Dispatches from Islandport

Not Too Awful Bad: Scenes from St. Albans, Vermont

Just completed a three-week run that took me to Grand Lake Stream, Maine to check in with author Randy Spencer (Where Cool Waters Flow); Greenfield, Massachusetts to visit illustrator Astrid Sheckels (The Scallop Christmas); and St. Albans, Vermont to meet with author Leon Thompson (Not Too Awful Bad: A Storyteller's Guide to Vermont). Great places, but a lot of driving. We will release all three titles this fall, exact dates and a lot more information on all three coming soon.

The final leg of the tri-state tour found Amy and I deep into Vermont (at least from the south) near the Canadian border and on the eastern shores of Lake Champlain. We were shooting publicity photos, possible cover images, and beginning to plan the launch of Leon's book, a very funny "guide" to his home state. We visited St. Albans, Swanton, Enosburg Falls, and other Northern Vermont towns. We even found the sun—yes, the SUN—on Tuesday. If you wan to visit the area, consider the Vermont Maple Festival in St. Albans each spring or check out the Chamber's website for other activities.

And here's just a few images of Leon and his hometown area:

  

Islandport Press June 2009 enewsletter

Our June enewsletter is out and features news on the latest Bert and I CD, Dahlov Ipcar's Hardscrabble Harvest, Islandport Press T-shirts and more. If you did not receive a copy via email, please sign up for our mailing list. And feel free to forward the enewsletter to friends and family! Just click here to read.

Lunt Harbor snubbed by Down East Magazine! Write-in campaign announced! Win prizes!

Good Heavens!

I can't believe my hometown island has been snubbed by the editors of Down East Magazine! (And, Paul, I thought we were BFFs? I kid.). This Thursday, I received a personal email (OK, it was a generic email sent to their mailing list) from "The Magazine of Maine" announcing that it was conducting a survey to find the "Prettiest Harbor" in Maine. The magazine's wise editors broke the coast into three regions and then preselected 50 possible choices. But, here's the rub, 50 choices—F.I.F.T.Y.—and NO LUNT HARBOR! Frenchboro was no where in sight. Are you kidding me? How many of those other 50 harbors were featured on the Oprah show this year! Oprah! Just sayin'. Sure, the editors said, you can write in (wink, wink) a harbor they "overlooked," but we know that the typical election chances of write-in candidates are, as my dad might say, slim and none. Look, I'm not saying I don't really love some of the other Maine harbors listed, I do, but for Frenchboro to not even make the ballot? Well, it hurts.

Anyway, here's the skinny. Lunt Harbor is the working harbor of Frenchboro, Long Island, which is located eight miles out into Blue Hill Bay. Nearly the entire fishing village population of roughly 70 residents sits on the banks of the horseshoe-shaped harbor. Not only is it cozy and friendly and beautiful, but the views from the harbor look right at the mountains of Acadia National Park. The harbor is named after the Lunt family, which arrived on the island in the early 1800s and helped establish the community. It is still a real Maine harbor—and not a hotel or mansion or overpriced gallery in sight!

So, I am hoping to mount a write-in campaign. Click here to take the Down East survey. Just follow the instructions provided and when you get to the Acadia & Beyond region, write in "Lunt Harbor, Frenchboro." 

But wait, as Billy Mays might say, that is not all. If, when the winners are announced in September, Lunt Harbor makes the Top 5, we have prizes. We will randomly select 10 winners— four from the Islandport Press mailing list; two from the fans of Islandport Press on Facebook; two from the fans of Lunt's Dockside Deli on Facebook; and two from the list of Islandport followers on Twitter. Possible prizes include: a signed copy of "Hauling by Hand: The Life and Times of a Maine Island," a signed copy of Dahlov Ipcar's "The Little Fisherman," "Frenchboro" T-shirts, "Lunt Harbor" T-Shirts, and "Bert and I" T-shirts. Even if Lunt Harbor doesn't make the top five, we will award a T-shirt to one person from each of the four lists mentioned.

So please vote, and then make sure you join our mailing list or join one of the other lists mentioned above for your chance to win. And, if you can, tweet us @islandport to let us know you voted. If Lunt Harbor actually wins the voting, we will also send the top editors of Down East magazine a "Lunt Harbor" T-shirt. Actually, we might anyway. Just because.

Let's get voting and show the editors of Down East Magazine the error of their ways! Hurry, voting ends June 28.

Wilson's, a department store survives in Greenfield, Massachusetts

Spent two days in Greenfield, Massachusetts last week visiting with artist/illustrator Astrid (seen here in downtown Greenfield) planning the launch of The Scallop Christmas this fall. Visiting Greenfield brought back a few memories from my days working as newspaper reporter in the Pioneer Valley. Back then, I spent some time roaming Franklin County writing stories about such struggling mill towns as Turners Falls, about the wonderful Mole Hollow Candle in Shelburne Falls, and events in Greenfield.

In returning to the small city for the first time in a decade or so, one familiar name that jumped out at me was Wilson's, its large blue letters adorning a facade on Main Street. One of my old beats at what was then the (Springfield) Union-News was the retail industry. And most times when I wrote one of the required "How are retail sales going" stories, I called Wilson's Department Store to get the pulse of business in that region. Even in the mid-1990s, Wilson's was a throwback to an era when nearly city and town with a downtown had its own local department store.

Unfortunately, given the era I worked as a business reporter, I wrote about the closing of several such stores, including Springfield's famed Steiger's. Somehow, even these years later, Wilson's has survived. Astrid and I visited the store and sure enough it really is a throwback. Modern items are for sale, but the feel is strictly 1960s and 1970s. There are four levels, irregularly laid out, and when shopping in the lower level you may have to watch your head for lights and overhead pipes.

According to an article in the UMASS alumni magazine, that asked the question, "Why is Wilson's in Greenfield one of the last surviving family-owned department stores in America?" Wilson's celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2007 and remains one of the last independent, family-owned department stores in the Northeast. The store opened as the Boston Store in 1882 and was renamed Wilson's when it was purchased by John Wilson in 1896. It was purchased by R. Stanley Reid and a partner in 1929 and has remained in the Reid family ever since.

The 45,000 square foot store anchors Greenfield's downtown and hopefully will for a long time. I love seeing small downtown's survive. A downtown with a department store reminds me a little of growing up in Eastern Maine when Freeze's Department Store was a hub.

It seems Greenfield, the county seat and a city of less than 20,000 people, is hanging in OK as well. The city sits where where Route 2 intersects with Interstate-91 and remains, at least for the moment, a safe distant from the major malls. I spent just a couple of hours downtown—and clearly it has many issues like all downtown's—but there are still some signs of life. The World Eye bookstore remains open, The Garden shows movies every night, and traffic flows. Not a bad place to visit, if you are traveling along the Mohawk Trail through Massachusetts.

And this fall, somewhere in this city, there will be a release party and celebration of Astrid and the illustrated children's book, The Scallop Christmas. Stay tuned.

Just a side note, I also visited the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, which is wonderful, and worth a trip off the beaten path to Amherst.

Northern Tides and Port 'O Call - Washington County Retail Shops

Trudy spent part of last week way Down East visiting some of our wonderful wholesale customers as they prepare for the summer season. Safe to say, Trudy loves Lubec and Eastport and other towns in Washington County.

She reports:

Lubec is off the beaten path, but well worth the trip to see colorful storefronts, look across  at Canada, and chat. There are no bars (cell phone bars, that is) but there are local musicians at Friday and Saturday night dances. On the night I was visiting  music drifted down Main Street from Annabell's, which is right next door to one of our customers, Northern Tides (top), owned and operated by Debra Ayala. Debra represents local artists and sells Maine books. And congratulations to Debra and Gerry. They were married last week after dating for 20 years!

Port 'O Call (middle) can be found in Eastport, another hopping town on yet another Down East peninsula. Meg Keay (bottom) has owned the gift shop for four years.

Meg says, "I love Eastport because it's peaceful and quiet. I love the ocean breezes (we won't mention winter). It's a slower pace, less stress, friendly people. And there are lots of artists and musicians here."

Perry's Nut House in Belfast - books, fudge and more!

Trudy was on the road last week from Belfast to Calais visiting as many of our great wholesale customers as she could in advance of summer (bring on the tourists!). We'll be sharing some of her visits here on the blog.

One of her regular stops is Perry's Nut House in Belfast. Perry's has been a Maine landmark since 1927 when I.L. Perry began selling Georgia pecans and other assorted nuts. Perry also added some curios and museum pieces collected on his travels. Perry soon needed a larger location and moved to what was then his cigar factory. During the next decade, his collection of curios grew larger and more unusual and included stuffed alligators, trick mirrors, boxing bear cubs and a water buffalo shot by Teddy Roosevelt.

Perry died in 1940 and the Nut House was taken over by Joshua Treat III. Treat retained the Perry's vision. He brought in a huge man-eating clam, an albatross from the South Seas, a gorilla from Africa and other curios over the years. However, many of those items were sold off in the late 1990s when new owners began planning to close the shop and develop condominiums. The condos never came to pass and Perry's is still in business right on Route One.

Current owners, George & Ellen Darling, along with their daughter, Kim O'Brien, are working to  rebuild the business' reputation of years gone by. According to their website, their intention is to "turn back the hands of time and recreate an unusual, yet fun environment with an updated appeal, combined with pieces from the past."

Kim (right) has been managing Perry's since her parents bought it in 2004. "I started light on books," Kim says. "But then, it's kinda like fudge, the more flavors you have, the more fudge you sell." A customer commented, "You know you're going to leave here with either fudge or books (or both)." We recommend both, fudge and a book from Islandport.

Sneak Peak: The Scallop Christmas—Coming this Fall

The Scallop Christmas, an illustrated children's book written by Jane Freeberg of Georgetown, Maine and illustrated by Astrid Sheckels of Greenfield, Massachusetts is set for release this Fall. More details soon, but here is a sneak peak at the just approved cover.

 

Grand Lake Stream — A small piece of paradise

Amy and I spent two days this week working in a small piece of paradise called Grand Lake Stream. We met with Randy Spencer to discuss the final editing stages and launch of his upcoming Islandport title, "Where Cool Waters Flow," a first person look at Grand Lake Stream, some of its residents, and a year in the life of a Maine Guide through all four seasons. Randy, of course, is a Maine Guide, but also a singer, columnist, producer and a whole lot more. I can't imagine a better or more entertaining guide if you are heading out into the area's beyond-gorgeous lake system to fish.

There is only one bumpy road in and one bumpy road out of Grand Lake Stream, a small Washington County town with a year-round population of 125 people, give or take. It is surrounded on all sides, save one, by unorganized, wilderness townships. It is, perhaps, most famous for its "Grand Laker" canoes, a marvel of simplicity, function and beauty. An image of the Grand Laker appears on street signs.

The center of town is The Pine Tree Store, a wonderful, everything-you-need store run by  Kurt and Kathy Cressey, escapees from Southern Maine. It is the only game in town, the focal point of activity, and is near the Grand Lake town dock, the dam, the post office, the ball field and the historical museum. Also nearby is the town's monument to Maine Guides. That's about it for public infrastructure.

The town is based on fishing and the outdoors. Most visitors stay in one of the many lodges or cabins for rent in the area and then either head out fishing on their own or hire a guide,  which is probably the best idea. Local lodging ranges from housekeeping-style cabins to wonderful old-style lodges that include three meals-a-day in common dining rooms and also feature other services. There are no hotels or motels and don't expect to find cell service. This place is an escape.

The major public events of the year are the Fourth of July celebration (Randy and Tim Sample will perform this year) and the increasingly popular Grand Lake Folk Art Festival (July 25-26, 2009), featuring more than 50 folk artists and craftsmen and live music.

That's just a brief introduction to Grand Lake Stream, a great piece of classic Maine, but please stay tuned for much more on Randy and GLS. If you can't wait and want to get away from it  all right now, the town is ready with open arms and a smile.