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Talk of the Town - Knox County
City hosts Street Party
ROCKLAND — Get ready for some fun as the downtown Rockland Street Party, previously known as the Summer Solstice Festival, will be livening up Main Street on Saturday, Sept. 7.
Main Street will take center stage once again with a variety of live bands, featuring rock music by The Divine Maggies, Celtic music by Bailiwick, folk music by Dusty and Joanna, and our own local rock-n-roll band, Stone Dover.
The festival also will also feature musical entertainment by the Trudy Soucy Cloggers, the Maine St. Andrews Pipe and Drums and a steel drum band. In addition to great music, partygoers can sample some delicious food choices by local chefs and restaurants.
The street party will be hosting a visit by Lucky the Lobster, a favorite character among children. There also will be free carriage rides and many fun activities for the whole family, including a whoopie pie eating contest sponsored and supplied by the Rockland Café.
The celebrations will begin promptly at 5:30 p.m. and run to 8:30 p.m. Main Street will be closed to all vehicular traffic from 5 to 10 p.m. that evening to accommodate the festivities, so park accordingly. In case of inclement weather, the street party will take place the following Saturday, Sept. 14.
For information or to become a part of this event, contact Jennifer Hall, event coordinator for the Rockland-Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce at 596-0376 or by email at jhall@midcoast.com.
Garden club presents conservationist
ROCKPORT — The Rockport Garden Club’s Sept. 5, annual conservation program features Dave Getchell, Sr., noted local journalist and conservationist.
The program, “The Georges Highland Path: a different approach to conservation,” will be held at Merryspring Nature Center at 1:30 p.m., following the club’s 1 p.m. business meeting.
Getchell, a Maine native, graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in journalism in 1954. He worked as an editor for numerous publications, including Down East Magazine and Maine Coast Fisherman, which became “National Fisherman” in 1966. Getchell was a founding editor of The Small Boat Journal and The Mariner’s Catalog. Since 1982, he’s been a freelance writer, editor and lecturer.
No stranger to water or land trails, Getchell took part in a two-man expedition along the Labrador coast in an 18-foot motorboat. In addition, he and his wife did a five-month, 8,000 mile tour from Maine to the West Coast and back to Maine.
Midcoast residents are familiar with a number of Maine projects Getchell worked on: co-founder of the Maine Island Trail Association, which maintains a 352-mile-long small boat waterway called the Maine Island Trail. He’s currently the trails co-ordinator for the Georges River Land Trust, developing the 50-mile-long hiking trail through the St. George River watershed.
Getchell’s presentation will be highlighted with colorful slides that show the path in both its pre-developmental and current stages. Developing accessible trails as a different approach to conservation is key to Getchell’s program and some of his philosophy and principles may be surprising. He’ll also discuss some of his other volunteer experience, including volunteer work at Baxter State Park. Epitomizing the power of ‘grass roots’ organization, Getchell examples how one or more creative, dedicated people can initiate conservation measures.
There will be ample time for questions to learn more about the Georges Highland Path project and others like it in the area, and in Maine and other states.
Refreshments will be served following the program.
All Rockport Garden Club programs are free and open to the public and membership also is open to all. Call club president Mary Lou Lundy, 236-6199, for further information about club membership or Joan Hagenzieker, 236-7999, for information about this or other programs.
Cow society at Aldemere Farm
ROCKPORT — Aldermere Farm will be hosting this year’s annual meeting of the U.S. Belted Galloway Society on Sept. 6 and 7. As many as 200 fellow Belted Galloway breeders are expected to attend and take part in a series of educational and social events prepared by farm staff and a group of its volunteers.
The farm staff invite local retailers to forward business cards or notices (no larger than 8 1/2 x 11 inches) to the farm if they offer products featuring the farm’s famous Belted Galloways. These will be shared with guests at the farm and should be mailed to Aldermere Farm, 70 Russell Ave., Rockport 04856.
Artists with paintings depicting the farm are encouraged to contact the farm at 236-2739 if they wish to participate in an art show at the meeting on Sept. 6.
Ron Howard, farm Project Manager reports, “We are proud to have been chosen as the host site this year and look forward to not only showcasing Aldermere Farm, but also our local area.”
Volunteers are needed to help with the events on either of the days. Interested individuals or groups should contact Ron Howard at 236-2739 or by e-mail at: rhoward@mcht.org
Persuasions perform at high school
ROCKPORT —The Persuasions are returning to the Midcoast 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, in the high school’s Strom Auditorium.
With their stomping and swing doo-wop singing they have thrilled millions for nearly 30 years. With heart-rending versions of everything from soul to rhythm and blues, and most recently Frank Zappa, Grateful Dead and Beatles tunes, the Persuasions have every audience clapping and swaying from the first beat to the last.
Local musical superstars Fascinatin’ Rhythm will open for The Persuasions, singing 20 minutes a cappella. Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Camden Hills Regional High School Sports Boosters’ tennis court project.
The Persuasions started singing on street corners in Brooklyn, N.Y. No instruments, just a couple of baritones and tenors and a deep, deep bass. By the early 1970s they had a following and several popular albums, “We Came to Play,” “Street Corner Symphony.”
They have performed and recorded backup vocals for major artists from Paul Simon to Stevie Wonder. Their influence on the art of four-and-five-part harmony singing can be heard in everything from 1960s doo-wop to the music of Boyz n Men. Their music has turned up in films from “Joe and the Volcano” to “The Heartbreak Kid,” “Streets of Gold,” and “E.T.”
The Persuasions — Jimmy Hayes, bass vocals; lead singer Jerry Lawson; tenors Jayotis Washington and Joe Russell , and the only non-original Persuasion, Raymond Sanders, tenor, have seen a lot of other groups come and go. But the pace of their activities picked up in the mid-90s and exploded in the past few years, starting with the release of “On the Good Ship Lollipop,” which received a 1999 Parents Choice “Gold” award.
The Persuasions were named Amazon.com’s “Artist of the Year” for children’s music in 1999, and their album was named Number One in the top-ten recommended Amazon.com children’s albums of the year.
The concert is presented by the CHRHS Sports Boosters, who have been raising funds for more than two years to build four tennis courts at the high school. Construction of the courts is under way and hopes are to have them ready for the 2003 tennis season.
Tickets for the event are $25 reserved seating, available only by phone at 236-7800, ext. 286. General admission tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students, and are available at the Reading Corner, Rockland, The Fertile Mind, Belfast, and Harbor Audio Video in Camden.
Tickets also will be available at the door the night of the concert.