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FIVE ART SHOWS TO SEE

PORTLAND'S

CITY MAGAZINE MAY 2017

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A New American Sculpture 1914-1945: Lachaise, Laurent, Nadelman, and Zorach Opens May 26

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Nan Goldin: Family History Opens October 6

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KENNEBUNKPORTFESTIVAL.COM Produced by

GRATITUDE

A party to thank all the people who make Kennebunkport Festival possible. At On the Marsh Bistro with live music by Jenny Van West.

COCKTAILS AT ONE DOCK

COCKTAILS AT THE COLONY

THE ART OF DINING DINNERS

THE ART OF DINING DINNERS

A cocktail party in the lounge and spilling onto the patio in the heart of Dock Square. At the Kennebunkport Inn, sponsored by Pack Maynard and Associates Real Estate with live music by Max Garcia Conover.

A series of intimate dinners prepared by top chefs in private homes in the Kennebunkport area. Each dinner showcases work by an Art Collector Maine artist.

Pear Tree Farm Chef Daniel Simpson and Peggy Liversidge of Kitchen Chicks Catering.

Kuehnle Residence Chef John Shaw of Tides Beach Club, sponsored by Piscataqua Landscaping.

Burke Residence Chef Josh Berry of Union at the Press Hotel.

Feingold Residence Chef Avery Richter of the Black Tie Company.

Hurlbutt Residence Chefs Meghann Ward and Kevin Walsh of Tapestry Boston.

A cocktail party with an ocean view on the wrap-around porch. At the Colony Hotel, sponsored by Piscataqua Landscaping and Kennebunk Beach Realty with live music by Ocean Ave.

A series of intimate dinners prepared by top chefs in private homes in the Kennebunkport area. Each dinner showcases work by an Art Collector Maine artist.

Burke Residence Chef Jackson Yordon of Salt & Honey, sponsored by Caleb Johnson Architects+Builders.

Bette Residence Chef Guy Hernandez of Lolita Vinoteca + Asador, sponsored by Piscataqua Landscaping.

Pressly Residence Chef Romann Dumorne of Northern Union.

Old Vines Wine Bar Chef Joel Souza of Old Vines Wine Bar sponsored by Capozza Tile & Floor Covering Center, Old Port Specialty Tile, and Capozza Concrete Services.

Turner/Bull Residence Chef Mel Chaiken of Fiddlehead Restaurant.

Rafaelli Residence Chef Harding Lee Smith of The Rooms Restaurants.

Rice Residence Chef Emil Rivera of Sur Lie.

Julian Residence Chef Matt Ginn of Evo Kitchen + Bar.

Molloy Residence Chef Rick Shell of The Cliff House.

TBA Residence Chef German Lucarelli of Ports of Italy.

Chef’s Table at the White Barn Inn Chef Derek Bissonnette of the White Barn Inn.

Gillard Residence Chef Dan Sriprasert of The Green Elephant.

Burke Residence Chef Adam Flood of Grace.

HINCKLEY RECEPTION

AMUSE

GRAND TASTING

WOOD FIRED

SPIRIT OF MAINE

MAINE CRAFT MUSIC FESTIVAL

An open air cocktail party on the deck and docks. At Chicks Marina, sponsored by the Hinckley Company with live music by Dominic Lavoie.

A culinary experience featuring a multi-course, family-style seated dinner in a candlelit barn. Hosted by Chefs Justin Walker and Danielle Walker at Vinegar Hill Barn with top chefs from Maine and away, sponsored by Richard Moody & Sons and Wine Spectator.

A cocktail party to kick off the evening, dockside on the schooner restaurant Spirit of Massachusetts. At the Pilot House Marina sponsored by Yarmouth Boat Yard with live music by Pete Kilpatrick.

A Maine-themed party with food and drink stations, music, and dancing— seaside. Hosted by Chef David Turin and Azalea Events under the tent at the Pilot House Boatyard.

THE AFTER PARTY

Continue your Friday night in this bustling pub overlooking the riverfront.

At Federal Jack’s Restaurant & Brew Pub with live music.

An afternoon tasting event under a tent on the water with offerings from over 25 different chefs and wineries. Under the tent at Pilot House Boatyard.

A day of original Maine-made music in a grassy field with food trucks and craft beers on draft.

On the River Green at the Captain Lord Mansion with music by Spencer Albee & Band and Ghost of Paul Revere.

Keller Residence Chef Pierre Gignac of Ocean sponsored by Spang Builders.

ART WORKS OPENING

A lively reception featuring the works of Art Collector Maine artists, Eric Hopkins and Jane Dahmen. At Gallery at the Grand with live music by Molly Mae.

CHOICE ART SHOW

A curated-by-you art show atop the hill. Vote at maine-art.com/choice.

At Maine Art Shows.

GRAND FINALE

A waterfront evening-into-the-night party with incredible spreads of food, fun drinks, live music, and dancing.

Hosted by Chef David Turin at David’s KPT, sponsored by Jim Godbout Plumbing and Heating.

THURSDAY JUNE 8 6 - 10 PM THURSDAY

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JUNE 8 6 - 10 PM Hosted by Chef Justin Walker and Danielle Walker with top Vinegar Hill and Barn chefs from Maine away

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JUNE 8 6 - 10 PM Hosted by Chef David Turin

and Azalea Events with chefs Vinegar Barn Josh Berry of Hill Union, Daniel Dumont of Black Point Inn, Arundel Norm Hebert of Bintliff’s Ogunquit, and German Lucarelli of Ports of Italy.

JUNE 8 6 - 10 PM An afternoon tasting event

under a tent on the water Vinegar with offeringsHill fromBarn over 25 different chefs and wineries.

Arundel

Full festival week passes, weekend-only passes, and individual event tickets can be purchased online.

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David’s KPT Kennebunkport

Spencer Albee & Band and Ghost of Paul Revere Live on the River Green at Vinegar HillMansion Barn Captain Lord

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A day of original Maine-made music in a grassy field with food trucks and craft beers on draft.

JUNE 8 6 - 10 PM A waterfront evening-into-

the-night party with incredible Vinegar Hillfun Barn spreads of food, drinks, live music, and dancing.

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ot only do we cover Portland, we live it everyday. We seek out the people, places, and things to do that make this such an incredible place to live and work. This city is ever-evolving and we keep up with it. When you’re ready to head out and about and explore Portland, ask for our expertise. We won’t steer you wrong.

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UPCOMING GUESTS Ken Ryan, Maine Coast Taijiquan | Pamela Blodgett, Brain Training of New England | Ashley Bryan, writer and illustrator | George Smith, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts | Cabot Lyman, Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding and 250 Main Hotel | Ruth Woodbury Starr, 250 Main Hotel | Douglas Rooks, author of Statesman PHOTO TAKEN ON ISLE AU HAUT

BY DR. LISA BELISLE @bountiful1

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M AY

2017

68

HILLSIDE STORY

Fred Williams’s five-floor townhouse reflects his love of art and entertaining.

by Debra Spark Photography by Myriam Babin

T H I S PAG E :

“After living all around Portland for the last 38 years, this townhouse and this community are exactly where I want to be.” ­–­Fred Williams

48

GROWING UP PORTLAND

Parents dish on where to play, eat, and find family fun.

by Susan Axelrod Photography by Nicole Wolf

56

GRAND CENTRAL KITCHEN At Fork Food Lab, culinary entrepreneurs have room to grow.

by Susan Axelrod Photography by Erin Little

D E PA RT M E N TS

25 TA K E N OT I C E News, notes, and more

28 D I N E East Ender

36 ACT I V E L I F E

Karate champion Nicole Steinhagen sets her sights on the Olympics.

40 L O O K

Yo u r g u i d e t o g a l l e r y h o p p i n g

42 P RO F I L E

WEX CEO and president Melissa Smith is guided by her rural Maine upbringing.

77 GAT H E R

Polar Bear Dip & Dash, Celebration for Healthy Families

80 I N S I D E R P I C KS

Maine Media Collective staff on our favorite outdoor spots to celebrate spring.

I N EV E RY I SSU E 19 EDITOR’S NOTE 21 STAFF NOTE 23 TALENT ROSTER 74 ON THE BLOCK

O N T H E COV E R :

The living room of Fred Williams’s Munjoy Heights townhouse, where pieces from his art collection include a painting of koi by Missy Asen, who summers on Little Diamond Island.

48 56

PUBLISHER & CEO | Kevin Thomas ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & COO | Andrea King EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | Rebecca Falzano MANAGING EDITOR | Susan Axelrod ART DIRECTOR | Kate Seremeth ADVERTISING ACCOUNT MANAGERS |

Karen Bowe, Terri Coakley, Jeffrey D’Amico, Anna DeLuca, Jessica Goodwin, Peter Heinz, Tom Urban PRODUCTION MANAGER | Joel Kuschke DIRECTOR OF EVENTS & SPONSORSHIPS |

Maureen Littlefield

ONLINE EDITOR | Shelbi Wassick EDITORIAL ASSISTANT | Brittany Cost OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR | Grace Skerritt COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MANAGER |

Casey Lovejoy

SPECIAL PROJECTS | Emily McConnell COPY EDITOR | Katherine Gaudet PROOFREADER | Skye Adams FOOD EDITOR | Karen Watterson CONTRIBUTORS |

Dr. Lisa Belisle, Katy Kelleher, Debra Spark PHOTOGRAPHERS |

Myriam Babin, Dave Dostie, Erin Little, Nicole Wolf COVER PHOTOGRAPHER | Myriam Babin CIRCULATION | Sarah Lynn ART COLLECTOR MAINE |

Erica Gammon, Jack Leonardi, Taylor McCafferty, Anna Wickstrom, Emma Wilson, Aurora Winkler THE BRAND COMPANY |

Emma FitzGerald, Chris Kast, Mali Welch LOVE MAINE RADIO W/ DR. LISA BELISLE |

Spencer Albee, Dr. Lisa Belisle, Paul Koenig, Casey Lovejoy, Shelbi Wassick MAINE HOME+DESIGN |

Jen DeRose, Heidi Kirn MAINE MAGAZINE |

Paul Koenig, Kate Seremeth

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Chief Executive Officer | Kevin Thomas Chief Operating Officer | Andrea King Chief Financial Officer | Jack Leonardi Old Port is published ten times a year by Maine Media Collective LLC. Editorial and subscription information: phone 207.772.3373 | fax 888.836.6715 75 Market Street | Suite 203 | Portland | Maine | 04101 Opinions expressed in articles or advertisements, unless otherwise noted, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher, staff, or advisory board. Every effort has been made to ensure that all information presented in this issue is accurate, and neither Old Port nor any of its staff is responsible for omissions or information that has been misrepresented to the magazine. Copyright © 2017, Maine Media Collective LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission, in writing, from the publisher. Printed in the U.S.A. oldport.com

18 OLD PORT

oldport.com

EDITOR’S NOTE PHOTOGRAPHY BY TED AXELROD

A

s I write this, snow is falling yet again, extending winter into spring, and I’m dreaming of May. It’s a month I associate with promise—not yet summer, but we can feel it coming—and my gardener’s heart leaps at the sight of green shoots finally pushing up through the ground. It may sound sappy, but I also love May for Mother’s Day. And while I feel blessed to celebrate being a mother, and having a wonderful mother and mother-inlaw, the “Hallmark holiday” reminds me that all women—whether or not they are mothers— should be celebrated.

With a toddler and infant twins, Mother’s Day will undoubtedly be special for Melissa Smith this year. The president and CEO of WEX seems to have it all, but is quick to point out that she and her husband are equal partners in parenthood. I’m delighted that fellow superwoman and mother of three, Dr. Lisa

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Belisle, agreed to profile Smith for this issue (Lessons in Leadership, page 42).

Karate champion Nicole Steinhagen might actually be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The fierce competitor and 2020 Olympics hopeful told writer Katy Kelleher she “loves to be underestimated.” She also helps advance other young women by mentoring them (The Good Fight, page 36).

The martial arts are a time-tested way to channel youthful energy, but for sheer fun, it’s hard to beat a newer concept—indoor trampoline parks. I can say for certain that if Get Air had been around when my energetic son was little, my life as a young mother would have been much less frenetic on those days when he couldn’t play outside. Photographer Nicole Wolf captured five local families having a blast at Get Air for Growing Up Portland,

page 48, in which the parents shared their favorite places to play and eat in and around the city.

My own mother, still fiercely competitive on the tennis court at 78, taught me that work and play are equally important. While I’ve embraced wintertime ways to play in our snowy state, I can’t hide my excitement that summer—my favorite season—is almost here.

I’m looking to long, warm days in my kayak paddling the blue waters of Casco Bay. Maybe I’ll see you out there too.

SUSAN AXELROD Managing Editor saxelrod@oldport.com

MAY // 2017

19

WE GIVE BACK.

Our mission is to make a substantial and unique commitment to supporting Maine’s nonprofit community both statewide, regionally, and at the town level. We believe that the work Maine’s nonprofit organizations do, individually and collectively, makes our lives better and Maine a better place to live. With limited budgets, Maine’s nonprofits need help boosting awareness of their specific causes and help to raise the funds they need. We have established long-term relationships with over 120 nonprofits and community-based organizations. We give to these organizations by providing, free of charge, services ranging from advertising, graphic design, brand development, marketing advice, online announcements, and social media engagement. We often include nonprofit organizations in our editorial coverage through feature articles and/or recaps of their events. You’ll find the latter in our “There + Then,” “Turnout,” and “Gather” sections. Over the past year, we have made cash and inkind donations and services of more than:

1,930,463 WE ARE PROUD OF OUR AFFILIATION WITH THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS:

317 Main Community Music Center | American Diabetes Association | AIA Maine | Alfond Youth Center of Waterville | American Lung Association | Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital | Bicycle Coalition of Maine | Biddeford Ball | Biddeford/Saco Rotary Club | Boothbay Harbor Fest | Boothbay Region Chamber of Commerce | Boothbay Region Land Trust | Boys & Girls Club of Southern Maine | Bowdoin International Music Festival | Camden Garden Club | Camden International Film Festival | Camden Opera House | Camp Sunshine | Camp Susan Curtis | Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation | Cape Elizabeth Land Trust | Casco Bay Islands SwimRun | Castine Arts Association | CEI | Center for Furniture Craftsmanship | Center for Grieving Children | Colby Museum of Art | Cross Insurance Center | Dempsey Challenge | Easter Seals Maine | Elias Cup | Bayside Bowl | Environmental Health Strategy Center | Faily Hope | Farnsworth Art Museum | Fort Williams Park Foundation | Frannie Peabody Center | Friends of Casco Bay | Friends of Windjammer Days | Full Plates Full Potential | Georges River Land Trust | Gulf of Maine Research Institute | Good Shepherd Food Bank | Goodwill of Northern New England | Greater Portland Land Marks | GrowSmart Maine | Harbor House | Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project | Institute for Family Owned Business | Junior Achievement of Maine | Junior League of Portland | Kennebunk Free Library | Kennebunkport Conservation Trust | Kennebunks Tour de Cure | Kittery Block Party | L/A Arts | Life Flight of Maine | Lift360 | Maine Academy of Modern Music | Maine Audubon | Maine Cancer Foundation | Maine Center for Creativity | Maine Children’s Cancer Program | Maine College of Art | Maine Crafts Association | Maine Development Foundation | Maine Discovery Museum | Maine Flower Shower | Maine Interior Design Association | Maine Island Trail Association | Maine Jewish Film Festival | Maine Lobster Festival | Maine Preservation | Maine Restaurant Association | Maine Science Festival | Maine Start Up and Create Week | Maine State Ballet | Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine | March of Dimes | Mercy/Gary’s House | MEREDA | Mitchell institute | Museums of Old York | MyPlace Teen Center | Natural Resources Council of Maine | New England Craft Brew Summit | North Atlantic Blues Festival | Ogunquit Museum of American Art | Ogunquit Playhouse | Osher Map Library | Passivhaus Maine | Portland Downtown | Portland Museum of Art | Portland Ovations | Portland Symphony Orchestra | Portland Trails | PORTopera | Portland Stage Education Programming | Ronald McDonald House Charities | Royal River Land Trust | SailMaine | Salt Bay Chamberfest | Scarborough Education Foundation | Share Our Strength | sheJAMS | Strive | Talking Art in Maine | TEDxDirigo/Treehouse | Teens to Trails | Travis Mills Foundation | The Strand Theatre | The Telling Room | University of Maine Gardens | United Way of Greater Portland | Viles Arboretum | Vinegar Hill Music Theater | Wayfinder Schools | Wells Reserve at Laudholm | Wendell Gilley Museum | WinterKids | Wolfe’s Neck Farm | Woodlawn Museum | Yarmouth History Center

SUBSCRIBE | oldport.com

Chief Executive Officer | Kevin Thomas Chief Operating Officer | Andrea King Chief Financial Officer | Jack Leonardi Old Port is published ten times each year by Maine Media Collective LLC Editorial and subscription information: phone 207.772.3373 | fax 888.836.6715 75 Market Street | Suite 203 | Portland | Maine | 04101 Opinions expressed in articles or advertisements, unless otherwise noted, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher, staff, or advisory board.

Every effort has been made to ensure that all information presented in this issue is accurate, and neither Old Port nor any of its staff is responsible for omissions or information that has been misrepresented to the magazine.

Copyright © 2017, Maine Media Collective LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission, in writing, from the publisher. Printed in the U.S.A. oldport.com

20 OLD PORT

oldport.com

STAFF NOTE PHOTOGRAPHY BY HEIDI KIRN

A

lot of us have been at Maine Media Collective for a long time. For me, it has been almost nine years. When I moved back to Maine in 2009, Portland was unchartered territory for me. In my twenties, single, and fresh at a new job, the city was my oyster, as the saying goes. It was great fun to go to events, stay out late, meet new people, and begin to build a life here. It was clear that Portland had all of the perks of the big cities I had lived in, but with a more intimate feel, and best of all it was located right on the water.

continues to connect me to some of the most interesting people in our state. Yes, the late nights are on hiatus, but I am learning what other adventures there are to be had with children in tow. From hopping on your boat and exploring the Casco Bay islands, to teaching your kids table manners at the kidfriendly restaurants that continue to pop up, Portland offers plenty of fun and meaningful experiences for families. We share ideas from other local parents in Growing Up Portland, page 48.

As I continued to explore Portland, I met my husband, married, and started a family. Now that I’m in my thirties, with a toddler and another on the way, Portland still supports my explorative spirit. Working at the magazine

Due to the great stories and amazing photography that come across my desk as art director, I am constantly impressed by how our city really does cater to everyone. From culinary entrepreneurs launching new food brands

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(Grand Central Kitchen, page 56), to successful businessmen enjoying the views from Munjoy Heights (Hillside Story, page 68), there is never a lack of excitement, interesting people to meet, or new places to discover at all stages of your life.

I, for one, am excited that it is spring, and I am ready for warmer days to continue exploring Portland with my growing family.

KATE SEREMETH Art Director kseremeth@themainemag.com MAY // 2017

21

E R I N M cG E E F E R R E L L

FOSTER C HI L D | 4 0 x30 | OIL ON CANVAS

T I M B E AV I S

S PROCK ET S ERI ES | 48 x2 8 | OI L ON PAP E R ON PANE L

CONVERGENCE MAY 4-28 OPENING RECEPTION THURSDAY MAY 4, 5-7 PM TO REQUEST A SHOW CATALOG OR SCHEDULE A PRIVATE VIEWING PLEASE CONTACT EMMA WILSON OR ERICA GAMMON AT 207.956.7105

TALENT ROSTER THE PEOPLE BEHIND OLD PORT MAGAZINE

CHRIS KAST

Chris Kast, brand strategist with The Brand Company, has called Greater Portland home for more years than he’d care to admit. Over that time he’s seen the city grow to become the vibrant hub of economic, creative, and culinary energy that it is today. A native of New York City, Chris always thought he’d eventually move back there, but these days when he thinks about it, his response is, “Why bother?” He lives in Portland with his husband Byron and their dog Stella Blue.

ANNA DELUCA

Anna DeLuca, advertising account manager, was born, raised, and educated in the great state of Maine. She was a park ranger at Acadia National Park for seven years, and has recently joined the staff at Maine Media Collective. Anna and her family love the outdoors and take every chance they can to enjoy what Greater Portland has to offer.

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KAREN WATTERSON

Karen Watterson and her family moved to Maine 15 years ago and they’ve never looked back. As food editor, she spends a great deal of time eating at the state’s wonderful restaurants and writing at its welcoming coffee shops. She often refers to her position as “the best job in Maine.” Karen loves to travel, but is always happy to come back home.

JACK LEONARDI

Jack Leonardi, chief financial officer at Maine Media Collective and managing partner at Art Collector Maine, helped found Art Collector Maine in 2011. Jack grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, and moved to Maine in 2005 after spending many summer vacations at the beaches of southern Maine. He lives in Kennebunkport with his wife Lynda and has four grown children.

MAY // 2017

23

HERE TO SHARE OUR PASSION FOR SIGHT AND SOUND SINCE 1989

636 US Route 1, Fl 2nd | Scarborough, Maine | (207) 885-0059 | TuckerAndTucker.com

TAKE NOTICE NEWS, NOTES, AND MORE

Photos from top: Kyle Dubay, Bryna Gootkind

T h e Ma i n e C o l l e g e o f A r t’s ( M E C A ) B o a rd o f Tr u s t e e s h a s a p p o i n t e d L A U R A F R E I D a s t h e c o l l e g e’s n e x t p re s i d e n t . Fr e i d f o r m e r l y s e r v e d a s C E O a n d e xe c u t i v e d i re c t o r o f t h e Si l k r o a d Pr o j e c t , c e l l i s t Yo - Yo Ma’s m u s i c o r g a n i z a t i o n t h a t p r o m o t e s e d u c a t i o n a n d i n t e r c u l t u r a l e xc h a n g e . Sh e s t a r t s a t M E C A o n Ju l y 1 , re p l a c i n g i n t e r i m d i re c t o r a n d Ma i n e’s Po e t L a u r e a t e St u a r t K e s t e n b a u m , w h o h a s d i re c t e d t h e c o l l e g e s i n c e t h e d e p a r t u re o f Do n Tu s k i l a s t y e a r.

11 Free Street • Portland, Me

Sp r i n g b r i n g s new players to t h e Po r t l a n d re s t a u r a n t s c e n e .

V i n l a n d ow n e r David Levi has opened TRATTORIA FANNY at 3 D e e r i n g Av e n u e in the former Ro s s o b i a n c o s p a c e .

At LB KITCHEN, L e e Fa r r i n g t o n serves up gourmet b re a k f a s t s a n d lunches in the former home of Fi g a o n t h e E a s t E n d . In t h e Ol d Po r t , J Ä G E R s e r v e s u p c a s u a l Ba v a r i a n f a re l i k e b r a t w u r s t , s o f t p re t z e l s , a n d p o t a t o p a n c a k e s , a l o n g w i t h G e r m a n - s t y l e a n d l o c a l c r a f t b e e r. B R G R B A R d ow n t ow n , a n o f f s h o o t o f i t s m a i n l o c a t i o n i n Po r t s m o u t h , i s a l re a d y k n ow n f o r i t s b u r g e r s a n d a d u l t m i l k s h a k e s , f e a t u r i n g c re a t i v e c o n c o c t i o n s l i k e Gr a n d p a’s C o f f e e , a m é l a n g e o f Sa i l o r Je r r y’s s p i c e d r u m a n d c o f f e e b r a n d y, a n d t h e T h i n Mi n t , b r ow n i e b i t s s t i r re d i n w i t h c h o c o l a t e s y r u p, r u m , a n d p e p p e r m i n t s c h n a p p s . L o c a t e d i n E a s t Ba y s i d e , B A H A R A T , a n E a s t e r n Me d i t e r r a n e a n re s t a u r a n t , i s t h e s t a t i o n a r y h o m e o f t h e p o p u l a r f o o d t r u c k C N Sh a w a r m a .

THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM and THEATRE OF MAINE is m ov i n g f r o m i t s d ow n t ow n l o c a t i o n o n Fre e St re e t t o t h e g r ow i n g d e v e l o p m e n t a t T h o m p s o n’s Po i n t . Tw i c e t h e s i z e o f i t s c u r r e n t b u i l d i n g , t h e n e w f a c i l i t i e s w i l l i m p r ov e a c c e s s i b i l i t y a n d e n a b l e t h e m u s e u m’s g r ow t h .

PORTLAND

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MAY // 2017

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EAST ENDER Fine-dining veterans put their stamp on a beloved casual spot.

This page: Happy hour at East Ender features food and drink specials such as the Brooklyn cocktail, house-made soft pretzel, and chicken-fried bacon.

Opposite page, from left: Both the downstairs dining room and the larger space upstairs are informal and friendly. Chef/owners Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy exemplify talent without pretention.

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DINE

W H E R E T O E AT N O W

BY KAREN WATTERSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY MYRIAM BABIN

K

arl Deuben and Bill Leavy are not from Maine, yet the two tremendously talented chefs epitomize Maine character in many ways. Though both have experience at some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country, they are unpretentious and prudent.

And they work diligently to deliver thoughtful, approachable food, with a lot of heart and a ton of technique. Leavy left a career in advertising to attend culinary school and landed at Bouley in New York. Deuben came to Maine to work at Hugo’s, left briefly to cook at Chicago’s Alinea, and returned to a job at Miyake. The two crossed paths several times before deciding to team up and make a name for themselves.

“USE LOCAL INGREDIENTS, TREAT THEM WITH CARE, AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS.”

That name was Small Axe, and it wasn’t a restaurant, but a food truck. “We had to carve out a niche for ourselves. We didn’t have the funds for a restaurant, but we could afford a truck,” says Leavy. I used to seek out Small Axe, often finding it parked near Tandem

Coffee in the Bayside neighborhood. I craved the breakfast bowl of hash browns, veggies, ricotta, and egg because it was interesting, fresh, and above all really delicious. “The concept for the truck was the same as it is now for the restaurant,” Leavy continues. “Use local

–Bill Leavy

ingredients, treat them with care, and pay attention to the details.” The two used their time at Small Axe to experiment, playing with ideas that took advantage of their combined backgrounds. Some of the results, like the beloved smoked pork belly sandwich with hoisin and kimchi and the fried fish sandwich, became so popular that they made the transition to the East Ender menu. “We always knew the truck was the first step,” says Deuben.

“But it took two years to find the right space in the right area.” When the two-story restaurant on Middle Street became available, everything happened very quickly. With exposed brick, dark wood booths, and white paneling, the place is not flashy, but comfortable and inviting in a well-worn, familiar way—an apt reflection of the chefs and their food.

Smart and deliberate, the pair keeps their eyes on the big picture. “It’s all about technique and the best ingredients,” says Deuben. “We use what we’ve learned, then keep evolving.” Of the MAY // 2017

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DINE

“WE USE WHAT WE’VE LEARNED, THEN KEEP EVOLVING.” –Karl Deuben This page, clockwise from top: On a busy block of restaurants, East Ender always offers a warm welcome. BBQ pork cracklings, made with local pork. Housemade Andouille sausage tartine with sauerkraut. Opposite page: Glazed pork belly with cheesy Maine grits and pickled jalapenos.

two, he is more improvisational and Leavy is the planner, an avid reader of cookbooks and more methodical. “We lob questions at each other all day, figuring out ways to make things happen,” he says. Leavy adds, “It’s kind of a fun game we play, asking what else we can do with this.” They’re constantly searching for ways to cross-utilize menu items, not just to eliminate waste and keep costs down, but because it’s a 30 OLD PORT

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fun experiment. For example, chicken wings are mixed with vadouvan spices (a French-style curry) and whey from house-made yogurt, then poached. The residual liquid produces a deeply flavored stock that is turned into consommé for use in other dishes. “It allows us to be playful, and it feels good when we don’t waste product,” Leavy says. “We have a kitchen-focused mentality, but as owners, we have to consider

operational costs too.” In this way, the East Ender menu is a constant work in progress. The smoked burger is a holdover from the Small Axe days, but now diners can make it their own, adding pork belly chili, shishito peppers, or bacon jam. A beet salad has morphed into braised beets with goat cheese and an unusual Celtic vinegar, steeped with exotic spices.

Happily, the ultra-crisp, beer-battered onion

rings remain. Brunch has become a runaway hit, featuring Deuben’s phenomenal hash browns and Leavy’s baked goods, including ethereal biscuits, doughnuts, and even a startlingly delicious ham and cheese sticky bun. Developing daily specials is a favorite exercise for both chefs, often using new and seasonal products. “It’s fun to create on the fly,” Leavy says, “and allows us to offer more variety.”

Leavy’s wife, Janet Webber, serves as general manager and oversees the bar. She brings a similar depth of experience and passion to the job, having been the wine buyer at Hugo’s. The wine offerings are a good value and reflection of the food, but Webber says East Ender draws more of a cocktail and beer crowd. The drinks menu features twists on classic cocktails, like the Brooklyn—a version of the Manhattan made with dry rather than sweet vermouth— and a rosemary-infused Aperol spritz. Another list, “Temperance,” presents equally creative mocktails.

Happy hour is a good time to pair a drink with a bar snack, maybe chicken-fried bacon or chili cheese fries, for a taste of the East Ender experience.

Having recently celebrated their second anniversary at East Ender, Leavy and Deuben are hitting their stride. They’ve created the kind of place that welcomes those in search of a low-key but confident dining experience, embracing the Maine sensibility in all aspects.

East Ender 47 Middle St. | Portland 207.879.7669 eastenderportland.com

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THE GOOD FIGHT

A L R E A D Y A K A R AT E CHAMPION, NICOLE STEINHAGEN SETS HER S I G H T S O N T H E O LY M P I C S .

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This page: Nicole Steinhagen does a flying front kick at Fournier’s Leadership Karate C e n t e r o n Wa r r e n Av e n u e , where she she practices and teaches karate. Opposite page: Nunchakus and kamas are among the basic weapons used by karate s t u d e n t s a t t h e c e n t e r.

ACTIVE LIFE HOW PORTLAND KEEPS MOVING

BY KATY KELLEHER PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN LITTLE

S

ince the age of six, Nicole Steinhagen has been practicing her forms in the airy studio of Fournier’s Leadership Karate Center in outer Portland. Now 21, the pint-sized spitfire is a world champion, a member of Team USA Karate, and a 2020 Tokyo Olympic hopeful.

“I LOVE TO BE UNDERESTIMATED.” –NICOLE STEINHAGEN

Steinhagen has always loved to compete, and for a few years she channeled that desire into beauty pageants. She would get dressed up, walk across the stage, and talk about her favorite subjects in school. Then, she’d change into her karate gi for the talent portion. For a few minutes of the pageant, as she ran through the forms she had honed through years of careful study, the teenage girl was truly, onehundred percent herself.

But beauty pageants weren’t the best place to showcase her skills. After comforting her following a loss, Steinhagen’s longtime mentor and teacher, Tony Fournier, urged her to trade in pageants for karate tournaments. “I saw her at the pageant and I said, ‘If they don’t see what you can do, you have to make a change,’” Fournier recalls.

It’s not that beauty pageant judges are clueless.

Few people are able to adequately assess Steinhagen’s work, simply because it is so highly specialized and unique. Karate forms—detailed patterns of kicks, punches, blocks, and other movements—are hard. They’re intricate, graceful, and precise. They are also forceful, albeit in a polished and refined way. An uninformed observer may think she is watching a dance, a series of choreographed moves that are designed to please the eye. But the forms are more than that. They’re combat techniques that have been perfected over hundreds of years.

When I ask Steinhagen to demonstrate a form, her face creases in a big smile. She takes her place on the mat, and that smile disappears. She becomes instantly serious as her legs step out at impossible angles, her hands slice through movements like blades of a windmill, and her entire body hums with potent energy.

When she’s done, she sits down to explain what I’ve just witnessed. That was Spider Hands, a classical form (competitions have two categories, traditional forms and creative, and Steinhagen competes in both). I tell her I can see the spider’s influence in the way her

legs crept across the floor, and she shares the history behind her favorite type of physical expression. Centuries ago, she says, “all karate forms were taught underground in Japan. All the people had their weapons taken away, so they were forced to use farm tools.” She points to a group of lethal-looking blades attached to poles. “That’s why we use staffs, or tools that look like rice cutters. Because that’s what they had,” she says. The balletic appearance of the

forms is not accidental. “They taught the forms as dances, so that you couldn’t tell they were fighting,” she says. The early karate masters “were constantly underestimated.”

The idea of being underestimated is one that comes up repeatedly, because it’s very easy to misjudge this young woman. Steinhagen is slight, petite, and looks far younger than her 21 years. She has a melodic voice and a MAY // 2017

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ACTIVE LIFE “I’VE GOTTEN WAY MORE OUT OF KARATE THAN I COULD EVER IMAGINE.” – NICOLE STEINHAGEN

Steinhagen has won many karate tournaments, taking home medals for her form work, her fighting, and sportsmanship.

friendly, even bubbly manner. She could choose to downplay these aspects of her physicality and personality, but she doesn’t. “I love to be underestimated,” she says. “I’ll walk into a karate tournament with a little mascara on, and go sit in my ring and stretch. Then, when I start with my forms, I’ll look at the audience.

I see the faces people make. We do yells in karate, and mine are big for being small.”

Sometimes, she likes to look at pictures from tournaments just to see the reaction of people in the background. “People stereotype me all the time,” she says. “And I love to break that stereotype. I like being not-normal more than anything. I never want to be normal.”

Not-normal for Steinhagen means being able to execute moves that few others can even attempt, like a Scorpion Kick, in which she lifts her leg backwards, over her head, and kicks her opponent with the sole of her foot. It’s a move developed by karate champion Chloe Bruce, and it requires a truly astounding amount of flexibility and strength. But moves like that are 38 OLD PORT

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hard on the body. “Often, I see karate athletes who are her age, and they’re already done,” Fournier says. “Luckily for us, she’s healthy.

She’s kept her flexibility and stayed strong. I think she’s going to keep getting better every year, and that’s a cool thing.” As Steinhagen improves, so do her chances of competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. At this point, it’s just a matter of getting her in front of the right people, Fournier says. “As with many things, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

Even when she talks about the possibility of achieving international fame and Olympic gold metals, Steinhagen stays grounded. That’s because the most important part of her karate practice isn’t competition; it’s teaching. On the day I meet her, she has just finished a lesson with her “mini-me,” a 10-year-old girl named Emma. Today, Emma needed personal guidance more than she needed a karate lesson, and Steinhagen provided both. “I’ve gotten way more out of karate than I could ever imagine,” Steinhagen says. “I’ve learned focus, self-

discipline, respect, and confidence.” Now, she wants to pass those on to the next generation of students. In addition to teaching, she volunteers through her church, works every summer as a camp counselor, and is currently studying to become a social worker. “This community raised me,” she says. “Each generation fosters the next generation. I believe that.” And with that, she’s back to working her forms on the mat.

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LESSONS

IN LEADERSHIP

WEX CEO and president Melissa Smith is guided by her rural Maine upbringing.

This page: WEX president and CEO Melissa Smith.

Opposite page, from top: WEX employees in the company’s cafe. Coffee comes with an inspirational message.

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P RO F I L E

THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE PORTLAND

BY DR. LISA BELISLE PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICOLE WOLF

Opposite page: Brenda Garrand is the CEO of Garrand Partners, a nearly 30-year-old advertising and marketing communications firm in Portland.

This page, from left: Garrand’s passport includes stamps from her frequent international trips, both for pleasure and for her vacation-home rental business, Villa Europe. A lounge area at Garrand’s office in Portland.

“G

rowing up in a small town, you learn the importance of community,” says Melissa Smith, president and CEO of WEX, Inc. “Everybody has to participate.” Raised on a farm in the Penobscot County hamlet of Winn (population 407 at the last census in 2010), Smith also became well versed in the advantages of self-reliance. “As a family, we would bring in hay every year,” says Smith. “I drove a huge, old hay truck when I was just old enough to see over the wheel. If you dumped the hay truck, you had to reload it yourself, so you learned pretty quickly that you had to do it well.” Now responsible for a company that generated a billion dollars in revenue in 2016, Smith has made good use of those early lessons.

“ I G R E W U P V E RY GROUNDED IN W H AT Y O U N E E D A N D W H AT Y O U WA N T — A N D T H AT THOSE ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS IN LIFE.”

Equally at home in the WEX boardroom, on the Maine Cancer Foundation’s Tri for a Cure triathlon course, and as chairperson of the 2017 American Heart Association Go Red for Women Luncheon, 48-year-old Smith looks

at change as an opportunity for growth. Her mother, a divorced parent of three daughters, married Smith’s stepfather when Smith was five.

Her stepfather, whom she says was “the rock in my life” until he died a year ago, had five

–MELISSA SMITH

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“ B R I A N I S A G R E AT PA R T N E R . H E E N A B L E S M E T O D O W H AT I N E E D T O DO, AND VICE VERSA.” –MELISSA SMITH

children of his own. Three of them lived with Smith and her sisters, along with a menagerie of family animals. “I’m pretty good with chaos,” Smith says with a laugh.

Smith attended the University of Maine in Orono, like her mother and grandmother before her. “My first economics lesson was my mother sitting down and saying, “Honey, you can go to school anywhere you want in the world. Let’s do the math,” she says. Because her mother worked at the University of Maine, Smith was eligible to attend at a reduced cost.

As an undergraduate, she would also make a connection that would impact the course of her life.

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“I used to get these notes back from the accounting professor that would say, ‘You should consider this to be your major,’” says Smith. “He started talking to me about what public accounting was like: you get to go and travel and see how different companies work.” Smith followed her professor’s advice and completed a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

After a stint at the accounting firm Ernst and Young, in 1997 Smith joined what was then the Wright Express Corporation as a senior financial analyst. Wright Express, founded in 1983, was a descendant of A. R. Wright, a family-owned business founded in 1895 with a focus on coal and heating oil.

Smith calls WEX (which went public in 2005 and assumed its new name in 2012) a “derivative” of the original company. WEX now helps companies in the travel, health, and fuel industries manage payments. “What we’re trying to do is add value where payment technology and data intersect,” says Smith. “If you were to book a hotel room with an online travel agency, you would pay that hotel with your consumer credit card, but when the hotel gets paid, they’re paid behind the scenes with a virtual card that’s generated by WEX.” Smith became the CEO of WEX in 2013; in 2014, she also assumed the role of president.

The South Portland–based company now employs 2,700 people in 11 countries,

PROFILE Opposite: Brian Corcoran and Melissa Smith share a drink at one of their favorite Portland restaurants, Central Provisions.

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including Brazil and the Republic of Singapore. “When we became global, that made it very different,” says Smith. “You get to work with people all over the world and you experience things in a different way.” WEX currently has 800 employees located in its Maine office and is poised to add 100 positions in the upcoming year.

Smith has also seen significant growth in her personal life. Four years ago, she married Brian Corcoran, founder of the sports entertainment company Shamrock Sports. “Brian is a great partner,” she says.

“He enables me to do what I need to, and vice versa.” She gave birth to their son Baxter in 2014. Last January, twins Grace and Foster joined the clan. “We rely pretty heavily on our extended family,” admits Smith, who says that Corcoran’s parents and her mother have helped keep things running smoothly.

Noting the importance of this type of support, Smith has championed workplace initiatives for WEX families. Last year, WEX began offering six weeks paid leave for men and women after the birth or adoption of a child. “It’s in the category of doing the right thing,” says Smith. “When I started looking at the ways that leave is considered around the world, it’s a place that the United States is largely lagging.

It felt like a trend that was coming to us and I’d rather be on the front part of that trend.”

In her business and her personal life, Smith seems to be replicating the patterns of shared responsibility and interdependence that were so integral to her childhood, and she is grateful for the opportunities that she has had. “I grew up very grounded in what you need and what you want—and that those are two different things in life.”

Hear more from Melissa Smith on Love Maine Radio with Dr. Lisa Belisle. lovemaineradio.com

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At Get Air trampoline park in Portland, Kingston Malinovskii takes a leap as his parents, Yegor and Krystal, and brother Beckham look on.

Growing Up

Portland

PARENTS DISH ON WHERE TO PLAY, EAT, AND FIND FAMILY FUN.

BY SUSAN AXELROD PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICOLE WOLF

M

uch of what is written about life in Portland makes it look like grownups have all the fun. There’s no doubt that for adults—of any age—who enjoy food and drink, the arts, and the outdoors, this is a great city in which to live and play. But just because we don’t read about it in Bon Appetit or on Thrillist.com doesn’t mean Portland isn’t also a pretty special place to be a kid, and to raise them. To find out what that’s like first-hand, we invited five local families to hang out with us at Get Air trampoline park—a kids’ happy place if there ever was one—and chatted with the parents about their favorite things to do with their children in and around the city.

Getting outside, in every season, is something all the parents listed as a top priority.

This page: Danica, right, and JJ Sevigny experience the Hurricane Machine at Get Air. Opposite page: Evi Richards jumps for joy in the Kiddie Court section of the trampoline park.

“We like the Honey Paw, Benkay, Street and Company, Pai Men Miyake, Boda— our kids eat basically everything.”

—Josh Sevigny

“We do our level best to be sure we go and see the ocean each week,” says Birch Shambaugh, who lives in Portland with his wife Fayth Preyer and their children, five-year-old Cordelia and two-year-old Wayland. Longtime surfers who want their children to join them in the sport (a foam board already hangs above Cordelia’s bed), Shambaugh and Preyer, owners of the Portland restaurant Woodford Food and Beverage, say that checking out the waves—even if it’s from the car window in bad weather—keeps them grounded. “In the summer we will leg up to Popham Beach, a family favorite, or if we can get our act together we will go out to Long Island,” says Shambaugh.

The Chamberlain-Kennedys are Popham Beach fans too. “Our family loves the winter beach even more than the summer beach,” says Bre Chamberlain, a regional ombudsman

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for the Maine Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. “There’s something really magical about the light there, and it’s nice to have it all to yourself.” She and her husband, Graeme Kennedy, director of marketing and public relations for the Portland Museum of Art, live in Yarmouth with their daughters Ramona, five and a half, and Maude, three. They also frequent Cape Elizabeth beaches Crescent and Kettle Cove, which “in the off season is great for the tidal pools and so much rock climbing for the kids,” she says.

Chamberlain cites family walks in the woods as ideal opportunities for her family to focus on each other. “Wolfe’s Neck Farm in Freeport is a favorite, but in the last year we’ve really gotten into exploring the Royal River Conservation Trust preserves and trails,” she says. “There are so many different ones, and it’s so rare we see

anyone else on the trail.” Falmouth residents Krystal and Yegor Malinovskii like to take their boys, Kingston, 6, and Beckham, 3, for hikes on the trails near their home and in Portland.

“They get plenty of digital entertainment, so it’s important to stay in touch with nature,” says Yegor. “They love hiking in the snow—we like the cold and winter—and exploring the rivers and the trees,” says Krystal.

Josh and Jamie Sevigny take full advantage of winter by spending most weekends at their home near Sugarloaf, where their kids, nine-year-old Danica and three-year-old Jarrett—known as JJ—are in the Bubblecuffers ski program. “We leave on Friday as soon as they get out of school for the mountain,” says Josh, owner of Sylvain and Sevigny Builders.

“They know the entire winter that they’re not sleeping in, because we have to be at

“In the summer, we will leg up to Popham Beach, a family favorite, or if we can get our act together we’ll go out to Long Island.”

—Birch Shambaugh

Sugarloaf at eight,” says Jamie. Staying active is important, so on weekends when they’re not at the mountain, they often take the kids to bowl at Easy Day in South Portland, or to bounce on the trampolines at Get Air; Danica is tall enough for the “big air” Main Court, and JJ likes to slide down the vertical trampolines in the Kiddie Court. Come summer, the Sevignys trade skis for life jackets aboard their boat on Casco Bay. “It’s like a floating camper,” jokes Josh. “We go to a different island every weekend.”

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From their home on the East End, Shannon and Galen Richards can easily access one of the city’s great green spaces, the Eastern Prom.

Shannon, managing partner of Caleb Johnson Architects and Builders, and Galen, a painter, have three children: Rye, eight, Asa, six, and Evi, four. “It’s also nice to just walk out the door, walk downtown, and wander around,” says Shannon. “I love to bring them down to the Old Port; we walk down to Treehouse Toys,” says Galen. “Rye’s a reader, so we go to Casablanca Comics. He’s big on Bull Moose Music too, mostly for the comics.”

As city dwellers and busy parents, the Richards are regulars at a variety of local restaurants.

“We go to places where Galen and I can grab a good beer and have a bite to eat with them,” says Shannon, pointing out Bayside Bowl, Oxbow Blending and Bottling, and the Portland Hunt and Alpine Club as some of their favorites for both food and drink. “Right in our neighborhood, we also like Lolita,” Galen chimes in. “I took Asa on a father-daughter date there once—that was really fun.” Boda, the Honey Paw, and Bao Bao are also on the Richards’s list, and when their kids crave

sushi, “Yosaku is our go-to,” says Shannon, adding that the restaurant has been especially accommodating to her young family. “They will not eat a hot dog, but they will put down 40 dollars worth of raw salmon in one gulp,” she says.

For these families, dining out with children is no longer confined to places where your food comes on a paper plate. “We’ve been taking Kingston and Beckham to restaurants since they were little,” says Yegor Malinovskii, market president at Berlin City. “They know how to behave at Fore Street or Five FiftyFive, where we go for our annual Easter Brunch.” For more casual meals, the family heads to Empire, Flatbread, or Boone’s Fish House Oyster Room, where the boys ask to sit outside so they can listen to the music from the deck at the Porthole next door. “They like to dance while they dine,” his wife Krystal says with a laugh. The Sevignys, who live in Cape Elizabeth, eat regularly at Bird Dog Roadhouse near their home, but don’t hesitate to venture across the bridge into Portland. “We also like the Honey Paw, Benkay, Street and Company, Pai Men Miyake, Boda—our kids eat basically everything,” says Josh.

The Chamberlain-Kennedys gravitate to restaurants where both they and their kids can relax. “Veranda Noodle Bar is by far our favorite,” says Chamberlain. “There’s a server that’s been there for Ramona’s entire life. We’re met with this really warm reception; she comes over and talks to her.” The family also frequents Pat’s Pizza, near where they live in Yarmouth.

“There’s no stress and it’s a godsend. There are always kids that are being louder than your kids,” Chamberlain says. Also close to home is Woodhull Public House, a new addition to the growing Yarmouth dining scene. “The food is so good, and [owners] Katie and Seth are two of the most awesome people you’ll ever meet,” she continues. “Incredible food at a familyfriendly restaurant? It’s the mashup that almost never happens, and it’s happening there.”

As both parents of young children and restaurant owners, the Shambaugh-Preyers have a distinct perspective on dining with children. “We bring our kids to our restaurant, and we’re always acutely aware of unleashing our sideshow on everyone else,” says Shambaugh. They head for 158 Pickett Street in South Portland, “if we can beat the eager weekend throngs,” says Preyer, and in season, Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster in Freeport. “Our kids love clam chowder, mussels, and sucking on lobster legs,” she says.

“The whole kids’ dining thing is something we’ve spent a ton of time thinking about, and that we experience daily in both our personal and working lives,” says Shambaugh. “As an

unexpected byproduct of that, we’ve gotten an opportunity to be in a place where all these kids are having seafood experiences for the first time in our restaurant. I never considered how much fun it would be to be a young parent, and also to be part of other young parents’ parenting experience.”

The families concur that indoor trampoline parks like Get Air are ideal for harnessing kids’ energy, especially in bad weather. With summer on the way, however, they are all eager to spend as much time as possible outdoors. “One of the amazing things about Portland is the proximity

of natural splendor,” says Shambaugh. People of any age who live in and around the city would certainly agree.

Opposite page: The Shambaugh-Preyer family, from left, Cordelia Shambaugh, Birch Shambaugh, Wayland Shambaugh, and Fayth Preyer, take a moment to watch other families at Get Air. This page: Maude Kennedy enjoys her ice cream after jumping on the trampolines at Get Air.

MAY // 2017

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KITCHEN AT FORK FOOD LAB, CULINARY ENTREPRENEURS HAVE ROOM TO GROW.

Opposite: Kelly Towle, owner of Plucked Fresh Salsa, was one of the first to sign up for a membership at Fork Food Lab.

BY SUSAN AXELROD PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN LITTLE

W

hen Kelly Towle launched Plucked Fresh Salsa in early 2014, she did what many start-up food producers do: she prepared the salsa at home, in a commercial kitchen she and her husband, Jason, built in their basement. When her salsa got picked up by a large distributor, and started being sold at Whole Foods and Hannaford stores throughout New England, Towle knew she had to move her growing operation to a larger space. She found it at Fork Food Lab in Portland, where Plucked was among the first companies to sign up for a full-time membership.

Fork Food Lab, which opened last September in West Bayside, is Maine’s first incubator for food entrepreneurs. New and growing companies pay a monthly fee to develop, prepare, and package their products using state-of-the-art commercial kitchen equipment; members also have dedicated storage space and access to business services. Equally important is the community aspect of the enterprise. The shared space

promotes collaboration, and entrepreneurs can promote what they make through the onsite tasting room and at events hosted by the food lab. “We didn’t start getting recognized until we started making salsa at Fork,” says Towle, an exuberant woman whose personality matches the lively flavors of her products. “I went from being this weird underground salsa person, to ‘Oh, you’re at Fork.’”

Towle credits Fork founders Neil Spillane and Eric Holstein for having both the entrepreneurial spirit and the business acumen to set the food lab on firm footing. Spillane has a degree in business administration from the University of Maine at Orono and an MBA from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, and was previously CEO at Urban Farm Fermentory, where the success of a smaller shared kitchen space inspired his vision for Fork. Holstein, a Colby College graduate whose degree focused on hotel finance, brings hospitality experience to the team. He served as food and beverage manager for the New York City-based Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, and launched two food businesses—Winter

Warmers, a hot chocolate and s’mores bar in Brooklyn, New York, and the Marshmallow Cart in Portland.

“For our members, fixed costs become variable costs,” says Spillane, as he takes me on a tour of the building. By this, he means that instead of being locked into a commercial lease and all the accompanying expenses, Fork members— there are currently 27—pay on a monthly basis for using the facility. Full-time membership includes unlimited access to the kitchens and more storage than half-time membership, which allows members to use the kitchens for up to 16 hours per week. All members get a prep table, aprons, disposable gloves, hairnets (required wear in the kitchens), paper goods, and cleaning supplies. They wash their own pots and pans, but a crew does the floor mopping and other major cleaning at night.

In the “cold” kitchen on the first floor, Towle has just finished making a batch of salsa, the remnants of which release the scents of lime and cilantro from a giant food processor.

Spillane points out a hulking commercial mixer

This page, from left: Marcia Wiggins, owner of Cape Whoopies.

Filling a whoopie pie.

Opposite page: Fork Food Lab co-founder Eric Holstein in front of the tasting room, where Fork members can share their culinary creations with the public.

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This page: Customers wait to pay for their purchases at Fork’s Spring Market event.

Opposite page: Amanda Porter and Chris Battaglia of Dirigo Coffee serve breakfast sandwiches out of the Maker’s Mug cart.

he and Holstein bought from a bakery in New Hampshire; it required a crane—which was luckily onsite—to be lifted into the building.

The two men built the walk-in cooler, which came in 19-by-4-foot panels that required three

windows in the exposed-brick walls brighten the space, and cooks working at the tables access electricity via drop-down cords attached to the ceiling. Until recently, members using both floors had to lug things up and down the

“FOR OUR MEMBERS, FIXED COSTS BECOME VARIABLE COSTS.” –Neil Spillane

people to lift. “We were hoping to get it up in three days but it took a couple of weeks,” says Spillane. “Everything didn’t quite fit together and we had one of the panels break, so there were some late-night Home Depot trips.”

The stoves, ovens, and most of the prep tables are in the “hot” kitchen on the second floor, along with the dishwashing station. Large

stairs, but thanks to a $25,000 grant received earlier this year from the Maine Coworking Development Fund, the building now has a materials lift. “Cape Whoopies has been doing these giant, 80-quarts-at-a-time batches of frosting, and it takes two people to carry those up the stairs,” says Spillane. At one table, we encounter Amanda Porter and Jacob Perry of the startup Dirigo Coffee, as Perry assembles a

croquembouche—a French confection made of cream puffs—for his wife’s birthday. His foray into coffee began with a tiny house-like mobile operation called Maker’s Mug and is now headquartered on Fork’s first floor, where Dirigo’s roasting operation shares a dedicated space with White Cap Coffee, makers of nitro cold brew. “We’re hosting home-roasting seminars, and we’ll be selling fully assembled roasting kits for people who really geek out on coffee,” says Perry.

The coffee space has a service window that opens onto Fork Food Lab’s most distinctive feature, the tasting room.

Simply outfitted with a few modern tables and chairs, the room is available to all members to showcase their products. “It’s event-based,” says Spillane. “Members come to us with whatever creative idea they think up and we spread it across the membership base.”

At an event in late March hosted by sundried tomato producer Replenova Farm, Joyful Spirit offered tastes of its granola, Anchor and Rose Apothecary served herbal teas, and MAY // 2017

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Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Fork Food Lab founders Neil Spillane, left, and Eric Holstein.

Fork’s kitchens are fully stocked with cooking tools and equipment.

Plucked Fresh Salsa tops a taco.

Beer samples at Fork’s spring market. This page: Alyssa Stankis, left, and Val Bowie package Cape Whoopies’s whoopie pies.

MarthaBar provided samples of chocolate, fruit, and nut bars. Spillane and Holstein also put on larger market events involving most, if not all, of Fork’s 27 members, which spill out of the tasting room into the parking lot.

A buyers’ market in February attracted 45 retailers looking to add new products to their shelves. Catering, too, is part of the mix. “We have a menu of items from our members that our clients pick from,” says Holstein, who spearheads this aspect of Fork’s operations. “So we might have boneless chicken wings coming from Tomaso’s, Cape Whoopies’s whoopie pies, Plucked Salsa doing salsa, Bubbe and Bestemor’s Baking doing cookies, and our actual full-service caterers will fill in the gaps.

If you’re a big company that wants to try to support a lot of small businesses, we make it easy.”

“NEIL AND I HAVE WORKED REALLY HARD TO MAKE THIS A COMMUNITY ATMOSPHERE.” –Eric Holstein

On June 22, Fork is one of the hosts of the Portland Food Launch and Festival, a day-long event at Thompson’s Point, planned to coincide with Maine Startup and Create Week. “The morning will be all business development for three tracks: businesses that are starting, that are scaling up, or are really in that accelerated lane to export around the globe,” says Spillane.

“We’re reaching out to every single food

organization in Maine, as well as 200 food makers.” The public is invited in the evening.

“You can’t just work, because there’s no fun in that,” says Holstein. “So we’re opening it up to 1,000-plus people; we’re going to have a main music stage, a ton of breweries involved, and food vendors showcasing what they’re doing.”

Considering Fork has been open less than a MAY // 2017

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year, Spillane and Holstein have already made a significant impact on Portland’s food economy. Two months after they launched their business, Greater Portland was designated by the U.S. Department of Commerce as one of the nation’s Manufacturing Communities for Food Production; among the three success stories cited by the Greater Portland Council of Governments to earn the designation was Fork Food Lab. 64 OLD PORT

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“We’re pleased that it’s going smoother than we would have hoped,” says Holstein.

“Granted, you never know what to expect when you’re doing startup. You don’t know if you’re going to be billionaires. You don’t know if you’re just going to lose everything in a week. You have no clue. Neil and I have worked very hard to really make this a community atmosphere, so it’s nice to see that we really are hitting our stride.”

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HILLSIDE story FRED WILLIAMS’S FIVE-FLOOR TOWNHOUSE

Fred Williams’s condo in Munjoy Heights has a grey, brown, and beige palette with pops of orange.

An elevator was part of the original plan, but since Williams didn’t feel he needed one, he had the the shaft reconfigured as useable space. On this floor, the space (far left) became a custom wine room, built out of walnut. The living room paintings to the right are by the late Frederick Lynch (in the background) and by Joyce Grasso, who summers in Maine, in the foreground. The custom dining table has a glass top and U-shaped base made of the same walnut as the wine room.

REFLECTS HIS LOVE OF ART AND ENTERTAINING. MAY // 2017

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By DEBRA SPARK Photography by MYRIAM BABIN

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red Williams has gotten used to vertical living. For most of his many years in the Portland area, Williams lived in conventionally configured spaces—a passive-solar house he built in Gray, a condo on Chandlers Wharf in Portland, and a townhouse in North Deering.

Now he lives in a five-story townhouse, one of 29 units in Munjoy Heights, an eco-friendly, passive-solar project developed by Redfern Properties, built by Wright-Ryan Construction, and designed by Ryan Senatore Architecture.

Despite the townhouse’s height, Williams didn’t want the elevator that was part of the condominium’s design. As his interior designer and good friend, Annie Kiladjian of Annie K Designs says, Williams enjoys physical exercise, so the stairs were an asset. (One big plus of moving into town? The Body Architect, which Williams thinks is the best gym in town, is nearby.) Williams asked Kiladjian to turn the elevator shaft into useable space.

This was possible because when Kiladjian came on board, the condos had yet to be finished.

Indeed, when Williams first expressed interest in Munjoy Heights, the project was a mere clearing on a street that rises up a hill from Washington Avenue. He passed the dirt lot one day on his scooter, and since he intended to eventually return to the Portland peninsula, he inquired about plans for the land. The layout of his condo as it was built includes a garage, foyer, and storage on the first floor; guest bedroom, office, and laundry on the second; open-concept kitchen/dining room/living room with balcony on the third; owner’s bedroom and secondary office area on the fourth; and a rooftop terrace with impressive views of the Back Cove on the fifth.

Affable, open, and hard-working, Williams is an art and wine connoisseur, successful investment manager, and philanthropist. He is the managing director and founder of Old Port Advisors, having founded its predecessor, IMCG, in 1994. But he has “zero bandwidth for looking at blueprints and what should be done in terms of design,” he admits. Given this, he gave Kiladjian “carte blanche” on the 70 OLD PORT

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project, and she, in turn, created spaces that express his interests and personality. One example: Kiladjian turned the elevator space on the living room floor into a door-free wine room built of walnut. It stores 100-plus bottles of wine and includes a wine refrigerator, shelves for glassware, a counter for liquor bottles, and a temperature-controlled humidor drawer with cigars, an occasional vice. The bar arrangement wasn’t super convenient for rooftop entertaining—all those sloshing glasses going up two flights of stairs—so Kiladjian added a second bar area in the elevator space on the rooftop level. On other floors, they were converted into closets.

In the design process, some choices were part of a catalog of options that the developers presented to all Munjoy Heights residents, including cabinetry, fixtures, and flooring.

Others were part of the condo’s basic design, as with the terrace decking and steel staircases, one of which is a floating staircase. Kiladjian was in charge of the rest. She tweaked the layout of the kitchen, owner’s bedroom, and other areas, while outfitting the rooms.

Williams has a fondness for grays and neutrals.

Kiladjian honored his preference but adds, “I love orange, and I made him love orange. It’s his personality. He’s friendly, and he gets along with people, and it’s fitting that he would have a color that goes with him.” The living room includes a gray leather couch, a walnut frame for the flat-screen TV, greige walls, and walnut laminate flooring. Orange appears in armchairs, accessories, and pillows. The kitchen is offwhite, and the counters are a light Caesarstone, but the stools are capped with orange leather.

On other floors, bright colors are used more sparingly, if at all, as in the guest bedroom, which is done in pale grays, tans, and blues.

A friend from Vassar, Williams’s alma mater, and his wife so love staying in the room with its big window, paisley bedspread, and offwhite furniture that they hired Kiladjian to redesign their house in Irvington, New York.

Williams’s own bedroom has an upholstered headboard ornamented by nailheads, a tan linen duvet with a geometric border, walnut

furniture, and translucent white curtains with a chevron pattern. There is also a wallpapered accent wall. “My signature is to do one wall of wallpaper,” says Kiladjian. “It’s fun, and then you can change it anytime you want.” Visitors often take note of the powder room’s wallpaper, telling Kiladjian, “It’s so you,” as the pattern feels of a piece with Kiladjian’s Armenian heritage.

The house’s colors are also inspired by Williams’s art collection. An abstract piece by the late Frederick Lynch has a subtle orange ground under a green, brown, and blue surface

Fred Williams in his kitchen. The countertop is Caesarstone and stools are topped with orange leather. To the immediate left of Williams is a painting by John Neville, and to the far left is one of several Haitian paintings in Williams’s collection. In between is a framed and signed version of the poem that Richard Blanco read at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration.

Blanco and his partner Mark Neveu—as well as Pulitzer Prizewinning fiction writer Richard Russo and his wife Barbara— were the first guests to the condo, the night after Williams closed on the property.

“I love orange, and I made him love orange. It’s his personality.”

–Annie Kiladjian

MAY // 2017

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This page, from top: The third floor of the condo with a floating staircase and a wall that exhibits some of Williams’s extensive art collection. Appointments in the owner’s fourth-floor bedroom include chevron-patterned, translucent curtains, a tan linen duvet with white geometric trim, and an upholstered headboard.

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“After living all around Portland for the last 38 years, this townhouse and this community are exactly where I want to be.”

–Fred Williams

On the roof-top floor, a bar tucked into what would have been an elevator shaft, makes it easy to entertain.

of proliferating cellular forms. A large image of orange koi swimming with a single yellow koi is by Missy Asen, who summers on Little Diamond Island. In the foyer hangs a portrait

by Fran Rodgers of an elderly woman of Gabon against an orange-yellow background. While there are a few pieces by Haitian artists—an interest Williams developed as a result of Vassar’s Haiti Project, which provides medical, education, and other assistance in Haiti—most of the walls feature local or regional artists. A piece by Munjoy Hill’s Wolcott Dodge makes use of patterned linoleum salvaged from house renovations. Canadian John Neville paints brightly colored, stylized depictions of North Atlantic fishing villages. Williams has one of the many Neville works that feature a red dory.

At Coffee by Design on India Street, Williams saw paintings of iguanas that he loved. The vivid shades reminded him of Haitian art, but the work wasn’t for sale. Williams tracked down the artist—Nance Parker, a puppeteer and artistic director of Shoestring Theater. He commissioned “Iggy,” Kiladjian and Williams’s joking nickname for the six-foot-long

horizontal painting of a lizard that now hangs in the second-floor hallway.

Opting out of the elevator has presented a few drawbacks. Williams recently had ankle surgery.

“I had two weeks of going up and down the stairs on my butt with my arms,” he reports.

And, in the early days at the townhouse, he didn’t exactly love lugging dirt-filled planters upstairs to set behind the wicker chairs on the terrace. Some of the furniture delivery people weren’t pleased either. Now, however, all’s good. Having traded a 20-minute drive for a five-minute commute, Williams has embraced the urban lifestyle, as well as the ever-evolving Munjoy Hill community. He’s always accessed the city’s amenities, but he does so even more frequently, given the convenience. The Portland Trail system’s Jack Path runs through the Munjoy Heights condo complex. (The path connects the East End Community school with

Washington Avenue and has great views of the Back Cove and city skyline.) The food offerings on the hill please him, running the gamut from a traditional grocer like Hilltop Superette to the more upscale Rosemont Market and Grocery, as well as the new, community-oriented, locavore A and C Grocery on Washington Avenue.

Silly’s restaurant is, as Williams says, an eclectic neighborhood institution that holds its own among the boutique barbecue at Terlingua, and the wine and small plate offerings at the Drifter’s Wife. But the people themselves, whether friends or just part of the general milieu, are also a big draw for Williams. He says, without any hesitation, “After living all around Greater Portland for the last 38 years, this townhouse and this community are exactly where I want to be.”

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MAY // 2017

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In the heart of the West End, this stunning, light-filled townhouse has been thoroughly renovated while retaining its period charm. Designer Jason Puiia of the New York City design firm Rees Roberts + Partners helped to plan the reimagined spaces for the current owners—his parents— opening up the rooms on the first floor to allow for better flow, creating a master suite on the second floor, and reorienting the entrance to the third-floor family room to take advantage of the abundant natural light. The four-bedroom,

three-and-a-half-bath home features a double living room, a dining room with a corner fireplace, and a modern, eat-in kitchen with a center island and high-end appliances. The master bath boasts Carrara marble on the double vanity and in the shower and floor tiles. Just off the kitchen, a new brick patio and pocket garden with antique lilacs offer a city oasis. Throughout the home, updates have been made with exceptional care, respecting its history and ensuring its value for future generations.

25 STORER STREET, PORTLAND, MAINE, 04102 • $997,000 TOWN & SHORE ASSOCIATES, LLC • TOWNANDSHORE.COM JOI KRESSBACH, BROKER/OWNER • 207 838 1865

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G O O D T I M E S , G R E AT C A U S E S

NATURAL RESOURCES COUNCIL OF MAINE POLAR BEAR DIP & DASH Photography by Dave Dostie

More than 250 people joined the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s (NRCM) ninth-annual Polar Bear Dip & Dash on December 31. The event features a 5K race around Back Cove followed by a chilly noontime plunge into Casco Bay at East End Beach. Participants helped raise more than $25,000 in support of NRCM’s work addressing the threat climate disruption poses to Maine’s beautiful environment.

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“Sea level rise is one of many serious threats Maine faces due to climate change. NRCM’s Polar Bear Dip & Dash puts the spotlight on this issue while providing a fun way for people of all ages and backgrounds to take action for the Maine we all love. Thanks to our many generous business sponsors, and congratulations to all of this year’s participants.”

–Lisa Pohlmann, executive director, NRCM

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01 Todd Dominski and Nick Richio, both of East Brown Cow Management 02 Hardy souls pose on East End Beach. 03 Leanne Morin, Anne Sokol Rogers, DHHS; Lee Anne Fenner Dodge 04 Tom Fawcett, United States Treasury, and Sara Fawcett, University of Maine at Augusta 05 Susan Bosco, Opportunity Alliance, Simone Halstead, Delaware Freeport 06 Before the plunge into Casco Bay, the group ran a 5K around Back Cove. 07 Max Pizey and Ed Cervone, both of the Hissong Group

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When you see Karen out and about tell your server, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Maine magazine food editor Karen Waterson and detail of her tasting at Ri Ra, Portland.

Join Karen’s dining adventures. Subscribe, read, like, follow.

themainemag.com + @eatmaine

GATHER

G O O D T I M E S , G R E AT C A U S E S

2016 CELEBRATION FOR HEALTHY FAMILIES Photography by Dave Dostie

The Environmental Health Strategy Center’s 2016 Celebration for Healthy Families featured a pizza party and activities for kids, as well as additional food for parents. The annual event honors state and national leaders, as well as grassroots volunteers who are working to ensure all families have access to safe and affordable food, drinking water, and household products.

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“As the strategy center turns 15 years old in 2017, we’ve got the energy of a teenager. We’ve learned what it takes to earn victories for families’ health and safety in Maine and across the country. There’s a lot more ahead.”

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–Mike Belliveau, Executive Director, Environmental Health Strategy Center

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01 Ginger Jordan-Hillier, Diane Kopec 02 Jamie Chittum, Charlotte Mace 03 Leah Postman, Regina Creeley 04 Deb Deatrick, Carla Bernstein, Mike Herz 05 Susie Chittum, Jamie Chittum 06 Mike Belliveau, Jonathan Labaree 07 Susie Chittum, Jamie Chittum, Caroline Chittum 08 Cathy Breen, Megan Rice

08 MAY // 2017

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INSIDER PICKS L O C A L S G I V E T H E I R R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S

BY SUSAN AXELROD

My colleagues at

Maine Media Collective love to be

“

out and about, but for the last several months we’ve all been cooped up inside more days than not. Now that spring weather is finally here, I asked them where they like to be outside on the first warm and sunny days of the season.

What’s your go-to spot on the first warm days of spring?

“Wandering around the Old Port because there’s something about the vibe in the air that is all about the promise of the halcyon days of summer that are just around the corner.”

–Chris Kast, brand strategist, The Brand Co.

“On one of those first warm days where you can smell the salt in the air, I like to bring my lunch down to one of the wharves.”

––Rebecca Falzano, editor-in-chief

“I love Sumner Park on North Street. You can see the entire city and drink in the sunshine.”

–Anna DeLuca, advertising account manager

“I can’t wait to go to Willard Beach to put my feet in the sand, and to Sonny’s for a margarita.”

–Andrea King, COO

“When the temp is on the rise my favorite thing to do is hop a ferry to Peaks with friends, rent bikes, grab veggie Italians at Hannigan’s and some Allagash White, and ride around the island, stopping to picnic on the rocks somewhere along the way.”

–Mali Welch, art director, The Brand Co.

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“My colleagues Mali Welch, Emma FitzGerald, Jessica Goodwin, and I love to take a walk to Black Tie Co. and grab a salad or wrap to eat out on the pier on Commercial Street.

We soak up some rays and watch the boats coming in and out of the harbor. Or, as soon as those chairs and tables are out at Sonny’s you can bet we are there for an after work cocktail.”

–Heidi Kirn, art director, Maine Home + Design

“The Eastern Prom has sweeping views and is a stunning place to go on a run by yourself, or to enjoy a picnic with the family.”

– Emma FitzGerald, art director, The Brand Co.

“The Back Cove Trail: I walk the loop, sit on a bench and just remember how lucky we are to live here.”

–Terri Coakley, advertising account manager

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