GORHAM, ME – Join us for a Halloween story at 10am followed by a costume parade through the library and the municipal center. Bring your trick or treating bags and wear your favorite costume.

GORHAM, ME – Gorham Middle School students involved in Gorham Schools’ Giving Garden recently harvested 89 pounds of fresh produce, bringing this season’s total to approximately 1,300 pounds!

Started 22 years ago by longtime Gorham School Department educator Heather Whitaker, the garden grew from a vision of engaging students and the broader community through hands-on, service-based learning. Now in its 10th year, the BackPack Program extends that mission by providing weekend food bags and other food resources to Gorham students and families.

Today, these initiatives continue to help address food insecurity while giving students meaningful opportunities to put their learning into action and make a difference in their community.

Learn more about Grow.Give.Gorham: https://www.growgivegorham.org/about

WINDHAM, ME – U.S. Senator Susan Collins delivered remarks and took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony for the North Windham Wastewater Treatment Facility. The new facility will help improve water quality and support economic development and residential growth in the North Windham area.

“This great achievement is the result of the Town of Windham, the Portland Water District, and Windham Raymond Schools working with state and federal partners to address two issues that are crucial to this community and to our state – protecting the environment and providing opportunity. Maintaining and upgrading drinking water and wastewater infrastructure is vital to strengthening the economic and environmental health of communities throughout Maine. I am so impressed by the care and vision that Windham’s community leaders and involved citizens have put into this important project, and I am delighted to have been able to contribute to its success,” said Senator Collins during her remarks.

In 2022, Senator Collins secured $2 million through her role on the Senate Appropriations Committee to support the installation of a new sewer and wastewater treatment system utilizing a Membrane Bio-Reactor. This state-of-the-art system will clean the water to a much higher standard than existing subsurface waste disposal systems. In the past five years, Senator Collins has secured more than $164 million for 83 water and wastewater projects.

Prior to this project, North Windham did not have public wastewater infrastructure, relying instead on individual septic systems. The new facility will provide the infrastructure needed to support future housing, businesses, and community growth in the area. The new system is also expected to replace more than 100 septic systems in North Windham and prevent approximately 22,000 pounds of nitrogen and 3,000 pounds of phosphorus from entering the North Windham aquifer each year, helping to protect groundwater and surrounding waterways.

WINDHAM, ME – The Presumpscot River flowing through Gorham, Windham and other towns has seen a dramatic improvement in water quality and usage. To Celebrate this success and to encourage local families to enjoy the river, the Friends of of Presumpscot River is hosting a race (canoe or kayak) at Dundee Park in Windham at Noon, October 17, 2026.

With paddling, food, foliage, and family-friendly fun, the River Revival Race is both a tribute to the past and a rallying point for the future of this beloved river. To learn more visit https://www.presumpscotriver.org/events

GORHAM, ME – You are cordially invited to Presumpscot Regional Land Trust’s Annual Meeting! Come learn about all that PRLT has accomplished in the last twelve months. Whether you’re a member, volunteer, business sponsor, partner organization, or just enjoy walking at one of our preserves, this event is also a celebration of what you share with our community.

Sunday, October 18, 2026

3:30–5:30 PM

Randall Orchards

RSVP for Annual Meeting

We’re excited to be welcoming a guest speaker this year! Keith Carson, former broadcast meteorologist and current Director of Environment and Science Communications with Maine Conservation Voters, will be joining us for a short keynote. He’ll share data about how our climate is changing and impacting the lands and waters we love, as well as strategies for how we can work in community to spark collective change.

Come raise a glass (of cider, of course) and toast with us to a year full of growth and connection. We look forward to seeing you there!

Agenda

Before Keith gets to share his wisdom, we’re breaking it down this year and making annual meeting a choose-your-own-adventure.

After you check in, and members vote for appointments to the board of directors, then you’ll be free to walk around and hear all the things we’ve been up to this year directly from the people who have worked on them:

Gorham Community Forest – Toby Jacobs, Director of Lands & Waters; Chris Cyr, trail builder; Jim McBride, Board Co-president and trail work volunteer

Windham Community Forest – Amanda Lessard, Board member and Assistant Town Manager for the Town of Windham

2025-26 Fiscal Year Financials + Funds for Our Future success – Casey Skovran, Treasurer

Water Quality Monitoring – Clara Franzoni, Regional Land Trust Fellow

Invasive Plant Removal – Abigail Edenfield, Environmental Fellow

Presumpscot 2040 – Abby Wilson from Casco Bay Estuary Partnership

Ask the ED – Will Sedlack, Executive Director

Don’t know what some (or all) of these things are? No worries! We’ve recruited exactly the right people to answer all your questions. Feel free to mix and mingle until about 4:45pm when we’ll come together for a few moments to honor our volunteers and organizational milestones before turning the mic over to Keith.

We’ll also have snacks, cider, and a coloring station for the kids (and kids at heart) available throughout the event. 

RSVP for Annual Meeting at PRLT’s website.

Bring a dessert!

PRLT tradition states that no Annual Meeting would be complete without dessert!

Guests are encouraged to bring your favorite fall treats to share, whether that’s pumpkin cookies, apple crisp, salted caramels, chocolate pie, or anything else that makes this season’s flavors shine. (If you have a store of summer berries in your freezer you’re just dying to share, we won’t turn you away).

If you can volunteer to bring a dessert, please let Emily know by emailing her at emily@prlt.org.

Amazon Distribution Center will impact Gorham

To The Editor:

I am writing due to my concern about the impact on Gorham of the proposed, now officially Town Council approved, 147,000 square foot Amazon Distribution Center. This plan for the Amazon warehouse was initially negotiated and moved forward by the town behind closed doors, without Gorham residents being offered an opportunity early on to have a vote or say regarding this magnitude level of high traffic and round-the-clock operation industrial land use. While the town council was willing to allow community comments later in the approval process, things appeared to move forward as a deal already done.

As a reminder, Amazon will operate 24/7, with trucks running all day and all night. Nonstop. Amazon representatives say there will be a minimum of 3000 daily truck trips, including semi big rigs. That’s an added 125 trucks on our town roads each and every hour. Although the distribution center is set to be located on land zoned for industrial use, this planned site is less than a mile from the Narragansett Elementary School and less than 2 miles from the center of Gorham Village. I can only imagine the added congestion, smell and noise of this proposal. I wonder why a location closer to the highway and less residential wouldn’t make more sense. While it may be appropriate to have such a facility in southern Maine somewhere, there are many concerned Gorham residents that don’t think this community is a location that makes sense for these and other reasons. I am curious to know how towns and communities that have already accommodated Amazon’s warehouses are dealing with it as a reality. For more information about this, please check out www.gorhamunited.com. If you are a registered voter in Gorham, please consider signing the petition to establish a temporary moratorium on high-traffic industrial land uses. Enough signatures can get this concern to be a ballot question for a town vote. Signing can be done at Third Space Market, located at 18 Elm Street (near Hannaford). They are closed on Mondays, but open between 11 am and 6 pm Tuesday thru Thursday, 12 pm to 8 pm Friday and Saturday, and 12pm to 4 pm on Sunday.

Donna Waterman

Gorham

PORTLAND, ME – Following a successful inaugural year that brought together hundreds of attendees and more than 100 speakers, Maine Tech Week presented by Wursta returns October 19-22, 2026, with an expanded four-day program exploring how technology is transforming industries, communities, and the way we work and create.

This year’s theme, Intersections, reflects a simple idea: some of the most interesting innovation happens when industries, disciplines, and perspectives come together. From ocean science, agriculture, healthcare, and manufacturing to AI, the arts, education, investment, and the future of work, Maine Tech Week will bring together leaders, builders, creatives, students, and the innovation-curious to explore what becomes possible when those worlds connect.

A major new partnership with the Portland Museum of Art brings that idea to life. On Tuesday, October 20, Maine Tech Week will explore the space between creativity, art, and technology through programming at the museum, including talks, collaborative experiences, museum exploration, and an evening creative event. The partnership expands Maine Tech Week beyond a traditional technology conference and creates new opportunities for artists, designers, storytellers, and technologists to learn from one another.

“Maine Tech Week started with a belief that Maine needed a place where people working across technology, business, creativity, research, and industry could find one another,” said Torie DeLisle, Founding Director of Maine Tech Week. “Last year showed us how much energy there is for that kind of connection. This year, we’re building on that momentum and creating even more opportunities for people and ideas that might not normally share the same room to intersect.”

Maine Tech Week 2026 will feature conversations, panels, workshops, demonstrations, and hands-on experiences designed around four days of programming:

Monday, October 19: Where Maine Industries Meet the Future

Explore how emerging technologies are reshaping industries that have long defined Maine, including the blue economy, agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, the built environment, and more.

Tuesday, October 20: The Space Between Creativity (Art) and Technology

Artists, storytellers, designers, and technologists come together to examine how technology is changing what we create, how we create it, and how ideas reach and resonate with people.

Wednesday, October 21: Maine, Technology, and the Future of Work

Conversations about AI adoption, workforce development, education, investment, entrepreneurship, and the skills Maine will need as technology rapidly changes how we work.

Thursday, October 22: Emerging Voices and What Comes Next

A forward-looking day focused on the people building what comes next, including entrepreneurs, investors, emerging leaders, and new voices shaping Maine’s innovation economy.

Programming will feature leaders from across Maine and beyond. Highlights include Theo Balcomb, creator of The Daily at The New York Times and former senior editor at The Atlantic, in a conversation about storytelling, technology, and human attention; Dr. Beth Orcutt, Vice President for Research at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, exploring the intersection of Maine’s ocean economy and innovation; and Wade Merritt, President of the Maine International Trade Center, moderating a conversation exploring where Maine’s next global advantage may lie.

Additional speakers include Torey Penrod-Cambra, Co-Founder and Chief Communications Officer of HighByte; Matt O’Malia, CEO of TimberHP, Nina Scheepers, Managing Director of Maine Venture Fund; Stephanie Roulic, Founder of Startup Boston; Austin Williams, Founding Director of the Maine Blue Economy Center at Maine Technology Institute; and leaders and innovators from organizations spanning healthcare, manufacturing, climate, agriculture, education, investment, technology, and the creative economy.

Sessions will tackle questions ranging from who owns AI inside established companies and how Maine prepares its workforce for rapidly evolving technology, to where Maine can compete globally, how technology is transforming the working waterfront and agriculture, and who gets to build, fund, and own the next generation of companies.

Hands-on programming will also return, including the 90-Minute AI Sprint, which challenges participants to bring a real-world problem and use AI tools to build a working solution during the session. No coding experience is required.

Evening events include networking at Oxbow Brewery on Monday, October 19th from 7pm to 9pm, an evening of art, film and creativity at the Portland Art Museum on Tuesday, October 20th sponsored by Black Math, and our annual closing party featuring some surprise musical guests at AURA on Thursday, October 22nd from 6pm to 9pm. Both events are open to the public.

Maine Tech Week 2026 is made possible through the generous support of Anchor Partner Wursta, along with partners Maine Technology Institute, Zayo, Maine Angels, CEI, CEI Ventures, Bangor Savings Bank, Canopy Portland Waterfront, Dirigo Fund, and Rallid. Their support helps bring together leaders, builders, creatives, students, and communities from across Maine and beyond, creating space for new ideas, meaningful connections, and cross-sector collaboration.

Who Should Attend: Entrepreneurs, business and industry leaders, technologists, engineers, designers, creatives, researchers, educators, students, investors, public-sector leaders, and anyone curious about how innovation is shaping Maine’s future.

GORHAM, ME – Now that it’s October, it’s Halloween time! Join Atlantic Dance Arts LLC Saturday, October 24th from 1-2:30 for our Annual Trunk or Treat! This is open to the community, so all ADA dancers, families, and friends are invited to participate!  *We are also happy to accept any candy donations!*

Dress up in your favorite costume and bring the whole family for an afternoon of candy, community, and fun! Our parking lot will be filled with decorated trunks, giveaways, a raffle table, and so much more.

Open to the public! Invite your friends and family to this free community event!

Best-decorated and Most Creative trunks win a special prize!

Costume Contest for kids and adults!

Raffle baskets

If you would like to host a trunk, sign up with ADA.

GORHAM, ME – For years, Trick or Trunk has been a fun way to connect with our community, but this year we’re excited to take that heart of connection and turn it into something even bigger, a LifeChurch Community Fall Festival!

We’re excited to bring neighbors and families together for a fun, welcoming day filled with fall activities, connection, and community. We can’t wait to celebrate with you and make this a special event for everyone!

GORHAM, ME – The Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF fundraiser is an annual Gorham High School Key Club initiative held throughout October where members collect donations to support global children’s programs. This year, the funds go toward Start Strong: Zambia, an initiative that builds early childhood learning centers, provides clean water, and trains healthcare workers. Clubs collect both cash using traditional orange boxes and digital donations via QR codes.