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Chamberfest comes to Round Top Center
DAMARISCOTTA — For the past seven years, one of the pleasures of August in Midcoast Maine has been the arrival of Salt Bay Chamberfest.
Normally, to hear chamber music of this quality means traveling to New York, Boston, Washington D.C. or some other urban center. But now, for the eighth summer in a row, Midcoast music lovers can stay home and come-as-they-are to Darrows Barn at Round Top Center for the Arts for an evening of professional chamber music.
Darrows Barn, once home to the cows that first produced Round Top ice cream, is equally welcoming to musicians and audiences, and its acoustics rival that of fine concert halls.
This year, Chamberfest’s first weekend of concerts, Aug. 22 - 24, will feature the Naumberg Award-winning Brentano String Quartet, who will play Bartok’s fifth string quartet and music by Brahms, Beethoven and America’s own Walter Piston.
The second weekend, Aug. 29 -31, will feature some staples of chamber music literature: Dvorak’s “American” String Quartet and Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet, illuminated by contemporary American vocal music with soprano Lucy Shelton, now in her third season at Chamberfest.
Each weekend of the festival begins with a Children’s Ice Cream Concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22 and 29. The programs will feature smaller bits of Chamberfest’s weekend concerts in an interactive educational setting for children of all ages as well as adults — all topped off with free ice cream.
Tickets for the four-concert series are $55, or $50 for Round Top members. Per-concert cost is $16, $14 for members, and free for age 18 and under. Ice cream concert admission is $5. To order tickets, call 563-1507.
Visit www.saltbaychamberfest.org for program information. Round Top Center for the Arts is located on Business Route 1 in Damariscotta.
Series hosts folk band
Talk highlights
historic houses
ALNA — The Friends of Head Tide Church will host their annual summer lecture at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25, at Head Tide Church.
Each year the lecture focuses on the history of Alna, Sheepscot and Head Tide. This year Doreen Conboy and Les Fossel, both of Alna, will speak on “Early Buildings and Paint Decoration in the Sheepscot Valley.”
Conboy, of Restoration Paintwork in Alna, will show slides and discuss decorative wall treatments found locally, dating from 1800 to 1860. An Alna home boasts some of the state’s most well-preserved examples of Moses Eaton-type stenciling, which will be featured with other examples from Conboy’s ongoing project of collecting and documenting paintwork throughout Lincoln County.
Conboy studied art in Rhode Island and earned a degree in art from the University of Southern Maine. In 1984 she opened her shop in Maine, where she restores early paint on antiques and does commissioned art and sign work. She has also repaired paint decoration on damaged walls at properties owned by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.
Fossel has spoken to historical groups in Maine and New England; has taught realtor recertification courses on early buildings; and has offered old house courses through the Farnsworth Museum, Mt. Desert Island Historical Society, Lincoln County Historical Association and adult education programs.
Fossel owns Restoration Resources, a restoration contractor founded in 1975, which won the 2001 Maine Preservation Award for excellence in the preservation trades. He also conducts house inspections, specializing in 18th- and 19th-century homes.
The Friends of Head Tide Church is a volunteer organization whose mission is to preserve and maintain the church. As part of ongoing fund-raising efforts, the group will have for sale its 2003 calendar, featuring photographs of the Head Tide/Sheepscot region.
Admission is free. For information, call Merry Fossel at 586-5690 or Honora Jordan at 586-5484.
Cruise Muscongus Bay with land trust
BREMEN — A four-hour sightseeing cruise of Muscongus Bay, sponsored by Medomak Valley Land Trust, is set for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24.
The 49-passenger motor vessel Snow Goose III will leave from Kieve Landing on Keene Neck. The trip will include a stop at Friendship Long Island, where participants will tour a lobster research facility, eat lunch and explore. Participants should bring bag lunches and beverages.
To reach the boat, turn off Route 32 onto Keene Neck Road in Bremen and follow signs for Muscongus Bay Cruises. Passengers should arrive by 10:45 a.m.
Friendship Long Island is home to the Lobster Life Studies Center of the Lobster Conservancy (TLC), a non-profit organization that helps sustain lobster fishery in the Gulf of Maine. Scientist Diane Cowan will discuss her research on the reproductive biology of adult lobsters and TLC’s intertidal monitoring of juvenile lobsters in the gulf.
The Snow Goose III is a Hollis-designed, fiberglass offshore tuna fishing boat, built in 1997 and converted to passenger service in 1999. The vessel is Coast Guard-certified and has an enclosed marine head and cabin below.
Advance reservations are required. Tickets are $30 per person, $55 per couple, and $15 for children under 12.
For reservations. call 832-5570 or email mvlt@midcoast.com. Advance payment is needed to hold reservations; send a check payable to MVLT, P.O. Box 180, Waldoboro, ME 04572.
New book set in old Wiscasset
WISCASSET — Edgecomb author Lea Wait enthralled members of the Lincoln County Historical Association (LCHA) at its July 20 annual meeting, when she explained how she came to write “Stopping to Home.”
The book, which has won a commendation from the Smithsonian, is set in Wiscasset around 1805 and follows the lives of a brother and sister orphaned after smallpox and the sea took both parents. It is the first in a series of books written for children by Wait, who said that an ensuing story will feature Wiscasset’s Old Jail.
Another series Wait has authored consists of mysteries for adults, based on the adventures of an antique print dealer, like Wait herself.
LCHA executive director Peggy Shiels has placed copies of the book in the museum shop at the Old Lincoln County Jail, 133 Federal St., and hopes to carry more titles by Wait as they are published. “Stopping to Home” is the first fiction work to be sold at the museum shop, which carries local histories, children’s coloring books, biographies as and gift items.
Open Tuesdays through Sundays, the shop offers a discount to LCHA members.
For more information about LCHA, call 882-6817.
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