Bath Trails is calling all adventuresome kids to complete the 5 miles long Whiskeag Trail on Sunday, Oct. 19. Parents and kids can park cars at the Bath YMCA at 1 p.m. and catch the Bath Trolley to Thorne Head Preserve to start the hike. We will hike the trail back to the YMCA.

The hike will be lead by Bath Trail's trail stewards with naturalist lessons and crafts along the way. Trail snacks will be provided to keep hikers' energy up and there is a prize for kids that finish the trek. This free event is perfect for kids, families, scout troops and community clubs.

The Whiskeag Trail represents the culmination of years of dedication and hard work by the Bath community, and at over 5 miles long, it is one of the longest public access trails in the area. Through the efforts of Bath Trails, the city of Bath, and the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT), the Whiskeag Trail is located entirely on public and protected land.

The trail connects two popular KELT preserves, Sewall Woods and Thorne Head, to the Bath YMCA and the downtown business district.

A light-rain or shine hike, registration is encouraged for the Whiskeag Trail Kids Challenge by contacting Becky Kolak at 207-442-8400 or bkolak@kennebecestuary.org. Children are required to be accompanied by an adult to participate. Well behaved, leashed pets are welcome.

The Bath YMCA is located at 303 Centre Street. The Bath Trolley will take participants from the YMCA to Thorne Head until 1:15 p.m.

This weekend the 47th Fall Foliage Festival is happening at Boothbay Railway Village (BRV), Saturday, Oct. 11 and Sunday, Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Now that the festival is part of the Maine Craft Weekend program, expect craft demonstrations including beeswax candles and pottery being fired a la the Raku technique. Demo schedules will be at the entrance gate.

The legendary selection of crafts and products, honey, organic soaps and lotions, winter attire, pottery, art, games, signs, jewelry and much more will not disappoint.

A festival without music — unheard of! This year’s local musicians are Tyler Richards, Murky Water Band, Noel Arrington and Gabe Tonon, the Oyster Creek Fiddlers, Boothbay Region Community Band, The Holy Mackerels and The Spaceheaters.

Food booths will offer everything from chowder to hamburgers to dessert pies and more.

BRV is located at 586 Wiscasset Road (Route 27) in Boothbay. Admission is $2 for adults and free for children and BRV members, but steam train rides will be $5 each for all non-members. Park free at the village and in the special event parking lot a next to T&D Variety.

Learn more about fall events and activities in Maine here, and don’t forget to enter the Best Fall Photo contest.

As it currently stands, if the regular season ended today, the Wiscasset High School boys varsity soccer team would find itself on the outside looking in on the Western Class C playoffs.

The boys team fell, 2-0, Friday, Oct. 3 to Oak Hill to drop to 1-8 on the season, while Oak Hill's win propelled the Raiders to 2-7 on the season in Western Class B.

Familiar faces again occupy the tops spots in Western Class C: Maranacook (9-0) remains in first place, followed by Mountain Valley (10-0-1) and Monmouth (9-2).

Wiscasset currently finds itself in 15thplace in the division. The top 11 teams make the postseason.

Wiscasset will close out the regular season with a Friday, Oct. 10 game in Telstar against the Rebels (1-10-1) and a Tuesday, Oct. 14 meet up at home against Winthrop (0-10-1).

There were 28 entries to the pumpkin dessert contest at Skidompha Library on Saturday, Oct. 11 as part of the Pumpkinfest weekend in Damariscotta.

With Heather Troydl, chairperson of the Pumpkinfest Dessert Contest officiating, and Ashley and Kelly Sawyer volunteering their time, the tasting got underway around noon.

Three judges sampled all the delectable looking desserts with pumpkin as the main ingredient, and chose a first place winner, a second place winner, a third place winner, and two runners-up.

The judges who were lucky enough to be chosen for this sweet contest were Susan Axelrod, food critic and writer from the Portland Press Herald; Standard Baking Co. of Portland owner Alison Gray; and Becky Shepherd, owner of Wild Oats Bakery in Brunswick.

Axelrod said it's not always easy to choose winners in food contests.

“I've done a lot of these contests, and it can be difficult with three judges because we may all like different things.”

Axelrod said it's not always the entries with the best presentations that taste the best.

King Arthur Flour was the sponsor of the event this year, and donated prizes of money, King Arthur cookbooks and King Arthur gift cards. First place received $150, second place received $100 and third got $50. Winners were also presented with the cookbooks and gift cards.

And the winners were:

First Place: Tiffany Thomas for her Pumpkin Pecan Holiday Bundt Cake

Second Place: Ellen and Ingrid Whitaker for their Pumpkin Napoleons

Third Place: Lynn Kalloch for her Pumpkin Mousse with Pumpkin Seed Brittle

The two honorable mentions were Greg Bartholomae and the Mackenzie family.

To be a human or a zombie: That was the question October 11 at CLC YMCA’s second annual Zombie Run, during Pumpkinfest in Damariscotta. The 31 entrants who opted for human received a minute’s head start on their seven zombie counterparts. But while the humans had the numbers and the time advantage, each of them also had three flags to lose.

“If the human loses all their flags ... they’re technically dead, but they can still finish the race,” the Y’s program director Joe Clark said before the start.

Nearby, Clark’s sister Katherine Clark of Newcastle was serving as a volunteer, applying make up to fellow volunteer and zombie Karter Chisolm, also of Newcastle. The volunteers and several area donors of obstacles for the course helped make Saturday’s event happen. Hagar Enterprises, Newcastle Chrysler Jeep & Dodge, N.C. Hunt, Clark Farms and John Pinkham, with round bales, all contributed.

“It all comes together when the community is all helping and supporting,” Clark said.

The same rules applied to zombies and humans on the obstacles:10 jumping jacks for each one skipped.

San Francisco’s Martha Ehrenfeld, a summer Round Pond resident, got fully into character on the course as a zombie. “They think they’re safe,’ she declared about the humans on the run. “But you’re never safe, from a zombie!”

Besides the escapism, the zombie entrants had the added element of being judged for best costume. That prize went to Nobleboro’s Robert Houseman, who ran with fiance and fellow zombie Michelle Burrows of Chicago; the fastest zombie was Kate Johnson, followed by Kris Benarak. Neil Davies won fastest human; Nolan Michael, second fastest.

All the prizes awarded in a kids fun run that followed were based on the costumes. Bristol’s Logan Blaske, 11, a defending champion as grandmother Ruth Piper of Bristol pointed out, took first; Alex Nichols, 9, of Damariscotta, second place; and Miguel Atkinson Tatro, 10, of Friendship, third.

Parents followed alongside the obstacles with smart phones, cameras and calls of “Good job” as their entrants completed one challenge and ran on to the next.

Saturday’s event at the Y benefited youth scholarships to Y programs. Find pictures from this event, other Pumpkinfest action, and more in our Columbus Day Weekend photo gallery.

The eighth annual Damariscotta Pumpkinfest Regatta ended much the same way it typically does: with a flourish, some floundering and a whole lot of pulp.

The Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta, which started Friday, Oct. 10 with pumpkin painting, ended Monday, Oct. 14 with its signature event: the regatta.

But, before the small outboards were fired up or paddlers took their place in a pumpkin cockpit, the weekend featured a litany of pumpkin creativity and general fruit destruction.

Saturday’s highlights were the unaffiliated CLC YMCA Zombie Run, the pumpkin parade, and the pumpkin dessert contest — while Sunday was all about pumpkin destruction.

The Big 10 Inch punkin chunker air cannon started by sending pumpkins 3,500 feet into the Great Salt Bay until the boat (which was not made out of pumpkin) that tracks the shots broke down.

The crew still fired shots into the water and later, at a rusted-out Jeep Grand Cherokee. Andy Cole was also on hand with his Dayton Destroyer: a pumpkin trebuchet that uses garage springs to launch pumpkins out into the bay.

Sunday ended with the pumpkin drop; this year both drops fell true, and on the first tries. The first pumpkin turned a Buick LeSabre into a compact car, and the second pumpkin, which weighed 990 pounds, turned a Ford Explorer into a convertible.

Monday was the day the pumpkins took the water.

The Pumpkin Regatta, which is the signature event of the weekend, had two new features: the event was broadcast live, and Sen. Susan Collins was the one who asked racers to start their pumpkins.

Ben Carmen and Annie Smith came via Round Pond to participate in their first Pumpkin Regatta.

The pair, who were dressed in red flannel, had a crack in Jaja Martin’s Golden Snitch, which won almost every race in which it was entered. The Harry Potter-themed pumpkin sported a rudder in addition to pie-plate googly eyes and golden feathers.

“It handled like a dream,” Carmen said. “It was a well-built yacht. A fine, fine sailing vessel.”

With the Snitch on their side, Carmen and Smith came first in the first relay heat.

“The golden trophy is what we’re after,” Carmen said. “I’ve got my inspiration (referring to Smith).”

But, the architect of their first victory would claim their next: Martin and her teammate, Robert Watts (who was dressed as Harry Potter) took home the top relay spot; and Martin, who last year dressed in a wedding gown and paddled a giant swan-slash-pumpkin boat, kept her crown.

Smith and Carmen were second, while Sarah Witty and Dale Hartt rounded out the top three.

In the individual races, David Watts was also dressed like a wizard and won in the Snitch. Reigning champ Tim Smith finished in second place, and Tom Alley, who piloted a giant foam-and-pumpkin lobster for the Maine Maritime Museum, finished third.

In the motorized division Matt Poole took his 15 horsepower pumpkin catamaran around the course the fastest to win while the pumpkin posse of Buzz Pinkham and Tom Lishness finished second and third, respectively.

For extensive Pumpkinfest coverage, including videos, photos and additional articles, visit www.wiscassetnewspaper.com.

Take out your calendars: The dates for the 53rd annual Windjammer Days in Boothbay Harbor will be June 21-27, 2015.

At an Oct. 14 meeting, The Friends of Windjammer Days board and committee members discussed changes to the festival.

Several new events are planned, including a lighted boat parade and a tug-of-war competition.

Kim Gillies is coordinating the boat parade, which will end the week-long festival on Saturday night. Korey Lewis will be coordinating the tug-of-war, which will extend a length of rope across the Harbor, with one team on the east side and another on the west side.

Sue and Nancy Rowe have volunteered to decorate, and light up, the footbridge for the festival.

In addition to this year’s dates, festival dates through the year 2020 will be announced in November.

Friends of Windjammer Days Board Director Pete Ripley said he sent dates to the Windjammer Association, to ensure the Windjammers can attend. The association's board meets Oct. 23 and will contact Ripley by the month’s end.

Several vessels Ripley is working on getting to the festival may be especially familiar to locals.

Ripley noted that the Ocean Classroom Foundation had ceased operations on Aug. 31 this year in Boothbay Harbor, moving to a new temporary location at Portland Yacht Services, owned by Phineas Sprague. Despite Ocean Classroom's relocation, Ripley still hopes to have Ocean Classroom’s educational vessels Harvey Gamage and Westwind here for the festival.

Ocean Classroom's new permanent location will be in the Portland Company Marine Complex.

Noah Barnes, owner of the Stephen Tabor, has acquired the Nathaniel Bowditch.

Ripley will be working with both Sprague and Barnes about getting these vessels to participate in the festival.

The Friends also welcomed a new board director, renowned East Boothbay sailmaker Nat Wilson.

In addition to Wilson and Ripley, the board comprises Dianne Gimbel, Mark Gimbel, Bill Logan and Andy Luke.

“Nat is a wealth of information and will be an asset to us in growing this festival,” Board Chairman Dianne Gimbel said. “We are very, very happy to have him on board.”

Mike Tomko, a contractor who also sits on the Boothbay Harbor Planning Board and other civic organizations, has volunteered to head up the Friends of Windjammer Days float design contest.

The float must be solid enough to be transported to other event locations, like Yarmouth Clam Festival and the Lobster Festival, in order to promote Windjammer Days in Boothbay Harbor.

Ripley suggested the float should be a windjammer, just as the Rockland Lobster Festival's traveling float is a lobster. More information will be forthcoming.

The committee chairs of the Friends inaugural year are all returning, and tackling various duties and events: Stephanie Hawke, parade; Laura Blake; VIP reception; Andrew Morley, cod fish relay, lobster eating contest and Rocky Coast Road Race; Kris Ward, Whale Park/FWD information tent; Paul Johnson, entertainment; Janet Brennan, Artist's Alley; Trish Warren, Kid's Alley; Doug Goldhirsch and Bruce White, Antique Boat Parade; Ralph Smith, food and Rusty Court, military liaison.

Volunteers for all the above committees are needed for 2015. Those interested can contact these chairs and/or plan to attend the FWD monthly meetings held on the second Tuesday of the month (no meeting in December) at 5 p.m. at the Boathouse Bistro.

The Friends of Windjammer Days is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit comprising a group of volunteers who have come together to continue the tradition of Windjammer Days in Boothbay Harbor. They have committed to maintaining the heritage of this maritime event to enhance the Boothbay region community and the experience of maritime Maine.

For more information on the 2015 festival and sponsorship opportunities, visit the official Windjammer Days Festival website: www.windjammerdays.org.

To see what happened at the 2014 Windjammers Festival, click here.

This year’s Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta featured a lot of pumpkin destruction, a major ongoing theme of the popular Midcoast Maine festival.

The Big 10 Inch punkin chunker air cannon sent pumpkins 3,500 feet into the Great Salt Bay until the boat (which was not made out of pumpkin) that tracks the shots broke down.

For more Pumpkinfest videos, click here.

Goals, like Canada geese, have been coming in bunches at the end of the fall, or so it seems for the Wiscasset Wolverines.

The boys varsity soccer team blasted the Winthrop Ramblers, 2-1, Tuesday, Oct. 14 at home. A day earlier the girls varsity soccer team ousted the Ramblers 2-0.

For the boys team, the goals propelled the Wolverines to its second win on the season. Wiscasset currently sits at 2-10. Winthrop exited the game with a 0-12-1 record.

Wiscasset’s first goal came with a little less than 13 minutes remaining in the first half. Forward Russell Marr sneaked past the Ramblers’ defense and sent home a ringing goal.

The two teams then traded body blows for almost 40 minutes.

The Ramblers’ big midfielders and defenders were able to slow down Wiscasset’s attack until Nate Woodman intercepted a ball and had a one-on-one opportunity. Woodman didn’t miss, and Wiscasset led 2-0.

But things were about to get a bit more tense for the Wolverines.

Winthrop went on the offensive and pushed Wiscasset deep into its own territory. Tyler Nussinow, a Winthrop forward who had been close to capitalizing all day, finally did with 10 minutes and 44 seconds remaining. His shot ricocheted around the Wiscasset goal before finally settling in.

The two teams would threaten to score a fourth goal in the game, but neither could, and Wiscasset walked away the 2-1 winners.

In the girls game, the Ramblers managed just one shot on goal as Wiscasset was able to cruise to the easy victory. The Wiscasset girls varsity team is now 5-7-1 on the season and in 13th place in the Western Class C standings.

The two teams will play Friday, Oct. 17: for the boys it will be a make-up game against Hall-Dale (11-1) at 4:15 p.m. at home. The teams were scheduled to play Thursday, Oct. 16 but rain canceled the game.

After the boys game there will be a presentation for the seniors on both teams. At 6:30 p.m. the girls will take on Hall-Dale (8-5) as well.

The Maine Tennis Association (MTA) is partnering with the Boothbay Region Y and CLC Y as well as all the indoor tennis facilities throughout the state to sponsor the first Maine Tennis Week.

The week runs from Sunday, Nov. 2 through Saturday, Nov. 9.

The goal is to attract new tennis players as well as encourage former players to come back to the game. The Y will offer all of its tennis programs; cardio tennis, adult classes, kids classes, to any one from tiny tots to seniors who haven't played tennis at the y in the past year to come back and play for free. In addition, there is a "parents can play too" offered during the tiny tots, red ball and orange/green ball classes. No registration is required. Just come to the Ys and have some fun.

The Boothbay Region YMCA is also the recipient of an adopt-a-school grant from the MTA. Through the YMCA’s tennis pros, BRES will be the beneficiary of this first year grant with hopefully additional dollars to come in subsequent years. The grant offers a menu of activities from which a school can design a program that fits their needs.

The pilot grant ran through the CLC YMCA, where CLC adopted the Nobleboro school. It was a success.

Initially, Nobleboro bussed 18 fifth graders over to the CLC YMCA for their physical education class.

Seven of those fifth grade students ended up signing up for tennis programs at the CLC Y. They then opted for the recess program, which is essentially a supervised play with tennis balls and racquets program.

The Boothbay Region Elementary School adoption will begin with the Boothbay Region YMCA on Nov. 4. The eighth grade phys. ed. classes will go to the Boothbay Region YMCA two mornings a week at 8 a.m. for a Cardio Tennis workout. This will end Nov. 30. The next piece of the adoption collaboration will focus on the younger grades.

The Central Lincoln County YMCA and the Boothbay Region YMCA announce that Chantalle Lavertu has been named New England Rookie Tennis Professional of the Year by the United States Professional Tennis Association.

Lavertu is part of the tennis staff at the CLC and Boothbay Region Ys.

The award is given to a first year tennis teaching professional for exceptional performance in his or her first year of USPTA certification.

Lavertu, a Lewiston native and Bowdoin College graduate, teaches players of all ages and abilities at both Ys.

Her specialty may be Tiny Tots, as she has three to five year old new tennis stars giggling and screaming while chasing balloons and jumping through hula-hoops, but everyone who takes a lesson from her loves her knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for the game.

“I love teaching at both Ys because I get a chance to do a little of everything, and I feel like I’m making a difference,” said Lavertu.

For more information on Y tennis, visit www.clcymca.org.

Due to the amount of rain Maine has received this week, officials at the Twin Brook Recreational Facility in Cumberland where the Western Maine cross-country regional meets for Classes C, A and B will be held on Saturday, Oct. 25, have announced that there will be no on-site parking for spectators.

Spectators will be made to park at Greely High School, 303 Main Street, Cumberland Center.

Shuttle buses will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be handicap parking on-site.

Team buses will drop off runners on-site by the "Red Barn" and park at 168 Greely Road at the Facility.

The Class C meet will begin at 10 a.m., with boys running first.

When Barb and Dan Aube made a trip to Maine from their home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut to visit Dan's parents in September 2012, they bought a copy of Points East Magazine. In it was an ad that read: “Are you looking for a dream job? How would you like to be a lighthouse keeper?”

The couple had both retired in March, and they didn't have any solid plans for the near future, except to spend some time with family and relax.

The lighthouse in question was the Cuckolds Light Station, off the coast of Newagen on Southport Island.

“We started laughing and I said, ‘Dan, you're a Maine Maritime Academy graduate,’” Barb said. “What could be more perfect for them?”

They soon learned that the job would require much more than “keeping” a lighthouse. The lighthouse station was in the process of being restored, and the keepers' house was being transformed into an upscale bed and breakfast. It would be called The Inn at Cuckolds Lighthouse.

In addition to overseeing the lighthouse responsibilities, the keepers would be responsible for transporting guests between mainland and the island on a Coast Guard whaleboat, providing impeccable hospitality, and preparing and serving breakfasts, high tea and gourmet dinners.

And a U.S. Coast Guard Limited Master’s License was required to operate the whaleboat.

As they began to seriously consider applying for the positions, a possible glitch occurred.

“We had just rescued a black lab puppy from New Orleans,” Barb said. “We decided that if the dog couldn't go it would be a deal-breaker.”

When Janet Reingold, founder and vice president of the nonprofit Cuckolds Council, sent a detailed description of the position, they learned that pets were welcome and encouraged.

They took a two-day course in Boston for their licenses, and took the required courses in CPR and First Aid training.

“We started doing all this in October 2012 without knowing whether we'd be selected for the job,” Barb said.

The Aubes became the official keepers of Cuckolds Light Station in May of 2013.

“We couldn't live on the island then because construction was ongoing, so we started getting involved with the launch,” Barb said.

The launch, a 1969 Navy Coast Guard whale boat that had been in a shipyard for three years, was being restored to use for transporting guests to and from the island.

“We didn't have any plans to become involved in this, but it was fascinating, and it helped spur us on,” Barb said.

They went to Hodgdon Island in May of 2014 to stay in a temporary residence until the construction was complete.

“We worked on a lot of behind-the-scenes things, including the launch and setting things up for the bed and breakfast, getting involved with reservations and meal planning and preparation,” Dan said.

In June they received the certificate of inspection to carry a captain and 11 passengers.

They moved onto the island the first week in July.

“It was a lot more remote than we realized,” Barb said. “It had been over 40 years since anyone had lived on that little island.”

Barb was a little apprehensive about preparing dinners.

“I had said all along that I liked to cook, but I'm not a professional chef. We were asked to come up with dinner menus with five different entree items.” She started researching menus and coming up with ideas. She got hints from local chefs, and a chef/friend in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

“We stuck with five entrees for the summer. We had a peach and dijon-glazed pork tenderloin, a beef tenderloin and, of course, lobster. We did lobster bakes on the island. And they included strawberry shortcake. I made the biscuits.”

Guests came from 18 or 19 states over the summer.

Once people arrived on the island, Dan said they would show them to their rooms and give them a quick emergency drill, followed by a tour of the island and an afternoon tea.

“Barb would always put together a nice tray of sweet and savory items for the tea.”

The Aubes couldn't be happier with their experience. “It was more than we ever could have known,” Barb said.

Dan concurred. “You're approaching the lighthouse, you get to the gangway, and everyone is in awe. We tell them we'll get their luggage and to just keep on trucking, and take it all in. Then we would take them up to their rooms, which are absolutely magnificent. It's not your average lighthouse. It's not even your average hotel.”

Sunny, the dog, adapted well to the island. He was kept tethered at all times, as black labs tend to have a fondness for water, and it wouldn't have been a safe place for him to swim. “He loved to watch the birds, he loved being outside and he loved all the guests, and they loved him.”

There was one bad storm while they were there.

“In August we had sea conditions that were quite intense. The seas moved our launch off the float and it went aground a mile and half away, on the rocks on the shore on Southport. But we were safe and secure on the island.”

The Aubes said they would do it again, but they both have aging parents, and they want to spend time with them.

“We wish we were going back next summer,” Barb said. “But we felt like we couldn't make a six month commitment.”

Asked what they would say to anyone who is considering taking on the role as lighthouse keepers for 2015, the couple responded with enthusiasm.

“They should do it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, to have the ability to be out there on the water and enjoy the fantastic views. They'll meet some very interesting people, from all walks of life. Being part of that made us feel extra special.”

The Aubes will be helping out with the transition with whoever is selected, and will continue to help by serving on the Cuckolds Council.

Janet Reingold said there were 75 applicants who applied for the position last summer.

“There were a lot of people who applied with experience with the water and the region, and had the kind of background that would make them well-suited, but Dan and Barb were over the top,” Reingold said. “They had phenomenal people skills. They were doing homework for a job they didn't even know they had yet.”

Reingold said they have made it a much easier job for the people who follow. “But they've also made it harder because the bar is so high. They are perfectionists. I hope they will remain involved and energized with this forever.”

A barge that had become a fixture of Newcastle's waterfront is on its way out of town.

But not before kicking up a little controversy on its departure.

Newcastle Town Administrator Lynn Maloney said the metal barge, which is anchored near Barroll Point, said the barge's owner had been contacted, and it was going to be moved.

“We had quite a few complaints — it took quite a while to figure out who owned it,” she said.

In a sometimes contentious meeting Monday, Oct. 27, resident Alex Clark said he talked with Harbor Master Paul Bryant two-and-a-half months ago about the barge.

Clark said he looks at the barge, which is the kind used to pull floats and haul moorings, every morning from his apartment window.

“I have been looking at that barge for two-and-a-half months, so I'm very happy to hear that it's moving,” he said. “When I spoke with the harbor master then, I asked him about the ordinance and he said he would review it. When I spoke with him a month ago, he said he would review it again.”

Clark brought a copy of Newcastle and Damariscotta's harbor ordinances with him to the meeting and began reading from the papers.

“I have a copy of the ordinance; I picked it up today,” he said. “It took me 10 minutes. I went to the book store and I had a cup of coffee and a sandwich and I read the entire thing.

“My question is, why does the harbor master not know (the ordinances) by heart? I would urge him to reread the ordinances — this could have been handled a month ago.”

Newcastle town attorney Peter Drum said that with any ordinance, and especially those that might need be enforced, patience is not only a virtue, but usually the right course.

“If you don't look up the ordinances before you enforce them, you do so at your own peril,” he said. “There's no need to be disrespectful.”

Clark said his frustration came more with the timeline than anything else, adding that the barge was in clear violation of being left unattended and anchored where it was not allowed.

In the harbor ordinance, which is the same for Newcastle and Damariscotta, under section 4.4B, it allows the harbor master to enforce the town's ordinance, which Clark said showed that the barge was in violation.

“I don't mean any disrespect, but it seems like all it would have taken was a phone call to say 'Hey, can you move your boat?'” he said. “It's not just that it's anchored where it's not supposed to be, but it's unattended, too. And there are pretty clear ordinances saying that (that's not allowed).”

Clark then asked Drum about one of the ordinances about enforcement to which Drum said that although he helped craft the ordinance five years ago, he would prefer to reread them first.

“I am going to review it before I act on anything,” he said.

Hunting season has arrived, and many nature lovers and explorers may be wondering where to seek refuge and safety.

Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) in Jefferson is designated by the state of Maine as an official Game Preserve, otherwise known as a Game Sanctuary.

As such there is no hunting or trapping of any kind allowed within the bounds of HVNC.

In fact, the area was designated as the Whitefield/Jefferson Game Sanctuary over a half-century ago, long before HVNC was in existence, and encompasses much more than HVNC’s 1,000 acres.

“We still encourage visitors to wear orange this time of year,” HVNC Director Andy McEvoy said. “Even very safe and mindful hunters can make mistakes regarding boundaries, and it is such an easy precaution.”

Maine has a rich and admirable legacy of sportsmanship and public access to private lands. That being the case, it isn’t always easy for non-hunters to find places to walk their dog, go for a run, or photograph fall foliage without the looming presence of hunters.

“HVNC is home to all kinds of mammals and birds,” naturalist Chuck Dinsmore said. “Just the other week I noticed signs of moose along the ridge.” This time of year many of those species are seeking refuge in places like a Game Sanctuary.

For a trail map or more information about the ways to explore HVNC visit www.hvnc.org. HVNC has three rustic cabins and several tent sites available to be rented. HVNC encourages all forms of non-motorized recreation including wildlife viewing, walking, trail running, and mountain biking. Well behaved dogs are encouraged and can be off leash.

More information available online at www.hvnc.org, info@hvnc.org, or call 207-200-8840.

In order to help get kids and families outside having fun each winter, Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) in Jefferson partners with the Maine Healthy Hometowns Program to lease affordable, quality cross country ski equipment to local kids ages kindergarten through eighth grade.

Families can lease high quality skis, boots, and poles through HVNC for just $65 for the entire winter. Each child will get sized for the skis, pick them up, and then take them home for the season. That way, kids and families can ski on great equipment wherever they want, whenever they want.

Don’t miss the essential Ski Fit Session on Wednesday Nov. 19 at Lincoln Academy, Room 101, from 5-6 p.m. Anyone who would like to take advantage of this program must be present to be properly fitted. It is essential that the child be there to be sized. Arrangements will be to pick up the skis about two weeks later.

The skis are waxable combi-skis, meaning they can be used as skate or classic skis. Any questions about the ski lease program can be directed to Andy, andy@hvnc.org, or details are online at www.hvnc.org/xc-ski-clinic.

“Trying to keep two growing kids outfitted has been a real challenge, but this program makes it a lot easier,” said Kristin Stone, an HVNC volunteer and frequent skier. Stone and others at HVNC have organized several events to help young skiers put their equipment to use. Early in the year there will be an “Ski Waxing Basics” class.

HVNC will also offer the annual Kids XC-Ski Clinic for kids ages 5-12. The clinic, starting on Saturday, Jan. 4 and running for six consecutive Saturdays, is a great place for skiers of different levels to gain confidence and enjoy HVNC’s trails. Instructors use fun, non-competitive methods to get the skiers out on the trails having fun each week. For more information see the link above.

More information available online at www.hvnc.org, info@hvnc.org, or call 207-200-8840.

While the United States turned back the clocks an hour Sunday, Midcoast Maine set them back to winter.

That is, of course, if they had power.

At its peak, the Nov. 2 snowstorm caused 83,000 power outages, according to Central Maine Power spokesman John Carroll. If that number seems high, it's because it is high.

“At the peak there were 83,000 customers without power,” he said. “That's a big storm. I don't know how many a typical (winter) storm causes, but 83,000 is big.”

Carroll said the calendar had a lot to do with the outages, as most trees still have some leaves, and the heavy, wet snow typical to winter's bookends stayed on the limbs.

“When you look at the weight of the snow, you see that the early season snow tends to be a bit heavier,” he said. “Had this happened later, it likely would have been dryer, lighter. We might not have seen so many outages had it been that nice, light snow.”

But Carroll said CMP wasn't unprepared for the snow.

“We knew a storm was coming, it just happened to be in the high range,” he said. “Usually, when you hear a forecast and they say 'Expect 8 to 10 inches of snow' you get lucky and you only get seven inches. This time, we got the high number.

“It didn't sneak up on us; we had a rough idea of how much (snow) was coming, and when and where, but it was just at the high end of the predictions.”

To help combat the outages, CMP has recruited its in-state contractors, as well as help from Canada, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. As of noon, Monday, Nov. 3, there were more than 17,000 customers without power in Lincoln County alone and 79,000 total outages in the state.

“We've finished in York and Cumberland counties, and we're moving those people up to Lincoln, Knox and Waldo County,” Carroll said.

Two days after a winter storm cloaked the Midcoast in the season's first snowfall, Lincoln County's power is almost fully restored.

By Tuesday, Nov. 4 that number had shriveled to 8,500 customers, as CMP continued to repair felled lines.

As of Tuesday morning, Boothbay had only 452 of its 2,770 customers without power; Boothbay Harbor (470 of 2,556), Bristol (382 of 2,880), Damariscotta (382 of 1,715) and South Bristol (20 of 1,128) all saw large portions of the town come back online. Some of the towns that are still largely without power include Bremen (637 of 654), Nobleboro (1,027 of 1,324) and Waldoboro (2,488 of 2,920).

As the storm clean-up and power restoration continues, it's Knox County that has the most outages remaining. As of Tuesday morning, Lincoln County's neighbor to the east still had 16,000 customers without power.

If you need to locate a warming center near you, call Lincoln County Communications Center at 207-882-7332.

Just yesterday we heard the whiney “shree” sounds of pine siskins in our neighborhood and were delighted to find a flock of about 40 descending into the bare branches of a maple a block away. This morning as we stepped out the front door we looked up into the blue sky to see a flock of at least 50 American robins passing high overhead. And as we arrived at our local polling station to cast our vote, there was yet another flock of pine siskins in a yard across the street.

Many animals gather in groups at one time or another for a variety of reasons. In fact, to an outside observer, the gathering of people at the voting station just as the polls opened might have looked like a flock! But spontaneous groups that form, like humans waiting to vote, are a bit different from the flock of pine siskins in the backyard or the flock of common eiders bobbing about on the water at Ocean Point.

Groups of birds can form at major food sources, as we often see at feeders or dump sites. We well remember seeing over a hundred yellow warblers, a species that normally occurs together only in small numbers, congregating around one of the only sources of fresh water on the very dry island of Bonaire many years ago. In these cases, most of the birds associate with each other very temporarily and because the resource that they need (food or water) is limited and found in only a few spots in the area.

The flock of pine siskins we saw this morning is instead more likely to be made up of individuals that have stayed together for an extended period. They are staying with each other probably for a host of reasons.

One of the theories behind why animals form these longer-lasting associations, like flocks in birds and herds in mammals, is that an individual in a flock has a lower likelihood of being singled out and attacked by a predator. In essence, one can “hide” in the larger group. It’s a bit like the classic scene in an action movie when the person being pursued disappears into a massive street crowd so the pursuer can no longer follow their movements among the mass of humans.

Another reason that birds may flock is to take advantage of the fact that within a group, there are more eyes available to detect predators and give warning. A flock of birds can provide more eyes on the look-out for the scattered and sometimes hard-to-find sources of food and water. Inexperienced birds in a flock may do better by being in a flock with older, more experienced birds that may already know of food sources from past years and be better able to recognize danger. In cold climates, roosting with a flock can also allow the sharing of body heat to increase an individual’s odds of making it through the night.

In the coming weeks and months, keep an eye out for flocks coming and going as they respond to coming changes in weather and the challenges that can bring — for birds and for humans, too!

Eric Lorrain had always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. In 1991, he was close to doing it when he was in a car accident that blew out his knee.

In the ensuing years, the East Boothbay man section hiked the trail in New Hampshire and Maine, but vowed the next time something “big” happened to him, he'd attempt the full 2,160-mile-long footpath.

That came about in 2014 when he went through a divorce.

He started at Springer Mountain, Georgia on April 7 and hiked Katahdin on Sept. 27, skipping the portions in Maine and New Hampshire he had already hiked.

But before he started what he termed a “shamanic journey,” Lorrain participated in a transformative dance gathering in Tennessee called the Dance for all People, an event based on Great Plains peoples' traditions, according to its website.

“We finished the dance, and I asked the dance chief to give me a trail name,” Lorrain said. “And he didn't give me one, and I was all upset. So we rented a car and drove to Georgia, and that night in the hotel before I got on the trail ... I went in my bag to get my tweezers, and I didn't have any.”

Tweezers are almost essential for long distance hikers, as they use them for a variety of things, including picking off ticks.

“The very next morning (me and my friend Lloyd Olson) drove to breakfast in Dalton, Georgia,” he said. “I put my foot down in the parking lot, and guess what was between my feet? A brand new pair of tweezers.”

It wasn’t the only fortuitous occurrence he had before he started the trail.

Lorrain and his friend Olson, who gave him a ride to Georgia, were in the restaurant the same morning that Lorrain found the tweezers.

As the two men were chatting with the waitress, who was telling them that she was going to take a horseback ride from Georgia to Tennessee, Lorrain told her that he too was starting a journey, walking from Georgia to Maine.

“And she looked at me, and she went, ‘On purpose?’ And my buddy (Olson) said, 'Well there's your trail name.'”

So equipped with a trail name (a nickname hikers use on the trail), tweezers and the rest of his equipment, he began his journey.

Lorrain made his own trail “mark” many places along the way, a heart with a smiley face in it that he drew in the dirt. He said other hikers would catch up with him on the trail and thank him for the mark, which encouraged them to keep going.

But it wasn't all magic for Lorrain.

In Harriman State Park, New York, Lorrain had to traverse a narrow, difficult 25-foot-long path through two rocks called the “Lemon Squeezer.”

“I’m walking sideways carrying 30-40 pounds, and the knee didn’t like it,” he said. “And I blew it out.”

He walked from Pennsylvania to Stratton, Vermont with the blown-out knee, but he said he had a method to make the pain go away.

Lorrain calls it “putting a smile on your heart,” and said it’s based not only on methods yogis use, but also on scientific research done by the Omega Center, an organization that offers holistic health workshops.

“All I did was smile, and it worked,” he said.

And sometimes the tough parts turned out for the best. 

At camp one night, he realized he had lost or left his Leatherman knife somewhere, so he couldn’t do maintenance on his hammock. Then he ended up spilling his dinner on the ground by accident.

Frustrated, he kicked the ground at his campsite.

“And guess what I kicked, in the leaves?” he said. “A brand new pair of Leathermans.”

So he was able to make his repairs. But it didn’t end there.

He spent the next month on the trail asking fellow hikers if they knew of anyone who had lost a knife.

Sure enough, many miles down the trail, he found a young woman, trail name “Connecticut Girl,” who had lost her knife.

“I came onto the road and there was this girl who just had norovirus,” he said. “She looked terrible.”

When Lorrain handed over the knife, he said she started bawling.

“Evidently someone very special, I think it was her father that had passed away, gave her (the knife).”

Lorrain had a major setback in Vermont, when he finally got his knee checked out.

“I got to Stratton Mountain and said ‘Man, I can go up but I can’t come down,’ so I came to this road in the middle of the woods, and I put my pack down, and I say, ‘OK, if a car shows up while I’m eating this packet of Pop Tarts, I’m outta here,’” he said. “I barely even got the thing open, and this car from Maine shows up.”

After learning his knee would require surgery, he decided to section hike the rest of the trail with his truck and his dog, 11-year-old Sophia, helping other hikers by providing a little “trail magic.” And, on Sept. 27, he made it to Katahdin.

Looking back, Lorrain said he has some advice for younger hikers — slow down.

“There are people who hike the trail who have their maps, their destinations, their watch,” he said. “And they have a tight schedule. And they don't really get to enjoy the hike. ‘Cause they're going. They're never 'there.'”

An early November snow has Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) thinking about winter already. Firewood is being stacked at all the huts, building projects are being finished, and planning for winter fun is in full swing. Winter is the busiest time of the year at HVNC with skiing, snowshoeing and ice skating, and events like the biathlon and ski clinics.

Winter also brings the hard work of snow plowing, shoveling around cabins, trail grooming, and lighting fires.

According to Tracy Moskovitz, HVNC co-founder, “there are three things that make all the work worthwhile: it’s fun, the setting is beautiful, and we have great member and business support.”

This winter HVNC is especially proud that L.L. Bean has become a supporter of Hidden Valley Nature Center.

“L.L. Bean and Hidden Valley Nature Center are a perfect fit,” HVNC Director Andy McEvoy said. “We are only 34 miles from Freeport and on busy winter days our trails looks like a testing ground for L.L. Bean equipment and apparel.

“It is also nice to see how many L.L. Bean employees take advantage of our trails and classes.”

Janet Wyper, manager of community relations for L.L. Bean, said, “We are pleased to support Hidden Valley Nature Center’s efforts to engage all ages in healthy outdoor activities.”

More information available online at www.hvnc.org, info@hvnc.org, or call 207-200-8840.

Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) in Jefferson is committed to providing great education and recreation opportunities year round. This time of year, when nothing’s growing but there’s still no snow, that can be a challenge. But, HVNC has three great events lined up in the next few weeks.

Join HVNC on Saturday, Dec. 6 for “Growing Good Timber” led by forester Paul Miller. This class, 10 a.m. to noon, will introduce participants to some basic tenets of growing trees for future markets. Miller will cover topics like crop tree management as well as hands-on skills like grading standing trees and pruning. For more information, www.hvnc.org/registration. $12 for HVNC members, $15 for non-members.

On Sunday, Dec. 7, 5:30-7 p.m., join HVNC for the kickoff Full Moon Hike of the season. Each full moon of the winter HVNC will lead visitors on a moonlit tour. This is a great event for all ages. The night will include calling for owls, star gazing, and warming up by the wood stove with a hot drink after the walk. For more information, www.hvnc.org/registration. $5 suggested donation.

On Friday, Dec. 12, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., join naturalist Sue Kistenmacher for “Winter Plant ID.” In a state like Maine trees spend more time without leaves and flowers than not. Learning to identify plants in the cold months can bring the winter world to life. Participants can expect to learn about basic identifying characteristics and clues, to collect many diverse samples, and to work with a few different guide books. This is a great class for the start of winter. For more information, www.hvnc.org/registration. $12 for HVNC members, $15 for non-members.

During one week last summer, the lives of 11 young basketball players changed forever. They went from being underdogs to winning it all and bringing home the national trophy.

They are the players on the Maine Elite Basketball Club team, owned and coached by Chris Binette of Waterboro, who has been coaching basketball for 20 years.

Last summer, they qualified for the Amateur Athletic Union Super Showcase game in Florida. According to coach Binette, the boys went with the intention of being competitive, but not one player expected to win.

“We thought we'd win a game or two, have fun and learn how to improve,” Binette said. “But then we won seven games ... and we were in the final four ... and the boys realized they could do this.”

One of the players on the team is Wiscasset High School Junior Brandon Sprague. He plays as a power forward or as center on the team, and trains at Pro Fit in Scarborough along with the rest of the team

“It's a really good workout and I really enjoy playing with my team,” Sprague said.

Team members come from from all over southern Maine. Sprague is the most northern located player, and one team member, their point guard, hails from New Hampshire (AAU state teams can include players who comes from states that border each other).

The championship game was between the Boston Warriors and the Maine Elite Basketball Club. MEBC won, beating the Boston Warriors 64 to 49. The team received a huge crystal basketball trophy, currently held by coach Binette.

“It was a hard game but we played awesome defense,” Sprague said. “We beat out the best teams in Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana — even the Nike-sponsored team — to get to the championship.”

Binette also cites defense as the reason they won.

“Coaches would come up to me after games and say 'We knew you'd win because your team defense is so suffocating.' Good defense wins championships, but it's very hard to teach and even harder to execute,” Binette said. “This team did it.”

Since the team had never expected to make it to the championship, let alone win, there was a last-minute scramble for Binette to arrange their flight.

“We had 35 minutes after the game ended to pack up and drive 1.5 hours to the airport to make it,” Binette said. “We were running through the airport carrying our trophy.”

“We were celebrating and having fun once we got on the plane, when the pilot made an announcement that they were carrying the national super showcase champions,” Sprague said. “It was awesome.”

Since then the team has been invited to various other national tournaments, including the LeBron James tournament. According to Binette, they are the only team in New England to be invited.

The team stayed in a rented house during the week, and Binette bought groceries every day to feed the boys.

“It cost us $10,000 to go to the tournament,” Binette said. “$4,000 of that was in food.”

According to Binette, the boys went through four gallons of milk, four pounds of bacon, 36 eggs, and $140 in lunch meat every day.

“We went through at least $1,000 in Gatorade, and I still can't believe how much cereal these kids could eat,” Binette said.

“I told them, before the game, that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, just being in the championship game,” Binette said. “It had never been done before, a team in Maine making it this far. But they didn't just play, they won.”

“I'm very proud of the team, both how they handled themselves and how they played,” Binette said.

Other team members include Amir Moss, Brandon Dillucio, Musseit M'Bareck, Austin Phillips, Dan Amabile, Joe Esposito, Demetrious Hoskins, Haris Layn, Alek Medenica and Gatouch Pan.

We bought some fancy mixed bird seen recently that included lots of nuts, which were avidly sought after by both the squirrels and the blue jays. One morning we were eating breakfast when we noticed one blue jay dropping down into the base of the shrubbery near the house. Peering out carefully so the bird wouldn’t notice, we could see that the jay was burying one of the seeds. Funny that we work so hard to get our children to understand the idea of delayed gratification — that saving something now or practicing something now will pay off later — yet the birds already know it and practice it!

Storing food for later is known as caching. Many birds cache food, including black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, crows, blue jays, and many others. Individual blue jays have been known to collect and store thousands of acorns in a season. Some related species like the pinyon jay and Clark’s nutcracker of western North America are known to remember the locations of thousands of buried seeds for many months, even sometimes digging down through the snow to find a cache buried months before.

Here in eastern North America, the sometimes-forgotten or unused blue jay caches of acorns, beech nuts, and other seeds are vitally important for maintaining the tree diversity of our forests. The acorns of an oak tree are so heavy that they can’t be dispersed by the wind, but blue jays can move them significant distances. The assisted dispersal of acorns and other seeds by blue jays has even been suggested to have been a major reason why oaks, beech, and other trees may have been able to colonize areas to the north fairly quickly after the last glacial ice sheet finally melted away.

Researchers have used blue jays to study some interesting aspects of caching behavior in animals. For example, blue jays that had stolen another jay’s cache were less likely to hide food when other jays were present than those that had never engaged in stealing. Other researchers have looked into whether birds store more food when overall environmental conditions are highly variable, which would mean that the availability of future food may be unpredictable. Others have examined whether foods that take longer to handle are more or less likely to be cached.

Oddly enough, some species of birds are more likely to cache easier-to-handle seeds while others are more likely to cache hard-to-handle seeds. Squirrels are found to be less likely to cache seeds when blue jays are around, apparently because they don’t want their caches to be raided by observant blue jays.

Who would have thought that there is so much going on when we casually notice a bird storing food?

After three weeks in the Maine wilderness, canoeing between 5 and 17 miles a day, portaging across rough trails and trying to sleep in tents when the rain poured, what was Colleen Hendricks most looking forward to once she got home?

“A shower,” she said. “Nothing to make you appreciate a hot shower like three weeks without one.”

Despite no showers (and no music on her phone), Hendricks said the Chewonki Maine North Woods Canoe trip was “the experience of a lifetime.”

Hendricks, along with nine other girls, paddled 160 miles up the west branch of the Penobscot River to St. Francis on the border of Canada. They left at the end of June in the summer of 2014.

The youngest girl on the trip was in eighth grade, and Hendricks, now a junior at Wiscasset High School, was the oldest. Two counselors accompanied them on the trip. There were two girls to a canoe, and one solo canoe, which was rotated among paddlers so they could all experience what it was like to row alone.

“It was a lot harder to paddle on your own,” Hendricks said. “I'm better in the front of a boat anyways, and when you're on your own you need to keep switching sides and it's much more tiring.”

The girls paddled every day, whether the sun was shining or rain was falling.

“I had rain pants and a thermal raincoat, but they didn't make much of a difference. I still got soaked, everything was wet, but we all dealt with it,” Hendricks said.

It wasn't all rain and exhaustion, though. Hendricks favorite part was when the canoes went through big waves in the class II rapids.

“You had to gauge whether the wave was caused by the current or by a rock in the middle of the river,” Hendricks said. “If you misjudged and it was a rock, you could push off but it was jarring.” Amazingly, during the entire trip, no canoe ever tipped.

A day usually began around 6 a.m. (though sometimes as early as 4 a.m.) with packing up the campsite and setting off. When the group reached the next site, they would first set up the tents then break into crews for gathering water, preparing food and cleanup.

“Some of the girls would stay up and talk, but I was so physically drained, I became known for going to sleep really fast,” Hendricks said. “I was in the tent and would pretty much pass out.”

One night she wasn't able to sleep so well — July 4th — when a huge rainstorm passed through. It canceled fireworks for much of New England and the east coast.

“The wind was crazy and the lighting and thunder were everywhere,” Hendricks said. “My tent mate and I were focused on staying on our bags because if lighting strikes a nearby tree the sleeping bag would act as an insulator and protect you.”

Even with everything, Hendricks enjoyed the experience immensely.

“I didn't know any of these girls at first,” she said. “There was even one from the Dominican Republic.

“But it's something about Maine, being able to form instant connections with people. It was a wonderful experience branching outside my normal group of friends. I'm very lucky to have had this opportunity.”

At a few minutes before 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17, Bunny Blanchard was busy pointing out the different steps to a new dance as half a dozen women behind her mimicked her every move.

As she called out “one, two, three, four,” the dancers behind Blanchard moved to the cadence as one. After a few practice runs, Blanchard, who is the DJ in addition to dance instructor, cues up Brantley Gilbert's “Small Town Throwdown” and the dance begins in earnest.

“Sometimes we'll go to conferences and learn new dances, and I can read the dance steps and understand them, too,” Blanchard said. “A lot of them now come from YouTube. I see a lot of them on the Internet now, and then we go to work.”

The dances are studied and repeated then brought to a group of like-minded line dancing enthusiasts every Monday at Damariscotta's American Legion.

By 6 p.m. there were nearly a dozen dancers trying out dances both new and old in a cleared-out space in the upstairs of the American Legion Hall.

“In the summertime, we usually have a lot more people showing up, but a lot of the snow birds are gone now,” Bonnie Waltz said. “We still have quite a few people show up, though. And they come from all over.”

Waltz said the group is open, and new members come from all over to join the ranks that include dancers from Boothbay, Phippsburg, Jefferson, Southport and Waldoboro. A donation of $5 to cover the cost of the DJ is asked.

The group goes back a few years to Dresden, when a small group began line dancing as a form of fun and exercise, Waltz said. The group split up, however, and half the dancers migrated to Augusta, while the other half settled into Damariscotta, which made a nice half-way point for a lot of the participants, she said.

But no matter where they are coming from, the mission is the same, Waltz said.

“It's a great way to have fun and get some exercise,” she said. “It's been a good way to make friends and meet people from the community, but really it's about coming in and having fun.”

That fun, Waltz said, has no age limit, either. Sometimes line dancers as young as 10 show up, and there are several octogenarians who frequent the dances, as well.

Most Mondays the dancing goes from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., but sometimes two hours isn't enough, and the dancing goes on until 9 p.m., Waltz said.

But this isn't the traditional cowboy boots and honky tonk line dancing group: new dances are plucked from social media and conferences, and country music isn't even a requirement.

“I would say the music is maybe 20 percent country,” Waltz said. “We like to mix it up.”

At one point during the dance Blanchard played a country song, then Kool Skool & The Klass DJs before ending the set with David Civera's “Bye Bye.”

On the weekend of the 22nd, several members of the group will travel to Cape Cod for a meeting of line dancers in Massachusetts. For the event, the dancers are bringing down grass hula skirts and coconut cup tops and hoping to come back with several new dances.

“If I see any dances I like, I'll bring it back up here,” Blanchard said.

The group meets every Monday at the American Legion, 524 Waldoboro Road.

For more information, call Lisa Burnham at 207-592-6674 or Bonnie Waltz at 207-380-5910.

Thanksgiving week normally marks the beginning of the ski season, but most of us don’t start thinking about it until there is a heavy coating of snow on the ground. For those of us who are winter outdoor enthusiasts, we should be preparing now even before the snow flies! Whether you are a seasoned skier or a beginner, the following information will hopefully help you stay injury free this winter.

John Guay, director of skier services for Deer Valley Resort in Utah recommends these tips for avoiding injury and staying safe:

Prepare your Body: Do exercises that strengthen the muscles you’ll be using;

Start out easy: Keep to the easier slopes on your first day out, don’t start out with the black diamonds;

Practice the skier code of conduct: Each Mountain has its own rules -know them and abide by them;

Know how to use the lifts: Make sure you know how to get on and get off and where they lead;

Take breaks and stay hydrated: Listen to your body- know when to quit for the day and drink plenty of water;

Let yourself fall: If you fight the fall you can often get hurt worse. Lean into the hill and sit down;

Take a lesson: If it has been many years since you skied, or you are a beginner, always take a lesson. You have to learn how to fall and get back up.

So as you can see, preparing the body is key. It’s best to allow four to six weeks before you hit the slopes to give your body time to get stronger. Start by doing at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular fitness training on most days of the week such as brisk walking, biking, kayaking or running to improve your endurance. This really should be done year round but it is never too late to start.

If you can’t do 30 minutes all at one time, break it up into ten minute bouts. You should also prepare the body by doing strengthening exercises for the lower body such as squats, lunges, calf raises, and hamstring curls. Do 1 set of 10 repetitions, working up to 20 repetitions. You should strengthen the core by doing wood chops, ab crunches, quadrapeds, and balance exercises on an unstable surface. And of course, stretching. Make sure you do at least a 10-minute warm up such as marching in place to prepare the muscles before you work them.

Downhill isn’t the only direction one can go as cross country skiing is one of the best cardio and full body workouts there is. If you don’t prepare, every muscle in your body will be screaming at you for the next week. To repeat: you should be doing cardiovascular training year round and throwing in interval training (high intensity for short durations followed by an active recovery) to build up your heart and lung capacity so you won’t be so out of breath.

You’ll also want to do exercises that strengthen your upper body like tricep extensions, bicep curls, deltoid (shoulder) press, and rows. Focus on building lean muscle, rather than bulk, so use lighter weights and high repetitions. Of course the real power comes from your lower body and core, so doing the exercises for Down Hill skiing listed above should be done as well. If you do other winter sports such as ice skating and snow shoeing, all the listed exercises will help you too!

Some other safety tips: if you are working up a sweat, you will need your first layer of clothing to be of the wicking nature. This draws perspiration away from your body so you don’t get as chilled. Wear a helmet no matter your age or how long you have been skiing.

Getting your equipment tuned up professionally is important not only for better performance but also if your skiing ability and your weight have changed, you need to adjust for this. After the day of fun on the slopes many of us just get in the car and drive back home, sometimes several hours. Be sure to stretch after you take your gear off before you get in the car, and drink plenty of water on the way back. This will help you not be as sore that next day. All this information will hopefully help you get strong and stay injury free this winter.

For more information and assistance with conditioning for the upcoming season, contact Mary Baudo at 207-357-3563 or marybaudo@msn.com.

When the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fishery Service put stricter limits on the amount of cod commercial fishing boats can catch, it was a hammer-blow to an industry that has seen catch allotments dwindle as fish apparently disappeared.

But for the smaller boats, the move to protect cod through rolling closures and zero-possession rules could prove to be a death knell for Maine's party and charter fishing fleet, according to Captain Barry Gibson, chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council Recreational Advisory Board.

Gibson, of East Boothbay, said Wednesday via telephone that the new regulations handed down by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on Nov. 10 would ban fishing from certain areas at certain times; and because NMFS projects that three out of every ten cod caught will die while being released back into the water, that means there will be a no-possession rule for recreational fishing boats.

And no cod means no business, Gibson said.

“Cod has always been the driver for the recreational fishing industry,” he said. “When I came up here in 1968, there were five or six party boats right in town that would take as many as 30 or 40 people to go fishing for cod. There was some really good cod fishing a few miles off Boothbay Harbor and people came from all over the world and all over the country to fish here. People would leave with coolers and coolers full of cod.

“Cod was the impetus for the fishing season. I don't think there will be a lot of people interested in paying $1,200 to $1,400 a day to go fishing and then being told they can't keep one.”

Four years ago, the recreational fleet was dealt a blow when it came to the number of cod allowed to be hooked, and the size of the fish being caught. The new measures go well beyond those original limitations, Gibson said.

“Four years ago we went from a minimum of 18 inches to 21 inches (per cod),” Gibson said. “There was also a daily bag limit, which was nine fish per person. Now, that number is zero.”

The monthly rolling black-outs of the fishing grounds go south-to-north as the cod migrate up the coast and spawn, meaning fishing boats aren't allowed to drop a jig in the water during a black out.

“It's draconian,” he said. “They don't want anyone fishing (in the blacked-out areas). If you want to transit a closed area you have to have rods and reels stowed in a way that complies with federal regulations. This is the first time I've ever seen a prohibition on the possession of recreational fishing tackle used as a management tool in New England waters.”

Gibson said a number of Massachusetts fishermen have already sold their boats and have moved away from charters and sport fishing. Others, Gibson said, will seek to fish outside of the black-out areas, by either skirting along the coast or going further out to sea in order to reel in haddock, pollock or hake.

The Fishery Management Council will come up with a management plan, then that plan will be submitted to NFMS, which will have final say in the its approval and implementation.

But Gibson said the plan that will be in place in May and the plan that was recently handed down in November will likely look very similar.

Gibson said the Fishery Management Council's plan, called Framework 53, will address some of the issues raised with the emergency plan, but some of the larger sticking points, such as the zero possession rule, would be likely to stay.

If the root cause of the lack of cod is overfishing, then a break could help the species, Gibson said.

But if the cause is the warming of the Gulf of Maine's water, or some other unforeseen problem, then the problem wouldn't be solved by shelving rods and reels or implementing the 200-pound commercial catch rule, Gibson said.

“The cod stocks in Newfoundland collapsed in the 1990s and they haven't really come back (despite a ban on fishing for cod),” he said. “However, we have seen some fish, like haddock, come back in a big way. So maybe cod will come back.”

While the fishing grounds wait for the return of the species, anglers might cast their lines elsewhere, Gibson added.

“The silver lining would be if the cod return,” he said. “But but if they return two, three, four years down the road, will the people return, too? You can still go south of the Cape (Cod) and catch cod and a lot of other species too, so will these people come back (to Maine) if the cod stock rebuilds itself?”

Anya Heyl is an entrepreneur. The Edgecomb woman has run Wannawaf in Boothbay Harbor since May of 2003. With thoughts of turning Wannawaf into a national chain, she opened a second store in Portland in June 2013.

After investing all her savings into that store, it didn't work out. The Portland location closed a few months later. Since then she has been struggling to make ends meet.

Now the entrepreneur is in the throes of a new business venture, Pine Cone Fire Starters.

Last winter was especially tough for Heyl and her 9-year-old son, C.J.

“Things were tight financially, and I had no propane to heat my house, so I was heating with a space heater and a wood stove,” she said.

She quickly tired of the effort it took to find twigs and sticks to start a fire every morning, and with last winter's snow cover it became especially trying.

Heyl began researching ways to make the chore easier, and more fun.

Loving the ritual of building a fire, Heyl wanted to make something special for that ritual. She found that shredded paper combined with candle wax was a good fire starter.

Things started looking up. Shortly after finding an efficient way to start her fires, she received a gift from a local group of volunteer retirees formed to help with heating needs.

“The Woodchucks gave me firewood last winter when I was struggling, and that's how I heated my house,” she said.

Once her heating problems were solved, Heyl's natural entrepreneurial mindset kicked in. If these little fire starters had made her life easier, why wouldn't they work for other people?

“Starting businesses utilizes all my skills,” she said. “This is what I do for fun.”

Heyl likens it to climbing a mountain.

“You have obstacles, you hit a dead end and you have to find a new foothold. But once you hit that peak at the top of the mountain, you know that what you've created is really satisfying. I enjoy problem-solving, and there's a lot of that in starting a business.”

A plan began taking shape.

“I had started creating these fire starters for practical reasons, but they didn't look pretty enough to me, so I thought, 'how am I going to make them look good?'”

Heyl, a sucker for pretty packaging, started experimenting with making her fire starters look as good as they worked.

“I love Christmas and I love wrapping and packaging. This has all the works of everything I love. My whole life I've been covered in paper and plastic.”

The fire starters are now as pretty as they are practical. They’re made with soy wax and shredded craft paper.

Working out of the home that she shares with C.J. and their two dogs, Heyl's enthusiasm for all phases of her operation is evident. She melts the wax for the fire starters on her kitchen stove, and there's a scale on the kitchen counter to weigh the shredded paper.

Covering her dining room table are the packaging items Heyl loves. Wooden crates, boxes, different colored twine and hand-cut stamped labels. The attractive crates, made by Liberty Crate Co. in Hope, can be reused, and look nice enough to sit on a hearth or next to a wood stove.

“You have to create an efficiency system. I will spend a day making the (shredded paper) balls, then the next I spend melting wax,” she said. “It takes just as much time to melt a gallon of wax as it does five gallons.”

The fire starters come in different natural scents: white pine, toasted marshmallow, sandalwood, cinnamon stick and unscented.

Heyl recently entered into a competition through Shopify.com, an e-commerce platform, to win a trip to “Entrepreneur Island” for a contest on Richard Branson's private island (actually Necker Island) for a five-day business workshop. The five winners will be mentored by some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, including “Shark Tank” judge Daymond John.

“All the business gurus are going to be there,” Heyl said. Along with Branson and John, Heyl's “business idol,” Timothy Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” and book author Seth Godin will be there.

Dick Reid, Heyl's business partner, is knowledgeable in the sales end of the business.

“He has been a good coach. He's an entrepreneur like me, and he enjoys the project just as much as I do,” she said.

The company will be offering pick-up locations for people who don't want to pay the extra expense of shipping costs. A Second Season in Boothbay will be a designated pick-up spot, as will Liberty Crate Co. in Hope.

New retailers for Pine Cone Fire Starters are being adding weekly. At this time they can be found at A Second Season, Ornament in Bath and Granite Hall Store in Round Pond

Heyl will be giving 3 percent of every sale to the Woodchucks heating assistance program.

“The Woodchucks gave me firewood last winter. I think you need to give in order to receive. And I know what it's like to be cold.”

For more information, go to www.pineconefirestarters.com.

Recent cold temperatures turn our thoughts to winter and winter fun. Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) in Jefferson is dedicated to making it possible for everybody to enjoy winter. For the past two years, HVNC has teamed up with the Maine Winter Sports Center and their Health Hometowns program to get kids in the community outfitted with quality cross country ski equipment. On Nov. 19 HVNC volunteers and staff hosted a Ski Fit Session for young skiers, ages kindergarten to eighth grade and arranged to lease over 60  pairs of skis!

The Maine Winter Sports Center has over 1,100 sets of cross country ski equipment that they make available through programs like the one at HVNC and other similar events across the state. Kids participating in the HVNC program will take home a set of skis, boots, poles, and a ski bag for the entire season for just $65.

Participants can ski where and whenever they want all winter long.

“This program makes a huge difference for many families,” according to HVNC volunteer Kristin Stone, who helps make this program happen each year. “Ski equipment gets expensive when kids are outgrowing their equipment each year, but hopefully this helps reduce that barrier.”

HVNC is home to more than 25 miles of trails, many of which are maintained for cross-country skiing all winter long. In addition to being open to the public each day for skiing, HVNC hosts ski clinics for adults and kids. Between the ski lease program, an extensive trail system, and lots of great events there is no shortage of ways to have plenty of fun outside this winter.

For more information visit www.hvnc.org, call 207-200-8840, or write to info@hvnc.org.

A Massachusetts landmark is coming to Maine.

Make that a Massachusetts sea legend.

The schooner Ernestina-Morrissey will be coming to Boothbay Harbor by the end of the year as part of a $6,000,000 pact with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to restore the famed ship. The 156-foot schooner, which was originally launched in 1894, will undergo extensive repairs at the shipyard.

Eric Graves, shipyard general manager said the Ernestina-Morrissey isn't just a big contract for the shipyard, but a big deal too.

Not only is the $6,000,000 contract the largest the shipyard has handled since it received new ownership, but the new contract is a sign of an improving economy and a new chapter for the shipyard, Graves said.

“It's definitely the biggest contract we've had in the last 10 years,” he said. “It's great for us, and for the town. This will be the biggest scale restoration we've done, and it feels pretty good to be able to work on it again.”

Because of the scope of the work and the length of time needed for the restoration, the shipyard will add several new jobs.

Lauren Feltch, assistant press secretary for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, said in an email that the ship has not been in sailing condition since 2004.

“DCR received two bid submissions for the rehabilitation and repair of the ship,” she wrote. “After an extensive internal review of the proposals by both bidding parties, DCR selected Boothbay Harbor Shipyard to complete the work. (On Wednesday) DCR executed a contract with Boothbay Harbor Shipyard for the amount of $6,048,025 for the rehabilitation and repair of the ship.”

The shipyard discovered that it had been awarded the contract a week earlier, after the bids had been submitted earlier in the fall, Graves said. The news of the contract was released Wednesday, Nov. 19.

“We had the vessel here in 2008 or 2009 and we were really involved with the DCR even before that,” Graves said. “We've had a lot of experience with DCR and (Ernestina-Morrissey).”

When the ship first came to Boothbay Harbor, the shipyard crew worked primarily above the waterline, including the bulkhead. For its second venture, the work will focus below the waterline, on the keel, frame and hull.

“We're going right through where we left off,” Graves said. “Basically, we're starting at the bottom section of the bow and working back through the centerline, keel, frame and hull.

“It's a three year contract, and we expect it to take (that much time).”

Most of the new employees will be hired for that reason. Graves said the new work would be centered around big-time work needed above and below the waterline.

Ernestina-Morrissey is currently berthed at the State Pier in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where it's in the water, but not yet in sailing condition, Feltch said.

Graves said that the ship would be making its way north in December, albeit via a tow.

Once it's at the shipyard, it will be put on full display.

“We're going to try to have an information center set up, so people can learn a bit more about her,” Graves said. “It should be open for most of the time, and there will be opportunities for people to come in and get a better look.”

Those who do get a better look will see one of the more storied tall ships in existence, Graves said. The Ernestina-Morrissey is not only the official tall ship of the state of Massachusetts, but it was the last tall ship to ferry immigrants to the United States, Graves said.

The ship carried immigrants from Cape Verde to the U.S. in the 1980s, almost 100 years after it was first launched in 1894 from James & Tarr in Essex, Massachusetts.

In between launching in Massachusetts and making its way to Boothbay Harbor, the ship has been through several other unlikely adventures, including its original post as a fishing schooner off the Grand Banks to an arctic adventure with Captain Robert Bartlett in 1940.

The holiday season is wonderful but it is also stressful. After Thanksgiving, and before Christmas, is the perfect time to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holidays and recharge. Exercise and Yoga can take the stress out of your holiday preparations. Check out these offerings by Central Lincoln County (CLC) Adult Education. Both classes will be held at Great Salt Bay School in Damariscotta.

Come out for “One Night Get Fit — Firm & Tone” on Monday, Dec. 15 from 5 to 5:45 p.m. Using various types of exercise equipment, participants will work all the muscles of the body. This low impact class is suitable for folks of all fitness levels. Please bring a mat and your own hand-held weights (2 or 3 pounds suggested). Other equipment will be provided.

Following the “get fit” class, “One Night Yoga,” a Hatha style yoga class, will be offered from 6 to 6:45 p.m. Hatha yoga will help you relax and refresh with strengthening and stretching. Instructor, Dianne Daniels provides easy to follow instructions suitable for all levels of expertise. Please bring a mat and a towel to class.

Each class is $12 per person; recharging the body and the calming effect of yoga — priceless.

Great Salt Bay School is located at 559 Main Street.

For more information and to register, call Central Lincoln County Adult Education at 207-563-2811, email clcae@aos93.org, stop by the office in the Pine Grove Plaza (at the intersection of Route 1 and Business Route 1 in Damariscotta), or visit www.clc.maineadulted.org.

It was cold at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning, Nov. 22. It was 26 degrees Fahrenheit in Boothbay Harbor to be exact.

But that didn’t keep a lot of early risers, or “early birds,” from venturing out in their pajamas to get a head start on their Christmas shopping.

They were out in droves to get the best deals — the earlier the better — at the Early Bird sales in the harbor. Most stores were offering 20 to 50 percent off storewide, and the cold weather didn’t seem to be a deterrent.

Hot coffee was being served on the library lawn by Sarah Morley, Kathy Frizzell and Danielle Driscoll of the Boothbay Register. Driscoll was also offering 25 percent off discounts on new subscriptions to the Boothbay Register and Wiscasset Newspaper.

All in all, it was a fun time, and a successful Early Bird morning for Boothbay Harbor retailers and restaurants.

More photos of Early Bird

See all the deals and retailers

Video by Sue Mello

Hood, New England's leading dairy processor, will once again award eighteen $5,000 Hood Sportsmanship Scholarships in 2015 to high school seniors who demonstrate integrity and sportsmanship on and off the field.

Three high school seniors in each of the six New England states will be awarded a $5,000 college scholarship for a total of $90,000. In 2014, Briana Goud of Wiscasset was one of three Mainers to receive the scholarship; and in 2013, Boothbay Region High School’s Sarah Caron won a scholarship as well.

Celebrating not only strong academics, Hood aims to recognize the importance of good sportsmanship. To be eligible for the scholarship, high school seniors must have proven their ability to put the spirit of competition above winning while participating in a varsity sport.

The Hood Sportsmanship Scholarship program is open to seniors enrolled in a high school in one of the six New England states. Students must attend a two- or four-year accredited college or university in the fall of 2015 and meet the following criteria: minimum of a 3.0 GPA, participated in a varsity sport in high school, volunteered in his/her community, and displayed a high degree of sportsmanship while participating in a sport in high school.

Entries will be accepted online at Hood.com now through March 6, 2015.

Students will be asked to complete the application form and write a short essay explaining how they display sportsmanship and integrity on and off the field.

Voting will be open to the public March 23 through April 24, 2015, at Hood.com to determine the 10 finalists from each state who will then be interviewed by a panel of judges.

Now entering its sixth year, the Hood Sportsmanship Scholarship presented by Hood Milk has become one of the largest scholarships in New England and has impacted 90 students and their families over the past five years.

The final 18 winners will be notified in May and be invited to attend an awards banquet, where Gord Kluzak will speak about the importance of sportsmanship. Kluzak, retired Boston Bruins defense man and current investment advisor at Goldman Sachs, will serve as the spokesperson for this year’s program.

In 2013, the New England Sports Museum launched the first ever Sportsmanship Exhibit, which highlighted real-life examples of how professional athletes have been able to excel while still maintaining a high degree of sportsmanship. Past scholarship winners are also showcased in this exhibit and it has been well-received with the viewing public.

The exhibit will also now be highlighted online at http://sportsmuseum.org/education/the-hood-sportsmanship-scholarship.aspx.

Patricia Moroz is an artist. She makes sculptures that delight people. Photos are taken of them, and people gush over them. Then they eat them.

Moroz is in the business of creating edible art.

Her one-of-a-kind cakes are so exquisite, some people have a hard time eating them.

But Starlight Custom Cakes taste as good as they look.

Moroz moved to Sawyer's Island from Rockport in July with her husband, Mike.

She set up her already established cake business in a small building outside the main house.

“We started remodeling the building right away because I had to start working,” Moroz said.

Moroz is passionate about creating and personalizing her wedding and special occasion sculpted cakes. But don't go to her looking for any other baked goods.

“I'm not a bakery,” she said.

Before she got serious about being a specialty cake maker, Moroz was making gingerbread houses for the Christmas by the Sea weekend, an annual event that takes place in Camden, Lincolnville and Rockport.

For the last nine years she has made 100 to 150 gingerbread houses for the event. People came from all over for them.

“They would be lined up outside by 7 a.m.,” Moroz said. “We opened the doors at 8 a.m., and we were always sold out of gingerbread houses by 8:30.”

Because of the move, Moroz told them she couldn't do the fair this year. But she felt bad about leaving them, so she promised to do 40 or 50 small gingerbread houses.

On Nov. 26, her workshop was filled with small ones in all phases of completion.

Moroz calls them Sweet Dream Houses.

“These are for kids, and they keep them by their bedsides so they're the last thing they look at every night, and they'll have sweet dreams,” Moroz said.

When she's not making gingerbread houses, Moroz is busy with her specialties: wedding and sculpted cakes.

Having studied under some of the best master sugar artists and pastry chefs in the country, Moroz's sculpted cakes, some up to four and five feet high, have been made in the form of figures, animals and automobiles. Photos of her creations line the walls of her workshop. There's a frog, a chef, a matador, a three-foot tall pumpkin man, a frog, a 1918 Model T firetruck, Peter Rabbit, dogs. You name it, Moroz has probably made it.

Armature wire and PVC pipes are used to form some of the more intricate figures, and edible paint is used for much of the detail. Many of the forms and shapes that make up the figures are sculpted from Rice Krispies Treats, then covered in a fine coating of “modeling chocolate” or fondant — all edible of course.

Moroz made a cake for the Rockport Fire Department recently.

“It was a replica of one of their fire engines,” she said. “They ate everything. Rice Krispies, fondant, chocolate.”

The wedding cakes Moroz creates are covered in rolled fondant that resembles porcelain. They range from the elegant to the playful, whimsical and contemporary. There are lovely, white flower-covered wedding cakes for the bride, and fun, playful sculpted ones for the groom.

When she's not building edible sculptures or wedding cakes, Moroz does tutorials, book reviews and product testing for American Cake Decorating Magazine, a bi-monthly national publication, to which she contributes four or five times a year. She also gives classes in cake making.

Moroz said she often gets calls from people wanting to intern with her.

“When I teach classes most of them are culinary school graduates,” she said.

A woman from Canada came last winter and stayed for over six days.

“We worked from eight in the morning till around eight at night. They are long, intensive classes.”

One of the photos in the workshop was of a cake with a bottle of wine next to it. The “bottle,” also made by Moroz, was made of sugar.

“When you put one on the table next to a real wine bottle you can't tell the difference,” she said. “They even break like glass.”

Wanting to see what happened when one of her bottles did break, Moroz asked her husband to be a guinea pig. He put on a baseball cap for protection, and she broke it over his head.

“He screamed,” she said. “There was a huge welt on his head. Luckily he's a good sport.” She has made the bottles thinner since.

Mike Moroz also makes scale models for her when needed.

All Starlight Custom Cakes are made with fresh, organic ingredients. Moroz suggests that orders are placed early, as available dates fill up quickly. The cakes, like most finely-crafted art, don't come cheap. Some of the sculpted ones go for $250 to $300. Wedding cakes are $6 per slice.

Moroz may be the only person who doesn't call herself an artist.

“I don't think I'm an artist. It's in the eye of the beholder.”

To reach Patricia Moroz and Starlight Custom Cakes, call 207-633-0481 or go to www.starlightcustomcakes.com or email svendle4@midcoast.com.

Benjamin (Ben) Bisson, a Woolwich native and 2009 graduate of Carrabassett Valley Academy, has been named to the snowboard coaching staff, Head of School Kate Punderson announced recently.

"Benjamin brings a sincere love for snowboarding and an amazing ability to connect with young riders to help them reach their goals,” said Mike Mallon, head snowboard coach at Carrabassett Valley Academy. “We are fortunate to be able to add an alum with his credentials to our staff and are stoked he is part of the team."

Bisson said he is looking forward to giving back to the CVA community that he says has given him so much.

"My experiences over the last 5 years, combined with the knowledge, skills and passion I developed during my time at CVA, have led me back and prepared me to fully invest myself and my time into our student athletes. 

“My passion for youth development comes from the gratitude I have for the people and communities that invested so much in me growing up. I look forward to being a positive influence on CVA's bright and talented student body and to giving back to the community that I owe so much to."

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us and the mayhem of Black Friday (if you buy into such schemes) has “cashiered” in the official gift-giving season, why not change it up a bit by thinking of “gifts” for the birds?

For us, the recent snow storm (not to mention the news from buried Buffalo, New York) are great reasons to evaluate our bird-feeding station in preparation for the months ahead. And that has inspired us to share few tips for people like us who enjoy feeding our feathered friends.

Black-oil sunflower seeds. If you had to choose one offering, we recommend this. It’s packed with protein and thin-shelled, making it a favorite among some of Maine’s feeder birds, including cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches and titmice. Offer it in a hanging tube feeder or spread it on a platform out of neighborhood cats’ reach.

Nyjer. You may know this as "thistle" seed (though it’s not actually related to our native thistle plants).

Nyjer is best served in a tube feeder designed for these tiny seeds, so they don’t spill out. It’s a favorite among finches — house finches, purple finches, goldfinches (this time of year, look for them in their drabber olive-green plumage, as the males’ flashy golden garb has long molted away). Any pine siskins and common redpolls that happen to be in the area may be attracted to your nyjer feeder as well.

Millet. This tiny, round grain is a favorite among juncos and sparrows. Sprinkle it on the ground in an area protected from prowling neighborhood cats. The birds will always perch on a platform for a millet meal.

Corn. If you’ve ever wanted a visit from a flock of wild turkeys, corn is your best bet. Turkeys and ducks prefer it whole; doves, sparrows, and blue jays prefer it cracked. Corn and millet are a great seed mix to attract a variety of species; sprinkle in a protected area on the ground or on a platform feeder.

To lure in the sunflower seed lovers, you can mix in some black-oil sunflower seeds as well — it’s great to see a platform bustling with birds feasting together.

Mixed seed. Skip it! Cheap bags of mixed seed are often made up disproportionately of milo, reddish colored grain that very few eastern species will eat. Better to spend a few pennies more and make your own seed mix than to fill a feeder full of shunned seeds.

Suet. A suet feeder is a must for all woodpecker enthusiasts. Downy and hairies will quickly become regular guests, as will any roaming red-bellied woodpeckers (an increasingly common bird here in Maine) and quite possibly the occasional pileated. Songbirds such as chickadees and nuthatches will also help themselves.

Remember to clean your feeders about every two weeks by washing them in soapy water and rinsing them in a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water. Dry your feeders completely before refilling them. Rake the ground as seed waste starts to pile up, to keep it from molding.

Now, we’re often asked about whether feeding birds teaches them bad habits by making them reliant on a hand out. The answer is no. Despite how it may seem, birds actually get just a small portion of their diet from feeders. On the other hand, a feeding station can help birds through tough times, like snow and ice storms.

So plan now for these “gifts for birds” that will be enjoyed for months to come — by the birds, and by you!

The Damariscotta River Association (DRA) has announced that State Wildlife Biologist Keel Kemper will be speaking about Maine’s predators, specifically bears, mountain lions and coyotes on Monday, Dec. 15 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the DRA Heritage Center, 110 Belvedere Road. This program is free to the public.

Kemper will focus on the conservation and management efforts of predator populations by the State of Maine. The program will offer information about the recent bear-management referendum, coyote culling and mountain lion status. There will be opportunities for the public to ask questions.

“There are many misunderstandings and some confusion about the status of current predator populations and management methods,” DRA Education Director Sarah Gladu explained. “These are complex ethical issues. It is my hope that the public can become more educated about wildlife management in this state so that we can all help protect wildlife and better and understand what is at stake.”

Kemper is the Regional wildlife biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. He is assigned to the Sidney Regional Headquarters and serves the Central Coastal Maine region. He has worked for the MDIFW for over 25 years and lives with his family in Unity, Maine.

The Damariscotta River Association is a nonprofit, membership supported, and nationally accredited land trust dedicated to preserving and promoting the natural, cultural, and historical heritage of the Damariscotta region, centered on the Damariscotta River.

DRA has active programs in the areas of land conservation, stewardship, community education, water quality monitoring, marine conservation and cultural preservation. Visitors are welcome at the Great Salt Bay Heritage Center in Damariscotta as well as the many other DRA properties throughout the region. For more information call 207-563-1393, email dra@damariscottariver.org, or view their website at www.damariscottariver.org.

Saddleback, a mountain known for its relaxed vibe with miles of terrain, hand-cut glades, and affordable skiing, kicks off opening weekend on December 13-14, with significant mountain improvements and even greater snow-making capacity.

Over the summer and fall, Saddleback expanded upon its popular glade terrain, adding more intermediate and expert-level glades custom designed by professional skiers and riders. The ski area also added new energy-efficient snowmaking guns to ensure deeper snowpack all over the 4120-foot mountain.

Saddleback boasts a 2,000-foot vertical drop, which is comparable to the best alpine ski mountains in the West.

Rangeley has long been known for its dependable and superior snowfall, which is caused by the lake effect of the surrounding region.

After the initial two-day opening weekend, the mountain will pause before reopening for good on Dec. 20. A barrage of holiday events are planned for Christmas week and the days leading up to it.

Holiday season highlights

Sunday, Dec. 14, Maine Day: Maine residents ski all day for only $39.

Sunday, Dec. 21 and Sunday, Jan. 11, Maine Teacher Days: Show your current Maine Teacher’s ID on one of these days and you can purchase two full day tickets for the price of one.

Wednesday, Dec. 31, New Year's Eve party: A marshmallow roast under the stars, live music and fireworks starting at 8 p.m.

Special student season passes

Peak season passes priced at $149, are available through Jan. 31 for any honor student (K-12). Promoting Education and Activity for Kids, is designed to encourage students to perform well in school, promote getting outside, and encourage the enjoyment of winter sports.

Maine college passes priced at $249, if purchased before Dec. 31. This pass is for full-time students enrolled in an accredited two or four-year Maine college or university. Proof of full-time enrollment and a picture ID from the institution is required when picking up the pass.

Limited time savings

Offer ends Friday, Dec. 12: Saddleback savings cards priced at $379 for 20 percent savings off the list price of a lift ticket. Cards are on sale as long as supply lasts. There are no blackout dates and the card can be redeemed for tickets for a family member or a friend.

Maine Days

Maine Days — the first Sunday of every month — throughout the season with $39 all-day skiing for Maine residents.

“Our Maine Days fall are just one way we say ‘Thank You’ to our Maine residents, who make up the vast majority of Saddleback skiers,” said Saddleback General Manager Christopher Farmer. “We are committed to preserving Saddleback’s laid-back atmosphere, and this includes keeping prices affordable in the restaurant, bar, rental shop and on the slopes.”

Last year, Saddleback was voted first in overall satisfaction, first in value, best family resort, and best grooming in the East by Ski Magazine, Snow East and other leading industry publications.

Saddleback, Maine, a family-owned ski area with a 4120-foot mountain nestled in the Rangeley Lakes Region. To learn more about ticket deals and events, go to www.saddlebackmaine.com.

Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) in Jefferson is an education and recreation center in Midcoast Maine boasting more than 20 miles of beautiful cross-country ski trails. Each winter thousands of visitors head to HVNC to enjoy the 1,000 acres of forest knit together by great multi-use trails. This winter kids and adults alike are invited to take part by learning the fundamentals of cross-country skiing.

On Saturday, Jan. 3, 9:30-11 a.m., kids ages 5-12 are invited to the annual KickOff Clinic. The Kickoff Clinic is the official start to a six week cross-country ski clinic, but it is free and open to everyone, registration required. If you enjoy the KickOff Clinic you can register for the remaining five weeks. Participants will spend an hour-and-a-half each morning working on the basics of cross-country skiing. Participants will be divided into groups based on experience and skill level, and will work with one of our skilled and enthusiastic ski instructors. The atmosphere is fun and non-competitive.

Interested families and individuals should register online at www.hvnc.org/registration. Please note that anyone interested in the Free Kickoff Clinic still should register online because space is limited. Participants can register for the Full Clinic in advance, or they can wait until after the Kickoff Clinic on Jan. 3.

Clinic details are available online at http://hvnc.org/xc-ski-clinic. Registration fees range between $40-$60. Discounts applied for HVNC membership, as well as for siblings. Limited scholarship assistance is available. Space is limited, please sign up early: info@hvnc.org.

New this year adults will have an opportunity to learn to cross-country ski, or refresh their skills. On Saturday, Jan. 17, 12-2:30 p.m. Bob Steneck will lead an adult instructional class. Bring your own gear, or Maine Sport will be on site that day renting gear.

Participants will spend most of the time on their skis practicing the fundamentals, but some attention will be given to buying the right gear and maintenance. This a great opportunity for new skiers and refreshers alike! For more information head to www.hvnc.org/registration.

For more information on HVNC, visit hvnc.org, call 207-200-8840, or email info@hvnc.org.

Travel by bus to Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Queens, New York City this coming summer and watch five Major League Baseball games in five days.

The Alfond Youth Center in Waterville is holding its 14th annual Fantasy Baseball Trip from Wednesday, July 29 through Sunday, August 2, 2015. The trip is organized by Vaughn Clark, who has 13 years experience in running baseball trips.

The cost of the trip is $860, with a $160 deposit and a monthly payment plan is available.

The line-up of games are: July 29, White Sox at Red Sox; July 30, Tigers at Orioles; July 31, Braves at Phillies; Aug. 1, Braves at Phillies; and Aug. 2, Nationals at Mets.

For more information or to sign up, call Clark at 207-872-0075 or 207-649-0084. You can also email him at theclarks@gwi.net.

Fresh off its first victory of the season, the Wiscasset High School girls basketball team will look to stretch its winning streak to two tonight.

The Wolverines (1-0) will play at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12 at home in a make-up game against Mountain Valley.

Wiscasset is coming off an impressive 56-29 victory Wednesday, Dec. 10 against Telstar. In the victory, the Wolverines ran off to a fast start and never looked back, according to an email from Head Coach Patrick Quinn. Wiscasset jumped out to a 20-4 lead after one quarter, and at halftime had pushed that lead to 29-9.

The Wolverines were lead by seniors Alecia Faulkingham and Kayla Gordon, as well as fellow senior Miranda McIntire who scored seven points and sophomore Gabby Chapman scored six points on a pair of three-pointers. Wiscasset also made 10 of 18 free throws.

Telstar's Becca Howard (14 points) and Haley Peterson led the team in scoring.

Wiscasset was originally going to open its season against Mountain Valley, but the game was postponed during the wet and cold conditions a week ago.

Wiscasset will have a full slate of games this weekend. Both the boys and girls teams travel Saturday to Carrabec to face the Cobras. The boys will tip-off at noon, with the girls game following at 1:30 p.m.

On Saturday, Dec. 13, the Wolverines traveled to North Anson to play against the reigning Western Class C champion Carrabec Cobras.

Carrabec was able to run out to an early lead and held on tight for a 48-20 victory. The Cobras (1-2 overall) were able to harass Wiscasset into giving up 16 first-half turnovers, and 22 turnovers overall.

Sophomore Gabby Chapman again continued her sharp shooting, as she had five points, including one three-pointer. Freshman speedster Grace Webber ran down a potential layup and blocked the shot, and Kayla Gordon had eight points and six rebounds.

For Carrabec, the Cobras were led by Mickayla Willette, who netted a game-high 20 points and Emma Pluntke, who scored 12 points.

Wiscasset made three of seven free throw shots, while Carrabec netted six of 13.

Mountain Valley 50, Wiscasset 40

Despite a 10-point final result, Wiscasset and Mountain Valley played a close one Friday, Dec. 12 in Wiscasset.

Although Mountain Valley won, 50-40, it was a hard-fought match-up between Wiscasset (1-1) and the Falcons (1-0).

Mountain Valley pressured Wiscasset's ball handlers all night, and the Falcons were able to generate turnovers. The Wolverines were able to generate offense when the ball did cross center court, however.

Sophomore Gabby Chapman made a pair of three-pointers to give her six points, but it was the long-range shooting of senior Alecia Faulkingham that kept Wiscasset at striking distance. Faulkingham also had a pair of threes on her way to scoring a game-high 16 points.

The two teams were tied at five points apiece after one quarter, and the game was shaping-up to be a defensive battle between the two Mountain Valley Conference teams.

At halftime the score was only 18-10 in favor of the Falcons.

The second half brought out the scoring, as the two teams combined to score 62 points during the half.

Mountain Valley would hold onto its edge, thanks in large part to Ashley Russell, who scored 14 points and had six rebounds.

The Wiscasset High School girls basketball team kept it close with Boothbay for about one half on Monday before the host Lady Seahawks went on a 14-2 run in the third quarter and went on to win, 53-29.

The Wolverines came within three points, 23-20, with 6:50 to play in the third quarter before Boothbay went on its run to close out the quarter.

The loss dropped Wiscasset's record to 1-3 while Boothbay improved to 3-0.

Alecia Faulkingham led Wiscasset with nine points while Kayla Gordon added eight.

Boothbay was led by Page Brown with 13 points, followed by Morgan Crocker with 10.

The Wiscasset Warriors middle school boys basketball team made the trip north to Jefferson for a match-up with their division rivals.

Jefferson came out on top in a 66-60 contest, splitting the season series. Wiscasset is now 6-2 on the year.

The Warriors were led by Billy Pinkham and his 13 points while Noah Haggett netted 12 points.

Matt Chapman played a well-rounded game on the post and scored 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.

Wiscasset's C.J. Loyola chipped-in with 10 points while Matt Smith scored eight points and hauled in seven rebounds for the cause.

Ryan Creamer played a phenomenal game for the host Jefferson squad and scored a game high 41 points, including five three-point baskets.

We were at a book signing at L.L. Bean in Freeport recently to shamelessly promote the purchase of our book, “Maine’s Favorite Birds” as the perfect holiday gift (yes, that is a not-so-subtle hint), when we met a wonderful couple from the Philadelphia area.

This couple had come up to Maine to look for winter birds, do some shopping, and most importantly, to participate in a Christmas Bird Count.

For the past few years, they had been driving out to Montauk Point on the far eastern tip of Long Island to be part of that Christmas Bird Count; but this year they had decided to travel even further and participate in the Portland CBC.

The Christmas Bird Count, as we have described before in this column, is a tradition started more than 100 years ago as a sort of peaceful protest against the practice of holiday bird hunts in which people would compete to see who could kill the most birds in a day of shooting.

Under the stewardship of the National Audubon Society, the Christmas Bird Count became a standardized survey of winter bird populations that has now amassed a tremendous long-term dataset that can be used to study changes in the distribution and abundance of birds. Despite the name, the count doesn’t take place on Christmas Day itself but in the two weeks before and after.

Along with being important for the data collected, the process of participating in a Christmas Bird Count can also be a wonderful and enriching social and community event. Each Christmas Bird Count area is divided into sections with a team assigned to each section.

Teams then also sometimes divide themselves up to cover smaller sections of the assigned area. Many Christmas Bird Counts have a get-together at the end of the day to compile the numbers and share stories of the day. One of our most memorable Christmas Bird Count experiences took place many years ago when we had the opportunity to participate in the New York City Christmas Bird Count.

We were part of team that covered Central Park and our subset had just one section of the Park. We searched for the Long-eared Owl near Belvedere Castle, combed through The Ramble for Fox Sparrows, and strolled across Sheep Meadow hoping for the Red-headed Woodpecker that was supposed to in residence there.

All the while we watched diligently for the red-tailed hawks that had become celebrities since the book “Red-tails in Love” had described their amazing comeback in and around Central Park.

At one point we were walking along one of the wide paved paths in Central Park when an impeccably dressed couple, he in a bright blue woolen coat and she in vibrant red, passed us in a power walk.

Closely behind them were two large men in black coats with the tell-tale wire leading from under the collar up to the ear that marked them as security of some sort. We looked again more closely at the man and woman ahead of us and realized that we had just been passed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, apparently out for his morning exercise walk!

To find out about Christmas Bird Counts wherever you are, check out the schedule at http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count

Once again, the Damariscotta River Association’s annual holiday party drew a large crowd of supporters. Over 100 members attended the gala potluck held at the DRA headquarters on Belvedere Road. One guest commented: “This is the best party in town!”

In a short presentation, comments were made by Board President Bruce Lutsk who noted that DRA events this year have brought record attendance. He cited some examples: more than 100 attendees at the annual meeting; 700-plus audience members during DRA’s summer Midcoast Music Fest; over 20 volunteers helping to set up the ice rink; large numbers assisting every month to clear trails.

Executive Director Steven Hufnagel thanked the many assembled members for their contributions through monetary support as well as through volunteer work. He thanked fellow DRA staff for providing invaluable contributions to the smooth operation of DRA, enabling the organization to fulfill its mission of conserving lands and connecting them to the community at large.

He announced a recent land donation by Mark Hanley and Jewel Hanley of 5 acres in Drebelis Point, making it a 25 acre preserve with plans for a trail that will be open to the public. He noted that a $75,000 grant from Land For Maine’s Future, along with significant private gifts will enable this winter the purchase of Crow Island in the Thread of Life at the mouth of John’s Bay.

He encouraged the group to view a video on the DRA web site of the new Seal Cove Shore Preserve trail.

The final speaker was Dan Hupp, a Great Salt Bay Community School 5th grade science teacher. He discussed programs led by DRA Education Director Sarah Gladu with area teachers. He commented that many students who might not ordinarily be enthused with science and school work have become actively involved because of the hands-on approach emphasized in DRA’s programs.

In particular, he praised the Damariscotta Estuary Education Programs (DEEP), which engages students with the Damariscotta River through creative projects in a partnership with the Darling Marine Center.

Hufnagel ended by honoring recently deceased DRA Members Bob and Margaret Baker and Bob Drake and glasses were raised by all.

A bonus for attendees at the party was the opportunity to obtain a free Audubon Book Field Guide. Twenty of the books were donated to the DRA by member Chip Orcutt and were available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Visitors are welcome at the Great Salt Bay Heritage Center in Damariscotta as well as the many other DRA properties throughout the region. For more information call 207-563-1393, email dra@damariscottariver.org, or view their website at www.damariscottariver.org.

The Wiscasset Parks and Recreation Department Afterschool Adventures staff members will be leading a group on Monday, Dec. 29, our Monday Funday Daycamp!

Join Heather and the staff for a trip to the Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine. Kids will participate in one and a half hours of free play time and a choice of one activity: “Meet the Turtles” or “Camera Obscura.”

If your children want to learn about our “Timmy the Turtle,” this is a great activity. Camera Obscura is a room that exhibits the principles of light, perspective and vision. It’s like standing inside a camera!

The camp day will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. with before and aftercare available for an additional $5. Standard price is $35 and members/Community Partners price is $28. Campers should bring lunch and snacks. For more information, please contact the front desk at the WCC, 207-882-8230.

On Tuesday, Dec. 30, Wiscasset Parks and Rec is excited to offer a Robotics Camp Workshop with the folks of Maine Robotics at the Wiscasset Community Center from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.! Campers will learn to build Lego Robots from the EV-3 Lego Series. Then they will be learning to program the robots that they have constructed.

This camp is for children 9-14 years old and space is limited. Lunch is on your own or a pizza lunch can be provided for an additional fee. This camp fee is $89 for all participants. Call the WCC for more info or check out the Maine Robotics website.

Finally on Friday, Jan. 2, Wiscasset Parks and Rec will be taking a trip to Lost Valley for ski and snowboarding. This is an all ages trip. Anyone under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult. We will be departing the Wiscasset Community Center at 8 a.m. sharp with a return time of 5:30 p.m. Rentals are available at Lost Valley. For rates and more information, please contact the Wiscasset Community Center at 207-882-8230.

Entomologist Charlene Donahue of the Maine Forest Service doesn’t want the state to take the hit Massachusetts did from the winter moth. Thousands of acres of Massachusetts trees were lost to the insect that eats leaves while it’s a caterpillar.

The caterpillars favor oak trees and also have a taste for trees and bushes that grow two of Maine’s favorites — apples and blueberries.

The moth has made it to Maine, hitchhiking in soil and plants brought into the state, Donahue said Dec. 18. Now she and the agency where she works are taking steps to help prevent major problems. But they need our help.

The Forest Service wants to hear from anyone who spots the moth. The reported sightings will combine with moth trappings going on this month in Wiscasset, Boothbay and elsewhere to help determine where the moths are gaining ground.

The males are small, tan and, being moths, they are attracted to lights. Females are flightless so would be seen on the trees.

“They look like mosquitoes with fur coats,” Donovan said.

Area residents have been responding to the state’s request. So far in this year’s round, Donahue said 13 reported sightings have come in from Boothbay Harbor, including three reports of 51 moths or more, and four reports of 21 to 51 moths; Boothbay, with five reports of varying numbers of moths; and Dresden, Alna, Bristol, Waldoboro and Nobleboro each with a report of small numbers of moths spotted.

The state has also received a report of 21 to 50 moths being spotted in Wiscasset’s and Dresden’s Sagadahoc County neighbor, Woolwich.

The state restarted its search for the winter moth last year after putting out traps for it in 2005 and 2006. Then, the only moths found in Lincoln County were in Bristol.

The 2013 trappings caught 46 moths in Lincoln County, including 12 in Boothbay, 18 in Bremen, 13 in Bristol, two in Edgecomb and a lone moth caught in Damariscotta. Traps in Wiscasset, Waldoboro and Somerville caught no moths. One in Woolwich caught 19.

The biggest threat appears to be on Maine’s southern coast, particularly in towns where more people are likely to have their second homes, Donahue said. The moths’ cocoons look like clumps of soil, so when someone brings a plant or tree into Maine to transplant it, the cocoons may come along undetected.

“It’s not (people’s) fault,” she said. “You don’t even know that (the cocoons) are there.”

Once here, though, the moths multiply, which can lead to infestations.

What does the state do when it decides it’s time to take action against the moths in one town or another?

There’s a biocontrol measure, a small species of fly that states enlist in stemming a white moth onslaught.

Through a series of steps, the flies wind up inside the caterpillar while it’s in its cocoon. Then they eat the caterpillar, from the inside.

It takes years after the flies’ introduction to reduce the number of the moths in an area, Donahue said. That’s because the moths greatly outnumber the flies that are brought in to kill them. A release consists of 2,000 flies Maine gets from the University of Massachusetts. Other states need the flies, too, which impacts the number each can receive.

Biocontrol efforts can reduce a winter moth population, but not wipe it out.

“They’re here. They’ll never go away,” Donahue said.

Fighting invasive species like the winter moth helps protect Maine’s $8 billion forest industry that is linked to 38,789 jobs, Gov. Paul R. LePage states in a Dec. 8 press release.

“Public involvement will help professionals combat and minimize the destructive potential of this and other invasive species,” LePage said.

“Reports from the public are critical to getting the bigger picture of this insect’s distribution,” Walt Whitcomb, commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, states in the same release. “A healthy forest is key to Maine’s forest economy. Having citizen involvement in monitoring invasive pests is important to the future of rural Maine.”

Report sightings by taking an online survey at: http://www.maine.gov/dacf/wintermothsurvey or by calling 207-287-2431.

The Wiscasset Warriors boys middle school basketball team picked up another road win on Wednesday, Dec. 17 in Bristol.

After getting off to a slow start the Warriors found their rhythm and notched a 60-39 win against the Bristol "A" team.

The Wiscasset squad has 7 wins against 2 losses on the season heading into the holiday break. Leading the Warriors was Matt Chapman, who finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds.

Dylan Orr, who returned to action after a knee injury kept him sidelined for two weeks, scored 11 points.

Billy Pinkham added nine points and four assists. Haiden Dunning chipped in with six points and five rebounds.

The Bristol Blue Devils were led by Sullivan Fink's 14 points while Chase Crockett added eight points.

Maine's ski resorts have plenty of events to choose from to ring in 2015.

New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, is just a week away. If a getaway appeals to you, here's what Sugarloaf, Sunday River and Saddleback have lined up to choose from, including fireworks displays. 

Sugarloaf

Sugarloaf Mountain, a popular destination for many among us has several events lined up from magic to music to fireworks.

The Jason Bishop Magic Show at the King Pine Room begins at 7 p.m. There will be double levitation, plasma illusions. It will be a night of stunning and original state-of-the-art magic for the entire family. Cost is $5 per person at the door.

There will be fireworks on the beach at 9:15 p.m., followed by a themed Masquerade Ball with music by the 9-piece jazz-funk band Harsh Armadillos, from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Check out the website for details on the theme as yet to be announced. 

Sugarloaf is located at 5092 Sugarloaf Access Road in Carrabassett Valley.

For more information, call 1-800-THE-LOAF or visit www.sugarloaf.com/activities-and-nightlife/events.

Sunday River

Dave Mello Band Head up to Sliders at the Jordan Hotel and enjoy live music from the Dave Mello Band, 7 p.m.

Afterward, a brilliant display of colors will light up the winter sky above the slopes of Sunday River. Fireworks are best viewed slopeside or on the deck at the Foggy Goggle, 8:30 p.m.

The Aldous Collins Band plays at the Foggy Goggle. This is a 21-plus event. Cover is $15 if purchase before Dec. 31, $20 day of event. Visit the website for tickets.

Celebrate another year at 2,100 feet! Load the Chondola to the mid-mountain Peak lodge to welcome the new year in style at a Peak Party. 9 p.m. This event typically sells out in advanced.

Sunday River is located at Southridge Road in Newry. For more information and tickets/reservations, call 1-800-543-2754.

Saddleback Mountain

New Year’s at Saddleback includes après ski music in the Swig n' Smelt Pub, a marshmallow roast under the stars and fireworks at 8 p.m.

Saddleback Mountain is located at 976 Saddleback Mountain Road in Rangeley.

For more information, call 207-864-5671 or visit www.saddlebackmaine.com.