by Robin Mayer
Coastal Journal contributor

DAMARISCOTTA — Numerous volunteers and 15,000 Damariscotta River Oysters were at the ready at the start of the eleventh annual Pemaquid Oyster Festival at Schooner Landing in Damariscotta on Sunday, September 25.

Begun in 2001 by Chris Davis of the Pemaquid Oyster Company and Scott Folsom and Charlie Herrick of Schooner Landing, the Festival started as an oyster-harvest party.

"It had been a good year," remembers Jeff "Smokey" McKeen of the Pemaquid Oyster Company, noting that the party would bring attention to the oyster industry in the Damariscotta River. "It was originally planned for the last Sunday in September which, that first year, was just after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The mood for a party disappeared."

Jake Marks and his family were the first of Malaga Island residents forced from their home on an island at the mouth of the New Meadows River in December 1911. by John Maguire
Coastal Journal staff

PHIPPSBURG — Next July marks the 100-year anniversary of the state's forced deportation of Malaga Island residents: a poor, interracial fishing community targeted by social Darwinist sentiment, economic strain and ignorance. A descendant of the patriarch of the family whose relatives settled the island is organizing a family gathering in Phippsburg, to be held Saturday, October 15.

Marnie Darling Voter, a descendant of freed slave Benjamin Darling, hopes the gathering will help to re-investigate the past, to clarify distortions made about this island community, and to celebrate what has been for many people a mystery.

Several recent articles and documentaries have shed new light into the modern history of this island, dispelling the myths and wild accusations made by the local press at the time about the Malaga Island community that led to their forced departure, and the subsequent feelings of shame on the part of descendents.

Salt Institute documentary producer Rob Rosenthal and photographer Kate Philbrick produced the documentary "Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold." This documentary dives deep into this portion of the island's history. It also demonstrates the resistance by Voter and other Malaga descendents to a tradition of racial slurs, and a pride and interest in their family heritage.

by John Maguire
Coastal Journal staff

WALDOBORO — The discussion about food-oriented businesses and education has not lost its steam over the past decade or more in Waldoboro. Patrick Wright, former Planning and Development director for the town, recalls discussions about utilizing the former A.D. Gray elementary school building as a culinary hub. While the plan for that building didn't come to fruition, the discussions about locally grown and produced food and the culinary arts have continued.

A group of people have formed the Real Food Institute of Midcoast Maine, whose mission is to "build and sustain a local food economy through farm-to-fork, ocean-to-plate product development, distribution, and education." Currently, the all-volunteer group is a not-for-profit organization seeking 501c3 tax status and funding to initiate projects. There are seven members on its board of directors. The institute also has a larger group of people who serve on their advisory board, with backgrounds in food service, education, farming and fishing.

by John Maguire
Coastal Journal staff

DAMARISCOTTA — "It's all Bill's fault," said Buzz Pinkham of Pinkham's Plantation in Damariscotta.

Pinkham was speaking of Bill Clark, who, long before lining Main Street Damariscotta with elaborately carved and artfully decorated pumpkins for the annual Damariscotta Pumpkin Fest and Regatta became a tradition, came to Pinkham's Plantation for advice on growing the giant gourds. Together, they set out on a mission to involve more people and to get people to grow.

"It's the power of the pumpkin," Pinkham said, describing how people came to his garden center to pick up plants, lining up as if for a rock concert. "It's creating gardeners out of people who don't normally grow."