Boothbay Region High School/Rotary Interact Club, Boothbay Region YMCA, and Whale’s Tale and Seafarer’s Pub teamed up for teens Tuesday, Feb. 10, hosting a free dinner specifically designed for anyone in grades 9-12. The popular event, attended by 41 local teens and a handful of adults, stemmed from the desire to offer more teen-friendly programming in the area.

BRYMCA CEO Andy Hamblett and Youth Program Director Adam Taylor listened to feedback from their youth advisors and planned the event during a time when sports schedules were light and during the high school’s winter carnival.

Healthy Lincoln County Youth Engagement Project Coordinator MaryElizabeth Filon was a special guest for the event.

“We wanted to offer something fun, something different,” said Bruce Harris of Interact. “There’s a lot of programming for seniors, adults and youths at the Y, and we felt like we could do more for teens,” he said.

Teens gathered in clusters of six to eight to dine and play rounds of trivia. Whale’s Tale offered a choice of three appetizers and five entrees. Trivia questions were challenging unless you happened to be a teen; one needed to be up to speed on Olivia Rodrigo, TikTok, sports, music, Beyoncé  and pop culture. Every teen scored remarkably well on the one academic trivia category, geography. Prizes were awarded to first and second place trivia teams, one prize for the best team name and one prize for stand-alone trivia knowledge on NBC’s “The Office.” Cell phones were collected before the competition.

Beyond providing a meal and entertainment, the gathering aimed to foster community engagement. BRYMCA paid for the event. Funds came from budget resources allocated for supporting teen initiatives, said Hamblett.

AOS98, BRYMCA and Healthy Lincoln County have been in partnership on the peninsula for years, promoting health and youth-led advocacy for teens. “We wanted to bring teens together in a healthy environment while at the same time supporting a local business,” said Hamblett.

Special thanks to Jax Hepburn and Emma van der Veen of Whale’s Tale were extended. Teens were also gifted Whale’s Tale signature, wide-brimmed baseball caps in the color of their choice.