Tremont School Student Art Show
On Display for the Month of May
Community Reception on May 18, 5-8 pm
Join us for an exhibition of student artwork from the Tremont School. Art from all grade levels will be on display.
In-person or via Zoom
Imagine What If…?
What if there was still a cannery in Southwest Harbor or Bass Harbor? What if there was a giant tea house and horse center on Eagle Lake? What if we don’t take action on climate change?
The Mount Desert Island Historical Society has been exploring these topics and more, connecting history to the island’s physical and cultural landscape today. Join Raney Bench, Executive Director for the Society, to imagine what life might be like on the island if different decisions were made in the past.
Raney Bench is a resident of Southwest Harbor and has worked as a curator for the Abbe Museum, Executive Director for the Seal Cove Auto Museum, and is the current Executive Director for the Mount Desert Island Historical Society. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Native American History, a Master’s in Museum Studies, and has spent her career working in small museums focused on making local history interesting and relevant.
Register Here.
Register Now!
July 24 – July 28, 9 am – 12 pm
Fees: Resident $25, Non-resident $125
Ages 7-11.
All forms and fees due July 21, 2023 to attend camp. Please drop payment off at the Library at 89 Bernard Rd, Bernard OR send a check to: Bass Harbor Memorial Library/Summer Arts & Nature Camp PO Box 99 Bernard, ME 04612.
Register Here
Tremont Resilience Listening Session
The Tremont Resilience Listening Session will take place next Wednesday, March 29th from 5:30 – 7:00 pm at the Bass Harbor Memorial Library. This will be the first of a series of events designed to collect community input on the creation of a Community Resilience Plan for the town of Tremont. Tremont’s Community Resilience Plan will serve as a roadmap for protecting the community from hazards such as sea level rise and ocean acidification while planning for a vibrant future for the town. The development of the plan is funded through the State of Maine’s Community Resilience Partnership. Community input will fundamentally shape the goals and priorities of the plan and ensure that the strategies included will be effective for Tremont.
This is a great opportunity for residents to voice their goals and concerns for the future of their community. All are welcome, and it is not necessary to stay for the entire event in order to participate. Residents are invited to bring their families and enjoy free food while they share feedback on their vision for a more resilient future for the town.
We hope you’ll join us at this Resilience Listening Session and share this exciting opportunity with friends, families, and neighbors here in Tremont!
Panel Discussion
Women’s History Month : Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories
In celebration of Women’s History Month, we want to celebrate the voices of these notable women. The women here are changing our world for the better with their storytelling prowess. From them, we can learn many lessons about storytelling.
Come listen and talk to these women from our community that are working to make contributions to society in countless ways, including through the power of storytelling.
Please join us on Thursday, March 23rd at 6 PM at the Bass Harbor Memorial Library, 89 Bernard Road, Bass Harbor. Our panelists will include:
Sara Trunzo is a songwriter, curator, and community organizer (Veggies For All, Waldo County Bounty) who delivers songs with, what Adobe and Teardrops describe as, “a sense of empathy that few songwriters can attain.” Lonesome Highway says her latest EP, Cabin Fever Dream, is “loaded with truly touching lyrics and provide[s] a glimpse of an unquestionably talented artist.” Her 2019 LP Dirigo Attitude reached #22 on the Folk Alliance International chart and featured Darrell Scott and Mary Gauthier. The lead single “Food and Medicine” reached #3 on the Folk Alliance International chart, won 1st prize at the 2018 Maine Songwriters Association contest, and was a runner-up in the 2023 International Acoustic Music Awards. Sara is the host of ‘Country & Northeastern’ on WERU Community Radio. FMI: www.saratrunzo.com and socials @saratrunzomusic.
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Kristen Britain grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, where she started her first novel – an undersea fantasy featuring herself and her friends – at the age of nine. She published her first book, a cartoon collection called, Horses and Horsepeople, at the age of thirteen. In 1987 she completed a degree in film production, with a minor in writing, at Ithaca College. After graduation, travel beckoned and she began a career as a ranger with the National Park Service, enabling her to work in a variety of natural and historical settings, from 300 feet below the surface of the Earth to 13,000 feet above sea level on the Continental Divide; and from the textile mills of the American Industrial Revolution to the homes of Americans who changed the course of history. Her first published epic fantasy novel, Green Rider, the story of a runaway school girl who finds herself in deep peril when she agrees to bear a message for a dying Green Rider (king’s messenger), was released in 1998.
She lives in the woods of Maine with two cats, and a West Highland White Terrier (who cosplays as a Hillander Terrier).
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Sarah Hinckley is a two-time Islander reporter who grew up in western Maine and first made her way to Mount Desert Island for a summer job 30 years ago. While working as a journalist in Maine and Vermont, she reported on town and capital politics, education policy, and news, as well as everyday happenings like seeping lobsters in THC and Christmas bird counts. Capturing the stories of now and highlighting the characters who make them history is a great responsibility, which Hinckley doesn’t take lightly. Currently, she is working as the director of a nursery school, capturing her own story of raising two small children.
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Weslea Sidon is a poet and musician who lives in Seal Cove, Maine, on Mt. Desert Island, with her husband, cats, and big plans to finish the garden and the kitchen.
Her poems have appeared in several anthologies and literary magazines, including, most recently, Paumonok, Poems and Pictures of Long Island, and Still on the Island, as well as Two With Water, Wolf Moon, and Off the Coast Food Issue: Tounge & Taste. A column, “Permanently From Away,” appeared regularly in Face Magazine for two years, and reviews, mostly music, have appeared in the Mt. Desert Islander, Bar Harbor Times, Off the Coast, and High-Performance Magazine. Her favorite prose work was for the late, lamented Squash.
Weslea teaches guitar privately and has taught poetry and creative writing to children aged 10–16 at the Summer Festival of the Arts since 1989. She was awarded the Martin Dibner Fellowship in Poetry in 2002.
Building Solutions for Tremont
Join A Climate to Thrive and the Town of Tremont at the Bass Harbor Memorial Library at 5:30 on Monday, March 13 to learn about key technologies like heat pumps, weatherization, solar, electric appliances, and more, as well as information on financing opportunities to help make these home-improving technologies accessible.
Are you interested in learning more about how to make your home energy efficient, transition to technologies like heat pumps, or explore the benefits of solar ownership? Join us for “Building Solutions for Tremont” on March 13th at 5:30 at the Bass Harbor Memorial Library, a partnership between A Climate to Thrive & the town of Tremont. This free event will feature free food, information on practical benefits and financing options for key technologies (heat pumps, solar, weatherization, and appliance electrification) and stories from residents who have implemented one or more technologies in their own homes. Following the event, residents can have casual one-on-one conversations with speakers and sign up to receive individualized support through A Climate to Thrive’s Building Solutions Program.
Travel Talk // February 2 @ 6pm // Arctic Twilight: Travels in Iceland and Greenland
February 2 @ 6 pm
Join us for the first Travel Talk of 2023!
Raney Bench
Arctic Twilight: Travels in Iceland and Greenland
From the moment Raney Bench saw her first iceberg and glacier outside of Anchorage, Alaska, she has been fascinated with ice and its future on our planet. In the summer of 2022 Bench, her parents, and oldest son had the opportunity to explore southern Greenland through a small ship expedition. Traveling through isolated fjords to the base of several glaciers, the impacts of climate change were immediately clear. The trip also offered the unique opportunity to camp with Greenlandic natives, learn to forage and cook traditional recipes, and to spend an afternoon on the ice sheet. Bookending the trip to Greenland were several days spent exploring Iceland, with its dramatically different landscapes and culture. Bench will share her photos, impressions, and lessons learned from this rapidly changing region.
Raney Bench is the Executive Director of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society and lives in Southwest Harbor with her husband, two sons, and several furry companions. She believes that history is vital to understanding our lives today, and in envisioning the future we want. She has been fortunate to travel with her family to several countries, always keen to learn first hand about the impacts of climate change on the ecosystems and cultures she visits.
Creating Future Gardeners on MDI
This summer the Bar Harbor Garden Club (BHGC) and the Bass Harbor Memorial Library (BHML) launched the Westside Summer Garden Club, a first-time program designed to foster a life-long interest in gardening and horticulture among youth between ages 8 and 14. The program, which began in June and ended this fall, was co-led by BHGC members Douglas Heden and Linda Wooley with support from BHML librarian Lisa Murray. Read the full article here.
Gift of Art Holiday Marketplace
Support local artists this season!
This December, the Bass Harbor Memorial Library will host a holiday marketplace featuring artwork and handmade items from local artists, priced for holiday gift giving. All pieces will be priced under $250 and a portion of all sales will be donated to library programming.
The Marketplace will be open during Library hours: Tuesday and Wednesday 10-5, Thursday 10-8, and Saturday 10-2 with a special shopping evening with refreshments on Thursday December 8, from 6-8pm.
More details to follow!
November Artist: Katrina Linscott
During the month of November, the Bass Harbor Memorial Library welcomes artworks created by Katrina Linscott. Dates for a recepetion will be announced.
In addition to teaching French at the Tremont School, Katrina enjoys creating art, including jewelry, collage, and watercolors. Seven years ago, she put the those endeavors aside and devoted her creative free time to illustrating and writing a book, “Disco and Me/Disco et moi.” She saw a need for stories that ignite curiosity about the places, culture, and language of the Francophone world, written at a novice to intermediate level. She has always loved colored pencil, in part because of reading and loving Leo Leoni’s illustrations in “Fish is Fish” as a child. The illustrations in “Disco et Moi” are done with Prismacolor Soft Core pencils. She lives on Mount Desert Island. Please visit us to see Katrina’s artwork, which will be on display at the library through the end of the month.