88 Blankets, 100 Valentines: How Mount Desert Island Loves Over and Over Again. Carrie Jones Feb 14, 2026 BAR HARBOR—It began with a really good Polartec fabric sale. Unable to resist, artist and Bar Harbor Historical Society’s Director of Engagement Nikki Moser ordered almost 400 yards. “I needed to do something that felt like direct action, and so many people are cold,” she explained. The next … Continue reading When Love Is a Verb.
For More Than Two Decades, Jim Willis Has Turned a Small-Town Swim Team Into a Family Carrie Jones Feb 08, 2026 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund. BAR HARBOR—Somewhere between the concrete walls of the MDY YMCA, the bleachers and the six lanes of its pool, Coach Jim Willis quietly walks and counts and notices things. In a … Continue reading Families Say This Bar Harbor Swim Coach Changes Lives
Winter gatherings bring warmth, community and smiles. Carrie Jones and Shaun Farrar Feb 01, 2026 BAR HARBOR—Just outside the Bar Harbor Congregational Church in downtown Bar Harbor, Saturday afternoon, a bundled up family member tried to get a baby stroller over a parking lot snowbank so that it could go onto a sidewalk and then out into Main Street. It wasn’t going easily. The carriage’s front wheels … Continue reading Games, Art, Beer, and Belonging: A Winter Saturday in Bar Harbor
MDI couple celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary today. Carrie Jones Jan 22, 2026 NORTHEAST HARBOR—Sometimes the best news isn’t the hard news. It’s the quiet stories of triumph and long-lasting love and lives that make huge impacts in not just a couple’s family, but in an entire community. Cliff and Kathy Olson have a story like that, and today, it’s their wedding anniversary where they … Continue reading Built to Last: 60 Years of Love and Kindness from Cliff and Kathy Olson.
YWCA of MDI Cooks Community Thanksgiving Dinner Carrie Jones Nov 26, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Shops. BAR HARBOR—No one is quite sure how long the YWCA of MDI has been cooking a community Thanksgiving dinner. “It’s been years,” Jackie Davidson, executive director said in 2024 as the smells of turkey and gravy wafted through the entire brick building and out … Continue reading Why This Homey Meal Is a Yearly Lifeline for Community Connection
Gravy, Giggles, and Gratitude Fill Pemetic’s Gym Carrie Jones Nov 21, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The 1932 Criterion Theatre. SOUTHWEST HARBOR—In the Pemetic Elementary School gym Emma Damon Johnson watches everything with a mother’s nurturing eye, the kids, the staff, the tables, who needs apple pie, who needs something gluten free. She and other volunteers and Pemetic Elementary School hustle and … Continue reading Smells Like Thanksgiving: Inside Pemetic’s Beloved Buddy Meal
Bar Harbor Community Steps Up for Jamaican Teammates With Multiple Opportunities to Help Carrie Jones Nov 06, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Shops. BAR HARBOR—When Hurricane Melissa ripped off his home’s roof last week, Geraldine Baker’s son took his baby and raced out to find some place safe, anywhere safe, anywhere away from the wind, the rain, the rising water. Desperately, … Continue reading From Bar Harbor to Jamaica, the Heartbreak Runs Deep, but So Does the Help.
Bar Harbor School and Police Work Together For Kids. Plus, The Bus Bike Begins! Carrie Jones Oct 09, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Wealth Management. BAR HARBOR—It used to be that students from Conners Emerson would take a YMCA bus to the YMCA if they were participating in afterschool programs there. That service stopped a few years ago though its … Continue reading Getting The Kids There . . . Safely
Bar Harbor Task Force And Consultants Begins 16-Month Tourism Strategy Carrie Jones Aug 20, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden. BAR HARBOR—The Sustainable Tourism Task Force met the consultants who will lead them for the next 16 months or so as Bar Harbor tries to gather multiple thoughts, needs, and opinion to create a tourism strategy. Task force … Continue reading Tourism at a Crossroads:
Oli’s Trolley Sold; Misha Mytar Promoted to Senior Director of Land Protection, Island Housing Trust Appoints Sherry Billings to Director. Carrie Jones Aug 12, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Thrive Juice Bar & Kitchen. MOUNT DESERT ISLAND—Three women are heading into new leadership roles on Mount Desert Island. Misha Mytar, a longtime conservation leader and Bar Harbor resident will guide Maine Coast … Continue reading THREE WOMEN HEAD TO NEW LEADERSHIP ROLES
