It’s a snowy Saturday morning in Fort Kent, and three families are clustered around small tables by the front windows of a building on West Main Street, evaluating the different shades of paint pens they will use to color wooden gingerbread houses.
"What color should I make my gingerbread man?" Jenna Jandreau asks three-year-old Trinity.
"Red," she replies.
The activity is a hit with the kids, who will wander off to explore the other offerings of the center’s youth art studio, before returning to their artwork. Overseeing all of this is Jandreau, founder of Rivertown Community Arts Center.
"There are so many good things about the St. John Valley and Fort Kent, like the recreation, we're a really strong sports town, and parents and the community really get behind the kids, but there's this definite kind of gap in the arts and culture opportunities," she said.
A Fort Kent native, Jandreau said she worked with a community arts organization in Bar Harbor before moving home in 2021 and quickly realized that the few arts programs in the area were struggling. She started asking people around town about the idea of a member-based arts center. She even set up a table at the town's summer concert series- sharing information and offering weekly crafts projects for families.
"It was full all the time," Jandreau said. "We were painting rocks, we were doing a group doodle…We kind of got the word of mouth going months before we opened up."
In September, Rivertown Community Arts Center officially opened in Fort Kent's small downtown. Right next to the post office, the building has been home to a variety of businesses over the decades- a market, a bakery, an eye doctors office.
The space now features a youth studio, a painting studio, a central den, a space for local artists to sell anything from tea blends to photography, and a sizable inventory of art and crafting materials.
"If they're interested in something, they don't need to go out and buy all the art supplies themselves," Jandreau said. "They can come here and give it a try."
It’s a membership-based model, at $20 a month for individuals or $40 for families. Members may visit during any open hours, access materials and attend classes for free.
And just three months after opening, the center has 160 memberships on the books.
Alex Martinez said she appreciates having a place to bring her daughters, Finley and Emerson, especially when its too cold to be outside.
"They're so young, like, you can't ski all day with a four and one year old," she said. "So coming, having a space like this where you can just bring your kids and they feel comfortable, and you feel comfortable, it's really nice, because there really isn't a lot of places here where I feel like you can just go hang out with your young kids and not feel like you're not wreaking havoc there."
And Martinez said she enjoys the programs for adults as well.
"And that's a really cool thing to be able to do for me anyways, like on a Tuesday night, go do a watercolor class," she said.
Three-year-old Trinity is here with her mom, Sierra Theriault, and four-month-old brother Tayden.
"Jenna just always has, like, the best things planned for the kids, like, stuff I would never think of to do at home," Theriault said. "And the membership, it covers all the supplies. So it's really great to just be able to come here, do your arts and crafts, go home and it's awesome. I love it."
Jandreau said she's been able to find local artists and crafters to teach classes, and pay them for their time. Kelley Marquis is on Rivertown's board, and has led a ceramics class.
"I have two or three people that would join me and say, 'Oh my gosh, I did this in university. I want to get on the wheel again. I want to do this again,'" she said.
And while members are learning, Jandreau said they are also finding community.
"They feel like they're getting to know new people and making friends and that kind of thing," she said. "So it's been kind of exactly what we hoped would happen."
With three months under her belt, Jandreau has plenty of plans for the new year — outdoor programs, a stitch circle, and a highly requested pottery studio — much of which will depend on fundraising, supply donations and community support.
