This Week's Haul, May 28: Bandits and rum-runners in snug harbors
And: Send me your best summer recipes!
Good morning from eastern Maine, where over the past week, I was quite dismayed to be waylaid by a summer cold. I feel like this should be illegal. I’m always reminded of this Calvin & Hobbes strip whenever I get sick in the summer. I’m feeling much better now, but seriously, there’s a law, right? I demand justice for two lost days of warm weather.
The rebuttals to the out of touch national media narrative around Maine’s U.S. Senate race continues - this time from Naomi Schalit, a co-founder of The Maine Monitor, who makes more salient points about Mainers and why we defy most stereotypes when it comes to our politics.
This is your recommendation to check out Rylan Hynes’ lovely new book, “Grafting,” which comes out next week via Islandport. It’s set in a Maine apple orchard!
I think this Boston Globe profile of a Maine woman who was one of the lucky ones to come out of prison actually rehabilitated was very well told. Sometimes I read stories like this and think, “I knew this person in high school.” I didn’t know her, specifically, obviously, but I certainly knew people like her.
It is the Boston Globe, however, so we can’t go one day without referencing something like the “Kandeskeag Stream Canoe Race.”
What do you think? Is sending The Weekly Haul out in the evening on Thursday better than sending it out mid-morning on a Thursday? I may start doing this instead if the data backs me up on it!
We’re used to DUI checkpoints on holiday weekends and signs on 95 reminding you things like “YOU’RE NOT A FIREWORK, DON’T DRIVE LIT.” 100 years ago, however, patrollers on state highways - i.e. Route 1, for the most part - were looking not for drunk drivers, but for bootleggers moving then-illegal alcohol around the state. 1924 was the height of prohibition, and it wasn’t cops pulling people over - it was the feds. Locals and summer folks alike complained about the ill-treatment, many of whom initially thought they were being waylaid by bandits, not G-men aiming to interrupt your shipment of champagne for your seaside clambake. It was still the early days of automobile travel in Maine, mind you, so it’s not like people were going super fast, or that the roads were particularly well cared for. This clipping also suggests that bootleggers were bribing cottage owners along the coast, in exchange for letting them store their illicit hooch in their “snug harbors.” Fun!
Music & Dance
May 29: Sweet Motha Child feat. Danny Bedrosian of P-Funk, Mike Billings, 7 p.m., Bodywise Pilates, Bangor
May 29: Maine Metal Night feat. Gary and the Cruisers, Thy Enemy, The Burial Curse and Revenant, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
May 29: I Love the 90s Tour feat. Vanilla Ice, Montell Jordan, Tone Loc, Color Me Badd, and Young MC, 7 p.m., Cross Insurance Center, Bangor
May 29: The Speed of Sound and The Kenya Hall Band, 7 p.m., The Underground Lounge, Belfast
May 29: Folk duo 40 Thieves, 6 p.m., Fogtown Brewing Company, Ellsworth
May 30: Bad Daddy Blues Band, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
May 30: Down East Dead, 7 p.m., Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast
May 30: Bangor Celtic Crossroads presents Sean Heely and Beth Patterson, 7 p.m., Next Generation Theatre, Brewer
May 31: The Met Live in HD presents “El Ultimo Sueno de Frida y Diego,” 1 p.m., Collins Center for the Arts, University of Maine, Orono
May 31: Rowing songs workshop and contradance, 6 p.m., Belfast Boathouse, Belfast
June 2: Uga Buga, Earthwyrm, Viqueen and Krull, 7 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Theatre & Comedy
May 29: High Stakes House of Comedy presents Andrew Dela Volpe and Ryan Ellington, 8 p.m, Hollywood Casino, Bangor
May 30: “When Everyone’s At The Table: Storytelling as Solidarity,” live storytelling event and potluck dinner, 5:30 p.m., Halcyon Grange, Blue Hill
Art, Books, Film & Culture
May 28: Author talk by Caitlin Shetterly on her new novel, “The Gulf of Lions,” 6 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill
May 28: “Exploring Wabanaki Knowledge: From Place Names to Wild Blueberries,” talk by John Bear Mitchell and Natalie Michelle, 6 p.m., Alamo Theatre, Bucksport
May 29-31: Signed With Spice: Maine’s Romance Book Convention, more than 100 authors and vendors over three days, Cross Insurance Center, Bangor
May 29: Summer local horror writers panel feat. Zak Cowell, Jesse Speed, Fox Emm, Samantha Eaton, William Chanler, Katherine Silva and Amber Hathaway, moderated by Justin Soderberg, 7 p.m., Bookspace, Bangor
May 30: Book signing and storytime for “Lobster Bake and Blueberry Cake” by Karen Richards Toothaker, 11 a.m., The Briar Patch, Bangor
May 30-31: Screenings of “Sense and Sensibility,” Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Fairs, Festivals, Markets, Outdoors & Misc
May 30: Pollen-palooza celebration of pollinators and native plants, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Rogers Farm, Old Town
May 30: Ghosts of Fort Knox guided ghost tour, 8 p.m., Fort Knox State Historic Site, Prospect
Memorial Day, as we know, marks the unofficial start of summer and, for many of us, the start of camp season. Whether it’s your own family camp or a beloved friend’s lakeside retreat, it’s a beautiful Maine tradition if you’re lucky enough to have access to one. Long days of swimming, sunning, boating, fishing, games, campfires and winding conversations over dinner. It’s magical.
That’s where my question this week comes in. What is your go-to recipe for a day at camp? The kind of thing you always think to bring when it’s time to pile in and head out to Lake Whatever. A side salad, a dessert, a casserole, a cocktail recipe, anything - what’s the dish you turn to? For me, I have a couple side salads I default to, like a Mexican street corn salad and the classic broccoli salad with cranberries and bacon. When they’re in season I make a peach and cherry pie. I’ve been known to bring a panzanella salad if I’ve got good bread and nice veggies. I marinate a damn good boneless chicken thigh for grilling. And if we’re staying the night I’m a big fan of make-ahead breakfast sandwiches to pop in the freezer and throw in the oven in the morning.
If you’re willing to part with them for the greater good of everyone’s summertime, I’d love to know your camp recipe. They do not have to be fancy. In fact, the less fancy, the better - what, are we from Connecticut here? We most certainly are not. Share your recipes in the comments or respond to this email, and if I get enough good ones I’ll post an epic summertime camp food story later on in the summer.
Thanks for the GRAFTING shout-out!! Sooooo good