This week’s edition!
Events
3rd Art Walk to showcase more local artists than ever
A grassroots group of community members, artists and businesses is spotlighting the downtowns of Lewiston-Auburn once more, this time with more art and more performances.
On Friday, July 29 “Art Walk Lewiston Auburn” will transform the downtown areas of Lewiston and Auburn into art districts for the evening.
The first two Art Walk Lewiston Auburn events of the summer have drawn in over 600 people to the downtown area to appreciate art, culture and community. For it’s third event this season, the Art Walk will be featuring all new artwork from over 30 artists and will include more performance art elements.
Source to Sea Trek includes paddles on the Androscoggin
YPLAA to host Paddle After Hours
The Androscoggin Land Trust (ALT) and the Androscoggin River Watershed Council (ARWC) are announcing four paddling trips for canoeists and kayakers over the next week, as the 16th Annual Source to Sea Trek makes its way into Lewiston-Auburn.
The events will feature discussions ranging from efforts to conserve working farms in Maine to a recently launched planning effort to link the new Androscoggin Riverlands State Park to downtown Lewiston-Auburn via land and water trails.
The Source to Sea Trek is a multi-week event that starts at the headwaters of the Androscoggin River and ends at Merrymeeting Bay.
Beginning on Friday, July 29, Maine Farmland Trust staffer Nina Young will provide a brief presentation, “Conserving Working Farms in Maine,” about the on-going efforts of that organization to protect working farms throughout Maine. The paddle during this day, from Twin Bridges/Googins Island in Leeds to Center Bridge Road in Turner, is fitting for this discussion given the recently conserved River Rise Farm trekkers will pass in the first couple of miles of this trip. The farm was conserved at the end of 2010 through a partnership with MFT and ALT.
Bladesmithing Symposium & Knife Show is July 15-17
Learning professional skills needed to forge a knife blade will be the subject of the Third Annual ABS “Hammer In” New England Bladesmithing Symposium & Knife Show at the New England School of Metalwork in Auburn from Friday morning through Sunday, July 15-17.
Demonstrations and workshops in blade forging and cutting will be conducted throughout the event by master bladesmiths who are certified by the event organizer, the American Bladesmith Society. The bladesmiths are from Maine and several other states. Sessions are open to all for a registration fee of $55. (See www.americanbladesmith.com.)
“Our symposium shows anyone who may be interested in a viable professional career in bladesmithing how to pursue that path, further hone their skill sets and become ABS-certified,” said Dereck Glaser, metalsmithing program director at the New England School of Metalwork. “This is an opportunity to see and learn practical and professional skills from some the best master bladesmiths in New England and around the country, all right here at our facility in Auburn.”
Old ELHS coming down soon
Tenants are moving out of the former Edward Little High School at the corner of High and Academy Streets in Auburn. The school is scheduled for demolition soon. To see story and photos, click on the digital edition at left, then flip to pages 8 and 9. (Photo by Rachel Morin)
15th Annual Liberty Festival offers fun, fireworks
The Independence Day Committee invites the communities of Lewiston-Auburn and its neighbors to the 15th Annual Liberty Festival on July 4th to celebrate our nation’s independence with food, fun, freedom and fireworks.
On the banks of the Androscoggin River, the Liberty Festival will feature a concert stage, vendors and the party at the Hilton Garden Auburn Riverwatch, which is hosting a live band and perfect views of the fireworks. The fireworks are scheduled to blast off at 9:30 p.m.
This year, the Liberty Festival has revived the Auburn Main Street stage. The lineup opens at 5 p.m. with Cold Blue Steel playing a mix of classic and modern country music. At 6:30 p.m., Skyler takes the stage with a mix of country, pop and rock. L-A Harley Band will roar at 8 p.m. with a wide variety of music, ranging from Zac Brown to Jethro Tull to Maroon 5. Then Drive takes off at 10 p.m. with Top 40s, hard rock and even some heavy metal.
Art Walk Lewiston Auburn: Join the movement!
By Michael Dostie
Art Walk Lewiston Auburn
Perhaps you have heard of Art Walk Lewiston Auburn—or perhaps you have not. I would like to let you know a little bit about what it is, how it was started and where it is going.
My name is Michael Dostie, and I live and work in Downtown Lewiston. Just over two months ago a good friend asked me if I would be interested in starting an art walk here in the downtowns of Lewiston and Auburn. Without hesitation we called a couple of friends and got right to work. We decided to host five art walks through the summer, once every month from May through September on the last Friday.
First Art Walk Lewiston Auburn a big success
This group of eager Art Walkers was all smiles. (TCT photo by Jen Pike)
A grassroots group of community members, artists and businesses transformed the downtowns of Lewiston and Auburn into art districts on Friday, May 27 during the inaugural Art Walk Lewiston Auburn.
The Art Walk, the first in Lewiston in over a decade, is an independent grassroots endeavor by community members, artists, and local businesses that wanted to celebrate the extraordinary talent of visual artists in Lewiston-Auburn and around Maine.
“We have been overwhelmed with all of the enthusiasm for the inaugural Art Walk Lewiston Auburn,” says Michael Dostie of J. Dostie Jewelers on Lisbon Street, one of the event’s coordinators. He said the Art Walk truly showcases what can be accomplished when artists, businesses, and community members come together to bring new life to our downtowns.
6th Festival FrancoFun opens tomorrow
Festival FrancoFun, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, June 3 and 4 at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston, presents a weekend of local and regional music, food and Franco-American culture.
The Festival opens at 11:30 a.m on Friday with La Rencontre in Heritage Hall, featuring a $7 luncheon followed by entertainment in the Performance Hall. Louis Philippe, a Portland-based entertainer and local favorite, will open festival weekend singing the American, Canadian and French national anthems in addition to his good-humored storytelling and singing.
After the festival opening, Rita Dube, executive director of the Franco Center, will host the new Franco-American Kitchen Show with local “chefs” demonstrating their Franco-American recipes from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Heritage Hall.
Culture Crawlers. Adam Dow and Hillary Eaton enjoyed the 3rd Culture Crawl on May 25 in Downtown Lewiston. Hosted by The Young Professionals of the Lewiston-Auburn Area (YPLAA), the crawl include a tour of Museum L-A, a tour and beer sampling at Baxter Brewing and a visit to Davinci’s. The Crawl will ended at Fish Bones. For more information, see www.yplaa.com.
The Auburn Exchange Club is proud to host a “Field of Honor: Tribute to Veterans” flag display to honor and salute service men and women of the past, present and future. This event features a display of 400 American flags at the Simard-Payne Memorial Park (Railroad Park) in Lewiston. The event is free and open to the public daily, May 28 through Memorial Day, May 30.
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