Air Show Offers Sky Delights, Airplane Pull for Wounded Warriors

United States Navy Blue Angels, flying inverted (courtesy photo)

By Larry Favinger

Staff Columnist

PORTSMOUTH – The sky will be filled with modern and historic aircraft this weekend as Pease International Airport welcomes the Service Credit Union Boston-Portsmouth Air Show.

The annual aerial extravaganza will be headlined for the second time in three years by the United States Navy Blue Angels and will also feature some of the most renowned War Birds of World War II vintage. These planes include a Navy F4U-5 Corsair, a P-51 Mustang, a B-25 Mitchell bomber, and a TBM-3E Avenger.

The show is produced by the Daniel Webster Council, Boy Scouts of America, and the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire, which, along with more than thirty other local not-for-profit groups, will benefit from it. The show is scheduled at Pease Saturday, June 30, and Sunday, July 1, and will be a fitting start to Fourth of July week.

According to a show spokesperson, the F4U-5 Corsair was a carrier-capable fighter primarily during WWII and Korea. Daniel McCue, who was born in Maine and raised in New Hampshire, will be flying the aircraft. McCue has been an air show performer for more than twenty-five years. The P-51 is an American made long-range single-seat fighter aircraft. This plane celebrates the nation’s armed forces. Each paint feature on it represents and honors those who have served our country and who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Father and son team Bill and Scott “Scooter” Yoak spent thirteen years working to make this Mustang a reality.

The Disabled American Veterans Flight Team brings the B-25  to this year’s show. The B-25, probably remembered as the plane used in the Doolittle Raid over Tokyo, Japan seventy years ago, shares a mission with DAV - reminding people of the sacrifices veterans make for freedom. DAV representatives will be on hand throughout the weekend to meet and greet veterans and answer questions about DAV benefits.

The Avenger is a torpedo bomber that made its debut at the Battle of Midway during World War II. These unique acts join the Blue Angels and the show’s second jet demonstration team, the Black Diamond Jet Team.

Other performers include the U.S. Army Parachute Team “Golden Knights”, air show legend Sean D. Tucker, aerobatic superstar Michael Goulian, Wingwalker Jane Wicker and the KC-135 Stratotanker.

And while the United States Navy Blue Angels perform their high-flying act in the sky, hundreds of participants will be on the ground helping support our nation’s wounded warriors.  The show will host the VW Pull for Wounded Warriors July 1 at the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease. The VW Pull for Wounded Warriors will raise funds to benefit the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire (BIANH).

The VW Pull for Wounded Warriors is a giant tug-of-war where teams of up to twenty-five members pull an enormous aircraft weighing more than 130,000 pounds.  Previous teams have consisted of co-workers, college students, sports teams, military units, and other groups that wish to have fun and support the BIANH.  Teams need to register for the pull and must raise $1,500 to participate.  BIANH hopes to raise at least $50,000 at the Service Credit Union Boston – Portsmouth Air Show.

These are but a few of the attractions coming to the show. Fans can receive performer updates via social media on Facebook.com/ServiceCreditUnionBostonPortsmouthAirShow and Twitter.com/BostonPortAS.

Advanced general admission for the show is $20 for adults and $15 for youth ages 6-11. Ticket prices will increase to $25 for adults and $20 for youth the week of the event. There is a $10 fee for parking. There are several premium seating options and private chalets that include VIP parking passes available for purchase in advance. All tickets can be purchased at www.BostonPortsmouthAirShow.com.

Local Beach Towns Named New England’s Best

YORK COUNTY –

Ogunquit was named the best beach town in New England, with Kennebunkport, York, and Old Orchard Beach also making the top twenty.

“We are honored,” said Karen Arel, president of the Ogunquit Chamber of Commerce. “We know about the beauty of this place, and now the world knows. We have wonderful people who live and work here, and we just open our hearts to visitors.”

Yankee Magazine’s July/August  2012 issue names the top beach towns in New England. To determine the winners, writer Stephen Jermanok and Yankee’s editors researched, visited, and rated New England beach towns on a 0 to 10 point scale in fourteen categories including: picturesque quality, thriving town center, traffic, parking, clam shacks/ice cream stands, lodging, shopping, rainy day activities, accessibility, public access to beaches, natural life, solitude, kid-friendly, and water temperature. Ogunquit, Maine, won with the highest total score of 115 points. Kennebunkport (#7), York Beach (#11) and Old Orchard Beach (#17) also made the list. New Hampshire’s Hampton Beach is ranked #19.

“To determine the 25 best beach towns in New England, we asked which beachfront communities offer the quintessential summer joys of unfurling a blanket on sand, listening to the waves and jumping them—and then, sun-kissed and eager for sundown, strolling the streets, and poking into shops,” says Yankee’s editor Mel Allen. “Which places give you the wonderful experience of a blissful summer day stretching slowly into the next, and the next?  We’ve ranked towns according to 14 criteria, ranging from the availability of essential ‘beach food’ (like ice cream and fried clams) to how close the beach is to town to the accessibility of lodging for all budgets.”

The following towns are included on the list:

1. Ogunquit, Maine

2. Provincetown, Massachusetts

3. Nantucket, Massachusetts

4. Newport, Rhode Island

5. Old Harbor, Block Island

6. Edgartown, Massachusetts

7. Kennebunkport, Maine

8. Rockport, Massachusetts

9. Chatham, Massachusetts

10. Watch Hill, Rhode Island

11. York Beach, Maine

12. (Tie) Falmouth, Massachusetts

12. (Tie) Wellfleet, Massachusetts

13. Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts

14. Narragansett, Rhode Island

15. (Tie) Newburyport, Massachusetts

15. (Tie) Orleans, Massachusetts

16. Ipswich, Massachusetts

17. (Tie) Madison, Connecticut

17. (Tie) Old Orchard Beach, Maine

18. (Tie) Little Compton, Rhode Island

18. (Tie) Plymouth, Massachusetts

19. Hampton Beach, New Hampshire

20. Hull, Massachusetts

21. Brewster, Massachusetts

Football Coach Hosts 16 Senate Pages from Across Country

Sixteen Senate pages from across the country joined Sean Roche and family in Wells Beach (Cindy Roche photo)

WELLS – As a football coach, Tim Roche is used to dealing with line-ups and formations. Those personnel skills came in handy this week as his family hosted sixteen students from across the country. They all served as pages for the United States Senate this past year, and were in Wells Beach for a reunion with Roche’s son, Sean, a page sponsored by Senator Olympia Snowe.

Sean applied to be a page early last year, but there are so many applicants for the thirty positions available across the country that he didn’t figure he would be selected. Sean, who used to play football for his dad, was in Washington when Wells won the high school football state championship last fall. He spent September 1 through February 1 in Washington, where he stayed at a dorm called Daniel Webster Hall with the other pages. They attended school from 6 to 9 a.m. each day before heading to the Capitol for the day’s work.

Tim and Cindy Roche hosted the sixteen pages at their family beach house at the corner of Church and Gilman Streets in Wells for four days. The students represented fifteen different states. They are all going to be seniors this fall. They spent time at Wells Beach, Perkins Cove in Ogunquit, and Kennebunkport. The Roches had a lobster bake for them and taught them how to eat lobster. They took a lobster cruise on the Finestkind and visited the Bush compound at Walker’s Point.

The pages were ecstatic to be back together again, Cindy Roche said, and the parents enjoyed listening to the kids talk politics.

“He didn’t have huge political aspirations when he went down there,” Tim said. “But when he came back he did. He’d like to be a senator from Maine one day, or maybe president.”

The following students stayed in Maine last week: JR Miller, Ohio, Lea Graber, South Dakota, Liam Haviv, Arizona, Mitchell Bustillo, Texas, Chloe Barz, New Jersey, Susanna Billings, Vermont, Shawn Allen, Kentucky, Matt Haarer, Michigan, Ian Trotta, Illinois, Gretta Schultz, Wisconsin, Helen Hathaway, Arkansas, Kristina Biddle, Delaware, Karin Fuller, Utah, Hunter Moak, Louisiana, Shelby Oney, Kentucky, and Maddie Twomey, the other Mainer who lives in South Portland.

Maine Diner Serves 6 Millionth Customer

Sally and Dick Henry, of the Maine Diner, pose with Clyde Raymond Curry, their 6 millionth customer, as he pretends to take a call from the White House. (Photo by Tim Gillis)

By Timothy Gillis

Staff Columnist

WELLS –

The Maine Diner on Route 1 in Wells served its six millionth meal Wednesday to Clyde Raymond Curry, a retired ATF agent from Dover, New Hampshire. Curry reveled in the attention, while he ate with four friends. “I can really ham this up,” he said, as photographers vied to get a good shot in the packed restaurant.

Dick Henry, owner for 29 years, offered Curry a smorgasbord of prizes, including ham, steak, turkey, gift cards, and a golf bag. Curry also drew the names of the $1,000 AAA travel voucher winners – Kati and John Maiuccoro, regulars to the Maine Diner from Albany, New York, who summer at their house in Kennebunkport.

Open since 1983, the classic blue-and-white diner is a local landmark on Route 1. With their devoted staff of seventy-five employees serving up equal parts of great food and warm hospitality, the diner has become famous around the world. Dick’s brother, Myles, a co-owner who passed away in December of 2010, always said, “We’re often imitated, but never duplicated.”

It took the Maine Diner twelve years to hit the one-million customer mark, but it has averaged a million customers every three-and-a-half years since then. Among its most recent accolades, the diner was named “Favorite Diner in New England” by Yankee magazine in 2011. The diner also earned the Phantom Gournet’s rating of a “90,” making it one of about seventy restaurants our of 2,500 rated in New England to earn such a high score.

First Glimpse Inside Famous Maine Author’s House

By Larry Favinger

(photo by Jeffrey Stevensen)

Staff Columnist

KENNEBUNKPORT – The home of celebrated Maine author Kenneth Roberts will be open for public view starting Saturday, June 23, at this year’s Designer Show House sponsored by the Kennebunkport Historical Society.

Roberts, who was born in December 1885 in Kennebunk and died in Kennebunkport in July 1951, built Rocky Pastures in 1938. It has never before been open to the public.

The house will be open for tours through July 12. It is a major fund-raiser for the historical society.

This is the first show house sponsored by the society and is “a big undertaking” for the group, according to Susan Edwards, the society’s executive director.

The estate will be open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will be closed July 4.

Tickets are available at the Kennebunkport Historical Society or online at designersshowhouse.org. The cost is $20 per person.

Designers taking part in the show house have been assigned one of the twelve rooms or a portion of the grounds to decorate. The designers come from throughout New England.

The eighteen firms include Aisthesis, All About Kitchens and Baths, Anniebell’s, Coastal Organizing, Dan Viehmann Landscaping, Days Gone By Interiors, Fiore Interiors, Frank Hodge Interiors, Interiors with Provenance, Krista Stokes, Paula Rossouw, Snug Harbor Farm, Spaces, TJ’s at the Sign of the Goose, Well Dressed Interiors, Wright Interiors, and King’s Wharfe.

“Some are paying tribute to Kenneth Roberts,” Edwards said. As an example, in the living room there will be “a collection of books” that Roberts had in his own library, including those he authored. “There is a very period feel.”

Roberts built the estate in 1938 after writing  “Arundel,” “Rabble In Arms,” and “Northwest Passage.”

The latter book was the story of Roger’s Rangers and was made into an MGM motion picture in 1940 starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Young and Walter Brennan.

“Kenneth Roberts was an intensely private man,” Edwards said in a prepared release. “This is a very rare opportunity for the public to see this historic home and to enjoy the stunning work of these designers.”

Rocky Pastures burned in 1976 and was “rebuilt but not actually as Kenneth Roberts built it,” Edwards said, but in the same footprint as the original structure.

The show house activities begin with an Opening Night Soiree Saturday (June 22) under a tent on the estate grounds from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event will be catered by Kitchen Chicks with entertainment provided by the Chris Humphrey Trio.

Shuttle transportation will be provided from the Consolidated School in Kennebunkport. Tickets are $60 for Kennebunkport Historical Society members and $75 for non-members and are available at the Historical Society at 25 North Street, Kennebunkport, 207-967-2751.

Other activities scheduled include a Lunch & Learn Series at noon on three separate dates.

On Monday, June 25, Joyce Butler, historian, archivist/curator, and writer, will explore the colorful personality of Roberts and chronicle his life in her presentation on Kenneth Roberts: The Man  at The Colony Hotel.

On Monday, July 2, food historian and writer Sandy Oliver, will highlight Roberts’ interest in food in her presentation about Kenneth Roberts’ Chapter on Food in His Trending Into Maine,  also held at The Colony Hotel.

The final Lunch & Learn will be held at the Nonantum Resort with etiquette specialist Andrea Pastore providing thoughtful and useful solutions to various etiquette situations in Navigating a Place Setting.

The $45 ticket for each session includes admission to the Show House, lunch, and the speaking event. Tickets are available at the Historical Society.

Town Clock Dedication Ceremony Set

WELLS -

The Wells Rotary Club is pleased to announce a Dedication Ceremony for the Town Clock on Saturday, June 23,  at 11 a.m.   The Clock is located at the park adjacent to the Wells Fire Station at the intersection of Routes 1 and 109.  Members of the public are cordially invited to attend.

The Clock project was started in 2010 under the auspices of the Gateway to Wells/ Route 1 Beautification.  The Wells Rotary raised approximately $40,000 through private donations, Rotary funds and site work donated by the Town of Wells.    

The Wells Rotary has a rich history within the community as the lead on local fundraising projects such as the Wells Activity Center, Wells Harbor Park Pavilion, Wells High School Concession Stand, and the Wells Parks and Recreation Pavilion.  They have doubled scholarship charitable donations to the Wells High School and the York County Community College.  The Wells Rotary Club meets for breakfast every Monday at 7:30 a.m at the Coastal House on Route 1 in Wells.

Rotary International is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.  In more than 200 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 32,000 Rotary clubs.  The main objective of Rotary is service - in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world.  The Rotary motto is “Service Above Self.”

Two Towns Receive Special Recognition for Efforts Combating Obesity

Louise Cole Anderson and Sharon Brassard of the South Berwick Recreation Department and Natalie Gould of Eliot Community Service Department receive Redy awards from Sue Patterson of the Choose To Be Healthy Partnership (courtesy photo)

 

SOUTH BERWICK & ELIOT –

Sharon Brassard and Louise Cole Anderson of South Berwick Recreation and Natalie Gould of Eliot CSD received “Redy” awards at the recent Choose To Be Healthy Annual Meeting. All three serve on the Choose To Be Healthy Community Health Action Team that implemented an obesity prevention program called Let’s Go 5210 throughout the Eliot and South Berwick community this past year.

Choose To Be Healthy received a prestigious American Medical Association Healthy Living grant of $4000 last fall. The goal of the Action Team was to provide training to community partners and have partners implement strategies that promote healthier eating and more physical activity for children. Partners included Eliot Elementary School, Central School, Marshwood Great Works School, Little Buddies Family Child Care, South Berwick Recreation, Eliot CSD and Great Works Family Practice.

The Let’s Go 5210 model has four important daily messages: five or more fruits and vegetables, two hours or less recreational screen time, one hour or more of physical activity and zero sugary drinks with an emphasis on drinking water and low fat or skim milk.

The strategies chosen by the partners were providing healthy choices for snacks and celebrations and to provide opportunities for children to get physical activity every day.

A survey assessing parents’ knowledge and implementation of Let’s Go 5210 strategies was distributed in May with 172 parents providing feedback. Sixty seven percent are familiar with the Let’s Go 5210 message and 78 percent have implemented healthy behaviors at home.

Choose To Be Healthy (CTBH) is one of twenty-seven local Healthy Maine Partnerships that work to reduce the incidence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic lung disease and substance abuse. CTBH staff, members and partners work in the towns of Berwick, Eliot, Kittery, North Berwick, South Berwick, Wells, Ogunquit, Lebanon, and York.

Choose To Be Healthy is largely funded with tobacco settlement money from the Fund for a Healthy Maine through the Maine DHHS (Maine CDC and Office of Substance Abuse) and DOE. Additional financial and in-kind support comes from federal and state grants, foundations, local organizations and our lead agency, York Hospital. For more information, please contact Sue Patterson at 439-9473 or visit our website at www.ctbh.org.

The AMA Foundation is committed to improving the health of Americans through philanthropic support of quality programs in public health and medical education. Visit www.amafoundation.org to learn more.