YEARS OF BESTof

of the EVENTIDE OYSTER CO. GOT OUR NOD FOR BEST LOBSTER ROLL IN 2O13. WE THINK IT’S STILL HARD TO GO WRONG WITH ONE.

Food & Drink secret! An excellent European-style deli and concoction took first place in 1999 at the café on a back road in the middle of nowhere Scovie Awards in Albuquerque (and again at in 2008 would seem an unlikely candidate for 2000 at the Scovies in Reno). No, we had never overexposure. But Morse’s has gotten so heard of the Scovie Awards either, but we will BUTCHER popular — thanks a lot, Boston Globe — it can testify to the superiority of this sweet and be hard to get in the door on weekends. Still, scalding sauce. W.O. Hesperus’ other picante Bisson’s Meat Market Morse’s famed ’kraut, its 10-year-old cheddar, pickles, jerkies, and rubs warm our hearts, too. 112 Meadow Rd., Topsham. 207-725-7215. and fabulous Kraut Haus restaurant (think Available at finer stores and specialty shops. spaetzle, schnitzel, and Reubens) make this a We’re reluctant to share this superlative, must-visit destination. Danke schön! because the family-owned Bisson’s Meat Market is one of those perfect places that you SPECIALTY FOOD SHOP want to keep to yourself so it won’t be spoiled The Cheese Iron by popularity. Located in rural Topsham, the 2009 200 U.S. Rte 1 Suite 300, Scarborough. butcher shop has been in business for 87 years 207-883-4057. turning out hand-cut meat, sausage, HOT SAUCE thecheeseiron.com pepperoni, raw milk, and butter, and other products. “The beef jerky is our number one Captain Mowatt’s The Cheese Iron bears zero resemblance to a seller,” Cindy Bisson told us. “We make it 800 Canceaux Sauce back street in Paris’ Montmarte. Zero. So the Cheese Iron — a European-style shop offering to 1,000 pounds at a time and can’t keep it in 207-773-8047. stock.” wohesperus.com more than 200d domestic and international cheeses, from chèvres and bleus to aged It’s not every day when a Maine hot sauce cheddars — already gets a prize for its sheer EURO DELI heads into the habanero heart of darkness that unlikeliness. But what really distinguishes this is New Mexico and burns the doors off the local shop is the expert advice of the people who Morse’s Sauerkraut & Euro Deli competition. But that’s what Dan Stevens of work here and their devotion to what they call 3856 Washington Rd., Waldoboro. 207-832-5569. the Portland-based W.O. Hesperus Company the holy trinity of food — cheese, wine, and morsessauerkraut.com did with his Canceaux Sauce — a fiery mix of bread. jalapenos, African birdseye, japones, and Oh, for the days when Morse’s Sauerkraut & cayenne red chilies, with just the right touch of Euro Deli in Waldoboro was our own little sugar, vinegar, and garlic. Stevens’ homemade There’s nothing like a rich piece of chocolate 19th-century saltwater farm about 12 miles cake to sweeten an afternoon. For a leisurely south of Bath. The paninis, served on Borealis SNACK respite from the bustle of Portland, settle into bread, elevate the humble sandwich to a Fox Family Potato Chips Bar of Chocolate Café, a dark, brick-walled gourmet treat. Among the offerings: The Bev comfy café and wine bar nestled on Wharf (tuna, artichokes, tapenade, and Gruyere), the 888-304-8281. foxfamilychips.com Street. Pick up a paper, order a coffee, and Surfer (smoked turkey, Spruce Mountain wild The Maine potato is such an enduring and don’t pass on dessert. Well known for an blueberry chutney, arugula, and Gruyere), and delicious epitome of starchy goodness, and the extremely decadent chocolate torte, the café our favorite, smoked salmon, cream cheese, Fox family, of Aroostook County, has been also makes a chocolate cake with sea salt roasted red onions, and fresh dill. Allow time to growing potatoes for so long (since the 1800s), caramel frosting. It’s near perfection — not too stop and smell the roses — North Creek’s that you begin to wonder why they waited to sweet, not too dense, just moist enough, all nursery boasts some rare and fragrant varieties. get into the chip business. No matter. The chip topped of by a touch of creamy saltiness that that Rhett Fox refined in the back room of his keeps you craving more. Mapleton convenience store has been worth the wait. Made with russet potatoes, sliced by 2013 hand, and fried until dark (“but not too dark” TOFU in Fox’s words) in canola and corn oils, these ACADIAN FARE Heiwa Tofu are, amazingly, the only potato chips actually Dolly’s Restaurant manufactured in Maine. Available in three Rockport. 207-505-0797. flavors — plain, salt and black pepper, and 17 Route 1, Frenchville. 207-728-7050. A family affair, Heiwa Tofu started as a small, facebook.com/dollysrestaurant barbecue — they also happen to be addictive. local operation in the fall of 2008 and quickly Fortunately, they’re cholesterol and trans-fat expanded to bring homemade tofu to eager The Saint John Valley has a distinctive culture free, too. Available at fine markets. herbivores across the state. Made from rooted in its Acadian heritage and its proximity MOFGA-certified organic soybeans grown near to the Canadian border. Not only do many of Skowhegan, the tofu is like no other. You know the locals speak French, but they also serve the 2010 how tofu has a nervous texture, how it’s cuisine of their ancestors: ployes (a pancake- giggly? Heiwa loses the giggle. It tastes very like flatbread made with buckwheat), creton BBQ fresh, not beany, and it crisps really well. Look (pork spread), and chicken stew. You’ll find all for it in health food stores, co-ops, and markets three expertly prepared at Dolly’s. The ployes Bentley’s Saloon across the state. are made to order and served piping hot. Add a little butter and they go perfectly with that 1601 Portland Rd., Arundel. 207-985-8966. hearty chicken stew, a soulful, rib-sticking bentleyssaloon.com blend of chicken, potatoes, and dumplings. If you’ve got a motorcycle (or even if you’re 2012 Don’t leave without sampling the savory more comfortable on four wheels), don’t miss creton, which is rich and wonderfully full of the pig roasts on Saturdays at Bentley’s Saloon AFRICAN FOOD flavor. in Arundel. This barn-like, boisterous bar and restaurant hosts a weekly BBQ for as many as Asmara 1,200 people. The pork plus two sides runs $12 51 Oak St., Portland. 207-253-5122. LOBSTER ROLL and is accompanied by lots of beer, music, and, asmaramaine.com Eventide Oyster Co. of course, motorcycles (up to 900 on a busy Dinner at Asmara is an ultra-social affair when day). Definitely not fine dining, but a darn 86 Middle St., Portland. 207-774-8538. you order one of the shared platters, which is good deal. eventideoysterco.com the tastiest and most fun way to experience chef and owner Asmeret Teklu’s flavorful We’d never dare suggest that a lobster roll like Eritrean food. A selection of tender meat and Eventide’s that deviates so far from tradition by PIES vegetarian stews, long-simmered collards and using brown butter vinaigrette and a steamed Lincoln’s Country Store kale, and a cool lettuce and tomato salad are bun could be the best in Maine… right? arranged atop two large injera, the moist, Suddenly, we aren’t so sure. For the first time, 434 Camden Rd., Warren. 207-273-2113 slightly spongy sourdough flat bread that is the we’re reconsidering the axiom that simpler is How’s this for a Maine gem: an old gas station national dish of both Eritrea and Ethiopia. In better when it comes to Maine’s favorite that doesn’t even accept credit cards at the place of utensils, more injera is served on the sandwich. You can also try it with hollandaise pump happens to sell some of the best cream side for scooping up the stews, which are or house mayo instead of brown butter pies in the state. Welcome to Lincoln’s Country redolent of cayenne, cumin, coriander, cumin, vinaigrette. Store in Warren, where the recipes of Jessie cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. The restaurant is Jacobs were bought by owner Mark Lincoln small, cozy, and simply furnished with Eritrean four years ago. From savory shepherd’s to crafts, and Teklu often works solo, greeting, sweet strawberry, the store offers on average cooking, and serving guests. Fine dining it’s 2014 about twenty different varieties of pie. But the not, but Asmara delivers one of the most cream pies — the chocolate and the peanut interesting, flavorful, and inexpensive meals to CRAB ROLL butter ones in particular — reign supreme. be had in Portland. King Eider’s Pub 2 Elm St., Damariscotta. 207-563-6008. 2011 SANDWICH TO GO kingeiderspub.com North Creek Farm No offense to Maine’s signature sandwich, but sometimes we crave the meat of lobster’s SLICE OF CAKE 24 Sebasco Rd., Phippsburg. 207-389-1341. humble cousin. Sweet and flaky Jonah crab northcreekfarm.org Bar of Chocolate Café — the kind you most often find in a bun around Next time you’re heading to Popham Beach, here — is nearly as different in taste and texture 38 Wharf Street, Portland. 207-773-6667. pick up a picnic lunch at North Creek, a from Maryland’s famous blue crab as from lobster. The delicate meat demands a light — whether the deluxe breakfast sandwich touch and gets it at King Eider’s. Held together (baked egg, applewood-smoked bacon, melted with a smidgen of mayo and seasoned with 2016 cheese, and jalapeños on a sandwich-size fresh dill, chives, and a hint of pepper, the English muffin), the ethereal lemon-buttermilk generous serving of crabmeat fairly overflows CHEESEMAKER pancakes, or the gargantuan tuna melt on its toasted and buttered hot dog roll. It is challah bread — we swear it’s the best iteration Lakin’s Gorges Cheese simplicity perfected. of its kind we ever had. 461 Commercial St., Rockport. 207-230-4318. lakinsgorgescheese.com GOURMET SPREAD If you think ricotta is just filling for pasta, think 2017 Casco Bay Butter again. Nothing like the stuff in the plastic tubs from the grocery, Allison Lakin’s delicate, 207-370-7072. cascobaybutter.com sweet, fresh ricotta will inspire you to create CHARCUTERIE Movie night is full of tough decisions: Comedy soft, fluffy omelets, simple dinner salads, and, Charcuterie of Unity when tossed with berries, nuts, and honey, a or drama? Sea salt or honey? Wait, you’ve been Leelyn Road, Unity. 207-948-1777. putting regular butter on popcorn? Up your sublime pudding-like dessert. If stinky is your spread game with the rich, seasonal flavors jam, consider Lakin’s Grandiflora, an aged, Did you know Unity is on the way to pretty churned out by Alicia Menard and Jennell slightly funky washed rind cheese, or her much anywhere you want to go in Maine? Carter of Casco Bay Butter. This is having- pungent Cascadilla Blue. Because milk is Either that or we’re just finding excuses to guests-over butter, with a high butterfat affected by what the cows are eating and where detour so we can stop at Charcuterie of Unity content and perfect-for-pairing varieties like they are in their lactation cycle, Lakin works for delicious dried sausages, bacon, and truffle and lemon chive. Launched with a with only one supplier, Tide Mill organic dairy smoked cheese made by Matthew Secich, a KitchenAid mixer two summers back, Casco farm in Edmunds, ensuring consistently former four-star-restaurant chef who joined Bay is now sold in some 50 stores and farmers delicious results. Unity’s Amish community a few years back. He markets, including NYC’s gourmand-beloved and his wife, Crystal, staff a simple cabin- Zabar’s. turned-butcher-shop, where ropes of kielbasa, BREWERY andouille, chorizo, and smoked mozzarella hang temptingly from hooks above the Allagash Brewing Company counter. Lanterns provide the illumination, 2015 50 Industrial Way, Portland. 207-878-5385. and the Seciches use a hand-powered slicer to allagash.com cut ham, sweet beef bologna, and other goodies. Their three kids come and go, often AUTHENTIC MEXICAN RESTAURANT Allagash sold its first beer 21 years ago this pitching in to ring up orders on a hand- month, a notable anniversary in the booze biz. Vazquez Mexican Takeout cranked cash register. It’s always a pleasure to Since then, countless other craft breweries 38 Main St., Milbridge. 207-546-2219. visit their good-natured, family-run shop — have come online in Maine. Several belong in facebook.com/vazquezmex and impossible to leave without a bag or two of any conversation about the state’s best — but at their irresistible wares. Romana Vazquez’s homemade tortillas are the the end of the day, only Allagash belongs in a key. Using imported ingredients (“There’s conversation about the country’s best. (If you nothing around here that you can use to make don’t believe us, take it from James Beard authentic Mexican food,” says daughter Juana), Award judges, who nominated Allagash COFFEE ROASTER Romana creates from-scratch tortillas just the founder Rob Tod for this year’s distinction of Coffee Roasters of the Kennebunks way she made them growing up in Apaseo el outstanding wine, beer, or spirits professional.) 163 Port Rd., Kennebunk. 207-967-8304. Alto, in central Mexico. That provides the What sets the brewery apart? It’s the mix of coffeeroastersofthekennebunks.com foundation for a true south-of-the-border perfected mainstays (the classic tripel, say, or experience Down East. Further cred: Vazquez the ubiquitous white ale), exciting Just $1? For a rich, smooth 12-ounce coffee? Mexican Takeout originated in a bus, where experimental beers (spontaneously fermented Nowadays? Indeed so at Sandra Duckett’s Romana sold tacos, burritos, and chimichangas sours, previously thought only makeable in homey coffee shop/retail store/lunch counter/ — along with more exotic selections like Belgium’s Senne River Valley), and continued bakery in downtown Kennebunk, where the guarache, pozole, and mole — to migrant rakers additions to the regular and rotating lineup first thing to catch your eye (and tickle your in Washington County’s blueberry fields. (like St. Klippenstein, a silky, rich, and woody nose) is the mid-19th-century, German-made bourbon-barrel-aged stout, or the new Sixteen roaster she still uses, inherited from her Counties, a Belgian-style pale accented with father’s shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. FARM STAND layers of hop flavor). The only thing more According to Duckett, her father sold Dunkin’ exciting than what Allagash does now is what Donuts the recipe for its original house blend. Stutzman’s Farm Stand & Bakery they might do next. (There, by the way, the coffee will run you 891 Douty Hill Rd., Sangerville. 207-564-8596. twice as much.)

There are farm stands, and then there’s Stutzman’s. Third- generation farmers Sid and DINER Rainey Stutzman have turned a small, backroad Palace Diner farm stand into a community hub, with fresh 18 Franklin St., Biddeford. 207-284-0015. produce, yes, but also homemade baked goods, palacedinerme.com wood-fired pizza, and Sunday brunch set to live music. Regulars include painter Alan Bray, Maine’s oldest dining car (1927) is also its who points out, “You can sit in the dining smallest (15 stools), but the Palace is making a room, look out over the farm, and see people big impression under chefs Chad Conley and picking what you’re eating.” It doesn’t get Greg Mitchell. The pair cooks with familiar more farm-to-table than that. breakfast and lunch ingredients — eggs, potatoes, meat — but nothing they serve is standard fare. Every time we try something WHAT BETTER PLACE TO LEARN ROCK CLIMBING THAN AT ACADIA’S FAMED OTTER CLIFF WITH ATLANTIC CLIMBING SCHOOL?

Travel & Play the main drag, the Interstate 95 of and Oxford. A family affair, Carter’s has been snowmobiling in northern Maine, flat, wide, renting and selling equipment for more than 40 2008 and groomed smoother than the ice on Long years, and their passionate expertise will set Lake. Once the rail bed for the Boston and you on the right path, no matter what your LAKESIDE ROMANCE Maine, the trail passes near or through all the skiing savvy or skill. Both centers feature miles major communities, such as Presque Isle and of groomed trails to traverse — just you, the Lodge at Moosehead Lake Caribou, yet shows off plenty of countryside, skis, and the trees. 368 Lily Bay Rd., Greenville. 207-695-4400. from wide-open potato fields to deep woods. lodgeatmooseheadlake.com In fact, don’t be surprised to find a hotdog How luxurious is the Lodge at Moosehead Lake? stand out in middle of nowhere, manned by ROCK CLIMBING INSTRUCTION members of the local snowmobile club. Even So luxurious there’s a fireplace in the bathroom Atlantic Climbing School of the Katahdin suite. The other carriage-house an Interstate made of snow needs its rest areas. 67 Main St., Bar Harbor. 207-288-2521. suites at this oasis of North Woods elegance are acadiaclimbing.com equally regal. And each of the five guest rooms in the main building comes equipped with its 2009 There are not many places around the globe own theme illustrated in custom hand-carved where climbers can practice their vertical furniture. This isn’t a place to bring the kids, but gymnastics at the water’s edge, and the pink- for rustic romance (at a price) the Lodge at NORDIC SKI CENTER granite Otter Cliff, in , has Moosehead is just the ticket. Carter’s X-C Ski Centers got to be among the most user-friendly. Atlantic Climbing School has been leading 420 Main St., Oxford (Rte. 26).207-539-4848. 786 Intervale Rd., Bethel. 207-824-3880. visitors to the edge (and over it, actually) of SNOWMOBILE TRAIL cartersxcski.com this 60-foot-tall outcropping for more than 30 years, and he’ll set a top rope that’s right for Maine Interconnected Trail System If 95 bucks for a lift ticket isn’t lifting your your physical and emotional level. Classic (ITS) 83 spirits in winter, we still recommend hitting routes like Rock Lobster (rated 5.9+, or Aroostook County. mesnow.com the trails . . . the flat ones. You know, cross- challenging) ascend a giant detached pillar, country trails, the ones requiring you to break a while others like Riptide (rated 5.11+, very Snowmobiling is big business in Aroostook sweat to get anywhere. For our money, the best difficult) test even the toughest rock jocks, County, and for good reason — the snow comes people to get you trekking are the folks at with tiny holds and overhanging finger cracks. early, gets deep fast, and stays late. ITS 83 is Carter’s X-C Ski Shop, with centers in Bethel 2010 ULTRALIGHT BACKPACK 2013 TRAIL HyperLite Mountain Gear SURF SHOP North Dam Mill, Biddeford. 1-800-464-9208. Maine Island Trail hyperlitemountaingear.com Wheels N Waves 207-761-8225. mita.org “Ultralight” equipment is the latest trend in 365 Post Rd., Wells. 207-646-5774. backpacking, so it’s no wonder Hyperlite wheelsnwaves.com Truly great ideas have a way of spreading, Mountain Gear, a designer, manufacturer and which is why it’s no surprise that twenty- Located in Maine’s surfing capital, Wheels n supplier outdoor gear, is attracting attention three years after Dave Getchell, Sr., and a Waves is the state’s oldest surf shop. Don’t let for its Windrider Ultralight Pack. Made from small group of Mainers created the Maine its funkiness fool you. Over the course of nearly the high performance sail-making fabric Cuben Island Trail, the concept has spread to Florida, forty years, owner Vic Brazen has built this Fiber, the frameless, waterproof Windrider Minnesota, and Texas. Who wouldn’t want to Route 1 shop into a haven for both serious weighs only 25.5 ounces, yet easily carries copy a model that allows kayakers, sailors, surfers and those picking up a board for the thirty-five pounds of gear. Designed for long- and weekend warriors access to 180 public first time. Receive surfing and paddleboarding distance hiking, we think it makes a great and private islands, beaches, and coves in lessons starting at $40 for two hours. daypack too. places as stunning and precious as Penobscot and Casco bays? 2012 SPA TREATMENT SECRET TOUR Soakology Foot Soak and Tea 511 Congress St., Portland. 207-879-7625. Bath Iron Works and OCEANFRONT CAMPGROUND soakology.com Maine Maritime Museum Experience head-to-toe relaxation through the 243 Washington St., Bath.207-443-1316. Rte. 184, Lamoine. 207-667-4778. calming power of tea at Portland’s Soakology. mainemaritimemuseum.org maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/doc/parksearch/index.pl Sample from the teahouse’s loose-leaf teas, then choose from a selection of more than Especially since 9/11, there have been few Love Acadia National Park, but not the crowds? twenty concoctions of foot soaks under the places where you can witness the military in Lamoine State Park offers campers easy access categories of relaxing, uplifting, curative, or the making. But in the City of Ships, the men to the park and a quiet place to lay their heads moisturizing. Give your feet the Pine Tree State and women at Bath Iron Works and the Maine after a day of hiking and biking. Sitting on the experience with the “Maine Woods Salts” — a Maritime Museum have teamed up to offer shore of Frenchman Bay just east of the Trenton blend of detoxifying sea salts, spruce, and one-hour narrated tours that tell you Bridge, the park offers spectacular views of rosemary essential oils. everything you might want to know about how Cadillac Mountain, Acadia’s highest peak. 1,500-ton Aegis destroyers and the new Campsites are tucked in a white birch grove Zumwalt-class destroyers are assembled right (the best are 56 to 61, all tent sites). With a here alongside the Kennebec. Most of the tour sandy beach, relatively calm water for 2014 guides are themselves retired navy sailors or kayaking, and a picnic area, the park is a fine BIW workers (often both!) who keep the tours place to while away the day, too. (passengers are confined to trolleys for security DAY TRIP reasons) lively and fun. The $30 per person tour Down East Scenic Railroad fee includes two days of admission to the SECRET BEACH maritime museum. 245 Main St., Ellsworth. 866-449-7245. South Beach downeastscenicrail.com Long Island. Some 40 volunteers give their time to keep the restored excursion trains running on this 2011 Unless you’re one of the lucky souls with a historic stretch of the Calais Branch Line. The home or rental on Long Island, a 3-mile long, narrated route passes through woods, a RUSTIC LAKE RETREAT 1-mile wide haven in Casco Bay, getting to wildlife-rich wetland, and a rail yard where South Beach is, well, no day at the beach. First, Hunter Cove Cabins vintage cars and equipment are refurbished. you have to catch a ferry at the Casco Bay Ferry Pack a lunch for the picnic tables in the 33 Hunter Cove Rd., Rangeley. 207-864-3383. Terminal in Portland (boats leave several times canopied (and fenced-in) open-air car. Tom huntercove.com a day in summer and, no, you can’t take your Testa, president of the railroad’s preservation For many Mainers, three things represent the car). Then, after a 45-minute ride, you must trust, says passengers range from infants in Triple Crown of success and happiness: A boat, hoof it, beach gear and all, to the other side of slings to a retiree who once announced, “The a dog, and a camp. The first two can be had the island, a 20-minute walk. None of this is last time I got on a train in Ellsworth, I got relatively easily, but if you’re not ready for unpleasant, mind you, but it does require shipped overseas to World War II.” Today’s property taxes and maintenance bills, you’ll planning. We think it’s worth it. This serene passengers return to the station after a do well to book a stay at Hunter Cove Cabins. largely state-owned beach has fine white sand 90-minute trip (we promise). This cozy six-acre complex has seven board- and views of an island-sheltered cove. and-batten one- and two-bedroom cabins. Your boat can tie up at the dock on the lake, WINTER RETREAT and your pup is as welcome in your cabin as Hidden Valley Nature Center you are. 131 Egypt Rd., Jefferson. 207-389-5150. midcoastconservancy.org

Two cabins and a yurt are tucked in among nearly 30 miles of wooded trails at this midcoast gem of a nature preserve. Each is accessible by a short hike in summer, but the retreat season peaks in NTN’s yurts and ride: hop on a car for a scenic, narrated, best time to visit Hidden Valley is in winter, eco-cabins, or visit from October through April 20-minute round-trip on 1.5 miles of track. when volunteers groom some ten miles of (when you most need a steam bath anyway) on silent and varied cross-country ski terrain Super Sauna Saturdays, relaxed open-sauna (intrepid skiers break trail throughout the rest evenings that are a steal at $15. of the property). Less than a mile from the 2017 parking area, the roomy yurt sleeps six on bunk beds and stays toasty with a woodstove heating 2016 FESTIVAL the domed, circular room. It’s a perfect base Acadia Night Sky Festival camp for outdoor adventure. DAY HIKE Sept. 21–24. Acadia National Park. 207-801-2566. acadianightskyfestival.com In 1999, the added the 2015 State Park, Bear River Rd., Newry. protection of natural lightscapes to its mission, 207-824-2912 calling national parks “some of the last OLD-SCHOOL FUN With its cable handrails, iron rungs, and remaining harbors of darkness.” Acadia has Palace Playland. 1 Old Orchard St., Old Orchard Beach. ladders, the Eyebrow Trail on Maine’s fourth- since emerged as one of the NPS program’s 207-934-2001. palaceplayland.com highest mountain (4,170 feet) is not for the stars (sorry). Free of the light pollution that faint of heart, but it’s great fun with amazing obscures all but the brightest celestial bodies Sure, Maine has more glamorous funfairs, but rewards. The steep, rugged alternative to the for some two-thirds of the world’s population, this is the last place in New England to enjoy lower part of the Old Speck Trail, the Eyebrow the park protects the largest expanse of the classic summer experience of a seaside Trail passes along the edge of Eyebrow Cliff, naturally dark sky east of the Mississippi. Now amusement park. Old Orchard Beach’s Palace overlooking Grafton Notch. Either trail will in its ninth year, the Acadia Night Sky Festival Playland has been around in one form or take you to the wooded summit, where an celebrates darkness with stellar events like another since 1902 and offers a kind of open observation tower awaits — and what a films and workshops, plus star parties at greatest-hits package of honky-tonk: a Ferris view! Before you are the rugged Mahoosucs and Seawall and Cadillac Mountain, where wheel and carousel, skeeball and bumper cars, the Presidentials, billowing all the way to the volunteer astronomers from all over New a funhouse and fortunetellers, and (of course) a horizon. England set up telescopes and point out rollercoaster, offering a unique view of OOB’s constellations and other heavenly features for famous pier. Come on Thursday and stay for the visitors. Just bring your night-vision flashlight fireworks. TRIVIA NIGHT and sense of awe. CAMPGROUND UPGRADE Paddy Murphy’s 26 Main St., Bangor. 207-945-6800. CRUISE Maine Forest Yurts facebook.com/paddymurphyspub Maine BayCycle 430 Auburn-Pownal Rd., Durham. 207-400-5956. Trivia nights are a great reason to go out with Bell Buoy Park on Commercial St., Portland. maineforestyurts.com friends on a midweek evening instead of just 207-370-9508. mainebaycycle.com plugging into Netflix at home. No need to gum Survivor winner Bob Crowley used some of his up that elegant simplicity with esoterica or When spin classes, craft beer, and urban reality-show winnings to open this yurt retreat hyper-competition. At Paddy Murphy’s cycling have all become passé, what’s a in 2013. Maine Forest Yurts is a 100-acre easygoing affair, you get some questions right, Portland hipster to do? Combine all three — on property on Runaround Pond with two others wrong, and it doesn’t matter anyway a boat. Like a paddleboat on steroids, Neil furnished yurts, each 24 feet in diameter, because you have fun. Kinner’s 14-seat craft uses bicycle-style spacious and modern variations on the round passenger pedals to power 90-minute voyages dwellings favored by nomads of the central across Casco Bay. Unlike spin class, though, the Asian steppes. Why yurts? “My dad built one pressure’s never too high: there’s a back-up for himself out of birch wood and sail cloth,” FAMILY MUSEUM motor in case you poop out. And you don’t says Page Crowley, who manages the yurts for Seashore Trolley Museum need to be a hipster to appreciate the BYOB her parents. “We love the energy and the 195 Log Cabin Rd., Kennebunkport. 207-967-2800. policy and Instagram-friendly views. It’s more circular space. They’re just magical.” trolleymuseum.org booze cruise than exercise, really (though it doesn’t hurt to have pretty ripped quads). “For the younger people, street cars are a new SAUNA thing. For the older people, it’s memories,” says Seashore Trolley Museum volunteer John Nurture Through Nature Middleton, nicely summing up the broad CIVILIZATION ESCAPE Retreat Center appeal of this sprawling electric-railway Cutler Coast Public Reserved Land museum. Its roots date to 1939, when three 888-207-7387. ntnretreats.com Off Route 191, Cutler. 207-941-4412. railway enthusiasts chipped in to buy a single maine.gov/cutlercoast One sign of a good sauna is that you have to trolley car for $150 from the Biddeford and walk through the woods to get to it — just one Saco Railroad as the towns were transitioning This Bold Coast preserve’s 4-mile stretch of thing the beautiful cedar-lined sauna at to buses. The trio restored that car and moved soaring, wave-beaten cliffs is spectacularly Denmark’s Nurture Through Nature Retreat it onto leased farmland, where they rebuilt a wild, buffered from the nearest roadway by 1½ Center (NTN) has going for it. Lined with section of railway that once connected miles of forest. Ocean views are ever-present prayer flags and situated next to a whispering Kennebunkport to York Beach. Today, the (and other hikers few) as you pass through brook (perfect for a post-steam dip), the museum, a nonprofit run by devoted trolley woods and open meadows and across cobble wood-fired sauna follows the traditional geeks, owns some 250 vintage streetcars and beaches that sing with the ebb and flow of the Finnish model, taking hours to heat to railcars from New England and beyond. waves. 160–200 degrees, when spring water ladled Restored vehicles are displayed in huge barns, over hot rocks will fill the room with steam. while others await restoration on tracks spread Make an appointment in summertime, when across the 100-acre property. And yes, you can THE MAINE YOUTH ROCK ORCHESTRA DOES INDEED ROCK. SO MUCH SO, THAT THEY WERE OUR PICK FOR BEST BAND IN 2016.

Arts & Culture times, but Rob Caldwell and Caroline Cornish original Grove. Today secular and religious (who took over for long-time co-anchor groups put on low-key, affordable 2009 Kathleen Shannon a few years ago), of WSCH6 performances all summerlong as ocean breezes or WLBZ2, deserve a shout-out for making 7 cool cellos and violas. This July look for Tim WORLD MUSIC P.M. appointment television time. Since Sample, Dave Mallet, and the Shaw Brothers; September 2003, 207 — modeled on the the August lineup includes the New York Staff Bowdoin International Today-style magazine approach — has been the Band and Denver and the Mile High Orchestra Music Festival best broadcast grab-bag going, a fine mix of — both absolutely free! Bowdoin College, Brunswick. 725-3895. musical performances, newsmaker interviews, bowdoinfestival.org and cooking demonstrations. Can’t catch 207 For six weeks each summer the campus of during the week? Video clips of the stories stay HANDCRAFTED MUG live online for up to six months. Bowdoin College in Brunswick really does Ash Cove Pottery come alive with the sound of music. Since 1964, this acclaimed festival has brought some 75 Ash Cove Rd., Harpswell. 207-833-6004. ashcovepottery.com of the world’s most talented young musicians 2010 (more than 250 of them last year) to Maine to Susan Horowitz’s pots are humble beauties, but study and perform with the globe’s premier OUTDOOR VENUE we challenge you to find another mug that sits musical maestros. Who also benefits? We do. so contentedly in your hand. Banded in muted The festival hosts numerous concerts, master Seaside Pavilion shades of sand, blue, and moss, Horowitz’s cup classes, films, and more. It’s like a tour of the 8 Sixth St., Old Orchard Beach. 207-934-2024. feels perfectly balanced with its hint of a world’s top concert halls without ever having seasidepavilion.org waistline, a brim that’s not overly thick, and its to leave Maine. just-right size. We love the handle’s thumb Long before Old Orchard Beach became famous indentation, which soothes like a worry stone. for its honky-tonk, it had the Grove. Methodist LOCAL TV SHOW ministers first chose the natural amphitheater with its tall pines for their camp meetings in 207 1873. In 1997 the Salvation Army, which wcsh6.com bought the location for a dollar in the 1950s, erected a new 1,400-seat, three-season Admittedly, we’re a little biased on this one pavilion in precisely the same spot as the since they’ve invited us on-air more than a few creates graphic campaigns to address a range of Started in 1997 at the University of Southern social and political issues. Maine, the Maine Senior College Network is a 2011 consortium of seventeen independent learning centers from York to . Courses include ART DEAL WILDERNESS ART GALLERY everything from foreign languages to religion to the history of opera, all for a minimal tuition Colby Museum of Art North Light Gallery and annual membership, starting from twenty- 5600 Mayflower Hill, Waterville. 256 Penobscot Ave., Millinocket. five dollars. No tests, papers, or grades — just 207-859-5600. colby.edu 207-723-4414. intellectual stimulation for those over the age Art for the masses. Make that great art for the artnorthlight.com of fifty. Find the college nearest you. masses, and it’s all absolutely free at the Colby Maine’s art galleries tend to be clustered in Museum of Art, Maine’s largest art museum. seaside towns, and the art within inspired by From the giant, floor-to-ceiling paintings of the stunning light, colors, scenery, and culture 2014 Lincolnville’s Alex Katz to the modernist of the coast. Less common is fine art about masterpieces of John Marin, the museum offers Maine’s interior, so the North Light Gallery is a HIP-HOP ARTIST a complete tour of Maine’s artistic landscape. special delight. Opened in 2005 by Marsha The gorgeous, three-story, glass Alfond Lunder Donahue, North Light’s collection includes Spose Family Pavilion, which opened in 2013 and Donahue’s own sumptuous watercolors of the pdank.com was designed by Frederick Fisher and Partners Katahdin backcountry along with paintings, Architects of Los Angeles, is worth a visit in drawings, ceramics, sculpture, photography, He’s awesome. The Wells-bred rapper, born itself. When you’re done, a stroll around the and other artworks by more than two-dozen Ryan Peters, said so himself in his 2010 hit, campus is a must-do, as this Waterville artists whose muse is in the North Woods. “I’m Awesome,” a tongue-in-cheek anthem in institution is without a doubt one of the most which he also declares himself “cornier than gorgeous in the state. ethanol // cheesier than provolone.” But Spose is no novelty act. Sure, he’s got a song in which 2013 every word starts with “R,” and he’s surely the SEASIDE CONCERT HALL only rapper to name-check the Sea Dogs and CONCERT VENUE Paul LePage. But smart wordplay and crowing Opera House at Boothbay Harbor about home turf are among hip-hop’s 86 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor. Stone Mountain Arts Center foundational traditions. In fact, Spose’s quick 207-633-5159. boothbayoperahouse.com 695 Dugway Rd., Brownfield. 207-935-7292. wit is as much a throwback to hip-hop’s stonemountainartscenter.com Bronx-based infancy as his York County The is dotted with a surprising upbringing is to the genre’s expanding number of terrific performance spaces, and one Tucked away in the foothills of the White frontiers. of the finest is located right in the heart of Mountains, the Stone Mountain Arts Center has Boothbay Harbor. Headliners such as Mark become one of the state’s premier spots to Knopfler, Jackson Browne, and Paul Stookey experience live music. While owner and have all performed in past years at the circa- singer-songwriter Carol Noonan manages to MOVIE THEATER 1894 Opera House at Boothbay Harbor. Having consistently lure such big-name acts as Mavis Saco Drive-In served as everything from a roller-skating rink Staples, Martin Sexton, and Béla Fleck, the 969 Portland Rd., Saco. 207-286-3200. to a mini-mall over the years, the Opera House venue’s charm lies in its architecture. A thesacodrivein.com today features top-notch lighting and sound converted 200-year-old barn with a cathedral systems and even a gorgeous, full-service bar ceiling and exposed beams, Stone Mountain The venue may feel like a throwback, but in the former meeting room of the Knights of manages to be both grand and intimate. behind the scenes, it’s straight-up 21st Pythias. century. This thanks to Honda’s Project Drive-In campaign, which last year gifted the ART TOUR nation’s second oldest drive-in a digital projector after thousands of fans voted in an 2012 Studio online contest to help save it. Like many portlandmuseum.org/homer drive-ins, Saco’s couldn’t absorb the ENCHANTED EVENING $100,000-plus cost of the mandatory switch to See where one of America’s greatest artists got Blackfly Ball digital (the place still sells a large popcorn for his inspiration. For the first summer ever, $5). If you haven’t seen the viral video of Machias Valley Grange, Bad Little Falls Park, Machias. Winslow Homer’s studio is open to the public. stunned manager Ry Russell accepting the 207-669-4117. beehivecollective.org Stand where he painted many of his prize (at projectdrivein.com), you’re missing masterpieces, including Weatherbeaten and On the evening of the third Saturday in August, the feel-good hit of the year. , and admire the view that served Bad Little Falls Park becomes one big writhing as his muse. Tours are conducted by the dance floor as hippies, rednecks, and just plain Portland Museum of Art and are limited to four folks don costumes and boogie in harmony to COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT per week and only ten visitors at a time. You the music of local and visiting bands (they’ve must reserve your spot in advance to see this Sweet Tree Arts included the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, the historic landmark. Vans depart from the Auroratones, Samuel Doores & the 4 Church St., Hope. 207-763-2770. Portland Museum of Art at 7 Congress Sq., Tumbleweeds, and, always, the Machias sweettreearts.org Portland. 207-775-6148. Ukuleles). The roar of the rushing falls, the Regular readers of Down East know how much bobbing string lights on the footbridge, and the we admire the town of Hope. The artists, intricate murals fluttering from the trees add to SENIOR EDUCATION craftspeople, and young professionals who the magic. Closely associated with the Machias have moved into this little Camden Hills town Wild Blueberry Festival, this quirky and The Maine Senior College Network over the past 15 years are intent on growing a thoroughly Down East party is hosted by the 207-780-4128. maineseniorcollege.org close-knit, supportive community. The latest nonprofit Beehive Design Collective, which addition to this happy mission is Sweet Tree Arts at Hope Corner, where young and old alike Kindling Fund (itself supported by New York’s learn to paint with watercolors, play the Andy Warhol Foundation). The project bagpipes (founder Lindsay Pinchbeck’s emphasizes community buy-in — its first two BOOKSTORE husband Chris is a bagpipe maker), and even murals will be unveiled with a community Elements make life drawings of elephants, courtesy of dinner in late June or early July. 265 Main St., Biddeford. 207-710-2011. Sweet Tree’s neighbor, the Hope Elephants elementsbookscoffeebeer.com rehabilitation facility. It doesn’t have the state’s widest selection, 2016 but the new and used titles at Biddeford’s Elements are impeccably curated. It’s also 2015 DANCE TROUPE Maine’s only bookstore where you can read Alison Chase/Performance your purchase while enjoying a pour-over INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT coffee, a pint of craft beer, or charcuterie alisonchase.org @christopher_buerkle plate. Elements pulls off the bookstore/café/ In January, Brooksville-based choreographer bar concept with high style. instagram.com/christopher_buerkle Alison Chase and her Alison Chase/ The best feeds on the popular Instagram photo- Performance company premiered a new piece sharing app are those that treat users to in New York: in Tracings, a coquettish female 2017 five-second vacations whenever they steal a soloist slinks among (and sometimes on) three glance at their phones. Of late, our favorite male dancers whose movements are meant to Instagrammer is Chris Buerkle, a part-time conjure Maine’s rough-hewn shoreline. A PODCAST barista, part-time bartender, part-time founder of the acclaimed modern dance Millennial commercial photographer who traded New company Pilobolus, Chase has spent recent millennialpodcast.org Orleans for Portland a year-and-a-half ago. months prepping for a series of 10 location- Buerkle’s feed nicely balances the urban, specific outdoor performances on the Maine In her debut episode in early 2015, Portland’s pastoral, and backcountry elements of Maine’s coast, starting in Brooksville on July 25. The Megan Tan declared that her podcast would character. Whether he’s shooting a Penobscot New York Times recently praised her “physical tackle “what no one teaches you: how to Bay ferry ride, a Portland cemetery, or the view inventiveness and storytelling sensibilities,” maneuver your 20s.” Thankfully for listeners from atop Tumbledown, his snapshots feel and her penchant for surprising collaborations (particularly those of us feeling a bit saturated intimate and his perspectives fresh. Follow for is equally impressive. Back in the aughts, by hyper-scrutiny of millennials’ angsts and a Maine insta-getaway. puppeteers and heavy equipment operators appetites), she’s done way more. In three were among the conspirators at AC/P’s seasons chronicling life after a college degree, memorable performances at the Stonington Tan’s ruminative, diaristic podcast has MUSICAL AMBASSADORS granite quarries; the upcoming En Plein Air/ explored the seductive lure of urban living, the Dancing with Steel performances will be pleasures and perils of adult relationships with Tumbling Bones accompanied by Maine’s Atlantic Clarion Steel parents, and the struggle to marry one’s tumblingbones.com Band. Bucksport’s Historic Site and passion to one’s work — universal themes, all. Freeport’s Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park are Tan (who records in her closet) is an earnest Unquestionably Maine’s most popular among the sites welcoming a visionary at the and resourceful reporter, interviewer, and tap-dancing-string-band-world-folk-fusion top of her game. soliloquist, and The Atlantic hailed her podcast quartet. Tight harmonies and the impressive as one of last year’s best. Millennial is well foot percussion of founding member Pete worth streaming, regardless of your generation. Winne set Tumbling Bones apart from legions of beardy, folk-revivalist bar bands — but so BAND does the Portland group’s passion for cultural Maine Youth Rock Orchestra exchange. Last November, the U.S. State BAR SHOWS maineyouthrockorchestra.org Department sponsored Tumbling Bones on a Eureka Restaurant & Tavern goodwill tour of Romania, Georgia, Bulgaria, The coolest thing about the Maine Youth Rock 5 School St., Stockholm. 207-896-3196. and Ukraine; this spring, they visited Ukraine Orchestra is that they in no way seem like a and Estonia at the invitation of U.S. Embassies “youth orchestra.” Yeah, they’re kids, but they Eureka’s concert slate would be impressive there. The group’s experience abroad is their slay. The twenty-five 12- to 18-year-olds are enough if the rustic pub were in Kittery or home audience’s gain — a Tumbling Bones part of a program offered by the Maine Academy Camden. But it’s in Stockholm, 10 miles from show is as likely to feature a Georgian a capella of Modern Music, a Portland-based nonprofit the New Brunswick border, at the tippity top of dirge as a rendition of “Rocky Top.” rock school. Directed by Kevin Oates, the band the state. A half-dozen shows a month in the aims to expose students to life as pro musicians summertime (four or five in the off-season) and the wide variety of genres they can play as feature the best of the Portland and Boston CIVIC ART PROJECT string instrumentalists. (Rock? Check. Rap? music scenes, with an emphasis on roots and Check. Metal? Check.) They only had their first alt-folk, plus the occasional national touring Portland Mural Initiative rehearsal in February 2014, and they’ve since band (our man in The County caught a portlandmuralinitiative.org performed with dozens of artists (at last year’s Nashville duo a few weeks back). How do they State of the State concert, we saw them jam pull it off? It helps that music booker (and Vibrant towns deserve great public art, which with seven in one day). This year, they became Aroostook native) Travis Cyr is himself a is why four exterior walls along the East the first youth orchestra ever to tour with a touring singer-songwriter, with good Bayside Trail are becoming canvases for national band, Boston-based The Ballroom relationships among Maine musicians. Next up: Portland artists Thieves — their collaboration even landed a the “Eurekakoostik” mini-festival (July 7–8), Jenny McGee Dougherty, Tessa Greene O’Brien, video spot on NPR’s All Songs Considered. featuring Cyr, Portland bluegrass heroes Tricky Will Sears, and Greta Van Campen. They’re the Director Oates, who’s 30, has big plans: to bring Britches, songstress Sorcha Cribben-Merrill, first in a slate of annual installations envisioned the program to every state in the country. He’s and more. (Also, the place has great poutine!) by the Portland Mural Initiative, spearheaded planning a first-ever American Youth Rock by Sears and O’Brien and launched this year Orchestra event in Chicago next year. with a $5,000 grant from SPACE Gallery’s PORTLAND ARCHITECTURAL SALVAGE HAS SEEMINGLY EVERYTHING. (EVEN THE KITCHEN SINK!) OUR PICK FOR BEST RECLAIMED MATERIALS SHOP IN 2017. Home & Style making exquisitely elegant tapestry bags and found on decks and shoreside lawns all over the doing its part to turn the Old Port and its world, as well as in corporate offices and 2008 environs into northern New England’s premier Disney World. Nothing Mickey Mouse about shopping district. We’re partial to this outfit. Weatherend doesn’t have a HOMEGROWN MARTHA STEWART Portmanteau’s “chartwear,” shirts and totes showroom, but you’ll find a list of retailers on patterned with maps of Casco Bay. But what its website. Angela Adams else would you expect from the Magazine of 131 Middle St., Portland. 207-774-3523. Maine? angelaadams.com HOOKED RUGS Yeah, yeah, Martha Stewart herself is a part- Searsport Rug Hooking time Mainer. But what Martha boasts in 2009 ubiquity, North Haven’s own Angela Adams 11 West Side Dr., Vernoa Island. 207-249-0891. searsportrughooking.com has in street cred and style. A savvy PATIO FURNITURE businesswoman who would never be rude to Claiming to be “Maine’s largest rug hooking the help, Adams — who has her own retail store Weatherend Estate Furniture and design studio” doesn’t sound like much in the Old Port — designs gorgeous rugs, 800-456-6483. weatherend.com until you discover that Julie Mattison and her housewares, and handbags. If you think we’re mother, Christine Sherman, attract some 500 jealous of her, well, you just might be right. We don’t know about you, but we’re tired of students to their classes each year and serve disposable patio furniture that barely makes it customers from all over the world through a through a Maine summer before looking too thriving website. TAPESTRY BAGS beat up to save. Back in the early 1900s. Norwegian-born landscape architect Hans Portmanteau Heistad combined simple yet elegant designs ECO FRIENDLY SHOP 5 Wharf St., Portland. 207-774-7276. with Maine boatbuilding techniques to turn out portmanteauonline.com classic outdoor furniture that is still around a The Green Store century later and has provided the inspiration You don’t run a specialty shop for nearly 40 71 Main St., Belfast. 338-4045. for Weatherend Estate Furniture. Constructed greenstore.com years in Portland without knowing your of mahogany and teak using traditional customers. Long before other designers got Sustainability is more than just the cause du mortise-and-tenon joinery at the company’s into the tote business, Portmanteau was jour for the Green Store, which was selling headquarters in Rockland, the furniture can be nontoxic baby toys before nontoxic was even a doormats that have cropped up on porches all word and composting toilets before most over Maine. They are made from floating people would even say “toilet” out loud. COTTON THROWS ground line, which lobstermen were ordered to Founded in 1994 by Ellie Daniels and three Brahms Mount stop using for setting their traps a few years ago friends with $30,000 and absolutely no as part of an effort to reduce whale 115 Main St., Freeport. 800-545-9347. experience in retail sales, the store has become entanglements. The Gulf of Maine Lobster brahmsmount.com a mecca for people who want to live lightly on Foundation has taken more than a million the planet. It’s still in the same ancient The hardest part about buying one of Brahms pounds of the stuff off lobstermen’s hands, and building with tin ceilings and a funky wooden Mount’s cotton herringbone throws is choosing Custom Cordage, a rope maker, was among the floor, and it still sells the constantly popular a color. There are 25 of them — simply beautiful first businesses to acquire some and transform plastic bag dryer, a wooden contraption with shades of blue, green, orange and red — and it into something new. Just as durable and eight fingers that lets you wash and reuse those they happen to look great together. Fashioned weatherproof as the doormats, these cheery plastic bread bags until they can’t be used on antique shuttle looms in a mill on the and very practical totes are great for organizing again — at which point Daniels will tell you to Kennebec River in Hallowell, the throws sport and toting almost anything, indoors or out. cut them into strips to tie up tomato plants. hand-twisted fringe. Soft and warm, they’re just the thing to cozy under on a chilly night. SILKSCREENED PILLOWS 2010 CONTEMPORARY COTTAGE Erin Flett Westbrook. 207-839-7187. GARDEN ACCESSORY FURNITURE erinflett.com Furniturea Pike’s of Maine Garden Hod Happy designs and playful colors are the 75 Market St., Portland. 800-860-8955. Maine Garden Products. 207-613-2973. hallmark of Erin Flett’s style. A graphic furniturea.com mainegarden.com designer, Flett makes her pillow covers with Furniturea reinterprets camp furniture by the soft, slightly textured cotton fabric known Nothing beats our Pike’s of Maine garden hod stripping away the gentle curves, bead board as reproduction barkcloth, a contemporary for carrying the harvest from gardn to kitchen. details, and oversized knobs, and zeroing in on version of the Asian material once made from We rinse and drain our veggies right in the the simple lines. Drawing further inspiration tree bark. Many of her hand-drawn patterns basket, which is made of PVC-coated wire from the silhouettes and sharp angles of are inspired by her surroundings, managing to mesh on an oak frame with a steam-bent oak timber-framed barns, founder Brian Haddock be rustic and hip at once. Among them: Ashley handle. We’ve also been known to put this and his crew of designers and cabinetmakers Pine, with its fir trees and cones, which was carrier to work in the off-season, as a tote for have created a sophisticated, contemporary created for a friend’s Sebago Lake camp. mail and CDs. collection of beds, bureaus, bookcases, and Squirrel, a bushy-tailed critter nibbling an tables, in maple and birch. The palette — acorn, is Flett’s take on a regular visitor to her oranges, yellows, purples and blues — is playful backyard. Flett’s true heart, though, is in her PLAYHOUSE and bold. boldly abstract and sophisticated patterns, like Kids Crooked House Art Deco Mirrors and Zig Zag. 888-447-5446. kidscrookedhouse.com 2012 No matter how old you are, Kids Crooked 2013 House inspires play. Designed by two Windham dads eager to peel their kids away from the TV, SIDE TABLES SECONDHAND KIDS’ CLOTHES these assemble-it-yourself miniature houses Fineartistmade are all bowed roofs, angular windows, and Lots for Tots leaning columns, as if a gang of 8-year-olds 207-853-9504. fineartistmade.com 240 Route 1, Falmouth. 207-347-8601; had been handed scrap lumber, hammer, and Patrick Mealey and Joyce Jackson bring to 152 Route 1, Scarborough. 207-883-1100. nails. In fact, the houses are sturdy, durable furniture design the same blend of traditional lotsfortotsne.com — and a lot of fun. aesthetics and clean, contemporary lines that The wealthy suburban communities of they employ in the historic kitchen renovations Scarborough and Falmouth are great towns to for which they are known in and around look for those bargain deals on second-hand Eastport. A generous round surface makes the 2011 kids’ clothing and toys. Lots for Tots, with a Mill Cove Table their most practical side table. location on Route 1 in both towns, offers a great It gets its sophisticated whimsy from the legs selection of kids’ stuff at prices that won’t make TEE SHIRT DESIGN — two interlocked pieces accented by circular you squeamish even if your toddler outgrows cutouts. Another of our favorites, Roque Bluffs, Silbley’s Birds, Liberty Graphics that North Face jacket in the blink of an eye. a pedestal table perfect for a potted plant or 58 Main St., Liberty. 207-589-4035. libertygraphicstshirts.com vase, has tapered legs hugged by curved supports. Made of poplar, the tables are named Ornithologist David Sibley’s superb field guides for two of Down East Maine’s most beguiling HOME DESIGN STORE to North American birds are prized for their landmarks. Home Remedies detailed watercolor illustrations. You needn’t 83 West Commercial St., Portland. 207-899-0135. be a birder to appreciate the beauty of these homeremediesmaine.com paintings, thanks to Liberty Graphics’ David FLOAT-ROPE BASKETS Sibley line of organic cotton tee shirts. Our Owner Rachel Ambrose designed her home favorite: the worm’s eye view of a red-tailed Custom Cordage decor store, Home Remedies on West hawk in flight, its wings outstretched and its 151 One Pie Rd., Waldoboro. 207-354-0013. Commercial Street in Portland, with an open- gorgeous tail feathers fanned. customcordage.com concept plan. The result is a 4,000-square-foot space where you can get inspired by all the You’ve probably noticed the colorful rope stages of interior design in the same room. Enter the store, located in the historic Star one as big as a woodstove and, at 250 pounds, Match Co. building, and flip through Ambrose’s nearly as heavy. One savvy-shopping couple many fabrics, observe the processes of sewing COOKWARE recently flew up from Miami to purchase a and re-upholstery, and browse a carefully Culinarium 10-foot Widdicomb cherry dining table and selected assortment of rugs, furniture, matching chairs for $2,400. It’s a set that Brian culinariumkitchenware.com wallpaper, and other home items. suggests could have fetched 10 times that Scarborough’s Jordan Castro had no concrete amount elsewhere. Those retro prices? Yeah, plan for a concrete business. A specialist in we like those too. concrete-mix design, he once made a concrete 2014 salt-cellar for his own use that so impressed friends, he started selling them online. That led DÉCOR to Culinarium, which Jordan founded with his 2017 Belfast Bay Shade Company wife, Annastasia. The company offers a full line of concrete kitchenware, though it’s not the RECLAIMED MATERIALS SHOP 1 Franklin St., Belfast. 207-735-8237. same stuff that makes up your sidewalk — it’s belfastbayshadecompany.com Portland Architectural Salvage an “advanced cementitious mix,” using small 131 Preble St., Portland. 207-780-0634. Printmaker Dina Petrillo’s gardens are the particulates combined with recycled marble portlandsalvage.com source of the botanical motifs that elevate her and granite dust from the countertop industry. lampshades to works of art. The shades are The resulting products look like ceramic or For homeowners and pros in search of historic made with kozo papers, whose durable bark aluminum, but with handsome and distinctive materials to weave into renovations, or to take fibers interact with etching ink to gorgeously colors and textures. the shine off new construction, Alice Dunn’s hued results. Each printed shade is one of a venerated Bayside showroom is the promised kind. “We feel they make an important land. The four-story, 20,000-square-foot connection to our friends who are farmers,” former coffin factory is loaded with period Petrillo says. “We’re celebrating place and land 2016 furniture, patinaed fixtures, paneled doors, and plants.” stained-glass windows, fireplace surrounds, TOY STORE and all manner of delightful bric-a-brac. A San At Once all Agog Francisco transplant who repaired and sold PET STORE classic motorcycles before moving into 28 Main St., Cornish. 207-625-3322. restoring houses, Dunn opened her first onceallagog.com Planet Dog storefront in 1996, after discovering a dearth of 211 Marginal Way, Portland. 207-347-8606. This anchor of Cornish’s Main Street is so piled locally available vintage materials. Now in its planetdog.com with playthings that they spill out onto the fourth location, the shop expanded again last fall with the unveiling of the Portland Salvage Portland’s longtime source for green, durable sidewalk. Find everything from Maine-made Reclaimed Wood Warehouse on Westfield doggie toys and accessories hit a milestone last wooden toys to techy learning aids to plush Street. There, you’ll find rustic flooring, year when Planet Dog’s charitable arm topped dolls to cool indie board games — and a staff paneling, beams, and barn doors. (Toast your $1 million in grants and donations over its that’s geeky about everything on the shelves. purchase with a pint at craft beer maker Bunker 17-year history. Two percent of every Planet Worth stopping, if only to ogle the store’s Brewing, conveniently located next door.) Dog sale helps therapy- and service-dog whimsical window displays. organizations, search-and-rescue outfits, and police and military K-9 units. Not that your goldendoodle cares about this when she’s RETRO FURNITURE GREENHOUSE chomping down on a recycled-plastic, Modern Underground Moose Crossing Garden Center non-toxic chew toy, but it’s nice to know your 3033 Rte. 1, Waldoboro. 207-832-4282. pet purchase is making a few other tails wag. 103 Main St., Waterville. 207-200-1290. modern-underground.com moosecrossinggardencenter.com

Part of what makes shopping at Modern Why’s it such a pleasure shopping for annuals, Underground such fun is its funky location: perennials, and veggie starts at Moose Crossing 2015 you slip behind the brick storefronts lining every spring? Because after nearly 45 years in Waterville’s Main Street, pass the chain-link business, the Lupien family has cultivated not GROWER’S EVENT fence, go down the flight of concrete stairs, and only a crazy vast selection (they have 19 Annual Fedco Tree Sale step through the massive red industrial wooden greenhouses of growing and retail space), but door into a 3,800-square-foot windowless also an air of laid-back approachability. The 213 Hinckley Rd., Clinton. 207-426-9900. basement with a rough concrete floor and an staff can answer your weirdest gardening fedcoseeds.com unfinished ceiling that tends to squeak with questions, and the little loaner wagons (for It’s just two days in late April or early May, but footfalls from above. The subterranean space is towing your purchases) are a reminder there’s ever since 1984, the annual Fedco Tree Sale has filled wall-to-wall with 1930s–1970s–vintage something childlike and fun about the whole been a red-letter event for Mainers with a designer chairs, tables, tableware and endeavor of growing things. If you’ve driven green thumb. The Fedco warehouses just off kitchenware, stereos, lighting fixtures, and past in late summer, you’ve likely observed the I-95 in Clinton are filled with apple, peach, other period doodads. Owners Lisa and Brian ritual of the annual mum count, when the store pear, plum, cherry, and nut tree saplings, plus Kallgren have been scouring garage sales and fills its lot with chrysanthemum pots (25,000 blueberry bushes, rootstock, and vines, and auctions for American, Northern European, and last year) and tracks their sales a day at time on close to 3,000 folks come from all over the Italian mid-century pieces for something like a reader board out front — it’s how many state to shop and visit with friends they may 20 years — long before retro was en vogue — midcoast dwellers count down to fall. not see again until the Common Ground and reselling the pieces to customers around Country Fair. It’s a rite of spring. the world. Lisa refinishes many of the wood and upholstered pieces herself, while Brian claims responsibility for the “crazy” stereo collection stacked against the back wall, including a pair of 1964 JBL speakers — each