New faces, new vendors welcome public to Windham Farmers’ Market on June 6

By Ed Pierce

One of the Lakes Region’s favorite farmers’ markets is counting down the days until the start of its 2026 season.

The Windham Farmers' Market will be open from 8:30 a.m. to
12:30 p.m. every Saturday from June 6 to Aug. 29 on
Turning Leaf Drive in Windham. SUBMITTED PHOTO

The Windham Farmers’ Market will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Saturday from June 6 through Aug. 29 on Turning Leaf Drive, at the intersection with Route 302 and River Road. It’s a fantastic way to start the weekend and bring home some unique items and locally grown foods sure to please everyone in the family.

“We are starting our season with 15 vendors,” said Lisa Fisher, Windham Farmers’ Market Coordinator. “Typically, we gain several new vendors during the summer. Some will be there every Saturday, and others will be there occasionally. The market’s website, WindhamFarmersMarket.com has a vendor’s page which provides our customers with a description of each vendor’s products, and their specific dates of attendance at our market.”

Co-sponsored by the Windham Economic Development Corporation and Baker Brook Farm, the market features an array of vendors providing local foods including meat, organic fruits and vegetables, eggs, freshly made fruit drinks and cold brew coffee, and bakery treats. It will also showcase art in a variety of media, and different types of fiber products for home décor and personal use. Customers will also be able to pamper themselves with soaps, tallow skin care products, and jewelry.

According to Fisher, new vendors at this year’s Windham Farmers’ Market are:

** Five Ferns Maine – freshly crafted drinks

** KnR Mac – photos, paintings, and prints

** Laser Clean Maine – sharpening for scissors and knives

** Meggy’s Eggies – eggs

** Nunaaa’s Kitchen – Iraqi American cuisine

** Only Crafts – crocheted items, jewelry and charms, and pet apparel

Fisher says that the best thing about working at the Windham Farmers' Market year after year is there is something for everyone, and everyone associated with the market contributes to making it an enjoyable place to be.

“Our customers and vendors are super. People are happy,” she said. “We get to see their children grow each year. The market is pet friendly. It is a great way to spend Saturday morning outside in the summer.”

Meg Bowden will be assisting Fisher in staffing the market this summer.

“She is a hometown girl who loves her farm animals,” Fisher said. “Please stop at the Welcome Booth and say hello to her.”

Visitors will find parking remains convenient at the market as Turning Leaf Drive is undergoing an extension.

“We have altered some of our parking, based on the extension and further construction of Turning Leaf Drive,” Fisher said. “The parking lot remains and overflow parking will be along one side of the extended roadway.”

The two goals of the market are to support our farmers, food producers and artisans by providing a positive venue where they can sell their product and to be a vehicle for improved community access to fresh, healthy and affordable local foods.

“Our customers are the biggest reason for our success,” Fisher said. “They come back every week and support all our vendors. It shows that when you’re nice to people, they respond.”

She said that new vendors are always welcome at the Windham Farmers’ Market. 

“Membership in our market gives the benefit of a supportive established community of vendors and customers,” Fisher said. “We promote our vendors on social media and offer affordable entry into a venue that provides ready exposure to new clientele.” 

Through the years, Fisher said the most unusual thing that she’s seen offered at the Windham Farmers' Market since she’s been coordinator is a wooly crocheted hat that looked like an octopus sitting on your head.

“I loved it and bought one for my son’s wife, who likes octopi … they promptly moved to Georgia, where it is too hot for an octopus head,” she said.

Prices are affordable and fair when you consider the time, effort, and materials cost that is required to produce what they sell, Fisher said.

Most of the vendors accept several types of payment and the market is authorized to accept SNAP.

“With SNAP purchases, we also offer Maine Harvest Bucks vouchers for the purchase of vegetables, fruits, and plants that can produce those,” Fisher said.

To learn more about the Windham Farmers’ Market and this year’s vendors, visit WindhamFarmersMarket.com. Find them on Facebook at under WindhamFarmersMarket or call 207-894-4097. <

Lakes Region trails filled with adventure

By Briana Bizier

Hitting the trails is a great way to enjoy the Lakes Region. Whether you’re looking for a casual stroll in the woods, hiking with small children, birdwatching, or hoping to bag a serious peak, the Lakes Region has something for everyone!

The South Face Loop Trail on Bald Pate
Mountain in Bridgton is not only scenic
for hikers but is also a challenge too.
COURTESY PHOTO 

The East Windham Conservation Area is a great place to start. Opened in 2023 by the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust, this is one of the newest conservation areas in the state. This 700-acre preserve offers trails with views of New Hampshire’s Presidential Range and the placid Little Duck Pond. The southern trailhead offers gentle and family-friendly trails, while the northern trailhead is a more direct route to the views. There are a lot of trails here, so snap a picture of the map at the kiosk in the parking lot for easy reference on the trail! Check the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust website at www.prlt.org for more information.

Raymond Community Forest is another local gem. Spiller Homestead Loop and Grape Expectations are both lovely, meandering paths that wind through the woods for roughly a mile, while the Pismire Bluff trail offers a more intense workout with spectacular views at the top of its mile-long climb. All of these trails are clearly labeled, and they can be linked together for a longer hike. Maps and parking information are on the Loon Echo Land Trust website at www.lelt.org.

Westbrook’s Mill Brook Preserve is home to a dramatic alewife migration each May when thousands of alewives, a type of herring, make their way from the Atlantic to their spawning beds in Highland Lake. Even if the fish aren’t running, this preserve is excellent for birdwatching. Young hikers will appreciate the fairy and gnome houses halfway between the Methodist Trailhead and the Perry Court Trailhead.

Mill Brook has two recommended pools for fish viewing; these are spots in the river where the alewives rest and school before attempting to climb the waterfalls in their path. The southern fish-viewing pool can be accessed with a half-mile hike from the Methodist Trailhead off Methodist Road, or with a two-mile loop beginning and ending at Perry Court Trailhead. This loop crosses Mill Brook just above the southern pool and then leads back to the trailhead past a series of fairy and gnome houses that are certain to entertain hikers young and old. Maps and more information can be found at www.prlt.org.

If you’re looking for views, Bald Pate Mountain in Bridgton is a favorite local spot. The main parking area off Route 107 offers several options to reach the top of Bald Pate. The Bob Chase trail, just under a mile long, is a short and gentle route to the picturesque summit. Hikers looking for more of a challenge can add in the Foster Lookout Loop, or park at the Micah Trailhead off Moose Pond Cove Road and take one of the longer routes up the peak. If you want a challenge, the short and steep Pate Trail will leave you feeling like you’ve really earned those summit pictures! The most straightforward route to the 1,150-foot Bald Pate Mountain summit is the blue-blazed Bob Chase Trail, which begins in the parking area off Route 107. This trail is less than a mile, and the full loop takes hikers from a peaceful grove of birch and beech trees to windswept stands of pitch pine and exposed granite on the mountain’s summit. Check the Loon Echo Land Trust website at www.lelt.org for more information.

For serious hikers and mountain climbers, the Lakes Region is home to Pleasant Mountain, the tallest mountain in southern Maine. There are several trail options to climb Pleasant. Parking can be difficult, especially on the weekends, so be prepared with a backup route in case the parking lot is full. No matter what trail you pick, Pleasant Mountain is a significant hike. Make sure everyone in your party has plenty of water, sturdy footwear, and warm clothing just in case. This preserve is also managed by Loon Echo Land Trust, so maps and details are at www.lelt.org.

Wherever you choose to explore in the Lakes Region this summer, make sure you’re prepared. It’s always a good idea to bring water and snacks, as well as sun protection. Pack all your trash with you and come prepared to take lots of pictures. Happy trails! <

Library presentation explores ‘Game of Life’ creator’s own story

By Erin Rose

The many twists and turns of board game pioneer Milton Bradley’s life will be presented at the Windham Library from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20.

John Hutchinson, Business Reference
Librarian at the University of Maine's
Fogler Library in Orono, will offer a
free presentation from 6 to 7 p.m. on
Wednesday, May 20 at the Windham
Public Library about the life of board
game pioneer Milton Bradley.
COURTESY PHOTO

Born in Vienna, Maine, the lithographer-turned-game-inventor’s life is full of “plot twists,” according to the presenter, John Hutchinson, Business Reference Librarian at the University of Maine’s Fogler Library in Orono.

“I have done a series on inventors who were born in Maine,” he said, explaining that Bradley’s story is one of the tales of inventors from the state, which includes Chester Greenwood who famously invented the earmuffs, engineer Percy Spencer who is more than any other person the reason we all have microwave ovens in our kitchens, and Margaret Knight who designed groundbreaking industrial machinery and even automobiles. “It’s just me paying tribute to inventors who were born in Maine.”

“Milton Bradley has more of a pull for people because they know the name and associate it with games, and honestly, his life was a lot more interesting because it had so many ups and downs and a lot of twists,” Hutchinson added.

While Bradley became a prolific board game publisher, he began his career in technical drawing, becoming an expert in drawing blueprints and technical specifications. After working for the Patent Office to help prepare drawings of inventions for applicants, he decided to quit and become a publisher, “which didn’t go too far,” Hutchinson said.

“He had an impulsive streak,” he said. “Playing chess with a friend led him to decide to put together his first board game.”

Bradley’s game creation was rooted in his time spent in New England as a child and his family’s strong beliefs. His desire to include education in his games was paramount, after his parents used games to teach him.

“His guiding light for making games for people is that games should be educational. He didn’t like making games that were just chance,” Hutchinson said. “That was too close to gambling and that upset his traditional New England upbringing where his family didn’t allow gambling.”

“He wanted to have games that involved personal choice and strategy,” he added.

Bradley’s desire to maintain his traditions led to the creation of his first game, the Checkered Game of Life, in 1860. The game took players on a journey around a modified checkerboard, by rolling a six-sided numbered top (instead of dice that could be associated with gambling) as they seek to gather 100 points by landing on good spaces, which depicted positive virtues, and avoiding spaces that would cost a penalty. Hutchinson will use a poster-sized reproduction of the playing board to demonstrate how the game is played during the presentation.

“It’s very interesting how it was played, and how it figures into his philosophy of life and how it changed over the years,” he said. “He wanted board games to be uplifting and not mean-spirited, and certainly not something that would encourage bad behavior, but still be really, really fun.”

The drive to avoid his games being used in gambling also led to the creation of Author Cards. The game helped participants learn authors and their works, as players must pair the two and the one who gathers the most matched sets wins. The game went through many variations over time, and Hutchinson will have a complete set of the cards from 1908 for attendees to examine.

“The game was very controversial for the time as card games were frowned upon by polite society, which associated it with gambling,” he said. “Milton said ‘no, we can use a card game to teach people things.’”

The game had editions that covered Bible verses and American history, and versions of the game continued to be available through the 1970s, as Hutchinson recalls playing the game with his family.

“It actually got me to read things,” he said, adding that one of the authors in his set was Nathaniel Hawthorne, “I just thought The Scarlet Letter sounded like an interesting title and I read it based on the title. [The game] did work to get me to read.”

A lesser-known fact about Bradley that will be explored during the presentation is his ardent work to promote kindergarten programs, an idea introduced to the United States in the late 19th century. After being approached to publish a book about the concept, he was pushed to attend a speech by a prominent educator about the topic. Afterwards, he not only published the book but used his business to help support kindergarten programs.

“He dedicated part of his business to making all manner of thing for kindergartens, including books, games, and even furniture and teaching supplies at low or no profit margin,” Hutchinson said. “By the time he passed, many of the prominent educators in the US said he was one of the largest driving forces for the kindergarten movement in the late 19th century.”

A former Windham resident, Hutchinson says that he is looking forward to returning to the library where he has many fond memories with his daughter.

“I used to bring my daughter to story time at the library every week,” he said. “It’ll be great to come back and visit the place where my little girl got her start being a reader and lover of libraries.”

The Windham Public Library is at 217 Windham Center Road in Windham. More details about Hutchinson’s presentation information can be found on the library’s website at www.windham.lib.me.us. <

Lake Region Community Chorus to present ‘Over the Rainbow’ concerts

By Ed Pierce

The Lake Region Community Chorus is busy rehearsing for its 11th annual Spring Concerts which will be performed later this month at the Lake Region High School auditorium.

Lake Region Community Chorus will perform 'Over the
Rainbow' concerts at 7 p.m. Friday, May 22 and 3 p.m. 
Sunday, may 245 at the Lake Region High School 
auditorium in Naples. SUBMITTED PHOTO 

The school is at 1877 Roosevelt Trail (Route 302) in Naples and concerts are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, May 22 and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 24. This dynamic choral group is made up of 45 singers from 12 surrounding towns in the Lakes Region of Maine.

The “Over the Rainbow” concerts will feature a joyous celebration of many musical styles that promise to offer something for everyone. Singing will be enhanced with instrumental accompaniments by Meredith Morehouse (percussion), Jeanine Loubier (fiddle), Peter Kimball, Brian Sprunger and Pam Ward (guitars), Adam Quincy (trumpet), Glen Jukkola (violin), and Charlie Oehrtmann, (bass).

The chorus is directed by Jan Jukkola and Susan Stockwell and accompanied by Patrick Speckamp.

The organization’s history is short because it’s relatively new, having held its first meeting in February 2013 to discuss the possibility of forming a choral group in the Lakes Region.

It was amazing how quickly everything seemed to come together, and with Laurie Turley as its original conductor, Lake Region Community Chorus members performed their first concert in June 2013.

Since then, the original group of singers has grown with each season, and now has members from 12 communities, including Windham, Raymond, Bridgton, Naples, Sebago, Harrison, Waterford, Stoneham, Casco, Denmark, Hiram and Fryeburg.

The Lake Region Community Chorus is a community of voices joined together in song.

Its purpose is to provide an opportunity for individuals with an interest in singing to share their love of choral music through regularly scheduled rehearsals that will culminate in community and outreach performances. It also strives to enhance each member’s ability to sing by teaching vocal exercises and techniques and to enrich their choral experience by providing a wide variety of musical selections that will increase their knowledge and appreciation of choral literature.

Lake Region Community Chorus performs two concerts each year. One falls in early December and features holiday music. The other is a springtime concert generally falling in mid-May. Rehearsals for the “Over the Rainbow” spring concerts began in January and have continued through the winter and into the spring months.

Each concert offered by the community chorus is free but donations to help cover the expense of music and operating costs will be gratefully accepted by the organization.

If interested, come and join the Lake Region Community Chorus as they lift their voices and sing, sing, sing. This year’s concerts are sure to be remembered long after the final chords are sounded.

Jukkola and Stockwell say that the community chorus would like to thank Bridgton Academy for all their help and support. They also want to thank Saphrona Stetson and Greg Watkins for all their additional help in staging the upcoming concerts at the Lakes Region High School. They said that the Lakes Region Community Chorus is grateful to the community for their continued support through the years and they greatly appreciate their enthusiastic audiences and local sponsors.

Please visit the Lake Region Community Chorus website for more details about the concerts or call 207-647-2584. <

Loon Echo Land Trust ready for seasonal visitors at Hacker’s Hill

Last week, the outhouse on Hacker’s Hill in Casco was officially retired and removed after reaching the end of its usable life.

The popular seasonal recreation site called Hacker's Hill
Preserve opens Friday, May 1 and is managed by Loon
'Echo Land Trust. COURTESY PHOTO  

According to a post on the Loon Echo Land Trust website, in place of the outhouse, a new port-a-potty will be on the hill from May through October.

Over the years, the outhouse was frequently used as a trash receptacle for cans, bottles, dog poop bags, and food packaging. Land Trust officials says that removing this waste from the tank was costly, and the structure required significant ongoing maintenance.

From Friday, May 1, until Oct. 31, 2026, the gate to Hacker's Hill will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. 

The gate will be closed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, during inclement weather, and on July 4. Access is allowed from dawn to dusk.

There is no trash service at Hacker’s Hill and visitors are asked to carry out anything that they bring in, including dog poop bags, bottles, and other trash. No smoking is permitted, and dogs must be kept on a leash at all times. Night use for astrophotography is by written permission issued by the land trust only.

Hacker’s Hill Preserve was established in 2013 after a major fundraising effort. The property was purchased from the Hall family, who cared for the property for over 100 years. Generous donations from the Town of Casco, many businesses, individuals, and Land for Maine’s Future made the conservation of this special place possible. Today, Hacker's Hill is owned and managed by Loon Echo Land Trust.

Hacker's Hill Preserve, off Quaker Ridge Road in Casco, is within the traditional and unceded territory of the Abenaki, a member tribe of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Abenaki First Nations of Odanak and Wôlinak maintain reservations along the St. Francis and St. Lawrence Rivers in the Canadian province of Quebec, where they sought refuge following colonial warfare in the Saco, Presumpscot, and Androscoggin River watersheds during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Located on Quaker Ridge Road in Casco, Hacker’s Hill is 27 acres of fields and woods that provides 280-degree views including the White Mountains, Pleasant Mountain, and Sebago Lake. This property is open to the public for scenic viewing, picnicking, bird watching, hunting, and walking. <