Wear your best PJs to bed this Friday night, and remember to set your alarm on the bright and early setting (a.k.a. 5 a.m.) because the 36th Early Bird Sale & Pajama Party is this Saturday, Nov. 23. And you know what that means ...  you have an excuse to stay in your jammies most of the day and go shopping! Early Bird really is a beautiful thing.

Alna selectmen agreed Nov. 14 to send the planning board a copy of a draft of a blasting ordinance for the panel to review and make recommendations on by Dec. 15. Chris Cooper, who moderated a selectboard-appointed mining committee that produced the draft ordinance, said letting the planning board edit the document might lead committee members to "disavow" the proposal. 

The selectboard decided it will review recommendations the planning board gives it about the document, and consider incorporating them.

The Maine Yankee Community Advisory Panel (CAP) on Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage and Removal convened its annual public meeting Oct. 29. Panel members and attendees heard presentations on the status of the Maine Yankee Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) along with updates on federal and state topics related to the long-term storage and future removal of the Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF). The meeting took place at Montsweag Restaurant in Woolwich.

Isabelle “Is” Curtis joined the Boothbay Register/Wiscasset Newspaper staff this week as a full-time reporter. 

Wiscasset photographer Bob Bond of 40 Federal Studio was out and about for Saturday's Early Riser in Wiscasset. Enjoy the comments Bond gathered along with the pictures.

"I want to be very, very clear ...," Wiscasset Selectmen's Chair Sarah Whitfield said Nov. 5. The timber harvesting contract the board was nodding that night for Herman-based Gary M. Pomeroy Logging Inc. is not for clear-cutting, Whitfield said. She said she was making the point, "just because I don't want this rumor out there."

"This is maintenance only," Town Manager Dennis Simmons said.

"And also for the good of the property (for) its stewardship ...," Selectman Terry Heller added.

Maine’s coastline stretches for thousands of miles. Within that expanse are many intersecting and often competing activities and values. Mainers are deeply connected to the coast through livelihoods, cultural identities, family legacies, and deep appreciation for nature, wildlife, and wild spaces. But sometimes those connections to the coast can clash. 

Wiscasset Holiday Marketfest heralds the gift-giving season with three days of local shopping and lots of activities for shoppers, families, locals, and visitors to enjoy! In 2024, visit Marketfest on Friday, Dec. 6, Saturday, Dec. 7, and Sunday, Dec. 8, in Wiscasset Village, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day and festive family events on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Monday night, JAR Cannabis Co. owner Joel Pepin told the planning board the Lewiston-based company has been in the industry in Maine more than 10 years, and is proposing an adult use cannabis retail store at 564 Bath Road. A property holding company JAR owns has the property under contract and the sale will close by the end of October, he said. "So sometime in the next couple days."

This Santa had a beanie.

That fits, if you know "Big Al" Cohen or saw his commercials over the many years Cohen had Big Al's Super Values, "Route (rhymes with 'out') One, Wiscasset."

Cohen and the signature beanie were back at the well-known spot Oct. 24, where he dressed as Santa for the latest ad for the business now in the building, Steve Jackson's Sweetz & More.

A higher inventory of single-family homes for sale in Maine has started to bring about a more balanced market to the state. According to Maine Listings, 5.39 percent more homes were sold in September 2024 compared to September 2023. The median sales price (MSP) for the 1,486 homes sold reached $409,450, an 8.68% increase over September of last year. The MSP indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less.

The Mills Administration announced Tuesday, Wiscasset and five other communities will receive technical assistance from the state to support locally determined revitalization projects at current and former industrial sites to create good-paying jobs, drive local economic development, and meet state climate and clean energy goals.  

The Boothbay Register, Wiscasset Newspaper and Pen Bay Pilot won 35 Maine Press Association individual and staff awards, and the Pilot’s advertising salesperson, Janis Bunting, received the 2024 Advertising Person of the Year Award. The awards ceremony was held Saturday, Oct. 19 at Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Event Center in Bar Harbor at the 2024 MPA Conference. 

All three newspapers competed in the Weekly 2 division. The contest was judged by the Nebraska Press Association. 

American lobsters along Maine’s coast have relocated to new habitats, while the population simultaneously shrunk in abundance and grew older, according to a new study by University of Maine researchers.

Mason Station will get a temporary fence and first responders will have access to a key, a developer told Wiscasset selectmen Oct. 15. Yard work is planned this fall, with a goal to take out no trees, only brush, Mason Station Redevelopment Company LLC President Ryan Gahagan said.

MSRC has been working with Mason Station owner Mason Station LLC; the town; Maine Community Energy Redevelopment Program; and Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

The Wiscasset Selectboard is announcing a tentative settlement in its real estate tax assessment dispute with Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company. Following a full-day mediation session led by Jerrol Crouter, the parties, with the assistance of their legal counsel, reached a tentative agreement valuing the Maine Yankee Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation and its Bailey Point land at $80 million. This agreement represents a substantial increase in value compared to the previous 20-year agreement, which concluded with a final valuation of $30 million.

Coastal Maine Regional Broadband and BoomerTECH Adventures are pleased to present “Empowering the Helper Part II.” This free “tech” training addresses the ever-evolving digital world, and is designed for front-line tech support staff and volunteers at libraries, town offices, affordable housing, community and senior centers, and other non-profits.  

If you’re a local librarian or a community or non-profit volunteer, or like helping neighbors solve computer or phone issues – this is the training session for you!  

Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce invites our members and partners in our community to join us for Business After Hours, Friday, Oct. 18 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. and hosted by Wiscasset Community Center at Aekeir Brewing, 111 Main St., Wiscasset.

Business After Hours events are a great opportunity to network with other business professionals and leaders, and learn about our unique business community.