Community Calendar

Have you ever struggled with making windows, doors and buildings look right in your drawings and paintings?

This four-session course will explain the simple system discovered in the Renaissance, called Linear Perspective, that will add to your tool kit to create more accurate drawings and paintings, especially of the built environment. The idea that things appear to be smaller in the distance, is deceptively simple.

Instructors Joan Vienot and Rick Osann will explain the system and how to apply it to your existing drawing skills through demonstration and mentored practice.

About the Instructors:

Rick Osann has been painting in watercolor since the early 1970’s. After various careers as a professional Scenic Artist working for stage, film & TV in New York City, and teaching art/theatre/film at Bonny Eagle High School in southern Maine, Rick is now happily focusing on his painting in Bar Harbor, Maine. Rick provides instruction in painting and drawing.

Joan Vienot received state teacher certification in Fine Art from the University of Northern Colorado. She taught art in a public high school in Colorado for 3 years. She moved to Northwest Florida, where she enjoyed a business career, and also taught numerous art classes and workshops to adults. In 2022 Joan moved to Maine to paint the rocky coastline. Joan offers instruction in drawing and plein air painting.

Have a quick question about starting or growing your small business? Want to bounce an idea off of someone and get some advice?

Pop into Ask an Advisor, a free informal online group session where you can ask questions, get guidance, and learn from other entrepreneurs.

Two of our experienced, full-time Business Advisors will be available to chat all things business, whether you’re in the early planning stages, running an established business or somewhere in between.

CEI’s business advisors are knowledgeable in a variety of topic areas including:

Marketing,
Finance and loan readiness,
Human Resources,
Preparing to buy or sell a business,
Navigating challenges,
And more – whatever is on your mind!
Our Ask an Advisor sessions are free to the public and designed to be interactive and supportive; we’re here to help. Come as you are, ask what you need, and leave with new ideas and connections.

Register to receive the Zoom link to join!

Experience the Solar System like never before - by traveling on a spacecraft that can turn the objects in space into sound!

Midcoast Senior College presents its free speaker series, Winter Wisdom, sponsored by The Highlands of Topsham. In the last decade of the 8th Century raiders from the North appeared off the coast of Ireland and sacked the unsuspecting monastery at Lindisfarne, the first stroke in what would become a centuries-long conflict. The Norsemen came first to raid, and later to settle, but the meeting of the two cultures would change both Irish and Viking history forever. Award-winning author James L. Nelson will discuss the origins of this invasion and its consequences, along with the story of how he came to write his Viking series, The Norsemen Saga. Nelson has written and published 28 historical novels and non-fiction books, ten of which are Northmen sagas.

There are so many reasons to keep honeybees – to support pollinators, for the joy of observing them at work, and for the honey, propolis & beeswax that beekeepers can collect.

Join Master Beekeeper Karen Thurlow for three sessions to help you get ready for your first season keeping bees. She will prepare you for the earliest decisions you’ll have to make when starting out: what equipment to get (and where), how to put together a new hive and where to situate it, and what bees to order and in what “form” (package or nuc). Karen will also introduce you to the lives of bees themselves – what their roles and basic needs are – as well as what you need to look for when inspecting your hive(s), and what each of the four seasons as a beekeeper will require of you. 

*This is a 3 part webinar series with sessions taking place on: January 24, January 25, & January 31 from 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. All sessions will be recorded & the recordings shared with registrants. We will reserve February 1 as a snow date in case of power or internet outages. 

The Lewiston Public Library, in partnership with ArtVan, will be offering in-person art programs.

Starting on September 10th, the programs will take place on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month from 3:30pm-5:00pm in the Children’s Department for children ages 5-14.

Make Art with ArtVan is free, open to the public, and no registration is required. All art supplies will be provided.

Program takes place on the 3rd floor of the Lewiston Public Library, in the Children’s Department. Children aged 5-8 must be accompanied by an adult.

ArtVan is a mobile art program that brings hands-on creative art opportunities for self-expression, personal growth, and fun. All of their projects aim to inspire art-making with a variety of materials to explore. ArtVan programs engage all age groups, encourage time outside and reduce screen time, help youth stay connected, diminish stress, and provide release for unvented expressions of emotions, such as loss and confusion.

ArtVan began in 2004 and has provided therapeutic art and strengths-based programs to under-resourced neighborhoods.

The Lewiston Public Library is located downtown at 200 Lisbon Street at the corner of Pine Street. More information on ArtVan programs is available by contacting the Lewiston Public Library at 513-3133 or LPLKids@lewistonmaine.gov.

New England's largest walk-through light show. 1 mile trail, over 2 million lights and trees wrapped heights of over 90 feet.

Note: our schedule varies and does not operate daily. It is on our website. Thanks!

It's FREE skiing, snowboarding & tubing from 5pm-9pm sponsored by Brookfield Renewable U.S. Ski & board rentals are just $35+tax. There is no charge for tubes* The Café & The Last Run Pub will be open. * All tubers must sign a release form on our website ahead of time or pick up a waiver at the ticket window the evening of the event. Conditions may change so always check our website & Facebook page for the latest information regarding this event & the tubing park. See less

Who thought of putting molasses in baked beans? The answer you know is probably wrong, and likely the result of Victorian efforts to spin a colonial story about how New England eats. Join Meg Muckenhoupt, the author of The Truth About Baked Beans, to hear the true stories behind Boston Baked Beans, maple syrup, bear fat, and more. Muckenhoupt examines how ideas about New England’s food have shaped our ideas about regional identity, who belongs here, and whose stories get told.

Meg Muckenhoupt is a freelance writer and author of The Truth About Baked Beans and Cabbage: A Global History, among others. Her work has been featured in the Boston Globe, Boston Phoenix, Boston Magazine, and the Time Out Boston guide. Her book Boston Gardens and Green Spaces (Union Park Press, 2010) is a Boston Globe Local Bestseller. She lives in Lexington, Massachusetts.

This FREE virtual program is presented via Zoom. You will receive an email with the zoom link for the program with your registration confirmation through our online ticketing system.

If you choose to make a donation, please be sure to register for a general admission ticket in order to receive the Zoom link.

Like many places, landscapes throughout Western Maine are changing dramatically. Mahoosuc Land Trust's "Habitat For All" garden, along with bestselling books by Doug Tallamy and others have amplified the increasingly critical roles of gardens, yards, neighborhoods and towns in supporting native food webs for birds, pollinators and other wildlife. These settings also provide rich opportunities to energize new partnerships, find ready relevance for all ages and demographics, and for bringing new energy and inclusion to conserving wildlife and habitat. Our backyards and local green spaces become opportunities to recruit and train new naturalists, while also creating potential refugia for species of plants and trees facing real challenges across broader landscapes.

Join Eric Topper, Maine Audubon's Director of Strategic Initiatives, to learn about how Maine Audubon and their partners engage people and their communities in creating and maintaining landscapes for wildlife and habitat.