Ball Field Vandalized, Presidential Primary, Peregrine Closures, COA Commencement Speaker, and a 90s Prom
It's our Bar Harbor Briefs!
Bar Harbor Ball Field Vandalized
Our first brief is courtesy of Chris Popper and WDEA.
“We are hoping you might have some information that can help identify the individual or individuals that vandalized the Softball Field in Bar Harbor this weekend.
“It would appear that someone rode a dirt bike on the field Friday night/Saturday morning, as this was discovered Saturday afternoon.
“With the nicer weather on the way, this will take considerable time by the Acadia Youth Sport's volunteers to regrade and resurface the field to get it back into usable play by the area softball teams.
“If you have any information regarding this, please reach out to the Bar Harbor Police Department at 207-288-3391 or you can email Nikki Chan with Acadian Youth Sports.
Read More: Bar Harbor Softball Field Vandalized
Presidential Primary Election info
State of Maine Presidential Primary Election
Tuesday, March 5, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Municipal Building Auditorium in Bar Harbor
New semi-open primary system: Voters who are not enrolled in a party may select either a Democratic or Republican primary ballot. Registered Democrats and Republicans must receive their party's ballot. Registered Green Independent, Libertarian, and No Labels voters may not participate in the primary. Voters that withdraw or change enrollment must do so at least 15 days before the election (February 16) in order to participate in the primary.
Absentee ballots may be requested in writing, by phone or online on or before Thursday, Feb. 29. Ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. on March 5.
Applications for ongoing absentee ballot status are now available for voters who are at least 65 years old or who self-identify as having a disability.
There is no Town election in March.
For more information, visit the Secretary of State's Upcoming Elections page or contact the Clerk’s office at 207-288-4098 or clerk@barharbormaine.gov.
Temporary Closures For Peregrine Falcon Nesting in Acadia National Park in 2024
BAR HARBOR—To provide peregrine falcons adequate space for nesting, the National Park Service will temporarily close areas including Jordan Cliffs Trail, Precipice Trail, and Valley Cove Trail in Acadia National Park on March 1 until further notice. These annual closures protect the peregrine falcons from inadvertent human disturbance or harassment during the nesting period.
Research has shown that nesting peregrine falcons are particularly vulnerable to human activities, which can disturb the adults and make them less attentive to the eggs or chicks. Human activities near a nesting area can lead to temporary or permanent abandonment of the nest by the adults leaving chicks susceptible to hypothermia, starvation, and predation.
Signs at trail heads and trail junctions around the closed areas indicate where public entry is prohibited. Public entry into a closed area is a violation of federal regulations, which is punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both.
The NPS will reopen the closed areas once park resource managers determine if peregrine falcon nesting attempts were successful or not.
In 2023, three breeding pairs of peregrine falcons made their homes on Acadia’s cliffs: one near Valley Cove Trail, one near Jordan Cliffs Trail, and one near Precipice Trail. Two chicks from nests near Valley Cove Trail and two chicks from nests near Precipice Trail survived to fledge.
To learn more about peregrine falcons at Acadia National Park, please visit go.nps.gov/peregrine.
90’s Prom at the Jesup Memorial Library
March 9 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
BAR HARBOR—Join us at the Jesup for our 90’s Prom! As part of our community read program, the NEA Big Read: MDI, we are hosting a night of throwback fun. The Big Read book, Nothing to See Here, is set in 1997. To get in the spirit, let’s get in a time machine and go back 27 years. Swing by for music, dancing, 90’s trivia, a Lisa Frank-enstein collage station and more! All ages are welcome. Attendees ages 8 and under are asked to bring an adult.
Dawn your best 90’s-inspired look or come as you are. This prom will be all that and a bag of chips!
Free and open to the public.
For more information on our NEA Big Read, visit: https://www.jesuplibrary.org/bigread
Dr. Yuria Celidwen Will Be COA Commencement Speaker
BAR HARBOR — College of the Atlantic’s 51st commencement ceremony will feature a keynote address by Dr. Yuria Celidwen. The ceremony, which is free and open to the public, takes place on Saturday, June 8, at 2 p.m. under a large tent on the school’s North Lawn.
Celidwen is a native of Indigenous Nahua and Maya descent from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. A researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and a senior fellow at the Othering and Belonging Institute, Celidwen’s research is at the intersection of Indigenous studies, cultural psychology, and contemplative science. She is interested in transdisciplinary approaches to embodying the experience of self-transcendence and enhancing prosocial behavior (ethics, compassion, kindness, reverence, and a sense of awe, sacredness, and love). Celidwen's work at the Othering & Belonging Institute of UC Berkeley engages bridging and belonging work to reclaim spaces for Indigenous Peoples and the planet.
“As an Indigenous woman and as a scholar, I have taken the quest to reclaim our Indigenous voices as holders of sophisticated systems of contemplative insight,” Celidwen says. “I am committed to the reclamation, revitalization, and transmission of our Indigenous wisdom for social and environmental justice.”
Celidwen teaches Indigenous epistemologies and spirituality, and her work pioneered the Indigenous contemplative experience within contemplative studies. In addition, she leads workshops on prosocial practices from an Indigenous perspective. She emphasizes cultivating a sense of reverence and ecological belonging, raising awareness of social and environmental justice and community-engaged practices, revitalizing Indigenous languages, traditional medicine, clean energy, and Indigenous-led conservation.
"The 2024 graduating class came together to put Dr. Celidwen's name on the top of our list of possible speakers, and I couldn't be happier with their enthusiasm and with her acceptance of our invitation," said COA President Dr. Darron Collins '92. "Dr. Celidwen's intellectual career and personal experiences will give us great insight into the world of Indigenous ways of understanding how our world works—something we need to confront the local and global challenges we all face."
For the past two decades, Celidwen has worked at the United Nations to support international humanitarian efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals. Her specific concentration is the advancement of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the rights of Nature.
Celedwin will receive an honorary Master of Philosophy degree in human ecology at the ceremony.
Birch Bay Retirement Village named 2024 Top Rated Senior Living Community
BAR HARBOR—Birch Bay Retirement Village is pleased to announce that they have been named to A Place for Mom’s Best in Senior Living Communities list. The annual best of senior living award winners represents the top 1-2% of senior care providers nationwide based on reviews from those who matter most: residents and families. Winners are located all over the United States and represent the top tier in independent living, assisted living, memory care, and in-home care. To qualify, Birch Bay Retirement Village maintained an average review of 4.5 stars or higher.
New director, Robert Hemenway, is pleased to recognize this achievement.
“From the time I spent at Birch Bay when I visited as a social worker, I knew that Birch Bay was a special place,” Hemenway said. “Now, being a part of the team, I get the honor to see the profound impact our staff have on the lives of the residents every day. We will always be looking to grow and offer the top-tier care and services our residents expect.”
Located in Hulls Cove, Birch Bay Retirement Village, a proud member of the Mount Desert Island Hospital Organization, offers living options such as cottages, apartments, residential and memory care as well as an adult day program.
For more information about Birch Bay Retirement Village, please call Susanne Hopkins, Marketing Director at 288-8014.
Water Quality in Streams Impaired by Acid Rain
ELLSWORTH—Downeast Trout Unlimited hosts David Thorne, Fisheries Biologist and Stream Habitat Coordinator for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, for a discussion of efforts to improve water quality and increase reproductive success of Brook Trout in streams impaired by acidic deposition.
Atmospheric acidic deposition has been recognized as a mechanism for degradation of water quality in West Virginia since the 1950s because the poor soils lack a natural buffering capacity. The soils and bedrock geology are overwhelmed, leading to failure of trout stream fisheries. Decades of research has shown that application of high calcium crushed limestone sand can improve the negative effects and increase recruitment and survival of native Brook Trout. Since 1991, over 94,000 tons of limestone has been added to West Virginia streams. Currently the program is using about 5000 tons annually in 63 streams and 5 small impoundments, improving fisheries in over 300 miles of streams and 456 acres of small impoundments.
Thorne specializes in small stream management for native Brook Trout. Among his responsibilities are habitat management, restoration, and overseeing the DNR’s acid waters mitigation program. He has over 30 years of experience in fisheries, much of that researching ways to counter the effects of atmospheric acidic deposition on the infertile waters of West Virginia. He received his MS degree from West Virginia University in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources.
Contact DETU secretary at tpackie@gmail.com for info. Hybrid meeting March 20 5:30pm at the Moore Community Center 125 State Street Ellsworth and via Zoom. Pre-register at
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtcO-vrzMtG9C_tULgsPba8faLSG3kx1HY
Downeast Trout Unlimited (DETU) chapter 305 is dedicated to conserving, protecting, and restoring Maine's cold water fisheries and their watersheds. To join DETU goto www.tu.org/join305Downeast To renew call 800-834-2419. Donations may be mailed to Downeast Trout Unlimited, c/o Dana Hunter, Treasurer; 9 Lobster Pool Road Little Deer Isle, ME 04650. For more information contact Tammy Packie, tpackie@gmail.com 207-288-5442 or visit
Author Talk with Joan Jordan Grant: Lydia Stories
March 7 at 7 p.m.
Join us at the Jesup Memorial Library for an author talk with Joan Jordan Grant about her book Lydia Stories. Lydia Stories is published to honor the 200th anniversary of the Carroll family in Southwest Harbor, ME, and their 1825 Homestead, now owned by Acadia National Park, that still stands as originally constructed. Drawing from letters, diaries, documents and recorded memories compiled by Nell Carroll Thornton in 1933, Lydia Stories invites us to hear the Carroll family history as told in a creative narrative by a unique storytelling cloth doll named Lydia Carroll. Lydia tells us of the Carroll family roots in Ireland, the plight of young John Carroll charged with treason, his escape to the New World, his settling on Mt. Desert Island, and of his inheritance of courage, wisdom, and courtesy given to each Carroll descendant.
Joan Jordan Grant is a native of Bar Harbor, Maine, daughter of Evelyn Kittredge, grandniece to Nell Carroll Thornton, and a 4th generation descendant of John Carroll. She is a year-round resident of Mount Desert Island, pastor, teacher, and spiritual director. As a volunteer for Acadia National Park, she has helped Lydia tell her stories at the Carroll Homestead in Southwest Harbor since 2002.
Free and open to the public. Register at https://www.jesuplibrary.org/events/lydiastories
New Location for COA Play
BAR HARBOR—College of the Atlantic’s Production course presents Graupel, an accumulation of time, place, sculpture, and performance. Structured as an opera in five acts, performers guide the audience through a winter landscape that is at once familiar and unknown. Performances take place March 8 and 9 at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free, but reservations are required at graupel2024.brownpapertickets.com.
An otherworldly ship crashes onto the ice. Birds migrate and flock. The sun sets. Shadows inhabit spaces between us and our imaginations. Visions from past and future freeze and thaw. Even during the coldest winter evening, fire warms and illuminates and reminds us that, like art, even the thickest ice is ephemeral. As day turns to night, crossing between history and memory, Graupel compels us to gather and ask, “What does it mean to embrace winter?”
Audience members will travel alongside the performance. Dress for the Maine winter.
This show is weather dependent and all dates/times are subject to change. The show is open to the community and is family friendly, but no pets please!
MDI HIGH SCHOOL NEWS
MDI HS TAKE THIRD IN STATES!
The Mount Desert Island High School Trojans Girls Swim/Dive Team for its stellar third place finish at University of Maine Class B States this weekend!
ONE ACT COMPETITION COMING RIGHT UP!
"Interview: A Fugue for Eight Actors"
MDI Drama's entry in the 2024 one act competition is "Interview: A Fugue for Eight Actors" written by avant-garde playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie and directed by Casey Rush. "Interview" premiered in 1966 as part of the "America Hurrah" trilogy, widely hailed as the watershed play of the sixties. This short play is at turns absurd, hilarious, and unsettling. In what one critic calls a "Hurricane of Horror," four jobseekers are ricocheted through ludicrous job interviews, chilly urban parties, and coffin-like subways as they search for human compassion.
Performances:
Regional Drama Festival: March 8 & 9 - Ellsworth High School
Black Rose Performance: Wednesday, March 20 @ 7:00 PM
ReVision Energy Launches Wishcamper Hampden Community Solar Farm on Abandoned Maine Gravel Pit
HAMPDEN, ME (March 4,2024) ReVision Energy held a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the opening of a 14,256-panel community solar farm in Hampden, Maine February 29. The facility, called “Wishcamper Hampden,” was built on a 25-acre abandoned gravel pit. "Because Maine is one of the most heavily forested states in the nation, meaning lots of shady rooftops and places where solar isn't viable, we need these large-scale, ground-mounted solar projects to help our communities and institutions move away from burning oil and gas, " said ReVision Energy co-founder Phil Coupe. "Every time we build a clean energy project like this one, we keep our dollars right here at home in the local economy, creating good jobs, and giving us that energy independence and resilience that we truly need."
The project was a joint effort of Wishcamper Companies, Inc., and ReVision Energy, which served as the developer. Wishcamper Companies, Inc. is the investor and owner of the project. “This is our 29th project we've partnered together on,” said Charlie Duprey, Wishcamper Companies, Inc. Vice President of Solar Development. “This definitely wasn't an easy build. We ran into some bumps along the way, but ReVision’s expertise and guidance mitigated those factors, and we were able to come online in our desired time frame.”
Offtakers who sign up benefit from the energy created by the Wishcamper Hampden solar array in the form of credits from the power company that lower their monthly bills based on their consumption. Offtakers include local educational institutions such as the Deer Island/Stonington School District and College of the Atlantic (COA) ,which had students and faculty joining the ceremony.
"This project is a key ingredient in our commitment to eliminate the use of fossil fuels on campus by 2030," said COA President Dr. Darron Collins '92. "One-fifth of the 5 million kwh/year of this energy will provide all of College of the Atlantic’s commercial electrical needs not produced on campus. That’s an amazing, very tangible story of the kind of progress that needs to be made all over our state, our country, and our world." Other offtakers include Isle au Haut Power Company, Bangor Water District, and the Town of Blue Hill.
The clean power generated by the Wishcamper Hampden facility is the equivalent of 1,371 gas powered cars and the energy use of 776 homes. “This is such a great example of a project that's bringing together folks from Maine. You've got a Maine financed project, built by a Maine company, supporting Maine off-takers. This project is a really significant milestone for the state," said Dan Burgess, Director of the Governor’s Energy Office. The site became operational in December and will generate an estimated 8,690 MW hours of clean energy yearly.
As a region, nation, and planet, we face environmental challenges due to our overdependence on fossil fuels. For the renewable energy movement to succeed, as many groups as possible need to be able to access solar energy. Community solar farms enable municipalities, schools, and other organizations to make a greater impact on the transition to clean energy that they couldn’t have otherwise due to physical limitations, while reducing their energy costs. The project was nationally recognized as one of Solar Builder Magazine’s 2023 Projects of the Year.
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About ReVision Energy
ReVision Energy is a 100% employee-owned solar company with offices in South Portland and Montville, Maine; Brentwood and Enfield, New Hampshire; and North Andover, Westfield, and Woburn, Massachusetts. With over 400 employee co-owners, 15,000 installations, and 20 years of experience, ReVision is New England’s leading full-service renewable energy contracting company. ReVision is a Certified B Corp with a mission to make life better by building our just and equitable electric future. Learn more at ReVisionEnergy.com.
About The Wishcamper Companies, Inc.
The Wishcamper Companies, Inc. (“TWC”) invests in affordable housing and renewable energy. Founded in 1976, TWC is a highly respected and experienced affordable housing developer with interest in over 7,000 units nationwide. In 2016, TWC started buying and developing renewable energy projects. The success of our solar investments builds upon our legacy of successful affordable housing development and tax equity. TWC currently has a portfolio of 38 distributed solar assets ranging from rooftop arrays to carports and large-scale ground mounts. We have a proven track record of investing in, developing, and managing assets throughout the United States. To learn more about TWC, please visit: The Wishcamper Companies, Inc.
About College of the Atlantic
College of the Atlantic is premised on the belief that education should go beyond understanding the world as it is to enabling students to actively shape the future. COA is a leader in experiential learning and environmental stewardship, and is The Princeton Review’s #1 Green College. Every COA student designs their own major in human ecology—which integrates knowledge from across academic disciplines and seeks to understand and improve the relationships between humans and their natural, built, and social environments—and sets their own path toward a degree. Learn more at coa.edu..
REAL ESTATE NEWS
BAR HARBOR
Robert B. Alexander Jr., Mount Desert, to Micaela Elizabeth Ellison and Matthew James Queen, Southwest Harbor, as joint tenants, land together with any buildings and improvements.
Christopher B. Swan, Bar Harbor, to Mount Desert Island Hospital, Bar Harbor, land together with any improvements.
Estate of Cary Blaine Swan, a/k/a Cary B. Swan, to Christopher B. Swan, Bar Harbor, land together with any improvements.
Myrle N. Crockett, Bar Harbor, to the Bar Harbor Crockett Land Trust, Dated February 8, 2024, Hermon, land together with buildings.
Susan T. Englar, St. Petersburg, Fla., to the Susan Talbot Englar Revocable Living Trust dated February 26 of 2015, St. Petersburg, Fla., land together with any buildings and improvements.
MOUNT DESERT
Rosecliff LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, to East Point Property Holdings LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, land together with improvements.
Sanford D. Whitehouse 2020 Trust established under Indenture of Trust dated June 6, 2020, Weston, Mass., to Bright Owl LLC, Boston, Mass., land together with any and all structures and improvements.
SOUTHWEST HARBOR
Jonathan W. Evans, Glen Mills, Pa., Cynthia L. Evans Trueblood, Oakland, Calif., and Rebecca Evans Marvil, Yarmouth, to Kings Point Partners LLC, Yarmouth, land together with any buildings.
John P. Dufour and Kathryn J. Dufour, Warren, to the Dufour Joint Revocable Trust dated December 15, 2023, an unrecorded trust, Warren, their successors and assigns forever, Time-Share Estate Unit 22, Week 35.
SWAN'S ISLAND
John Morrill Bryan Revocable Trust dated April 30, 2002, and the Martha Scoville Bryan Revocable Trust dated April 30, 2002, Bar Harbor, to Sarah Lee Mathews, Baton Rouge, La., land together with any improvements.
TRENTON
Robert E. Arata, Concord, N.H., to the Oak Point Irrevocable Trust, Bow, N.H., land together with buildings and improvements.
Inhabitants of the Municipality of Trenton, to Nicole McGarr, no town listed, land with buildings.
Peter Swanson and Terri J. Swanson, Mount Desert, to Nathanael Philbrook, Islesford, land together with any buildings and improvements.