I pull a print. It is something I’ve always wanted to create in painting. It comes so naturally in printmaking."

Another Great Week in Paradise

by Pete Kallin

It was another great week in paradise! I got to spend time fishing, hiking, and canoeing. Dick Greenan and I put his canoe into the Kennebec River in Waterville and fished for shad and stripers, which are both in the river right now. The shad are trying to spawn and the stripers are trying to catch the shad, American eels, and alewives, all of which are also headed up the river right now.

Fish were jumping everywhere and there were plenty of human and avian anglers trying to get in on the action, including lots of Bald eagles, Ospreys, and cormorants. We caught lots of big shad, a couple of small stripers, and an alewife. These anadromous fish (i.e., fish that live in saltwater, but spawn in freshwater) spend their lives swimming, usually upstream, and tend to be stronger and have more stamina than freshwater fish of the same size. They put up a real battle on light spinning gear or flyrods. The big smile on Dick’s face in the pictures below not only reflects how much fun the fish were to catch but also the fact that he was able to get out into his canoe for the first time in two years after getting two new hips earlier this year and two new knees last year. It was fun to share his joy.

Dick Greenan with a nice shad and a big smile.

Shad are a large member of the herring family (Alosa sapidissima) that are extremely tasty (sapidissima is Latin for "most savory"), but contain many fine bones. A few years ago, John McPhee wrote a book about shad called, The Founding Fish, in which he made a strong case that there would be no United States of America without shad. In 1776, when George Washington’s army was encamped at Valley Forge, the British occupied Philadelphia and tried to starve the Colonial Army by shutting off the food imports from the city. The most significant source of food that got through to Valley Forge were barrels of Delaware River and Susquehanna River shad that provided sustenance for the army to build up their strength in order to row across the Delaware and attack Trenton on Christmas Eve. That was the turning point of the Revolutionary War.

I also hiked a couple of BRCA* properties this week, including The Mountain and Mount Phillip. At Mount Phillip, I hiked with Mark Paddock of Farmington, whose family has a camp on the northern shore of Great Pond, and his cousin, Ellen Baker of Minneapolis, MN. Ellen stopped by to hike for a bit after spending a week at Maine Audubon’s Hog Island Camp in Bremen, Maine. She was very excited about all the new species she added to her "life list" while visiting the Maine coast and equally excited by the scarlet tanagers, hermit thrushes, bald eagles, turkey vultures, pileated woodpeckers, pine siskins, veerys, and vireos, which she saw and heard on Mount Phillip while we were hiking. This area has a wide diversity of bird species and is prominently featured in The Maine Birding Trail by Bob Duchesne.

This is a perfect time to enjoy the outdoors before it gets too warm. Now that school’s out, it’s easy to take a kid fishing or on a hike, or paddling in a canoe. You won’t be sorry.

*In December 2017, the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance (BRCA) and the Maine Lakes Resource Center (MLRC) merged, forming the 7 Lakes Alliance. Now retired, Pete Kallin is a past director of the BRCA.