There is no shortage of beauty in Maine – from the mountains and shore, to historic buildings and lighthouses, to all the many vibrant and ever-evolving types of art that are made here. Reflecting on how to think about the value of this kind of richness, and who has access to it and how, can lead to profound and important questions. We’ll think about these huge ideas in the context of two very unusual and extremely unexpected stories. The first is a monster art heist that occurred in downtown Portland, and the second is a tale of a bird from the Amazon than inexplicably took up a perch in Maine one November.
When police were notified that six paintings valued at 36 million dollars had been stolen from an apartment in Portland’s Monument Square, the question of who could have pulled off the theft soon had investigators asking if whoever took the paintings realized just how valuable they were. In her 2020 piece Why oh Wyeth, Natalie Gregory talks to Kelly Gorham, the detective assigned to the case, about what unfolded.
Featuring: Lieutenant Nick Goodman, Detective Kelly Gorham, Joe Soley
Town: Portland | County: Cumberland
In 2020, an unexpected visitor flew in from out of the blue and drew crowds of admirers to Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine. This unexpected celebrity was a great black hawk – a bird from the Amazon. No one knew how he got to Maine, or why he took up residence here in November. Neroli Price tries to get to know this Odd Bird by talking to his fans, who, as they came to love him, and worry about him, told stories and asked questions and suggested theories that soon grew much bigger than the hawk himself.
Featuring: Tom Berube, Troy Bennett
Town: Portland | County: Cumberland