FEBRUARY 26, 2026 | ISSUE 8

📣 Welcome New Chamber Member: Porter's Burner Service

Please join us in welcoming Porter’s Burner Service to the Chamber!



Porter’s Burner Service is a locally owned and operated heating service company proudly serving Waldo County and surrounding communities. Specializing in furnace maintenance, repair, installation, and fuel services, their experienced team is committed to keeping homes and businesses warm, safe, and running efficiently year-round.

Known for dependable service and strong community roots, Porter’s Burner Service brings professionalism, expertise, and a customer-first approach to every job.

We’re excited to have them as part of our Chamber community — please join us in giving them a warm welcome!

📍 LEARN MORE:

> https://www.portersburnerservice.com/

> FACEBOOK

> INSTAGRAM

ANNUAL STATE OF MAINE ICE CARVING CHAMPIONSHIP

Make a fantastic work of art by carving a crystal-clear block of ice during the ice carving competition. This year’s competition in limited to a maximum of 10 teams, $25 pre-registration is required. Two categories: hand tools and mechanical. 

• WHEN: Saturday, February 28, 2026.
• TIME: Hand tool carvers from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. and Mechanical tool carvers from Noon – 2:00 p.m. Judging will begin promptly at 2:00 p.m. 
• WHERE: Dirt lot (39 Main Street) between Traci’s Diner and Renew ME Spa.
• WHO: Amateur and professional solo or team carvers. 
• WHAT: Family friendly sculptures. Things people want to take photos of their children next to.
• HOW: Ice is provided as is pallet to carve on. Carvers provide their own tools. All ice carvings judged by a panel of guest judges. First, second, and third place will receive cash prizes.

POLAR PLUNGE!

On Saturday, February 28th at 10am, crew members from Atlantic Challenge Team USA will take an icy plunge at the Belfast Boathouse beach — yes, into the Maine ocean… in winter… on purpose!

And yes — you can sponsor that bravery!!!

Crew members will dip into the frigid water (community supporters are welcome to join!) as part of a fundraiser to help send Team USA to France and Denmark for training and the upcoming Contest of Seamanship.

This is a unique opportunity for our young adult crew to build leadership and teamwork skills, confidently maneuver a complex 18th-century wooden boat, and form meaningful connections with peers from around the world.

Your support helps make this life-changing experience possible.

The link to the fundraising page is HERE— thank you for cheering on Team USA!

Left Bank Books in downtown Belfast invites the public to meet Helen Whybrow, the multi-talented author of The Salt Stone: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life. The free talk and book signing will take place at the bookshop on Thursday, March 5, at 7 p.m. 

Whybrow and her partner live and work on an old two-hundred-acre sheep farm in the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains. The Salt Stones is her intimate and profoundly moving story of what it means to care for a flock and truly inhabit a piece of land. The shepherd’s life unfolds for Whybrow in the seasons and cycles of farming and family—birthing lambs, fending off coyotes, rescuing lost sheep in a storm, and raising children while witnessing her mother’s decline. Exploring the interdependence of animals, as well as of the earth and ourselves, Whybrow reflects on the ways sheep connect her to place and to the ancient practice of shepherding.

The Salt Stones was published in 2025 and garnered numerous prestigious awards. It was long-listed for the National Book Award, a New England Book Award finalist, a PBS NewsHour Summer Reading Recommendation, an Esquire “Best Books of Summer,” and The New Yorker’s “Best Books of 2025.” In The Washington Post, Maureen Corrigan writes: “With her deliberate and revelatory narrative voice, Whybrow leads readers into a deeper recognition of how the sublime and the sinister grow side by side; how everything in [the] meadow is worth observing.”

Whybrow writes that one of her lifelong joys is sitting on the ground, by a river or in the mountains, simultaneously immersed in the living world and in a good book. The best books, she believes, have the potential to make something mundane come alive on a mystical plane and to cause readers to think about something ordinary in a completely new way.

Prior to moving to Knoll Farm, Whybrow was Editor-in-Chief of Countryman Press/W.W. Norton for seven years and eight years at Orion Magazine. She has a master’s in journalism from Harvard, is a visiting professor at Middlebury College, and has taught writing at Breadloaf Environmental Writer’s Conference and the Iowa Summer Writer’s Workshop, among others.

Reservations for the free event are strongly recommended as seating is limited. To make a reservation, call Left Bank Books at 207-338-9009 or email: info@leftbankbookshop.com. Ample free parking is available in front of the shop at 109 Church Street, and in an adjacent city lot.

Maine’s Changing Climate: Historical Trends & Future Projections

On Tuesday, March 17, at noon, Maine State Climatologist Sean Birkel will talk about the vast changes in Maine’s climate during the 21^st century.

His talk, sponsored by the Belfast Garden Club, is free and open to the public and will be held in the Abbott Room of Belfast Free Library.

Since the late 1800s, Maine’s climate has warmed more than 3.5 °F and total annual precipitation has increased. The past two decades have been marked by an increase in extremes such as heavy rainfall and impactful drought. In this presentation, Birkel will explore these changes, how they tie into milder winters and a longer growing season, and what is expected in future decades. For perspective and reflection, the presentation will end with photographs and stories of a bygone era when, during some of the coldest winters of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Penobscot Bay would freeze as far south as Rockland, an event difficult to imagine today.

Dr. Sean Birkel is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maine with a joint appointment to the Climate Change Institute and Cooperative Extension. As the Maine State Climatologist, he provides climate and weather information to Maine stakeholders to facilitate decision-making and planning. Birkel serves on the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Maine Climate Council.

A Zoom link to the program is available by going to https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/jiokI8wDRV2olY_GIH7pIA

The Midcoast Maine housing market poses significant challenges regarding housing inventory and cost, preventing many from living in this area. The Northport Inn & Lodge offers a unique housing option at affordable prices.



Nestled on a hill atop five scenic acres boasting scenic Pen Bay views, the property is located close to historic downtown Belfast, restaurants, food shopping and other amenities. The Northport has twenty beautifully appointed rooms, each with a private bath, and all utilities included. The property also has a fully-equipped shared kitchen that helps guests save money on dine-out and take-out.

The Northport is the Extended Stay Property of Choice for

• Working professionals seeking affordable housing seasonally or year-round.
• Employers of all kinds seeking to attract and retain workers spanning finite contract work to full time positions.
• Individuals needing transitional housing due to property renovations, prolonged buy/sell/lease transactions, or extended apartment/home searches.
• Realtors looking to help their clients during deal transitions
• Travelers wanting to explore Maine from a central coastal location.

Some of our Clients Include:

• Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County General Hospital consistently utilize The Northport for their medical professionals to provide care to the region.
• Guests and real estate brokers have used The Northport during home transaction closings, lease transitions, property renovations, and countless work and home situations where short-term or extended stay housing provides guests with a home away from home.
• Other local businesses to house both employees and also Clients!

For more information and rates, please

The Northport Inn & Lodge

192 Northport Avenue

Belfast, ME 04915

+1 (207) 218-1129

info@thenorthportinn.com

OPENING IN JUNE 2026!

Dorothy Havey, Executive Director

Director@belfastmaine.org

Kim Grindle, Member Relations Coordinator

ChamberOffice@belfastmaine.org

Board of Directors

President: Michelle Curtis, First National Bank

Vice President: Ryan Harnden, Mathews Brothers

Treasurer: Terri Tower, Camden National Bank

Secretary: Megan McAvoy, MaineHealth Waldo Hospital

Haley B. Hall, Esq., Camden Law

John McKeith, The Belfast Center

Mary Tripp, Bank of America

Staff Photography by Dave Waddell, Down East Magazine