Land trust to host last in Speaker Series
Join Kennebunk Land Trust and Maine Audubon for KLT’s last Environmental Speaker Series program of the year, Backyard Birding. The program will be held 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20 at the Nonantum Resort, located at 95 Ocean Ave., Kennebunkport. Cookies and refreshments will be available. There is no cost to attend the program. RSVPs are encouraged but not required. To RSVP, call the land trust office at 985-8734. The program is sponsored by Spang Builders, Inc.
Dog licenses available in Kennebunkport
Dog licenses for 2020 are available in the Kennebunkport town clerk’s office. By law, all dogs must be licensed by Jan. 1 of each year. Be sure to bring the dog’s current rabies certificate. A neutered/spayed dog license fee is $6; otherwise it is $11. Residents may register dogs in person, online or through the mail. Call the town Clerk’s office at 967-1610 with any questions or visit our www.kennebunkportme.gov/town-clerk/pages/dog-licenses.
Beginning Feb. 1, 2020, there will be a late fee of $25 per dog assessed when the dog is licensed. The town clerk’s office encourages residents to register early to avoid waiting in line.
Kennebunk planning bicentennial celebration
The Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee has reserved town facilities for June 27 for Kennebunk’s Bicentennial Celebration.
Individuals or organizations that have a project or event that they’d like to take place to coincide with the bicentennial event, should submit the Kennebunk Bicentennial Application for Endorsement form to the town clerk for consideration. Only those events endorsed by the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee will be allowed to occur on that date.
Benefits of endorsement: Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee endorsed projects or events receive the following: Permission to use the official bicentennial logo, letter of endorsement from the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee, eligibility for inclusion in bicentennial promotional materials, including newsletters, social media, and on the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee website.
Endorsement criteria: The applicant must show that the proposed project or event meets the following required criteria and at least one of the recommended goals or characteristics outlined below. Priority will be given to projects that meet multiple goals. All requests for endorsement must be submitted using the official Kennebunk Bicentennial Application for Endorsement form.
Projects must: Be relevant to the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee’s mission, open, accessible and inclusive, achievable and executable without committee staff support, not occur between the hours of 2 and 7 p.m. on the night of June 27, 2020.
Projects should: Commemorate Kennebunk’s history, culture or natural environment, be engaging and inspiring to people of all ages, create a legacy for the future.
Exclusion clause: The Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee reserves the right to reject or revoke an endorsement for any reason.
For more information, visit www.kennebunkmaine.us/bicentennial.
Tom Bradbury, executive director of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, of which the Arundel Conservation Trust is a chapter, tests out a new bench built by local Boy Scouts overlooking the Kennebunk River at Welch Woods.
Arundel Conservation Trust opens Welch Woods Trail
“Building community, one board at a time,” said Tanja Schoenbrod, Arundel Conservation Trust’s trail master as she had guests in attendance on Thursday, Oct. 24, sign a board to become part of one of the trail’s boardwalks as a way to commemorate the opening of the group’s first trail. Guests included Arundel Town Manager Keith Trefethen, Arundel Selectman Velma Hayes and Rep. Henry Ingwersen, plus Tom Bradbury of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, Jack Reetz and ACT board members. The group heard opening remarks by board members Joan Hull and Leia Lowery followed by official greetings from Ingwersen and poetry by board member Sam Hull at the trailhead, followed by cutting the official Kennebunk-Kennebunkport-Arundel Chamber of Commerce grand-opening ribbon on the project.
More than 25 in attendance then walked the half-mile loop through the woods, over the newly constructed boardwalks in spots, to a clearing on the bank of the Kennebunk River. Reetz, a founding ACT board member, with a little help from his friends, made the trek on the town of Kennebunk’s beach wheelchair, which has large inflatable wheels also appropriate for trails. On a fall afternoon as the maple leaves continued to fall, the group had hot cider and cider doughnuts thanks to the volunteers who
trekked in a portable stove and pop-up picnic supplies for the occasion.
Year-round, the trail is an easy hike that leads to a view of the Kennebunk River on land once owned by avid outdoorsman Richard Welch. Welch donated land to the conservation trust when he died in 2017. The trust plans an official dedication this spring of a plaque commemorating Welch and his generosity. Scouts from Boy Scout Troop 330 in Arundel built two benches for the areas. There are also log “stools” cut from a fallen tree nearby to complete the picnic area.
Jack Reetz, a founding board member of ACT, with a little help from his friends Wes Mills and Dorothy Gregoire, made the trek on the Town of Kennebunk’s beach wheelchair. KKA Chamber of Commerce photo
Dogs are welcome on leashes and patrons are asked to pick up after their pest. Parking is available in a small lot off River
Road, located about a quarter-mile past Durrell’s Bridge Road. For information on the Arundel Conservation Trust, a chapter
of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, visit www.arundeltrust.org.
Members and patrons of the Arundel Conservation Trust, including Arundel Town Manager Keith Trefethen, Arundel Selectman Velma Hayes and State Rep. Henry Ingwersen, plus Tom Bradbury of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, Jack Reetz and ACT Board members, officially opened Welch Woods by cutting the Kennebunk-Kennebunkport-Arundel Chamber of Commerce ribbon on Thursday, Oct. 24.
KHS ‘drifter’ found in the Bay of Fundy
On Friday, Nov. 1, a letter arrived at Kennebunk High School from Parkens Cove, Nova Scotia, with a picture of a “drifter” found in the Bay of Fundy by a fisherman. The drifter, about 1.5 meters tall and constructed of aluminum and canvas, had a buoy on top with a GPS. It also had Kennebunk High School written on it because on Oct. 11, 2017, a group of KHS students had launched the drifter, called Surface No. 1, into the ocean as part of their environmental science class taught by Melissa Luetje.
Drifters are part of a project funded by a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) B’WET Grant for watershed education projects to keep oceans healthy. The Gulf of Maine Institute (GOMI) received $150,000 to work with Gulf of Maine schools, including Kennebunk High School. KHS students constructed and then launched three of the drifters to monitor surface currents in the Gulf of Maine. NOAA currently uses 20 years of surface current data to research whether there has been a change in patterns due to climate change. Each GPS provides real time data of gyres, or circular currents, within the Gulf of Maine.
A google search of NOAA drifter tracks shows the launch sites of various drifters and tracks their journeys. Comments indicate that one is headed to Jeffries Ledge, another is going around Georges Bank, and another made several loops around Bermuda. GPS reports tell stories of a drifter that went dead before the Azores and others that were caught up in the Gulf Stream.
The students who launch these drifters are also part of long-term research by Acadia University in terms of determining the surface flow pattern between the Bay of Fundy and Minas Basin. The university is conducting a biodiversity study to find the impact of tidal turbines in Minas Basin on the
marine population.
Library reveals December’s featured exhibit
Kennebunk Free Library announced its exhibit for December 2019, A Time Remembered: Pictures and Drawings of the Past the works of Gerald and Linda Stone. The public is invited to view the exhibit Dec. 3 to 30 at 112 Main St., Kennebunk, during regular library hours when the gallery is not in use for library programs.
Gerald was born in Dover, New Hampshire. Thanks to his father, Gerald’s art education started with discipline: work on art before going outside to play ball. You have to keep at it to improve. Through high school he loved drawing sports figures. University of New Hampshire mechanical drawing classes led to working as a draftsman for architectural and engineering firms. Later in life, Gerald owned The Stone Sign Shop, designing and building signs, hand lettering vehicles and working in gold leaf. Many of the signs are still in use. This work was enjoyable, but he has returned to the freedom of pastel, watercolor and pen and ink.
“Living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where you are surrounded by history, planes, ships, submarines, beautiful beaches and ocean give me so many subjects to draw and paint,” Gerald Stone said.
Linda’s art education started with her father, too. He was a carpenter who became blind but continued working with wood. Linda helped him by cutting wood with a band saw.
“That began my love for wood and creating,” Linda Stone said. “In 1990 I began designing primitive art. I didn’t start painting until retirement in 2012. I love the beauty and lines of automobiles. I also love antiques. It was an easy choice to paint these old cars and trucks abandoned in the fields and beside old barns. After visiting the automobile museum in Boothbay Harbor, I decided to add antique auto accessories like oil cans, gas pumps and garage signs to my art objects.”
Together Linda and Gerald inspire each other to put in the time and improve. Whatever they paint, they find peace in comfort in it, encouraging each other to “dare to share” their work with others.
The public is invited to an artist’s reception on Friday, Dec. 6 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the library.
Library plans Friday fun for teens
Visit Kennebunk Free Library at 3 p.m. every Friday for crafts, activities and experiments. Just for teens ages 10 and older. On Dec. 6, the project will be duct tape wallets. On, Dec. 13, a session on making photo cubes is planned. Dec. 20 will be the creation of paper lanterns and on Dec. 27, fly behind gliders will be launched.
Pie fundraiser to benefit Girl Scout Troop 1056
Want homemade apple or pumpkin pie to serve at Thanksgiving, but don’t have the time to cook?
Let local Girl Scout Troop 1056 do the work. Pies are $12 each and orders must be submitted by Nov. 17.
Pies will be available for pickup on Nov. 24 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge in West Kennebunk.
The apple pies will be made with apples donated by Giles Family Farm in Alfred and Spiller Farm in Wells.
Proceeds from the fundraiser will be used toward the troop’s last trip before they graduate high school. Orders can be made online at https://pie-for-thanksgiving.cheddarup.com.
For more information, contact troop leaders Fiona Robinson at 251-0520 or email fionarobinson200@gmail.com, or Heather Larrabee at 216-1153 or email h_larrabee@yahoo.com.
Audubon program
features Common Loon
York County Audubon will host a program on the Common Loon Tuesday, Nov. 19 at Mather Auditorium of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm. The program, featuring Nick Lund, aka, The Birdist, is free and open to the public, and starts at 7 p.m. Come early for social time and refreshments.
The program will start with an in-depth look at the physiology and habits of the Common Loon, including how its body is built to be an effective underwater hunter, and the timing of its arrival on Maine breeding lakes. Lund will also take a look at the threats faced by loons.
Lund is Maine Audubon’s Network and Outreach Manager. A Maine native and well known birder, he writes for publications like Audubon, Slate, Down East, and National Geographic. On the web many follow his entertaining posts about birds and birding at, The Birdist.
Maine Audubon has worked for more than 35 years to count loons in the state, and to examine the causes of loon mortality. The information has helped inform policies necessary to protect loons and ensure that their calls echo across Maine lakes for years to come.
Secret Santa begins season of giving
The Secret Santa organization has been helping families in need by providing Christmas gifts to children in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel for over 30 years.
Applications for parents and/or legal guardians in need of help this year may be picked up at all town general assistance offices or online at the town’s web sites.
In order to qualify applications must be turned in to the general assistance office by Friday Dec. 15.
All requests are strictly confidential. For more information call the respective general assistance offices:
• Arundel, 985-4201.
• Kennebunk, 985-21012.
• Kennebunkport, 967-4401.
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