Holiday focus on immigrant stores at museum

The Brick Store Museum is premiering a brand-new program for the holiday season called the Holiday Candlelight Stroll, which will focus on the stories of immigrants to Kennebunk at the turn of the 20th century. The program will guide visitors through the museum’s historic buildings to vignettes of each family, and will take place on two December evenings: Saturday, Dec. 14 from 3 to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 15 from 3 to 5 p.m. Tickets for the event are $10 per person, and $5 for museum members (free under 16 years).

The Rosinsteins of Russia, the Tvedts of Norway, the Berrys of Ireland, the MacDonalds of Scotland, the Nests of Germany, and the Blanchards of the Ottoman Empire, all immigrated to the Kennebunks to work in the labor and mill industries. Visitors will join an immersive program featuring first-person reenactors telling the story of historic immigrant families; and get to try traditional holiday foods and cultural crafts at each stop. The entire museum campus will be lit for the event by Victorian-era candlelight and luminaria (LED, of course).

Volunteers are now being sought to help contribute to the program. Those who would like to support this work, please contact Cynthia Walker at cwalker@brickstoremuseum.org or 985-4802. Tickets are now for sale at the museum’s front desk, or at www.brickstoremuseum.org.

The Holiday Candlelight Stroll is sponsored by Kennebunk Savings Bank, Port & Shore Realty, Boulangerie, KeyBank, Biddeford Savings Bank, Hurlbutt Designs, Southern Maine Health Care, Deering Lumber and Avison Landscaping.

Center accepting ornament donations

The Center in Lower Village Kennebunk is seeking gently used Christmas decorations for its Holiday Fair. Decorations can be brought to the The Center, 175 Port Road, by Monday, Dec. 2. The holiday ornaments and trimmings will be sold at the Holiday Fair on Dec. 7. The fair raises funds for Center programming.

For more information, call Carol or Natalie at 967-8514.

It’s Secret Santa time

Secret Santa of the Kennebunks is an organization that has been helping families fulfill children’s Christmas wishes since it began over 30 years ago. The organization has received gift requests for children from families experiencing financial difficulties in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel. The Secret Santa trees, bearing gift request tags, will be out in the community from Nov. 25 through Dec. 9.

Each tag on the trees represents the Christmas wish of a local child whose family is struggling financially and cannot afford to buy gifts this year. Secret Santa Trees and tags can be found in all three town halls, Louis T. Graves Memorial Library, Kennebunk Free Library, local branches of the Kennebunk Savings Bank and Quest Fitness Center.

Participants can take a tag from the tree and purchase the specific requested gift. Return the gift with the tag to any tree location, unwrapped. Secret Santa sees that the gifts are delivered to each family in time for Christmas. Return the gift and tag to any participating location by 4 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13. The deadline is necessary to give the Secret Santa elves time to fulfill all the gifts on tags and purchase any gift that has either not been taken or not been returned. Gifts received after Dec. 13 are likely to duplicate gifts that have already been purchased by volunteers and will be unusable.

Secret Santa also gratefully accepts monetary contributions. These enable volunteers to shop for the gifts not donated by the community but requested by a child. To make a donation please make checks payable to: Secret Santa P.O. Box 301, Kennebunk, ME 04043.

Secret Santa relies on the assistance and generosity of caring people and businesses in our community. To help make a local child’s Christmas wish come true, please take a tag and buy a gift. Be a Secret Santa.

Renown storyteller comes to Kennebunks

Deborah Eve Freedman, renown storyteller, will visit Mornings in Paris Cafe from 1:30 to 3 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 4. Mornings in Paris is located at 21 Western Ave. in Lower Village Kennebunk. Freedman will tell her fairy tales for adults based on their life story. Admission is free and refreshments will be available from the Mornings in Paris menu.

For more information, email wepoets5@gmail.com.

MWA plans annual art show

Maine Women in the Arts will usher in the holiday season with its annual show in conjunction with Kennebunkport’s Prelude festivities. The show features a variety of original fine art including paintings, sculpture, photography, and ceramics. In addition, the show offers a selection of handmade crafts made by these artists including jewelry, ornaments, cards, home décor, wood carvings, prints, books authored and illustrated by members, and much more.

The show, scheduled for Dec. 5-8, is held at the Masonic Lodge, 10 North St., Kennebunkport and admission is free.The show offers the annual MWA raffle to support its scholarship. Each of the participating artists offers an item to create a basketful of handcrafted items for a lucky winner to enjoy.

There is a special opening reception on Thursday, Dec. 5, 5 to 7 p.m. with live music and refreshments. This is an opportunity to have first choice of the beautiful artwork and handmade crafts. The show continues Friday, Dec. 6, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The objective of Maine Women in the Arts is to promote and give exposure to Maine artists and their work in all media. Maine Women in the Arts is a statewide, nonprofit organization, founded in 1977, by and for individuals in the fine and performing arts. The aim is to promote and give exposure to artists’ work in all media – visual arts, music, theater, poetry, literature and dance. It is open to both men and women.

For more information, visit www.mainewomenarts.com.

Church on the Cape to host concert, carol sing

As part of the Kennebunkport Prelude festivities, Church on the Cape in Cape Porpoise will present its annual Sounds of Christmas Concert and Carol Sing on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 2:30 p.m.

The one-hour program is a seasonal favorite, with a chance for participants to sing their best-loved Christmas carols, as well as to enjoy the music of the Senior Choir, Trinity Trio (Nancy Chamberlin, piano; Susan LaVerriere, violin; Janice Stover, organ) and the Song Sisters Trio.

This year there will be a special quest soloist, soprano Kelley Hollis. Hollis recently returned from London where she recorded Arnold Rosner’s “Requiem” with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. In 2014, Hollis was a finalist for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center and in 2011 Kelley received an encouragement award at the district level from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

The concert is free to the public. The church is located at 3 Langsford Road in Cape Porpoise and is handicapped accessible. Parking is on the street or in the far end of the Bradbury Market parking lot, behind the church. For more information, visit www.churchonthecape.org.

Library announces Tech Time dates

Kennebunk Free Library will host its Tech Time program 10 a.m. until noon to provide assistance to people who have questions regarding technology. The December Tech Time dates are Dec. 6, 13, 20 and 27. For more information, call 985-2173.

Libray plans Earthquake Engineering

Science experiments can often be messy, gross, and funny, but they are always amazing. Visit Kennebunk Free Library on Monday Dec. 9 at 4 p.m. to experiment with Earthquake Engineering. The kids will attempt to design and build a tower that could survive an earthquake. The program is open to kids ages 5 and up, registration is required.

The event is free and wheelchair accessible. Kennebunk Free Library is located at 112 Main St., Kennebunk. For more information and to register, call 985-2173 or visit the www.KennebunkLibrary.org.

Dog licenses available in Kennebunkport

Dog licenses for 2020 are available in the Kennebunkport town clerk’s office. By law, all dogs must be licensed by Jan. 1 of each year. Be sure to bring the dog’s current rabies certificate. A neutered/spayed dog license fee is $6; otherwise it is $11. Residents may register dogs in person, online or through the mail. Call the town Clerk’s office at 967-1610 with any questions or visit our www.kennebunkportme.gov/town-clerk/pages/dog-licenses.

Beginning Feb. 1, 2020, there will be a late fee of $25 per dog assessed when the dog is licensed. The town clerk’s office encourages residents to register early to avoid waiting in line.

Kennebunk planning bicentennial celebration

The Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee has reserved town facilities for June 27 for Kennebunk’s Bicentennial Celebration.

Individuals or organizations that have a project or event that they’d like to take place to coincide with the bicentennial event, should submit the Kennebunk Bicentennial Application for Endorsement form to the town clerk for consideration. Only those events endorsed by the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee will be allowed to occur on that date.

Benefits of endorsement: Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee endorsed projects or events receive the following: Permission to use the official bicentennial logo, letter of endorsement from the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee, eligibility for inclusion in bicentennial promotional materials, including newsletters, social media, and on the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee website.

Endorsement criteria: The applicant must show that the proposed project or event meets the following required criteria and at least one of the recommended goals or characteristics outlined below. Priority will be given to projects that meet multiple goals. All requests for endorsement must be submitted using the official Kennebunk Bicentennial Application for Endorsement form.

Projects must: Be relevant to the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee’s mission, open, accessible and inclusive, achievable and executable without committee staff support, not occur between the hours of 2 and 7 p.m. on the night of June 27, 2020.

Projects should: Commemorate Kennebunk’s history, culture or natural environment, be engaging and inspiring to people of all ages, create a legacy for the future.

Exclusion clause: The Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee reserves the right to reject or revoke an endorsement for any reason.

For more information, visit www.kennebunkmaine.us/bicentennial.

Library reveals December’s featured exhibit

Kennebunk Free Library announced its exhibit for December 2019, A Time Remembered: Pictures and Drawings of the Past the works of Gerald and Linda Stone. The public is invited to view the exhibit Dec. 3 to 30 at 112 Main St., Kennebunk, during regular library hours when the gallery is not in use for library programs.

Gerald was born in Dover, New Hampshire. Thanks to his father, Gerald’s art education started with discipline: work on art before going outside to play ball. You have to keep at it to improve. Through high school he loved drawing sports figures. University of New Hampshire mechanical drawing classes led to working as a draftsman for architectural and engineering firms. Later in life, Gerald owned The Stone Sign Shop, designing and building signs, hand lettering vehicles and working in gold leaf. Many of the signs are still in use. This work was enjoyable, but he has returned to the freedom of pastel, watercolor and pen and ink.

“Living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where you are surrounded by history, planes, ships, submarines, beautiful beaches and ocean give me so many subjects to draw and paint,” Gerald Stone said.

Linda’s art education started with her father, too. He was a carpenter who became blind but continued working with wood. Linda helped him by cutting wood with a band saw.

“That began my love for wood and creating,” Linda Stone said. “In 1990 I began designing primitive art. I didn’t start painting until retirement in 2012. I love the beauty and lines of automobiles. I also love antiques. It was an easy choice to paint these old cars and trucks abandoned in the fields and beside old barns. After visiting the automobile museum in Boothbay Harbor, I decided to add antique auto accessories like oil cans, gas pumps and garage signs to my art objects.”

Together Linda and Gerald inspire each other to put in the time and improve. Whatever they paint, they find peace in comfort in it, encouraging each other to “dare to share” their work with others.

The public is invited to an artist’s reception on Friday, Dec. 6 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the library.

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