Mon, 02/20/2023 - 02:17 pm

Leigh Sherrill

Southport Island Association (SIA) and Boothbay Harbor Rotary celebrated teachers and staff of Southport Central School Feb. 17. Courtesy of Alice Mutch

Congratulations to all the Southporters who travelled to Florida for the National Music Theater Festival, sponsored by Universal Studios. The group led by Emily Mirabile includes three of the Harris children, Agatha, Sarah, and Ford, accompanied by their parents, as well as Jesse Ullo, Lucie Hollon, Fiona Bishop, Scout Martin, Lily Billings and Kayla Watts. Have not yet heard how they did in the completion, but would not surprise me if they have won at least several awards. You can see great pictures of the fun they are having on Facebook!

On Feb. 17 members of the Southport Island Association (SIA) and Boothbay Harbor Rotary had fun celebrating our teachers and staff of the Southport Central School. It is the second year that Rotary has invited the SIA to collaborate in Teacher Appreciation Days. Rotarians and SIA members together acknowledged the success of the school and especially its teachers and staff. SIA past president Alice Mutch and Rotarians Shawn Lewin and Tom Marston honored the teachers saying, “Your dedication and expertise have resulted in a high quality education with solid emotional growth of our students. This is a jewel in our community.” If you wish to become involved with the SIA or Rotary, contact Alice at 410-353-3861.

The Southport Island Association is also planning the Annual Winter Walk that will take place on Saturday, March 11. Snow date will be Sunday, March 12. The SIA is partnering with Cape Newagen Alpaca Farm, Southport General Store, and Southport Memorial Library to celebrate a community walk. The Winter Walk begins at 2 p.m. at the Library with four alpacas led by owners Mike Ciccarelli and Anne Gobes. All are welcome to join in the alpaca fun! Do you know that some alpacas will even give you a kiss, and to my knowledge you are safe because they do not get Covid. Being outside in the fresh air with your neighbors and the alpacas on a walk to the Town Landing refreshes all of us, but please do leave your dogs at home as the alpacas are a bit frightened by dogs. Upon return to the library, stay for some good cheer with coffee, hot chocolate and donuts provided by the General Store and enjoy a wine and cheese hour sponsored by the SIA. The Library will be open to the public as well, and walkers can shop for used books for sale.

I hear about 45 people attended the library talk on Saturday. I had to miss it due to Zooming in to the Camden Conference, this year on the turbulence surrounding world trade. I must admit economic discussions are a bit beyond me, but what I took away is is that the tussle between free trade and protectionism, plus the use of sanctions to get your way, makes finding a good balance in international trade very difficult.

Mary Hanley was kind enough to send the following information about author and songwriter Cathie Pelletier’s talk, which was very enthusiastically received, “...old and young listened with rapt attention,” and there were so many questions which the author stayed on to answer, speaking with some folks individually. She has another novel for readers ages 10-15 that will be coming out soon titled “Evangeline’s Journey.” Building on Longfellow’s poem, “Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie” she casts in novel form the tale of an Acadian girl as she searches for her lost love, Gabriel, amid the expulsion go the Acadians from maritime Canada and Maine. Since the author is descended form Acadians, lives in Allagash, and at a time when immigration and migration issues are often in the news, this tale gives students a deeper look into the situation. We hope she will return to our library soon for a talk about this novel.

Before too long it will be town meeting time, which is Monday, March 6. You can vote for elected officials during the day from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. During the meeting that will begin at the Southport Town Hall at 7:30 p.m. you may vote on all other matters described in the warrant. A copy of the warrant is posted at the Southport Post Office and other public buildings around town.