Dear Editor:

We wanted to take a quick breath during this busy season and thank the Boothbay region community for the tremendous outpouring of support and patience that you’ve given Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens during Gardens Aglow. This event was created to draw people to the region during a time when we typically don’t see many visitors and we are so pleased and inspired by the stories we hear from local restaurants, innkeepers, and merchants benefiting from the thousands of people who have already visited Gardens Aglow this season. Many visitors we’ve talked with have never been to this area before and tell us that now that they’ve made the trip, they’ll be back in the summer as well.

The additional traffic is not without its headaches though, and we apologize for the burden this has created for people trying to navigate the crowded roads and backed up traffic (especially for our Barters and Hodgdon Island friends and neighbors). As we begin to implement our Master Plan initiatives in 2016, we will be actively and radically modifying our parking infrastructure to accommodate larger numbers of visitors both during the “season” as well as during Gardens Aglow. We know this is a critical issue which needs to be dealt with swiftly. Thank you for your continued patience as we make the necessary changes.

Gardens Aglow continues Thursdays through Sundays until Dec. 31, with hours of operation posted on our website. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season to the Boothbay region community.

Bill Cullina

Executive Director

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens