Candles Lit, Loved Ones Honored at Carol Dyer Memorial
In Brief: Ferry and visitation numbers, right whales, fire equipment
BAR HARBOR—On Saturday night, as the sun’s light faded and the moon rose, volunteers organized by the MDI YWCA walked through the paths on the Village Green, backs bent, lighter in hand, illuminating one white paper bag after another. On each bag was a name. Each bag represented a person who had cancer.
On a park bench closer to the Reel Pizza side a woman sobbed into a man’s shoulder, her long brown hair obscuring her face, but not her words, not her sorrow.
“There are just so many,” she cried.
“I know,” he soothed. “I know.”
Throughout the event, WDEA’s Chris Popper said the names on the bags, one after another, dozens and dozens and dozens of names, of people, of community members, of loved ones.
The event began, according to Ann Worrick,
“As a way to honor our dear friend Carol Dyer after she lost her battle with brain cancer in June of 2001. Inspired by a local Relay for Life event, particularly the luminaria ceremony held during the walk, we got to work planning our first event. It started out as a small gathering to provide us with an outlet to both celebrate and grieve. And we have become inspired and humbled by how much it has grown over the years.”
It has kept on going.
Back in 2016, the Bar Harbor YBs (a group of local women) said that the Carol Dyer Memorial “Light the Way to a Cure” was coming to an end after 15 years, but it’s 2023 and the candles are being lit. Each year, every year, more people have cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2023, there will be 10,490 new cancer diagnoses in Maine.
Worrick said, “We hope that the legacy of this event is to inspire you all to reach out and do positive work in your community on any scale. We know we will.”
The annual event on the Village Green is meant to honor those who are surviving cancer and those who have not. It’s about celebration for those who are here and honor for those who are not.
One man lighting candle after candle offered another man sitting on a bench a chance to light the luminary of his loved one himself. “Would you like to?”
The man’s lips pressed in for a second before he gave a quick nod. “Yes, yes, I would. Thank you. What do I do?”
Carol Dyer was a children’s librarian at the Jesup Memorial Library. She had a brain tumor and died in 2001. Each year on the village green, luminaries glow along the walkways. On each bag is a name. The names are of a litany of friends and loved ones. No, that’s wrong.
The bags are a litany of those who are loved and who have been impacted by cancer.
Since the event began, well over $75,000 has been raised for the American Cancer Society. Each year bags can be purchased before or during the event. On Saturday, Alice French sang from the gazebo. Chris Popper was the master of ceremonies. This year’s proceeds benefit the Breast Health Center at MDI Hospital.
FERRY NUMBERS
While Acadia National Park has reported that its June numbers were low and have no numbers for July yet, Bay Ferries says that the CAT high-speed ferry has had higher sales than last year.
As of August 10, the ferry between Bar Harbor and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia has sold customers 34,542 tickets. That beats last year’s total for this same time period by 2,684.
Nova Scotia has just received bids for a study about the service’s impact to the region. The study came after Nova Scotia’s Premier Tim Houston indicated disappointment at the ferry’s ridership numbers in 2022. Last year there was 35,000 by September 1. Nova Scotia had hoped for 60,000 passengers.
RIGHT WHALES AND MINKES
Canadian fishing gear has been blamed for four of the five right whale entanglements this year.
The whales are endangered and feed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during the summer. They go after copepods (a form of zooplankton) during those months.
Since 2017 there have been 115 dead right whales. Approximately 66% of those deaths are blamed on fishing gear. There are less than 340 right whales alive. The U.S. government’s efforts to protect the whales has generated multiple lawsuits and impacted the lobster fishing industry in Maine.
The Bangor Daily News’ Braeden Waddell reports that researchers from Allied Whale at College of the Atlantic have responded to three minke whale deaths in the past week. Typically, there are two deaths each summer.
Waddell wrote,
”While the number of dead minke whales reported is unusually high for such a short period, researchers said the causes of each death do not appear connected and this shouldn’t be cause for concern.”
The whale carcasses have come ashore in Vinalhaven, Rockland, and Brooklin.
FIRE DEPARTMENT GETS SOME NEW GEAR
The Bar Harbor Fire Department has received some new gear meant to help extinguish fires in electric vehicles or lithium batteries. The equipment comes from a donation by the Bar Harbor Fire Association.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Cancer Facts & Figures 2023. Atlanta: American Cancer Society, Inc. 2022.