KENNEBUNK – Those who live here through cold and often snowy winters long for the return of spring – and with it, the bird migration. It is lovely to hear them outside in the early morning, singing away, and to watch them delicately snatch a seed from a feeder.

Then, this spring, well, whoa. There were birds everywhere, it seemed, big ones: birds at the fire station, birds at the police department, at town hall, at various retail locations, and on the river. If they looked like humans sporting bird heads – well, they were.

And it’s all part of the fun – it is The Migration.

This spring, after a long year of the pandemic, The Migration concept began in Florida, made its way through the Kennebunks and will culminate with a three-day exhibit at the Brick Store Museum beginning on Friday June 18, events on Saturday and a Sunday brunch – featuring omelets, of course – on June 20.

The Migration exhibit – featuring  fun, quirky photographs of lots of local folks – commences with an opening at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 18. Later that day, from 5 to 7 p.m., it is art night, with free admission to the museum, a bird mask-making project and a curator’s tour of the migration exhibit by Danie Connolly, who incubated the migration concept while in warmer climes over the winter.

It is about birds, bees, butterflies, browsing at the museum and brunch.

On Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., there’s a Meet Maine Birds program at the museum.

Participants can pose for photos in front of the wall murals, check out prints by photographers Joseph Barnett, Phil Stone and Annie Watts and take in children’s activities in the courtyard.

On Sunday, there’s an Omelet Brunch, featuring guest chefs Hana Pevny, Jackson Yordon and Connolly, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the courtyard at the museum, and inside if there’s rain.

Tickets are $12 per person. All food and materials have been donated, and proceeds go to the Brick Store Museum’s educational programming funds. Once tickets are purchased, folks should bring their emailed receipt to the event. For tickets and more information, visit

http://brickstoremuseum.org/calendar/the-migration-weekend.

The purpose of the exhibit is twofold – first, to bring people back into the museum if they haven’t been in since the pandemic, or if it’s their first time, to introduce them to all the interesting exhibits in those buildings at 117 Main St. and secondly – to have fun, said Connolly.

Connolly, who spends part of the year in Florida, got to thinking about the year of COVID and along with friend Robby Dean Ferguson, “decided that what the world needed now was not only love sweet love, but a glimmer of hope in the way of a sorely absent sense of humor.”

“Behaving as a snowbird for a few months every year, it felt like my wings were clipped,” said Connolly. “And, like birds, we were a bit apprehensive of fellow human beings. Fortunately, our quirky optimism won over and we collaborated taking the word ‘Snowbird” literally. I ordered bird masks from every corner of the world and feathers to match.”

As spring began to emerge in northern New England, the snowbirds theme, with a few tweaks, became The Migration.

Soon, there were photos all over social media, featuring the birds.

Those who take in The Migration might also want to check out a new exhibit, The Art of Mending, another called Kennebunk’s Historical Landscape, which explores the region from the Wabanaki tribes to shipbuilding and manufacturing in the late 19th century. Later, on June 24, Peggy Johnson: A Jeweler’s Life, an exhibit about the Maine craftswoman, will be shown in the Bauman Family Gallery of the museum.

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