This Week's Haul, Oct. 23: Wait, it's still only 2025!?
And: Welcome, once again, to Derry, Maine
Good morning from eastern Maine, where truly, I am very eager to turn off the fire hydrant of news about Graham Platner’s old Reddit posts and stupid tattoo. I am unshocked that a dude who on the surface appears to be quite bro-y said some dumb shit on the internet when he was younger. I too have a stupid tattoo, though admittedly, it is of a cute little kitty cat and was done mere weeks after I turned 18 - not of a skull and crossbones meant to show everyone how hardcore I am. Someone, or some group of someones, certainly has been busy scouring the web for unflattering details about him, haven’t they? This election season is already exhausting. It’s not even 2026 yet. It’s not even 2026 yet.
Just in time for Thanksgiving, nearly 170,000 Mainers will not receive their SNAP benefits in November because the federal government is still shut down. Republicans would rather families go hungry than lift one single finger to help people and move this country forward. It’s reprehensible.
Overheard on the internet: “I love that I have to beg my local historic preservation board for permission to paint my front door, but Donald Trump can demolish part of the White House so he can build an ugly-ass ballroom so he can get more money out of his billionaire friends.”
RATS. They are back, baby! This time they are terrorizing the town of Howland, after previously overrunning places like Camden, Trenton, Caribou and Milford. To their credit, Maine rats appear to be quite egalitarian in the places they choose to overrun - neither wealthy Camdenite nor blue collar Howlander shall be spared from rodentian attack.
I firmly believe that one of the best ways a community can process and start to heal from a huge loss – like its number one employer closing - is by coming together to preserve its stories and honor its past through art, writing, history preservation and other creative endeavors. I wish other former mill towns in Maine had done something similar to what Bucksport has done with its new Paper Mill Museum.
The Liberty Graphics otter t-shirt worn by Taylor Swift in her promo movie for her new album was reissued last week as a fundraiser for the otter program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It has since raised $2.3 million for the otters. Liberty Graphics is now scrambling to print more shirts. A win for everyone, furry or not!
Bangor’s evil doppelganger, Derry, is back on screen this week in “It: Welcome to Derry,” which premieres on Sunday on HBO as a kind of prequel to Stephen King’s iconic story. I’m definitely going to watch it - at least, for a few episodes, in case the show turns out to be really bad. I’ll have my eyes peeled for Actual Bangor references (even though the show was shot in Canada).
Happy start of NBA season to all who celebrate. And, this year only: Happy start of Maine phenom Cooper Flagg’s professional basketball career!
100 YEARS AGO: The aviation industry was still in its infancy when in 1925 Bangor lawyer and entrepreneur Edward Godfrey purchased Morse Field – a swath of land off Union Street where small planes could take off - with plans to turn it into a proper airport. In 1927, Godfrey Field opened, with an actual airstrip, hangar and flight school. Commercial flights to Portland and Boston began in 1931, and in 1941, the U.S. military took it over, with Dow Air Force Base employing thousands of people until closed in 1968 and was renamed Bangor International Airport. 100 years ago, however, the airfield was little more than acres of empty land owned by Charles W. Morse, the “Ice King of Maine,” who in 1925 already had been to prison for misappropriating funds and had been accused of war profiteering during World War I, though he was later acquitted. I bet Godfrey got a real good deal on his purchase.
Music & Dance
Oct. 23: Multimedia performance by the Halcyon String Quartet, 7 p.m., Minsky Recital Hall, University of Maine, Orono
Oct. 24: Bangor Contradance, featuring Northwoods and Qwill Duvall, 6 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Church, Park Street, Bangor
Oct. 24: River Bottom Funk, 6 p.m., Fogtown Brewing, Ellsworth
Ocr. 24: Tusk: Fleetwood Mac tribute band, 8 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Oct. 24: Goth Industrial DJ night, 7 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Oct. 24: Osmia, Mannequin Republic and AZV, 7 p.m., Red Rabbit Bazaar, Bangor
Oct. 24: Cadaverette, Manuel and Militia, 7 p.m., Starboard Lounge at Hey Sailor, Searsport
Oct. 25: Contradance with the Big Moose Contra Band, 7 p.m., Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor
Oct. 25: Hexella, Stryga, Horse Funeral and Trixie, 7 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Oct. 25: Rob Glassman Band, 7 p.m., Starboard Lounge at Hey Sailor, Searsport
Oct. 25: Dueling Pianos, 7 p.m., Gracie Theatre, Husson University, Bangor
Oct. 26: Bangor Symphony Orchestra presents “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” pop concert, 3 p.m., Collins Center for the Arts, Orono
Theatre & Comedy
Oct. 16-Nov. 2: Penobscot Theatre presents “The Turn of the Screw,” Wednesdays-Sunday at the Bangor Opera House, Bangor
Oct. 24-26: UMaine School of Performing Arts presents “The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs,” Hauck Auditorium, University of Maine, Orono
Oct. 24-26: The Grand Players present “Grease!,” at the Grand Theatre, Ellsworth
Oct. 25: Play reading group reads “You Can’t Take It With You,” 2 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
Oct. 17: Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers present “The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow,” 4 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Oct. 25: “Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun,” drag show and fundraiser for Bangor Pride 2026; 8 p.m., Hollywood Casino, Bangor
Oct. 26: “Psychic” comedian Peter Antoniou, 7 p.m., Morgan Hill Event Center, Hermon
Oct. 27: “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” 7 p.m., Cross Insurance Center, Bangor
Arts, Books, Film & Culture
Oct. 24: Fourth Friday Art Walk, 4 p.m., throughout downtown Belfast
Oct. 24: Gourd basketmaking workshop, 5:30 p.m., Fields Pond Audubon Center, Holden
Oct. 24-25: Bangor Historical Society Darker Mount Hope Cemetery Tours, 6 p.m. nightly, 1048 State St., Bangor
Oct. 25: “Using Gravestones and Cemeteries to Research Your Roots,” talk with historian Ron Romano, 2 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
Oct. 25-26: “Fright Night,” nightly at Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Oct. 27: “The Economics of Nature in Today’s Political Climate,” 3 p.m., Norman Smith Hall and on Zoom, University of Maine, Orono
Oct. 27: Talk by Penobscot Marine Museum historian Kevin Johnson on its recent Sardineland exhibit, 7 p.m., Belfast Historical Society, Belfast
Oct. 28: “Exploring Archaeology, Social Memory, and Climate Change,” talk by archaeologist Kristina Douglass, 7 p.m., D.P. Corbett Hall, University of Maine, Orono
Oct. 29: Derry Free Horror Book Club reads “How Bad Things Can Get” by Darcy Coates, 7:30 p.m., Bookspace, Columbia St., Bangor
Oct. 29: Brook trout talk with Maine Guide Bob Mallard, 6 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
Oct. 29: Book launch for “A Celebration of Maine Amphibians and Reptiles,” 5:30 p.m., Fields Pond Audubon Center, Holden
Oct. 29: Film Club screening of “The Seventh Victim (1943),” 7 p.m., Red Rabbit Bazaar, Bangor
Fairs, Festivals, Markets, Outdoors & Misc.
Through Nov.1: Maineiac Manor Haunted House, weekends through Halloween, with limited no-scare days, Bangor Mall, Bangor; visit maineiacmanor.com to buy tickets.
Oct. 25: Maine Discovery Museum presents the Trick or Treat Trail, 12-2 p.m., Walden Parke Preserve, Bangor Land Trust, 320 Tamarack Trail, Bangor
Oct. 25: 2025 Bangor Zombie Walk; get in your zombie costumes and join the group walk; 3 p.m., Bangor Waterfront
Oct. 25: Downtown Bangor Trick or Treat, 2-4 p.m. at stores throughout downtown Bangor
Oct. 26: Mushroom walk with Greg Marley, 9 a.m., Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust, South Trail Entrance, Orland
Is this section of the newsletter turning into food updates? Nope! I can almost guarantee you it will be something different next week. Whatever! Dreamer Food, the Armenian and Lebanese food truck that’s been a popular choice on the Bangor Waterfront for the past couple of years, is opening a brick and mortar restaurant! It’ll be located at 97 Allen St., on the corner with 14th Street, which I love because it’s in a neighborhood, but it’s also only two blocks from Hammond Street, so it’s not out of the way at all. I will be really glad to have shawarma and falafel on standby year-round. I am also glad to have another immigrant-owned business opening in Bangor, because immigrants make us stronger and better! Between this and the new Indian restaurant opening on Exchange Street, I’m actually excited about new food options in Bangor. Now, to get a year-round Korean restaurant. And a proper French bakery/patisserie. And an Ethiopian restaurant. A gal can dream.
Ugh! Facebook's translation of graphics or images is so odd and unreliable. When I visited Dreamer Food Facebook claimed there was a graphic of a burrito. Do the Lebanese food makers really make burritos? :) Thanks for all of this Emily :)