When the governor and Maine CDC announced changes to masking and social distancing guidance, effective May 24, it was a major relief to most businesses who no longer were restricted by capacity limits. Add to that, the removal of the masking requirement for vaccinated people, and businesses could begin to make bigger plans for their spaces.

One underacknowledged piece that became very apparent to us at the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber, was how this announcement affected our community calendar. Dozens of local groups had tentative plans for summer activities, but they could not finalize them until this new guidance came down. When the change was announced, everything began to move very, very quickly in the event management industry.

With that, our chamber Community Calendar (typically filled with hundreds of events by Memorial Day weekend) is just now beginning to fill with summer event dates. We expect the calendar to change drastically over the next few weeks as we are gathering daily submissions from around the area.

The first thing for anyone reading this to know is that you can find our Community Calendar at midcoastmaine.com You will see a scrolling calendar on the homepage on the right side, simply click on it to see events listed by date. Secondly, if you’re a local organization or business having an event, you can submit them to our calendar using the “Share Your Event” button on the calendar page. Any municipality can enter events into our calendar, but also with this being a special summer following the pandemic, you do not need to be a chamber member to submit events for June, July or August, we will just post them.

There are only a few restrictions for submitting an event to the calendar. First, the event needs to be in the southern Midcoast region, or affiliated to it (so we don’t post events happening in, let’s say, Augusta for no reason). Secondly, these must be public events put on by a public entity, and not Michelle’s birthday party or Mike’s kegger. Finally, they need to be specific events and “event worthy.” A special concert at a venue is event worthy, while a regular Thursday or Friday karaoke night, or free jukebox night, is not event worthy. Think of event worthy as being outside the course of regular business.

With that, this month we’ll be highlighting some of the events to look for, starting with these June events. Some of these are community events while other are business and hiring events. To see more June events, log onto to the Community Calendar.

Hannaford Hiring Events, June 2, June 6, June 13
The new Hannaford in Cook’s Corner is rounding out their staff for their new location and looking for some excited employees to help launch their new store slated to open later this month. They will be doing both on-site and doing Zoom interviews on June 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and June 6 and June 13 both from 2-5 p.m. Call Chris for more details at (207) 352-4634.

WILL Power Happy Hour, June 10
The SMMC’s Women In Local Leadership is beginning their 2021 events with a limited capacity gathering at The Brunswick Hotel on June 10, from 5-7 p.m. Yes, it’s called a Happy Hour, but it will be so happy they’ve decided to run it for two hours. The gathering is limited to 35 people, and though admission is free, you must pre-register online. The event link is on the chamber’s website at midcoastmaine.com.

The Women in Local Leadership team is a collection of business leaders who run quarterly events. One special part of this team is that they’re very responsive to the suggestions of their attendees and typically at the first event of the year they ask their participants to share what types of events they’d like to attend and then create events for that. This happy hour will be about connecting with one another after the pandemic, learning how to make some drinks, and discussing what future 2021 programming will be.

2^nd Friday Brunswick, June 11
The Brunswick Downtown Association is continuing and expanding their second Friday art walk series with more featured artists and spaces, and it all begins June 11. As of this writing, there will be seven artists featured in downtown businesses at: Bayview Gallery, The Mix, Grampa’s Garden, Points of View Artists, Little Dog Coffee Shop, Lemont Block Collective and Root Rind & Petal.  There will be the entertainers with pop-up performance spaces in front of The Mix, Vinyl Haven and the Bank of America Courtyard, and over a dozen pop-up artists on Maine Street. Walk around begin at 4:00pm and experience it all. FMI log onto brunswickdowntown.org.

Bath Art Hop, June 18
Many arts enthusiasts spend the second Friday in Brunswick and the third Friday in Bath, as the Bath Art Hop will continue their series this summer too. The precise schedule is still being finalized but mark 4-7 p.m. on your calendar for art walk tours of local artists and several pop-up artists in the streets.

Kennebec Concerts in Bath, June 22, June 25
The very popular summer concert series is back in Bath where you can see free outdoor music three nights a week starting in the last week of June. Tuesday, June 22 the Bath Swing Band will open the season at the Library Gazebo for their Tuesday night concerts at 7 p.m. On Friday, June 25, the Bath Municipal Band will play the Library Gazebo at 7 p.m. After Independence Day the Waterfront Concert Series begins on Saturday nights in partnership with Chocolate Church Arts Center.

Golf Fore A Cause, June 25 at Brunswick Golf Club
Spectrum Generations, local provider of Meals on Wheels and other programming for local seniors, is having their fundraising golf tournament at Brunswick Golf Club on June 25. Player spots and sponsorships are still available for this great cause. Contact Sarah at SBrown@spectrumgenerations.org

Cory King is the executive director of the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber.