We began the celebration in 2014 to remind us all how what a gift it is to be able to see wilderness, fields, streams and farmland as we travel the roads between our small towns and villages.

I had just returned from a visit to Colorado, where my daughter worked for Boulder County Open Space, a municipal effort to maintain areas where commercial and residential construction is prohibited in order to preserve wilderness habitat.  I was reminded of how fragile such habitats are, and how we, in Maine, could re-learn to honor these open lands before any need arises to legislate their protection.

We can begin to do this with our children: Storytelling, music, food-source appreciation, poetry, walking in woods and fields, seeing wild creatures at work and rest, all awaken a child’s sense of participation in the bigger picture.

So we gather every year in early June, before summer people and tourists keep us busy earning our livelihoods.  We have a spot by the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad sidings in Thorndike Village where we invite local people to come talk about wilderness, tell stories, take walks in the woods, railcycle quietly along the tracks by human power to see woods and streams not visible from the roads. We have good food and music; a flea market; old trains to climb aboard; each day of the weekend having a slightly different focus.  Read on to learn more…