KENNEBUNK
Museum looks to boost display capabilities
The Brick Store Museum tells stories in three dimensions through artifacts relating to the local community. To better realize that mission, the museum is seeking financial support to improve its collections for the public to enjoy and access. The museum has set a goal of $4,000 to support three major goals this year:
• First it seeks to transform an exhibition case to preserve artifacts that are deemed simply too delicate, too large, or too difficult to put on display, and therefore are rarely viewed. The museum is building a custom, transforming case that can move from laying flat to 30 degrees.
• Second it wants to better preserve a framed navigation chart, used by a Kennebunk ship captain in the mid-19th century, that is in danger of deteriorating due to continual use as a nautical map. In order to stabilize its condition and preserve the information found on this map (which includes old place names, water marks, shipping routes, etc.), while keeping it accessible to visitors and researchers, the museum must properly mat and frame the map so it can be viewed and preserved for future generations.
• Lastly is the preservation of a rare painting of museum founder Edith Barry, a well-known painter in New York City in the mid-20th century. The museum owns the largest collection of Barry’s artwork in the world. However, since her death in 1969, there have been no new acquisitions of Barry artwork. Now her painting, “The String Quartet,” has come up for sale from a private owner in Denver. This is the only opportunity the museum has ever had to purchase one of Barry’s pieces and hold it for the public to enjoy.
Interested donors may visit the museum’s website at brickstoremuseum.org/support to learn more about the projects, see photos of the plans, and donate online or by phone.

Advance tickets on sale for renowned Viennese pianist
Advance tickets are being sold for a concert by renowned Viennese forte pianist Daniel Adam Maltz, to be performed at 4:30 p.m. May 20 at the Brick Store Museum at 117 Main St.
Maltz specializes in Wiener Klassik (Viennese Classicism), especially the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, and performs on Viennese forte pianos typical of these great composers’ time. He studied historical performance at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna.
Seating is limited to 50 guests inside the museum’s first gallery, with a wine reception with Maltz following the performance.
Tickets are $30 for museum members and $40 for all others. To reserve tickets, visit brickstoremuseum.org/calendar or call 985-4802. All proceeds from this event support the museum’s educational programming and historic preservation efforts.

PORTLAND
Old House Emporium returns after 3-year hiatus
Greater Portland Landmarks is selling advance tickets for its 2023 Old House Emporium, set for April 29 and 30 at the Riverton Community Center, at 1600 Forest Ave. This marks the first event since the start of COVID in 2019.
The emporium celebrates historic preservation, high-quality craftsmanship, traditional construction and sustainable practices in Maine and New England. This weekend-long event will feature a wide variety of vendors, exhibitors, and workshops that will appeal to homeowners, renters, and lovers of all things old.
There will be informative workshops and presentations on both days that highlight topics from best practices for caring for your old books and photos, to plaster repair and determining when to rewire your old lamps. All of workshops are included with the cost of admission. Foreside Antiques will offer appraisals for $5 cash or $6 for credit card.
The show will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door, with $15 passes to attend both day. Tickets can be purchased at 207tix.com/events/old-house-emporium-4-29-2023.

Retired Falmouth teacher given lifetime award
Educators for a Multilingual Maine named Catherine Gram as the recipient of its 2023 Sister Solange Bernier Lifetime Achievement Award on March 18 at the organization’s annual conference. The event was co-hosted by the Department of Linguistics at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.
The award is named after a beloved French teacher whose career spanned more than six decades. Gram was nominated for this recognition based on her excellence in teaching and leadership. Her many roles included the World Languages Content Leader at Falmouth High School and a World Languages Teacher Leader for the Maine Department of Education. She also was president of the American Association of Teachers of French in Maine, and served as president, secretary, and an active board member of the Foreign Language Association of Maine for many years.
Before retiring last June, Gram was a long-time educator in Falmouth Schools, teaching French at the elementary, middle and high school levels. According to her assistant principal, Jonathan Radtke, “one of her unique gifts was taking the best of new pedagogy, merging it with traditional methods and making students love language learning.” She was a kind, caring teacher and a mentor to many world language teachers over the years. Her colleague Wendy Westervelt noted that “students benefited from Catherine’s energy, love of the French language and culture and her commitment to share that energy and love of language learning.”

CUMBERLAND
Library gets grant to study shell middens
Maine Sea Grant has awarded Prince Memorial Library $5,000 in program development funds for the Casco Bay Shell Midden Project: Carbon Isotope Analysis, Midden Vegetative Cover, and Public Outreach. The Casco Bay project builds on ongoing archaeological work on the shell middens of the area’s islands and shore.
Grant funds will be used to assemble and analyze softshell clam samples from archaeological sites for marine stable isotope values, which have been used in furthering our understanding of past climates – in particular in estimating aquatic temperatures and salinity differences over time. The funding will support a Greely High School student, who will sort and inventory shell samples collected from 1978–80 as part of the University of Southern Maine’s Casco Bay Archaeological Project. The samples will be sent to Beta Analytics, Inc., for analysis.
Other project activities include documenting changes in the vegetative cover of shell middens to better understand the extent invasive species have taken hold since 1978, and educating the public about shell middens and their relevance to climate change science and cultural understanding.
Maine Sea Grant, one of 34 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Grant programs throughout the coastal and Great Lakes states, Puerto Rico, and Guam, is based at the University of Maine at Orono.

FALMOUTH
Nominations sought for 2022 Citizen of the Year
The town of Falmouth is accepting nominations for the 2022 Citizen of the Year award. The award acknowledges exceptional contribution to the community and positive examples of citizenship.
Nominations of 500 words or less may be submitted in writing by May 4 via email to Julie Baxter at jbaxter@falmouthme.org, or by mail to Town Manager’s Office, 271 Falmouth Road, Falmouth, ME 04105. The Town Council will judge nominations on the following criteria: contributions to community welfare, civic achievement, volunteerism, and conscientious service to town government.
To learn more, visit falmouthme.org/town-council-town-manager/pages/citizen-of-the-year-2.

BELFAST
Land trust meets conservation goals
Coastal Mountains Land Trust has met the goals needed to successfully complete the first year of its new Waldo County Conservation Initiative – a community effort to increase the amount of permanently conserved land in Waldo County for the benefit of wildlife, sustainable recreation, outdoor learning and climate protection.
In total, the initiative raised $280,805 in support of the acquisition and stewardship of over 495 acres within the 12 Waldo County towns served by the land trust including Belfast, Belmont, Brooks, Knox, Lincolnville, Morrill, Northport, Prospect, Searsport, Stockton Springs, Swanville, and Waldo. In 2022 and early 2023, the trust matched a number of generous land donations from private landowners and earlier contributions with $100,805 in donations from individual community members and $180,000 from grants and foundations in Maine and beyond. In addition to an anonymous foundation, support was provided by the Maine Natural Resources Conservation Program, Leaves of Grass Fund, Mudge Foundation, Fields Pond Foundation, Maine Community Foundation, John Sage Foundation, and Margaret G. Jacobs Charitable Trust.
The resources raised through the initiative funded the addition of land to the Meadow Brook Preserve in Swanville and the Mount Tuck and Main Stream Preserves in Stockton Springs. The land also acquired its first two conservation parcels in the town of Knox and completed the acquisition of its first Learning Landscape Preserve in Searsport within walking distance of the three local public schools. Together, these new preserves protect large areas of intact forest and high value wildlife habitats including extensive wetlands while also providing expanded opportunities for outdoor recreation and learning.
The Waldo County Conservation Initiative is ongoing and the team at Coastal Mountains Land Trust is actively working on and identifying new projects to pursue this year. To get involved, support the initiative, or stay up to date on the latest projects, visit coastalmountains.org/waldo-county.

CAMDEN
Seeking volunteers for clean-up at amphitheater and park
The Camden Public Library is seeking volunteers to help with its annual Spring Clean-Up Day to be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 21.
Participants are needed to clean up leaves, brush, trash, or other waste that has accumulated over the winter. Volunteers should bring gloves, rakes, weeding tools and pruners. Parks Director Dave Jackson will meet volunteers in the Camden Amphitheatre at 55 Main St. to organize the crew, and assign tasks.
For more details or to sign-up to volunteer, email dpjackson@librarycamden.org.

BRIDGTON
Scholarships offered for children’s STEM camp
The Rufus Porter Museum of Art and Ingenuity has received a grant from the Agnes M. Lindsay Trust to provide scholarships for qualifying Bridgton-area children to attend Camp Invention, a program run by the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Camp Invention is a week-long summer camp for children in kindergarten through grade 6. A new curriculum is developed every year with stimulating, customized activities that are child-centered and focused on creative thinking. This year’s theme of “Wonder,” is designed to inspire students to become problem finders and solvers. Through hands-on activities and challenges, children build confidence, investigate STEM concepts, use their imaginations and learn that everyone can be creative.
Camp Invention is one of the ways that the museum seeks to support the cultural and intellectual life of the Bridgton community, in addition to encouraging the creative inventiveness that Rufus Porter himself sustained throughout his life. The camp will be offered in person at Stevens Brook Elementary School from July 10-14.
To learn more, visit invent.org or call 800.968.4332