I think I finally found something everyone who reads this blog can agree on:  fresh corn is great.  This came from Wally’s.

Yesterday I got up and went over to Hamilton House to stroll around the garden, walk along the Salmon Falls River, and drink in the smell of new mown hay.  It’s one of my favorite things to do on a sunny summer day.

What do love about South Berwick in the summer?

Every year for thirty two years on the last Saturday in June the Strawberry Festival fills the heart of South Berwick with entertainment, food, artisans and strawberry shortcakes.    The festival is run by volunteers and provides an opportunity for local non-profit organizations to raise funds at booths and by selling food to support their important work in the community.

This year adds one more successful festival to the history of South Berwick.  Here are some views of the festival.

Trolleys provide transportation to the festival from points all around the town.  For children, the trolley ride is their first adventure of the festival.

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South Berwick resident Tony Lemmo had an idea that it would be good for local entrepreneurs and business owners to have a way to meet each other.  A year ago, as entrepreneurs are likely to do,  he decided to just make it happen.  So for the last year he has been hosting monthly networking meetings at various local businesses where entrepreneurs and business owners have come together to socialize, enjoy refreshments, and make the kind of connections that can be invaluable for growing a business.

On Tuesday, June 24 South Berwick Networking celebrated its one year anniversary with a gathering hosted by the Links at Outlook Golf Course.   In the beautiful setting of the Red Barn a crowd enjoyed great food and drink, prize raffles, learning about local businesses, and getting to know other local business people.

Tony Lemmo says he had no idea what would happen when he hosted the first meeting a year ago in the Ocean National Bank parking lot.  He has been pleased with the turnout for meetings with more people being added to the list each month.  He encourages local business people who would like to be added to the South Berwick Networking email list to contact him at  lemmo@verizon.net

South Berwick Strawberry Festival
Saturday, June 28, 2008

Always the last Saturday in June, the South Berwick Strawberry Festival officially kicks off summer. The kids are out of school, camps are open and the weather is getting warm. All over town one can see the bright red, white, and green strawberry flags that not only line the main streets, but can also be seen flying from many houses.   The day is filled with food, entertainment, games, and crafts.

For thirty-two consecutive years hundreds of volunteers from South Berwick have come together to put together a South Berwick tradition. As always, official Festival activities will take place only on the grounds of Central School, on Main Street, in the center of town. A stop at the Strawberry Festival Information Booth is a must to find out more about the day’s schedule for the entertainers, as well as where all the various activities are located and to purchase strawberry festival memorabilia.

This year, the Strawberry Festival Committee is pleased to announce that they will serve their Strawberry Shortcake and Cheesecake on biodegradable bowls, plates and spoons.  We have collaborated with BIOSMART- a company that sells sugar cane Bagasse tableware.  Bagasse is the biomass remaining after sugarcane stalks are crushed to extract their juices. 

Read below to get all the information and find out what to see, do, and how to get involved: (more…)

The strawberries will still be red but the Strawberry Festival is going GREEN!

The Strawberry Festival Committee has announced that they will serve Strawberry Shortcake and Cheesecake on biodegradable bowls, plates and spoons. They have collaborated with BIOSMART- a company that sells “Bagasse” tableware derived from the by-product of sugar cane. In order to promote these biodegradable products, BIOSMART is offering Strawberry Festival visitors a promotional deal to introduce their products to Maine.
For more information, visit
www.southberwickstrawberryfestival.com .

South Berwick Strawberry Festival
June 28, 2008 -9:00-4:00

You can be a part of this great community event:

To help serve strawberries in the tent on Saturday call 384-5848 or
tent@southberwickstrawberryfestival.com.

To help hull strawberries on Friday, call 207-752-6396 or
volunteer@southberwickstrawberryfestival.com.

The Strawberry Festival Committee is a non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers. All proceeds from the Strawberry Festival are given back to the Community in the form of grants. Over the past 32 years, the Festival Committee has provided over $150,000 in grants and scholarships to the local community and MHS students. The Festival also supports South Berwick non-profit organizations giving them a venue to earn money for their respective groups.

The Strawberry Festival Committee thanks the hundreds of community volunteers and non-profit organizations for all their hard work. Their volunteer hours have been crucial in making the Festival such a success.

For more information and for a schedule of events, visit www.southberwickstrawberryfestival.com.

The squill have covered the ground in a carpet of blue in the aisle garden behind the Sarah Orne Jewett House on Main Street.

Berwick Academy students participated in their annual Service Day on April 18 by helping resident Bruce Whitney, a member of the South Berwick Cemetery Association, clean up Old Fields Burying Ground on Vine Street.

Photo by Amory Mansfield.

A new self-guided walking tour brochure leads South Berwick residents and visitors down streets, past shops, houses, and other nineteenth-century sites prominent in the life of author Sarah Orne Jewett.

The public is invited to a free reception celebrating the release of the brochure at the Counting House Museum on Sunday, April 20, at 3:00 p.m. Garden historian Nancy Wetzel will read from Jewett’s “Looking Back on Girlhood,” an account of life in South Berwick in the 1850s. Refreshments will be served.

Written by the Jewett-Eastman Memorial Committee, a citizens’ group that maintains and manages Jewett’s 1854 home as the South Berwick Public Library, the brochure welcomes and informs visitors and seeks to draw local citizens downtown. It is available free at local businesses and municipal buildings.

“The tour invites visitors to stroll through this river town, as Jewett beckoned readers up its elm-lined streets in her fiction. We wanted to encourage walking traffic in the historic center at a time when South Berwick is working to revitalize,” said JEM member Nina Maurer. (more…)

A guest essay by South Berwick resident Karen Eger

This is the time of year when I envy folks who live in town. On the south sides of their houses, close to the foundations, the snow has melted and plants start poking up a good two weeks before they do out here in the puckerbush. You have more birds too. The snow has been too deep to comfortably walk in the woods for some weeks now and too uneven for snowshoes. Unless you enjoy lurching in and out of the postholes your feet make when the thin crust on top gives way, walking has been confined to the roads.

Today I went out bushwhacking looking for Spring and came back with two soggy feet and some signs to report. The ice is still covering the ponds but the south facing cliffs are warming up the vernal pools at their feet. The sphagnum moss is St Patrick’s Day green where the ice has melted and though I didn’t spot any sign of frog or salamander, it won’t be long!
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If you were driving through downtown Friday afternoon, you may have noticed a lot of activity in front of Little Hat Company. They were doing a photo shoot for an article for Country Woman, a nationally distributed magazine. They are also set to be featured in Yankee Magazine’s Summer Travel issue. Congratulations to Little Hat entrepreneurs Jen Houghton and Susan Page for launching this local company and steering it toward national success.

Read more about Little Hat Company.

This Saturday Powderhouse Hill Ski Club is offering a day of fun skiing and racing for all ages and abilities. Admission is free with $5 lift ticket. Skiers and boarders are welcome and can register anytime between 9:30 am and 1 PM.

The course will be open for racing from 10-2. The best times in each category will receive recognition. Age categories: 0-6, 7-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-40, and 41 and up. Lift operating hours from 10 am to 4 pm on the day of the Challenge.

For more information email, info@powderhousehill.com, call 207.384.5858 or visit the Powderhouse Hill web site.

The new windows at 4 Portland St., the new home of South Berwick Yoga look great! It’s amazing how a relatively small improvement can spruce up the look of downtown.

South Berwick Yoga is having an open house on Saturday March 8th 1-4 pm and on Sunday March 9th 1-4pm. You can see their new space and on Saturday from 1-4 pm PB&J unplugged will be performing. They will also have giveaways.

South Berwick Yoga offers yoga classes in a variety of styles including Ashtanga Flow, Vinyasa Flow, Hatha, Restorative, Pilates and Yoga for your Core. They also offer children’s classes through ChildLight Yoga. They will be offering Workshops and beginners series each month.

They are at 4 Portland St. in South Berwick. More information can be found at their web site.