On The Agenda - Bar Harbor Town Meetings & Things to Do
ON THE AGENDA
Every week we document Bar Harbor town government, school, and other similar meetings that we know of. Please let us know if we’ve missed something. Also, sometimes things are on the town calendars and are cancelled or rescheduled, so make sure to double check before you head over!
All the meetings take place at the Bar Harbor Municipal Building at 93 Cottage Street unless otherwise noted. And they usually have a time for public comments. This is not true about executive sessions, which are closed to the public.
So, go! Be informed! Be part of the process. You deserve to be.
To see the town meeting calendar by month, click here.
To see the school board calendar by month, click here
MONDAY, AUGUST 28
Task Force on the Climate Emergency
4:00 PM
@ Council Chambers, Bar Harbor Municipal Building, Cottage Street
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL Board of Trustees Meeting
Mt. Desert Island High School Library
5:30 p.m.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29
Special Town Council Meeting
5:30 PM
@ Council Chambers, Bar Harbor Municipal Building, Cottage Street
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30
Special Town Council Meeting
5:30 PM
@ Council Chambers, Bar Harbor Municipal Building, Cottage Street
Things to Do In Bar Harbor
Week of August 28
It’s our weekly round-up, and I may have missed some things so apologies!
To check out our news stories from the past week. Click on the archive section and you’ll see them in chronological order.
GET YOUR KNOWLEDGE ON!
PFAS, Arsenic and Other Water-Borne Toxins
September 11, 2023 I 5 PM I On Zoom
The dangers and prevalence of arsenic, PFAS and other water-borne toxins in our environment have become all-too-apparent over the past several years. But what do we know or can we know about heavy metals' or "forever" chemicals' real-world effects on our health? Join us for a discussion with MDI Bio Lab scientists and PFAS expert Ned Calonge, M.D., M.P.H. Bring your questions about arsenic and PFAS testing, how they may be associated with disease and recommendations for exposure reduction.
More Details:
This presentation will discuss what is known about health effects of exposure to per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other water-borne toxins in water supplies nationally and in Maine, as well as reducing exposure and follow-up measures for those who may have been exposed to elevated levels. We’ll also take a look at emerging efforts in Maine to study biological effects at the cellular level.
Ned Calonge, MD, MPH, is the associate dean for public health practice and an associate professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. Additionally, Dr. Calonge is an associate professor of family medicine at the School of Medicine on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Calonge is also the president and CEO of the Colorado Trust. He serves as the vice chair of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Community Preventive Services Task Force. He also chairs the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Health and serves on the National Academies’ Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity.
Before joining the Colorado Trust, Dr. Calonge served as the chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. He also served as chief of Colorado Permanente Medical Group’s Department of Preventive Medicine, where he practiced as a family physician for 10 years. He is a past president of the Colorado Medical Board and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2011.
What Are Science Cafés?
MDI Bio Lab’s Science Cafés provide an informal introduction to ground-breaking biomedical research by its scientists, scholars from near and far and from local experts in other fields as well. Each Café lasts about one hour; the floor is open for questions and discussion. It can get lively and it’s always engaging. MDI Science Cafés are open to the public and free of charge. For more information, visit our website.
GET YOUR ART FAIR ON!
Island Arts Association Craft Fair,
Saturday and Sunday, September 2 and 3
9-5,
Bar Harbor Village Green. www.islandartsassociation.com.
The Island Arts Association's Labor Day Weekend Craft Fair will take place on the Bar Harbor Village Green. For more information, visit www.islandartsassociation.com.
GET YOUR HERO ON!
BAR HARBOR FIRE DEPARTMENT
To check if Bar Harbor Fire Department is currently hiring, please go to the town’s jobs page.
But even if it isn’t, you can become a call member
Becoming a call force firefighter requires extensive training, hard work, and dedication to the community. We rely on call force firefighters to respond quickly to emergencies, to perform firefighting duties, and to provide assistance and support to career firefighters. To be a fall force firefighter is to have a chance to aid and serve the community, which is an extremely rewarding experience.
Get Your Book (And Author) On!
VIRTUAL WRITE ON! WRITING GROUP
Want support for your craft? The Write On! writer’s group has been meeting at the Jesup since 2014, and remotely during the pandemic. Each meeting, members may bring in up to 1200 words to read for feedback, and in turn offer feedback to others. Although each member doesn’t get to read work every time, the group shares the time fairly. The group meets on Zoom, and hold in confidence what is shared. This group welcomes adults 18 and up writing in many genres. There’s no homework–the only commitment is two hours on Saturday mornings.
Date and Time
SATURDAYS
9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Location
Zoom
How to Attend
Call the library, 207-288-4245, for more about us and how to join, or email info@jesuplibrary.org.
STORY TIMES AT THE JESUP!
Baby and Toddler Time
Join Abby for fingerplays, songs, and stories! Older siblings are welcome to join in.
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023
10:30 AM 11:15 AM
JESUP MEMORIAL LIBRARY34 MT. DESERT STREET
Preschool Story Time
Preschoolers and their adults are invited to join us on Friday mornings for songs, stories, and a craft! Recommended for ages 3-5.
FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2023
10:30 AM 11:15 AM
JESUP MEMORIAL LIBRARY, 34 MOUNT DESERT STREET
LES SIMON
Please join us at the Jesup Memorial Library for an evening with local author Les Simon for his newest Sci-Fi release Beyond Orion: An Alien Alliance on Thursday, August 31th at 7 p.m.
In a region far beyond the Orion constellation, an Astrakhan ancestor envisioned an approaching threat. Through telepathy, the vision went viral to the region’s seventeen inhabited planets. A search honed in on an isolated planet opposite Orion making steady progress outside their own region, creating a universal breach. Concerned for their sovereignty, ancient knowledge, and general well-being, ETIs began to gather to debate defensive strategies. An Alliance formed, and a general plan hatched. Recruiting assistance from this unknown planet, now identified as Earth, became the priority. Individuals from Asoka began a search for likely candidates. The Bender son clan drew their attention. After monitoring this family for five generations, they attached their focus on first cousins Joseph Kelly Bender son and Darnel Kelly Bender son, the last in the Bender son line.
Les Simon is a published author and poet living in rural Downeast Maine. He writes in many genres - Science Fiction, Adult Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Short Stories, and Poetry. Les will be reading of the first two chapters of, Beyond Orion: An Alien Alliance, followed by a time for questions and comments.
This event is a hybrid program and registration is required to attend either in person or on Zoom. Register at jesuplibrary.org/events/alien or email eventsignup@jesuplibrary.org.
Hollie Adams, a Writer-In-Residence at Acadia National Park
Please join us at the Jesup Memorial Library where Hollie Adams, a Writer-In-Residence at Acadia National Park, will lead a poetry writing workshop "Creating Inspiration and Generating Raw Materials" on Saturday, September 2nd from 2 pm to 3:30 pm.
Where do poets get their inspiration? How can we write a poem if we don't feel inspired? Rather than simply waiting for inspiration to strike, how can we create inspiration for ourselves? This workshop will provide guidance and prompts intended to help participants find their poems. We’ll experiment with several methods of poetry generation, using images, memories, sensory exploration, the natural world, found texts, and even constraints to create our "raw materials"--notes, observations, single lines, descriptions, etc.--which we'll then shape and mold into first drafts that participants will be encouraged to share with one another in a low-stakes, judgment-free environment. All levels are welcome; no experience is required. Space is limited to ten participants.
Hollie Adams (she/her), of Bangor, ME, is the author of the novel Things You've Inherited from Your Mother (NeWest Press, 2015) and the hybrid prose-poetry chapbook Deliver Me from Swedish Furniture (Zed Press, 2018), which was a finalist for the BpNichol Chapbook Award. She is the current fiction editor of The Windsor Review, and her prose and poetry have appeared across Canada in publications including The Malahat Review, The Temz Review, Contemporary Verse 2, Room, Carousel, Prairie Fire, The Antigonish Review, and Grain. Her writing, often surrealist, dystopian, and fabulist in content, engages regularly with issues of climate change and environment, home and place, and gender and relationships. Originally from Windsor, Ontario, she now lives and works in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation, where she is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Maine.
Adams is also scheduled to offer a poetry reading at the Jesup on Thursday, October 19 at 7 p.m.
This event is a hybrid program and registration is required to attend either in person or on Zoom. Register at jesuplibrary.org/events/adams or email eventsignup@jesuplibrary.org.
A Culinary History of Downeast Maine
BAR HARBOR_ Please join us at the Jesup Memorial Library for an author talk with Sharon Joyce who will be discussing her book on Thursday, September 7th at 7 pm.
Sharon Joyce details the rich and delicious history of food in Downeast Maine.
Maine's Downeast culinary history begins well before explorers arrived in the 1500s. Some of the food preparation and preservation techniques used by the Wabanakis and early colonists are still in use today. Lobster and other seafood from the Gulf of Maine and the area now known as Acadia National Park paved the way for a vibrant tourist food scene. The "rusticators" like the Rockefellers, Pulitzers, Astors, Vanderbilts and other wealthy families created a mixed environment of fashionable food trends and simple foods like fish chowder. Locals like the 40 Hayseeders used food as a statement to make fun of the "summer people."
Joyce is a trainer/educator/chef and author who graduated from Northwestern University in Chicago. She studied Advanced French Cooking and Pastry at Cordon Bleu in Paris in 1981 and operated a catering business and cooking school in Chicago and in the Virgin Islands. She has taught various types of cooking classes, including French, International, Regional American, Downeast Maine Cooking and Cruzan cooking in such locations as Chicago, Bar Harbor, California and Christiansted, St. Croix USVI. She was fascinated by the abundance of local foods when she moved to Bar Harbor more than thirty years ago. She operates Ambrosia Cooking School in Bar Harbor, Maine.
This event is a hybrid program and registration is required to attend either in person or on Zoom. Register at jesuplibrary.org/events/joyce or email eventsignup@jesuplibrary.org.
JESUP EVENTS
For a full list of Jesup Memorial Library events, click through to its calendar here.
GET YOUR ART ON!
OPEN STUDIO – MEMBER MONDAYS
Members can reserve a table in our studio for an hour or the whole session and have access to our non-consumable tools or use some materials from our stock!$10 for reserved space – participant brings supplies. OR $25 for reserved space plus access to consumable materials; felting, glass, paint, printmaking.Participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Masking, vaccinated, and social distancing for staff and participant safety.
Date and Time
Mondays
2:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. EDT
Location
ArtWaves, 1345A State Highway 102, Bar Harbor
Fees/Admission
$42.00
Website
https://www.artwavesmdi.org/event
Contact Information207-266-0010
Send Email
MONDAY & THURSDAY NIGHT FIGURE DRAWING
Please register, space is limited.
Artists will have a few quick warm-up poses then be able to spend time refining a long pose. Registration necessary- ArtWaves maintains distances for safety.The model is the star, no instruction, but plenty of easels, boards, horses, paper, charcoal and fellow friendly artists. Feel free to bring your paints and brushes as well!18 and over, under 18 allowed with parental attendance or prior signature.
Date and Time
Mondays and Thursdays
6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Mondays 6-9 single pose and Thursdays multi poses
Location
ArtWaves Fine Arts Studio
Fees/Admission
$15 for 3-hour session
Members: $25 month fee
Contact Information
office @artwavesmdi.otrg
Send Email
KIDS CRAFTERNOONS
ArtWaves is devoting afternoons of studio (under the big tent) sessions for children to create. Most workshops use unique materials like fiber, ink, stained glass and wax. Weekly themes. Open to kids between 7-11. No skills required.Masks, vax’d (over 5), and distancing for staff and participant safety.
To Register:
Date and Time
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Location
ArtWaves, 1345A State Highway 102, Bar Harbor
Fees/Admission
$30 materials included or bring some of your own! ($20 for members)
Student membership is $36 a year!
Contact Informationoffice@artwavesmdi.org
Send Email
ARTWAVES CLASSES AND EVENTS
ArtWaves often has classes, a variety every week. For the updated selection, check out its website here.
GET YOUR COFFEE & CONVERSATION ON!
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29 at 9:30 AM
Coffee & Conversation: Building Acadia
COA professor emeritus Anne Kozak speaks with COA Trustee Cookie Horner about her new book, the development of Acadia’s infrastructure and roads, and the often-untold stories of the women involved in the founding of the park.
College of the Atlantic
105 Eden Street
Free, registration required: coa.edu/summereventsART INSTALLATION AT COA ALL SUMMER LONG
GET YOUR MOVIE ON!
REEL PIZZA
Reel Pizza is here! Check below for movies running this week or for exact times and dates click here.
CRITERION THEATRE
The theater’s website is here, and click for the latest updates.
GET YOUR FITNESS ON!
THE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE!
The Neighborhood House has a slew of classes to help you get your fitness on. Descriptions are at its website.
Yoga Flow- Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays at 9 a.m.
Tai Chi - Monday at 10:45 a.m.
Can Do Yoga - Mondays at 4:30 p.m.
Active Older Adults - Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:45 a.m.
Yoga Flow and Tai Chi are also on Zoom!
MDI YMCA!
The MDI YMCA’s program guide is here.
DESTINATION HEALTH!
All Levels Slow Flow Yoga
Date and Time
Tuesdays
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EDT
Location
Destination Health
124 Cottage Street
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
(207) 288-3121
Website
http://www.destinationhealthmdi.com
Pelvic Floor Workshop
Date and Time
Tuesdays
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT
Yin Yoga
Date and Time
Tuesdays
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM EDT
Adult Ballet Barre Fitness with David Lamon
Date and Time
Thursdays
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM EDT
4 sessions Thursday April 6th to Thursday April 27 6:30pm to 7:30pm
Location
ArtWaves Dance Center 1345A Hwy 102 Town Hill Bar Harbor
Fees/Admission
$50.00 $40.00 ArtWaves Members SPRING SPECIAL: BUY ONE CLASS GET ONE CLASS AT 50% OFF
Website
https://artwavesmdi.org/event-5201808
Contact Information
2072660010
Send Email
GET YOUR VOLUNTEERISM ON!
GET YOUR DANCE AND WELLNESS ON!
ZUMBA!
It’s a dance party, no experience needed!
Come take care of yourself, shake, smile & sweat! Every class is different; the music, people and weather, and we always have a blast! Erin leads a workout that caters to all levels of fitness and ability. All you need is a love for music and movement (or come to class to fall in love with dancing), but no experience necessary. You can follow along and give it your own flair! Come join our classes throughout the week, in the gorgeous dance studio at ArtWaves! If you haven’t tried Zumba and want to talk with Erin, feel free to email anytime.
Date and Time
Thursdays
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. EDT
Location
Dance Studio at ArtWaves, 1345A State Highway 102, Bar Harbor
Fees/Admission
$40-$50 per month ($10 per week paid monthly)
Website
DOWNEAST COMMUNITY DANCE
Downeast Community Dance meets every Sunday from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Moore Community Center in Ellsworth (first and third) and ArtWaves in Town Hill (second, fourth and fifth).
These free form dance gatherings are not facilitated, with music provided by volunteer DJs. Move to rhythms in your own way and have fun.
Admission is by donation.
For more information, contact Susan at 288-8103 or cloudnine@gwi.net.
Location
Dance Studio at ArtWaves, 1345A State Highway 102, Bar Harbor
STUDENT MASSAGE CLINIC
At Acadia School of Massage Student Massage Clinic, our students gain hands-on experience while our clients receive relaxation or therapeutic massage and bodywork treatments at discounted rates. Enjoy a soothing massage from one of our gifted student massage therapists. The Student Clinic is open to the public and we highly encourage anyone to try a massage!
Date and Time
Tuesdays and Wednesdays
1:30 PM – 6:30 PM EST
Tuesdays and Wednesdays through the end of April 2023 from 1:30 to 6:15pm.
Location
Hosted by Tree of Life Day Spa,
108 Cottage Street, Bar Harbor
Fees/Admission
$35 for 1 hour massage
Appointments highly recommended
Book online at
http://www.AcadiaSoM.com
Website
http://www.AcadiaSoM.com
Contact Information
Acadia School of Massage
Send Email
DANCE NIGHTS AT FOGTOWN BAR HARBOR WITH DJ POPTART
Come on out and dance away your cabin fever at Fogtown Bar Harbor! Every Friday from 8-10 p.m., DJ Poptart/Gary Allen will be spinning groovy tunes!
Date and Time
Fridays
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM EST
Location
33 Cottage St, Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Fees/Admission
No cover
Website
http://www.fogtownbrewing.com
GET YOUR MUSIC ON!
DAN LOREY TRIO!
The Dan Lorey Trio plays a wide variety of rock, pop, country, blues and reggae. They play every Tuesday night at the Side Street Cafe in Bar Harbor from 8-10 p.m. Call 801-2591 for more information or directions.
THE BAR HARBOR TOWN BAND
The Bar Harbor Band performs Mondays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. on the Village Green. All of the band's concerts are one hour in length. Concerts will be held rain or shine. In the event of inclement weather, concerts will be held at the neighboring Bar Harbor Congregational Church. For more information, visit www.barharborband.org.
Derf McKeeton
Starting July 6, there will be live music every Thursday night at the Otter Creek Hall from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Derf McKeeton, a resident of Otter Creek, will play the guitar and sing a variety of 20th century American music. His songs include rock, country, show tunes, jazz, and many of his own compositions. A portion of the donations will benefit the Otter Creek Aid Society. Performances will be held through the end of August. The hall is located at 82 Otter Creek Drive, 4.9 miles from the Village Green in Bar Harbor, 3 miles from Seal Harbor. For more information, call Derf at (617) 851-0387.
The Annex
THE FINBACK ALEHOUSE
The Finback has entertainment most nights. The schedule is posted every Tuesday.
THE LOMPOC
The Lompoc has DJ nights every other Friday and karaoke every Sunday night!!
(They will be taking next Sunday—August 27—off however, due to the karaoke host being out of town.)
OTHER EVENTS
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2023 AT 5 PM – 7 PM
Charlie & Hollie @ Bar Harbor Lobster Pound
Bar Harbor Lobster Pound
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2023 AT 5 PM – 8 PM
LIVE MUSIC with Stephen Vecchiotti
Bar Harbor Lobster Pound
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023 AT 9 PM – 12 AM
Riff Johnson at Finback Alehouse
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2023 AT 6 PM – 8 PM
Live Music Thursday's at 6 p.m. at Bar Harbor Beerworks
Summer Organ Recital Series
The Friends of Music at St. Saviour’s is proud to announce the 16th annual Summer Organ Recital Series for 2023. The recitals take place on the four Fridays of the month of August in St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church in Bar Harbor, each program beginning at 12:15 pm and lasting about an hour. The recital-series was founded in 2007 by Julia Morris-Myers, who was then the Organist/Music-director for St. Saviour’s.
The impetus for founding the series came from the presence of one of the finest organs in Downeast Maine, and the Friends of Music was organized to support and promote musical performances at the church. Since then, a wide variety of performers have presented the great literature for the organ each summer. The range of performers encompasses those starting out their careers and others long-established, regional, nationwide, and international.
The series closes on August 25 with Dr. Daniel Pyle, music-director at St. Saviour’s and artistic-director of the Acadia Choral Society.
Admission to the concerts is free, although donations in support of the concert-series are welcome.
The church, located at 41 Mount Desert St. in Bar Harbor, is fully accessible.
For further information, one can call the church at 288-4215 or email to sspmusic@mdi-episcopal.org.
GET YOUR FOOD ON!
OPEN TABLE MDI!
For more information, click here.
EDEN’S FARMERS’ MARKET
Sundays
9-12
Bar Harbor YMCA parking lot off Park Street
AMBROSIA COOKING SCHOOL
The real Maine experience to relive at home. Learn all about lobster and take home the knowledge to be able to cook lobster at home. If you ever had concerns about the long process of making a pie crust, then you will rejoice at the ease of making this blueberry crumble pie. Enjoy the restaurants in Maine but after the class you will leave with the knowledge to create your own Maine experience at home.
Date and Time
Sundays
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM EDT
Location
Ambrosia Cooking School
19 Rodick Street, Bar Harbor, ME 04609
19 Rodick Street Bar Harbor ME 04609
Fees/Admission
$85.00
Website
http://www.ambrosiacookingschool.com/
Contact Information
Sharon Joyce (207)288-4523
Send Email
TOWN GOVERNMENT MEETINGS
SOUTHWEST HARBOR
Regular Meeting Schedule (meetings held at the Town Office unless otherwise noted). Calendar is here.
TREMONT:
BAR HARBOR:
According to the town’s website, “Meetings that are broadcast live can be viewed at home by watching Cable Access Channel 7 or 1303 (Spectrum Cable only) and online at Town Hall Streams.”
“Things We Do in Bar Harbor” and “On the Agenda” is mostly curated by me looking for things happening in the upcoming week, which takes a lot of time and I truly do not know all that is going on.
If there’s something in Bar Harbor (or MDI) that you’d like me to mention, please let me know, because I’m definitely always missing some events every week.
