Saturday night at the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor saw Grammy and CMA award winning artist Kathy Mattea on the stage with her band. It was a great performance and we discovered that one of her band members, Fred Carpenter, mandolin and violin player, is from Lewiston, Maine. She officially became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in August of this year. If you haven’t seen her in Ken Burns’s Country Music documentary on PBS it is a must see both for the music and the history. Mattea has also become host for Mountain Music on NPR. Sprucewold was well represented: Wally and Kathy Moulaison, Gail and Ralph Kimball, Doug and Sandy Seim, Doug and Debbie Smith and Elaine and Charles Rittershaus with our friend Misty Marston.

Beautiful fireworks were seen in Sprucewold on Lineken Bay last Saturday night. Calls were made to the local police by concerned residents who were unaware that the fireworks display celebrating a Sprucewold wedding was permitted and on a barge off the beach. With so little rain, the forest was very dry prior to the storms midweek so it was frightening to see the fireworks above the trees. The reason for the fear is that in Sprucewold we have no fire hydrants and our neighborhood is made up of a forest with one hundred year old creosote soaked log cabins with only two roads for escape. Our Firewise group was started for that very reason, it works to reduce wildfire risk through vegetation management and community preparedness initiatives. If you are interested in learning more about fire safety contact Firewise chairs Randy Lehman and Curt Audin.

Fair season is winding down. The last fair is the Fryeburg Fair from Sept. 27 to Oct. 5 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The fair includes exhibit halls, livestock shows, harness racing, and mechanical rides. Growing up, the fair we attended yearly was the Union Fair in Union. It was the blueberry fair, it was fun to see all the blue, red and yellow award ribbons for the baked goods, floral displays, and handicrafts but especially the livestock raised by the 4-H Club kids. The midway rides were also a highlight. We always went to the wooden Moxie bottle house and marveled that someone actually lived in it at one time. The Matthews Museum displayed old farm tools and equipment. At the end of the day at the fair we would always stop and buy flats of blueberries to take home to sort and freeze for the winter. Next year’s date for the Union Fair is August 4-9, 2026.

As you pack up to leave for the season don’t forget the local food pantry at the Congregational Church, the Clothing Closet at the Methodist Church in the harbor, St Andrews Auxiliary and the Creature Comforts thrift shops for items you no longer need.

We have a carved wooden duck bowl that was left at the opening party in July. Please let me know if it is yours and I can get it to you. There are still a few Sprucewold directories left if you need one.