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Friday, March 3, 2023
Volume 19 • Issue No. 9
Irish Stepdancing for the Holiday OGUNQUIT Irish Stepdancing continues to be a wildly popular art form for performers and audiences alike. Ogunquit Performing Arts (OPA) celebrates this unique style of dance at this most appropriate time of year, by presenting the renowned Stillson School of Irish Dance on Saturday, March 11, at 6:30 p.m. The award-winning Stillson dancers, returning to Ogunquit by popular demand, will perform a brilliant array of jigs and reels, dressed in a variety of dazzling, hand-made costumes.
Bryce Waldrop By Susan Gallagher, Staff Writer YORK Nestled in the historic town of York, an old house whispers its secrets to preservation architect Bryce Waldrop. It speaks to him with voices from the past, echoes of lives lived in this place before. The 1921 Craftsman Bungalow, his home of the past 12 years, envelops Bryce with more than its physical structure. A portrait of the home’s previous inhabitants graces the dining room wall, imbuing the home with their presence. “Every house has a story to tell,” he says. “There is a lot of
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The performance will consist of both the fluid soft shoe style, as well as the rhythmic hard shoe, popularized by shows such as “Riverdance” and “Lord of the Dance.” At the end of the performance, the dancers will invite kids and audiences members of all ages to join them onstage to learn and try out some of the steps. In addition to the dance performance, school director Carlene Stillson will tell about the history of the dance and explain the reasons behind the designs of the many different costumes worn
by the dancers. Traditional Irish dress is represented, and features embroidery designs taken from the Book of Kells. In existence for twenty-five years, The Stillson School of Irish Dance is the only certified school of Irish dancing in the state of Maine. Dancers compete all over New England, and place in the New England Regional Irish Dancing Championships annually. Dancers have also placed in the North American Irish Dance Championships, as well as comSee IRISH on page 8 . . .
The Sentimental Architect
embodied energy there.” While he stops short of ascribing the energy to actual ghosts, he does believe there is a “spirit or a vibe in places.” Some would explain it as a haunting or a religious experience, but Waldrop refers to it a little differently. “There is a sixth sense of place that connects us to where we live and spend our lives,” he says. “There is a higher level of connection going on there.” As a preservation architect and architectural historian, Wal-
drop’s love of old houses lends an emotional attachment to his work. Seeing old buildings torn down evokes a sort of grief in him. “We are losing our history,” he says sadly. He goes on to say, “When we think of historic architecture, we tend to think of big landmarks, but there are some really rich stories in your everyday house that don’t often get fully told.” Since July of 2020, Waldrop has found a comfortable niche as Executive Director of
the Historical Society of Wells and Ogunquit. His background enables him to help the society through historical research as well as architectural preservation. “I feel really lucky being an architectural historian here,” he says with obvious enthusiasm. “We have a museum, a historical archive, and a research library, all housed in a National Register building: the historic First Church Meetinghouse.” His See WALDROP on page 2 . . .
$503M for Shipyard Infrastructure Dry Dock KITTERY A fiscal year 2023 (FY23) government funding package was recently signed into law, which included $503 million to continue the modernization of Dry Dock #1 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) in Kittery. The legislation also includes provisions requiring the Navy to induct a class of at least 100 apprentices at PNSY, and it provides $2.5 million to help plan and design a new day care center at the shipyard. “Ensuing that the hardworking and highly skilled employees at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard have the resources they need to do their jobs as efficiently
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as possible is essential to maintaining our Navy fleet and enhancing our national security. I have long advocated for the Navy to address the modernization needs at PNSY, and this legislation will help build on funding I have previously secured for critical upgrades,” said Senator Susan Collins, who co-sponsored the
legislation. “Additionally, I am pleased that the bill includes two provisions I championed to address workforce shortages at the shipyard. The continuation of PNSY’s successful apprenticeship program will prepare a new generation of shipbuilders, while planning for a new child care center would alleviate stress on
working parents. Together, these investments will help PNSY remain the gold standard among the nation’s public shipyards.” The funding package also provided $2.45 billion for Navy ship depot operations support and $10.3 billion for ship depot maintenance, which supports day-to-day operations at the shipyards. That included an additional $190 million above what was requested in the Department of Defense’s (DOD) budget for new tools, test equipment, and machinery for public shipyards. Additionally, the package includSee DOCK on page 3 . . .
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