Good morning from eastern Maine, where this week, I finally landed on my Halloween costume for this year. As you may know, we are Halloween People around these parts, and while we haven’t hosted the elaborate costume party we were formerly friend-famous for in a few years, we remain steadfastly committed to the spirit of the season. I’ll give you a hint: glowing red “eyes”.
Yet another great Maine location for those interested in starting their own cult. This one is in Stetson, just 30 minutes outside of Bangor, and has 41 acres for attracting vulnerable people to do your bidding. The yurt - one of four total buildings on the property - looks ideal for combining your psionic energies into a beam of pure light to shoot out of the roof and contact the ascended masters!
Congrats to Rick and Ingrid, two unsung heroes of Bangor’s food and cultural landscape, on their retirement after decades running Ingrid’s Gift Shop and the beloved Saturday morning European Market on Buck Street. Don’t worry: neither the shop or the market are going anywhere, with new people taking over management going forward. More info on that later. For now: thanks for the delicious memories!
Have you voted yet? Go vote! You can do it at your town office or city hall and save yourself the trouble of going on actual Election Day on Nov. 3. Unless you enjoy going to the polls that day - I know I used to love it, but I now find it stressful and annoying. I’m a lot happier doing it quietly at my municipal office, without worrying that some MAGA terrorist is going to try to mess with me or someone else. What a world we live in!
Though it is certainly true that modern-day American elections are, essentially, a chance for a handful of billionaires to piss perfectly good money away by airing the same political ads on TV and streaming over and over and over and over again, it’s also true that elections have always been a little insane. Before this utterly appalling waste of funds and resources in the wake of Citizens United, there were still wackadoo candidates, electioneering shenanigans and conspiracy-minded people running for office - like Jacqueline Francis Kaye, who with her husband owned the recently bankrupted Trans East Airlines, and who in 1976 ran as an independent in Maine’s 2nd District against then-U.S. Rep. Bill Cohen. Her platform mainly consisted of a grievance campaign against the City of Bangor and Bangor International Airport, who she claimed were in cahoots with a mafia scheme to run beef exports out of the airport, and who ran the Kayes and Trans East Airlines out of the city due to their refusal to participate in that scheme. Fun, right? That’s fun. Way more fun than whatever the hell is going on right now.
Music & Dance
Oct. 16-17: All Roads Music Festival, Friday evening and all day Saturday performances from more than 20 Maine bands and artists, throughout downtown Belfast; click here for full schedule and tickets
Oct. 17: Steinway Series presents pianist Marlene McCarthy, singer Alisa Amador and the Halcyon String Quartet, 4:30 p.m., All Souls Congregational Church, Bangor
Oct. 17: Hymn For Her, 6 p.m., Fogtown Brewing, Ellsworth
Oct. 17: Break Bread, Corrective Measure, Free to Think and Axe of Despair, 7 p.m., Red Rabbit Bazaar, Bangor
Oct. 17: Bluegrass Association of Maine presents Rock Hearts, 7 p.m., Center Theatre, Dover-Foxcroft
Oct. 17: Evernight: The Vampire Ball, dance and costume party, 7 p.m., Next Generation Theatre, Brewer
Oct. 17: Pathogenic, Leylines, Serling and Smothered Sun, 7 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Oct. 18: Bangor Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Series: “Force of Nature,” 3 p.m., Collins Center for the Arts, University of Maine, Orono
Oct. 18: Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Oct. 19: Bangor Symphony Orchestra Chamber Series presents cellist Zuill Bailey, 6:30 p.m., Gracie Theatre, Husson University, Bangor
Theater & Comedy
Oct. 15-18: Grand Players present “Into the Woods,” nightly, Grand Theatre, Ellsworth
Oct. 15-18: Some Theatre Company presents “Grey House,” new play by Levi Holloway, Some Theatre at the Bangor Mall, Bangor
Oct. 16-17: Bangor Community Theatre presents “Deathtrap” by Ira Levin, Columbia Street Baptist Church, Bangor
Oct. 16-18: School of Performing Arts presents “Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom,” play, nightly, Hauck Auditorium, University of Maine, Orono
Oct. 17: Tricks and Treats Halloween Burlesque Show, 8 p.m., Eye Candy Studio, Bangor
Oct. 17: Ectoplasmic Extravaganza Halloween Drag Show, 7 p.m., Benjamin’s, Bangor
Arts, Books, Film & Culture
Oct. 15-18: Belfast Poetry Festival, four days of readings, workshops and the famed Haiku Death Match, locations around Belfast; click here for full schedule
Oct. 15: “Mystery Making Mayhem,” group mystery story workshop with local writers, 6 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
Oct. 15: “Castine, Penobscot Bay, and Global Slavery in the Age of Sail,” talk by Kate McMahon, 6 p.m., Castine Historical Society, Castine
Oct. 15: “Nightlight,” poetry reading by Claire Millkin and Bea Gates, 7 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill
Oct. 16: “Migrating Maine’s Natural World Into Fiction (and Anything We Write),” workshop with writer Sandra Neily, 10:30 a.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
Oct. 16-17: “Beetlejuice,” daily, Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Oct. 16: Maine Women’s Lobby presents “Thelma & Louise,” 7 p.m., Center Theatre, Dover-Foxcroft
Oct. 17: “Let the Right One In,” screening of original Swedish vampire movie, 2:30 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill
Oct. 17: “Stories From Maine Cemeteries: Lives Cut Short,” talk with historian Ron Romano, 2 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
Oct. 19-20: Studio Ghibli Fest screens “Spirited Away,” daily, Black Bear Cinemas, Orono
Oct. 19: Book talk with debut author Kevin Johnson on his new horror-holiday book, “‘Twas the Night,” 7 p.m., Bookspace, Bangor
Oct. 19: “Reading the Wind: Recovering 19th Century Weather from Diaries in the Gulf of Maine,” talk by Laurie Baker, 3 p.m., Leavitt Hall, Maine Maritime Academy, Castine
Oct. 20: Local horror author panel, 11 a.m., Old Town Public Library, Old Town
Oct. 20: “Poetry and the Creative Progress,” workshop with Stuart Kestenbaum, 6 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
Fairs, Festivals, Markets, Outdoors & Misc.
Oct. 16-18: Maineiac Manor haunted house, nightly with opening no-scare hour, Bangor Mall, Bangor; click here for more info
Oct. 17-25: Frightful Scavenger Haunt, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily, find all the spooky monsters and win a prize, Fort Knox State Historic Site, Prospect
Oct. 17: Maine Witch Walk and Goblin Market, wear your witchy duds for a walk around town and artisan market, Bangor Waterfront, Bangor
Oct. 17: Ghostport, annual Halloween festival throughout downtown Bucksport, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; click here for more info
Oct. 18: Georges River Land Trust fly fishing workshop for beginners, 9 a.m., Gibson Preserve, Searsmont
Speaking of Halloween - I love it when local families get in the spirit, whether it’s Halloween, Christmas or some other holiday or occasion. For example: the Terwilliger family in Ellsworth have gone all-out this year, with a free synchronized light show at their home at 21 Alexis Road each weekend through Halloween. Between 5 and 9 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday you can pull up and enjoy the show. The Terwilligers are so serious about Halloween that they also help plan the annual Terror Theater at the Grand, a haunted house event which this year is set for Oct. 29-31 in the beautiful Grand Theatre, also in Ellsworth. And if that weren’t enough: they also do Christmas lights in December. We love this level of commitment. We see you, Terwilligers. Thanks for making sure your community has fun.