Tag: local news

Letters From Our Readers Nineteen MDI Hospital employees
opinion

Letter From A Reader

Rachel L. Crater Jul 27, 2025 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY We welcome letter submissions to The Bar Harbor Story. For details on our policy, please visit our about page and scroll down or just visit here. The beliefs, opinions, and viewpoints expressed by the writers of letters to the editor and included here do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, opinions, and viewpoints or official policies of The … Continue reading Letter From A Reader

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A Car Once Bought With a Song Wins National Award with Style.
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A Car Once Bought With a Song Wins National Award with Style

Carrie Jones Jul 26, 2025 SEAL COVE—This month a museum on Mount Desert Island quietly won a major award in the world of antique automobiles for a car once owned by Metropolitan opera lyric tenor James Melton. The Seal Cove Auto Museum hosted an 1910 Pierce—Arrow 36—UU Runabout at the Misselwood Concours d’Elegance at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. The auto museum earned official congratulations … Continue reading A Car Once Bought With a Song Wins National Award with Style

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Dancing, Music, and Cars & COA Boat Fire Rescue Update MDI Hospital Receives $1 million, Southwest Harbor and Trenton Select Board Updates and all the other news that wouldn't fit
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Dancing, Music, and Cars & COA Boat Fire Rescue Update

MDI Hospital Receives $1 million, Southwest Harbor and Trenton Select Board Updates and all the other news that wouldn’t fit Carrie Jones Jul 25, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden. A QUICK NOTE FROM US: We’ve updated our story about the rescue of some fishermen by College of the Atlantic students. That updated story from yesterday afternoon is here. … Continue reading Dancing, Music, and Cars & COA Boat Fire Rescue Update

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A Town Woven Together: Mount Desert Clerk Wins Regional Award for Quilt-Inspired Poster Carrie Jones Jul 23, 2025 Claire Woolfolk with her winning poster of Mount Desert The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Swan Agency Real Estate. MOUNT DESERT—The Town of Mount Desert, led by Town Clerk Claire Woolfolk took top prize at NEMCI & A (New England Municipal Clerk Institute and Academy) regional competition. The prize wasn’t for best budget, beautiful views, or anything like that. It was for an interactive poster. This, however, wasn’t just any poster. It was art created by Woolfolk via knowledge and quilt squares and it represented not just the Town of Mount Desert, but the community and the places and people who have comprised its history and some who still are. ”The assignment was for year-one students to make a poster representing ourselves and our municipality,” Woolfolk explained Tuesday. “Since I'm a quilter, I chose nine locations/points of interest and used 16 people throughout the town's history as the cornerstones.” When she presented the quilt-poster to the selectboard during its meeting July 21, there were ohs, ahs, and sighs of appreciation. Some board members left their seats to peer more closely at the art. “Claire is a talented artist, as you see from the poster she created,” Town Manager Durlin Lunt said Wednesday. “She creates images in her mind before transposing them to a physical form for all to enjoy. Her preferred medium involves sewing and quilting, but she could create visual art using any materials of her choosing.” The poster is interactive. You unclip it to expose the entire piece. “The program is the NEMCI (New England Municipal Clerk Institute, a regional group of the six New England states of municipal clerks). The program is an intensive three-year training. Each year consists of 22 two-hour classes in six days,” Woolfolk said. Mount Desert won first place in the regional competition, placing first out of thirty students from six New England states. “NEMCI and other regional or national governmental professional organizations are an important component of municipal professional development. Town of Mount Desert Department Heads are always encouraged to be active in,” Lunt said. “We can learn so much from our peer groups and educate their members as well through sharing best practices. Claire enthusiastically avails herself of such opportunities.” It’s a lot of work, which Woolfolk is used to. She’s worked in the Mount Desert clerk’s office since 2010, beginning as an assistant clerk and by 2015, she was the head clerk for the town. A town clerk makes sure that town’s records are kept and that its elections are safe and secure. “I've been wanting to make a quilt for the town for years and decided to take this opportunity. It was a rewarding assignment and I learned a lot about the people who built this community and the accomplishments that make it such a special place,” Woolfolk said. Woolfolk made the entire poster herself. She’s quick to point out, however, “I had input from some of our residents, co-workers and the MDI Historical Society.” The quilt features figures like Dorothy Renault and Joseph Curtis, Karol Hagberg and Stephen Smith and iconic places such as Thuya Gardens, the Somesville Bridge, and the Fish House in Otter Creek. There is extensive narrative to go along with the deftly created images. She’ll complete the quilt for good in the future. She might change out a few blocks as well. Photos: Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story ABOUT NEMCI&A The New England Municipal Clerks' Institute & Academy (NEMCI&A) is an intensive program of continuing professional education for those in attendance. The purpose is to assist Clerks in developing and maintaining the high level of administrative expertise needed for the successful operation of increasingly complex municipal governments. Population changes, increased municipal responsibilities and extensive social and legislative changes have increased both the difficulty and importance of the clerk's function. With increased responsibility comes a need for professional education to aid the municipal clerk in acquiring the necessary new skills and knowledge, while developing and strengthening those already in use. Over 500 cities and towns have sent clerks to the New England Municipal Clerks' Institute and Academy. The Following Two Images are Paid Content From The Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce Thanking Its Sponsors and Partners for Independence Day MOUNT DESERT 365 CURRENT JOB POSTINGS: All postings can be accessed here. Director of Development for Camp Beech Cliff Director of Finance for Camp Beech Cliff Place-based Class Teacher: Grades 3-5 for The Community School Chief Financial Officer for Land & Garden Preserve Chief Operating Officer for Land & Garden Preserve Gardener - Thuya Garden for Land & Garden Preserve Groundskeeper - Thuya Garden for Land & Garden Preserve Head Grower for Land & Garden Preserve Public Works Office Coordinator for the Town of Mount Desert Town Manager for the Town of Mount Desert Registered Community Health Nurse for Mount Desert Nursing Association (Part Time) Caretaker for Seaside United Church of Christ CLERK JOBS THROUGHOUT NEW ENGLAND Principal Office Assistant - Finance/Town Clerk Yarmouth, MA View Ad Assistant Town Clerk Town of Branford, CT View Ad City Clerk/Clerk of the Council City of Newton View Ad Election Supervisor City of Newton View Ad Follow us on Facebook. And as a reminder, you can easily view all our past stories and press releases here. Bar Harbor Story is a mostly reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for being here with us and being part of our community, too! Thanks for reading Bar Harbor Story ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Share If you’d like to donate to help support us, you can, but no pressure! Just click here (about how you can give) or here (a direct link), which is the same as the button below. To support The Story If you’d like to sponsor the Bar Harbor Story, you can! Learn more here. Leave a comment THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR COMMITMENT TO YOUR COMMUNITY
history

A Town Woven Together: Mount Desert Clerk Wins Regional Award for Quilt-Inspired Poster

Carrie Jones Jul 23, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Swan Agency Real Estate. MOUNT DESERT—The Town of Mount Desert, led by Town Clerk Claire Woolfolk took top prize at NEMCI & A (New England Municipal Clerk Institute and Academy) regional competition. The prize wasn’t for best budget, beautiful views, or anything like that. It was for an interactive poster. This, however, wasn’t just any … Continue reading A Town Woven Together: Mount Desert Clerk Wins Regional Award for Quilt-Inspired Poster

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"Gasoline on the Fire" Maine hospitals concerned about charity care expansion and Medicaid cuts
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“Gasoline on the Fire”

Maine hospitals concerned about charity care expansion and Medicaid cuts Jul 21, 2025 By Rose Lundy of the Maine Monitor AUGUSTA—A new law expands who is eligible for charity care in Maine while federal Medicaid cuts are expected to push tens of thousands off public insurance. A law signed by Gov. Janet Mills earlier this month will make more people in Maine eligible for free care at Maine … Continue reading “Gasoline on the Fire”

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Letting the Story Fly. Martha Tod Dudman Launches New Novel, curio, at Northeast Harbor Library.
Events

Letting the Story Fly.

Martha Tod Dudman Launches New Novel, curio, at Northeast Harbor Library. Carrie Jones Jul 20, 2025 NORTHEAST HARBOR—Martha Tod Dudman has been a lot of things so far in her life: select person, business owner, mother, fundraiser, friend, mentor, director of the Maine Humanities Council. She is one of those people who when blessed with a keen intellect and broad vision can couple that with … Continue reading Letting the Story Fly.

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Dr. Nirav Shah asks, "What Do We Owe Each Other?" MDI YMCA Benefit Celebrates Community, Collaboration, and Belonging Carrie Jones Jul 19, 2025 BAR HARBOR—At the second annual MDI YMCA benefit, held Thursday at the Bar Harbor Club, Dr. Nirav Shah posed a simple but powerful question to the crowd: “What do we owe each other?” For Dr. Shah, the answer lies in third spaces like the Y: places not quite home, not quite school, but vital to learning, growing, and feeling like you belong. Dr. Shaw, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control (CDC), told the crowd gathered at the Bar Harbor Club tables that he was excited and grateful to be home in Maine for good after stepping down from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in February. “I want to talk about belonging and finding a place, a space, where people can be themselves and be at home,” Dr. Shah told the crowd of over 250 during his speech and prior to answering questions. Fitting in growing up was hard for him, particularly because he wasn’t athletic. It was a struggle, he said. “The change was when I started going to the YMCA. That’s where I learned how to shoot a basketball the right way. That’s where I learned how to lift weights,” Dr. Shah said. He learned the rules for sports at the Y. It was a space that he was in safe in, a space where he could learn and develop and become. “That’s what the YMCA in Bar Harbor does. It’s not home. It’s not school. It’s a third space,” Dr. Shah said. From top: Shah, Gurin, Maguire, Blank Dr. Shah then went further into what he thinks Maine needs and what the Y provides. Why is it that in a state like Maine, he asked, can people still struggle to find food? When community is at the core of so much, Dr. Shah asked those attending, why are people still lonely? How can it be that kids fall behind because they can’t afford to go to camp, he asked. As the cost of living rises, he said, it becomes harder to get ahead and for many in the state, Dr. Shah said, it isn’t about getting ahead; it’s about just getting by. In Maine, the dream might be alive, “but honestly I’m more worried about the Maine dreamer” and “the families out there that are still struggling even though there is so much wealth around us,” Dr. Shah said. Dr. Shah said of the Y and community agencies like it. “What they provide isn’t food or healthcare or a safe place for kids to go. What they provide is dignity,” And they provide that dignity particularly for those who can’t afford it. That, he said, is what will keep the state of Maine strong. One question, he says, gets to the heart of it is “what do we owe each other.” “It’s up to us to make sure that the social fabric doesn’t fray any further,” Dr. Shah said. There is hope in your own community, Dr. Shah said. That hope is through organizations in the Y. Dr. Shah referenced the island’s high vaccine rate and low mortality rate during COVID, which was also referenced by Mount Desert Island Hospital CEO Christina Maguire who received the YMCA’s Community Advocate Award and former MDIH CEO Arthur Blank, who presented Maguire with that award. “Working with Chrissi, I had the opportunity up close (to witness) her passionate commitment to both supporting the needs to our community and access to rural healthcare,” Blank said. Blank spoke to Maguire’s business and volunteer experience, emphasizing that during the COVID pandemic, she collaborated with businesses, the scientific community, and other segments of the local community to create a pilot program for the state to fund a free COVID testing program to keep high-risk employees tested and safe. She also worked with the Y to provide childcare during the pandemic. How she uses her collaborative skills to be most impactful on the MDI community is laudatory, Blank said. “Advocacy is about championing the needs of others,” Maguire said. Maguire said she accepted the award on behalf of MDI Hospital and recognized last year’s recipient, Jill Goldthwait. “She sets a high bar,” Maguire said. Collaboration, Maguire, Dr. Shah, and Blank all said, and taking care of each other, were part of the reasons why the island fared so well during the COVID epidemic. Maguire said during COVID, she worked with Dr. Shah. “I wanted to keep this community healthy and vibrant and economically sustainable, and we came up with amazing ideas and let me tell you what. He said, ‘How are you doing it? The lowest positivity rate in the state of Maine and parts of the nation and the highest vaccination rate in the state.’ That’s because this community comes together in difficult times and we partner. And that hard work is what advocacy is all about.” Keating Pepper received the Triangle Award after a rousing introduction from past CEO Lenny DeMuro. Earl Brechlin ran the paddle raise to support the Y. YMCA’S HISTORY OF CHANGE There are 2,650 YMCAs in the United States serving 10,000 communities and 4 million children, and 7 million adults. Across the country there are 233,000 people who volunteer for the YMCA. When the Young Men’s Christian Association began in London in 1844 it helped make physical exercise classes and summer camps popular. It is no longer focused on young men or Christians, but it is still focused on communities. The MDI YMCA’s message on Thursday night was no different. The Y is meant to be for the community, Dr. Shah said. The national Y calls itself a community-strengthening organization. That was mentioned at the benefit as well, by YMCA Board President Steve Gurin and DeMuro who presented Keating Pepper with his award. “I’m here to introduce the winner, the lifetime achievement award, the Clint Eastwood of Mount Desert Island,” DeMuro said, teasing the entire Pepper family throughout his speech as he presented Keating “Frosty” Pepper with his award. “This dinner is about scholarship and community,” Pepper said before telling a story of how he was sitting at the Y after swimming. “This young man sits down next to me. I always talk to everyone and the kids make fun of me.” Pepper asked the boy how his day was. “It was great,” the boy said, “but I’m a guest.” Pepper said, “We have scholarships and you could become a member, but he looks at me and says, ‘But I really want to go to summer camp.’ And I’m sitting here thinking, ‘Well, I can make that happen.’” He didn’t know the boy’s last name, but called the director, who figured it all out. “If anything stands in the way, make sure this boy comes to summer camp,” Pepper told the director at the time. It turned out that the boy had two younger brothers—nine and seven. It was the help of scholarships, too, that helped those boys to go to summer camp, Pepper said. “They really lived the Y experience there,” Pepper said, they were all in on everything during that camp—all the activities, all the moments. The YMCA often has to tell its stories in numbers—how many served, how many scholarships given out, how many people have entered its doors, learned there, grown there. But the story of the YMCA and its needs and its impact isn’t truly just in those numbers. It’s in the summers like those three boys had, it’s in the collaborations like what happened during COVID. It’s in Dr. Shah finally getting some skills on the court. It’s in people seeing each other, knowing each other’s names, and being a little less lonely. The YMCA builds community by being that third space and that third space is populated by people who put their whole heart and humor and work into it. People like DeMuro and its Director Ann Tikkanen and her staff and board and volunteers. It’s the kids who go to the YMCA, who play and learn and compete and grow and learn how empathy in action actually works. One scholarship at a time. One meeting at a time. One hug at a time. One “how are you doing” at a time, and one fundraiser at a time. The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Brochures of Maine. LINKS TO LEARN MORE The MDI YMCA’s website. Giving opportunities for the Y. Follow us on Facebook. And as a reminder, you can easily view all our past stories and press releases here. Bar Harbor Story is a mostly reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for being here with us and being part of our community, too! Thanks for reading Bar Harbor Story ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Share If you’d like to donate to help support us, you can, but no pressure! Just click here (about how you can give) or here (a direct link), which is the same as the button below. To support The Story If you’d like to sponsor the Bar Harbor Story, you can! Learn more here.
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Dr. Nirav Shah asks, “What Do We Owe Each Other?”

MDI YMCA Benefit Celebrates Community, Collaboration, and Belonging Carrie Jones Jul 19, 2025 BAR HARBOR—At the second annual MDI YMCA benefit, held Thursday at the Bar Harbor Club, Dr. Nirav Shah posed a simple but powerful question to the crowd: “What do we owe each other?” For Dr. Shah, the answer lies in third spaces like the Y: places not quite home, not quite school, but … Continue reading Dr. Nirav Shah asks, “What Do We Owe Each Other?”

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"Science-ing” and Smiles: Family Science Night Sparks Wonder at MDI Bio Lab
Events

“Science-ing” and Smiles: Family Science Night Sparks Wonder at MDI Bio Lab

Carrie Jones Jul 19, 2025 BAR HARBOR—Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory mingled with children on the lawn of its Salsbury Cove campus this week. They laughed, peered into microscopes, examined the properties of light, and touched rainbows. They also ate a bit of ice cream. The annual Family Science Night at MDI Bio Lab promotes scientific literacy. It does that by bringing science to … Continue reading “Science-ing” and Smiles: Family Science Night Sparks Wonder at MDI Bio Lab

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Bill to Support Maine’s Lobster Industry Clears Appropriations Committee And so many other briefs and press releases from the community
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Bill to Support Maine’s Lobster Industry Clears Appropriations Committee

And so many other briefs and press releases from the community Jul 19, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Shops. A QUICK NOTE FROM US: Each week, we compile briefs and press releases and event images and share them all in one (sometimes very long) story. Our briefs article is mostly just press releases that we don’t write, or claim to write, … Continue reading Bill to Support Maine’s Lobster Industry Clears Appropriations Committee

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Bar Harbor School Project Exceeds $2.475M Contingency Budget Zboray Seeks Savings After Overages in Conners Emerson Rebuild
schools

Bar Harbor School Project Exceeds $2.475M Contingency Budget

Zboray Seeks Savings After Overages in Conners Emerson Rebuild Carrie Jones Jul 18, 2025 The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Bar Harbor Music Festival. BAR HARBOR—The school construction project’s $2.475 million contingency fund has been used and is now over budget, School Superintendent Michael Zboray told the Bar Harbor School Committee, July 17. The fund is there specifically as padding in the approximately … Continue reading Bar Harbor School Project Exceeds $2.475M Contingency Budget

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