Articles by Kathryn Olmstead
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Art walks revitalize downtown Presque Isle
By Kathryn Olmstead on May 09, 2013, at 2:24 p.m.
Let’s see if I can explain this. The first Friday of every month is art walk night in Presque Isle. But as the event grows in scope and popularity it has become more and more challenging to take in all that is offered. May 3 was particularly complicated for me. ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Navy admiral finds Swedish roots in Aroostook log home
Adm. Gregory G. Johnson never forgot his Aroostook County roots. His career in the U.S. Navy took him all over the world, ultimately as commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe, headquartered in London, and commander of Allied Forces in southern Europe, headquartered in Naples, Italy. But the Westmanland native ...
Visitors experience wonders of Aroostook County
By Kathryn Olmstead on March 28, 2013, at 2:05 p.m.
Every month, Portland-based Maine magazine takes its readers to a different part of the state through a regular feature titled 48 Hours. For the March edition — also the Food Issue — Editor Susan Grisanti and Associate Publisher Steve Kelly traveled to Aroostook County; Susan to Presque Isle and Steve ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
State lawmakers visit Aroostook County family farms
It started in a conversation around a dining room table in Woodland last year. It culminated last weekend in a visit to Aroostook County by members of the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. The initial conversation focused on Aroostook County agriculture and the future of ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Aroostook home to largest, oldest red deer farm in country
By Kathryn Olmstead on Feb. 28, 2013, at 11:55 a.m.
If you search for information on red deer farming on the Internet, one of the first websites to pop up will be Shakaree Red Deer Farm in New Limerick, Maine. With a herd of 1,000 animals on 500 acres of pasture in southern Aroostook County, Shakaree is the largest and ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Aroostook County man crafts artful chairs, furniture
When Terry Kelly graduated from the University of Maine in Orono with a degree in English in 1995, he dreamed of writing fiction and poetry, and still does. But his focus changed after he began working at his father’s mill, Kelly Lumber, when he returned to Ashland, where he grew ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Alpacas well suited to northern Maine climate
I have wanted to visit Spudland Alpacas ever since I noticed the sign on Route 1 just south of Mars Hill pointing to the farm and store on the Bubar Road. That would have been around 2003 when Richard Porter decided to add animals to his farm in Blaine. A ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Downtown Presque Isle a hotbed of art on first Fridays
Downtown Presque Isle was abuzz Friday night, Dec. 7. Merchants on the Corner offered wine and beer tastings. The Reed Gallery at the University of Maine at Presque Isle hosted a reception in honor of six artisans featured in the month’s exhibition of “fine craft of northern Maine.” Live music ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
New Sweden man crafts voices of pipe organs heard around the world
The pipe organ at the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tenn., has 2,974 pipes. The organ in Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas has 5,535 pipes. The organ in the Cathedrale de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland, has 6,654 pipes. A significant number of the pipes for these and dozens of other ...
Fort Fairfield looking to revive glory days
Brent Churchill remembers when he was growing up in Fort Fairfield and drivers could not find a place to park on Main Street any Friday or Saturday night. The town was bustling with activity, drawing people from surrounding towns on both sides of the Canadian border. “Fort Fairfield was the ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
School farm connects students to land, culture of work
When John Hoffses of Mapleton graduated from Presque Isle High School in 2002, he enrolled in the agribusiness program at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle. He had worked at the MSAD 1 Educational Farm during high school and looked forward to a career in agriculture. But there was ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Program teaching Aroostook residents how to change lifestyles, live healthier
When Wesley Rankin joined the Healthy Hearts Healthy Community program at Cary Medical Center in Caribou in May 2012, his speech was slurred, he weighed 268 pounds, he was falling down frequently, and he could move only the thumb on his right hand. A pair of strokes in February had ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
UMPI art professor documents WWII veterans’ Pacific stories
When Anderson Giles decided to see what he could learn about the island in the Pacific where his father served during World War II, he had no idea his search would evolve into a second career. Professor of art at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Giles was 4 ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Amazing variety of hostas featured in Fort Fairfield gardens
The temperature was 90 degrees outside when I rolled into Arthur Mraz’s dooryard Sunday afternoon, but it was 10-15 degrees cooler in the shaded yard surrounding his home in Fort Fairfield. It was even cooler in his house. He had opened a window to let in the warm air from ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Loring Military Heritage Center’s unique memorabilia to be reunion attraction
LIMESTONE, Maine — Loring Air Force Base was a mysterious place in 1991 when Matt Cole of Washburn was an Eagle Scout. He always looked forward to the annual Boy Scout Winterama campouts on the base, one of the few times civilians were allowed through the patrolled gates that limited ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Caribou resident at home in land of caribou
Traveling in a land where caribou still roam, I was proud to write “Caribou, Maine” as my place of residence in signing the guest books of inns, interpretive centers and historic sites. My affinity with Newfoundland and Labrador did not end there. Northern people in Canada, as in Maine, possess ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Northern Girl promotes using local produce at home and in mass market
I yell from my car window to the slim man shaking a rug outside the back door of an unlabeled, one-story building on the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone: “Is this the old NCO Club?” “Hi Kathryn,” he responds, confirming I have found the home of Northern Girl ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
I hope I will have a chance to clean out the basement before I die
My mother often said she hoped before she died she would have a chance to clean out the basement. Well, she didn’t. She was busy until the day a stroke took her unexpectedly in 1984. After my father died six months later, my sister and I spent a month in ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Nocturnal visitor to bedroom elicits scream
At first I thought I was being awakened by raindrops on the window. But when I looked out, the sky was full of stars. Maybe it’s a moth caught under the storm window propped open to let in the cool night air. I lay back, appreciating the breeze off the ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
New, old methods combine to deter scrap metal thefts in Aroostook
It took a while, but I got over the theft of the enameled cast iron sink I had been saving to install in a renovated log cabin. Perhaps I shouldn’t have left it in the yard. But when I discovered old farm equipment salvaged from the barn was missing too, ...
Police find remains believed to be Nichole Cable, 15, in Old Town woods
Orono man facing murder charge in connection with death of missing Glenburn teen
Items found, authorities pursuing leads in search for Glenburn teen
LePage hopes to eliminate income tax by end of second term
Central High principal placed on administrative leave with pay after police charges
Obama’s boyfriend line
Ignore LePage politics, get to root of DHHS funding needs
Nichole Cable: In our minds, hearts
Basketball season never ends for Worcesters of Washburn, a family of 1,000-point scorers
UMaine narrows candidate list, hopes to name men’s hockey coach next week
Eastport teen notches first ‘Bandolero’ racing victory
Former Dexter, Nokomis coach Pratt takes Mount View football post
Fun, informative or just plain strange: 8 museums in Maine worth a road trip
Not even chemotherapy could quell Maine woman’s longing to be in the kitchen
Keyboardist Ray Manzarek of The Doors dies at age 74
Microsoft unveils new Xbox One game console