If you sees our bees, would you call us plees...

Have you seen any honeybees swarming around your house?  In the wind, rain, and thunder of Wednesday afternoon, over 60,000 bees from Wolfe’s Neck Farm in Freeport took flight with their queen looking for a new home.  They departed after unsuccessful attempts to hive the swarm during the recent stormy weather. 

Marcy Bernstein of Brunswick, the farm’s beekeeper made several attempts to hive the swarm over the past two days, but the bees would not remain hived, and were no where to be seen as of Thursday morning.

Chances are they will settle somewhere within five to six miles away, so local area residents who notice a swarm of honeybees could contact the farm via email at general@wolfesneckfarm.org.

This is the second year beekeeping has returned to the farm in Freeport.  The farm has been supporting bee education in the past two years to address problems facing bees, including Colony Collapse Disorder which is responsible for millions of disappearing bees, and growing community opposition to local bee keepers.  The next bee class is being offered from 10am until 12 noon on July 5th. 

It's Soccer Time!

Somewhere around 15,000 Youth Soccer Championship players and their families from 16 states are in the area now and for the next few days. They'll be playing soccer, of course, but they'll have lots of free time for shopping, eating and exploring the great stuff to see and do while they're here.

Expect to see lots of soccer families in town, since Freeport is directly between both playoff venues of Falmouth and Brunswick. Portland CVB and FMA will have visitor guides and maps on hand at both hospitality locations during the entire event.

Freeport Square Gallery Grand Opening Reception to be held Sunday, June 29th…

Freeport, Maine – The Arts movement in Freeport takes a very visible step forward with the opening of Freeport Square Gallery at 140 Main Street in the Freeport village. Freeport Square is located in the former Copeland Furniture building at the north end of the downtown village, between St. Jude’s Church and the Georgetown Pottery Building. At over 6500 square feet, Freeport Square will offer one of the largest gallery / arts event spaces in the state. A gallery, market space, events venue, gifts and décor sales are planned. The focus will be on Maine contemporary art, painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, wood turning and more.

Freeport Square is owned by Freeport Square LLC. One partner, Kathleen Meade, is also co-owner of the Maine Arts Workshop a Freeport business uptown for five years, and President of the Freeport Creative Arts Initiative. Freeport Creative Arts (FCA) was originally developed with the efforts of a handful of area artists and support from the Freeport Merchants Association and the Freeport Economic Development Corporation, as part of the Freeport creative economy initiative. The Freeport area has an extraordinary number of talented artists in many disciplines. In recent months membership in FCA has swelled to around 80 people, including not only visual artists but musicians, dancers, actors, writers and so on.

The space now occupied by Freeport Square had earlier been offered to FCA as a group. Though both the space and the offer were attractive, the fledgling group felt unready to move forward, citing the difficulty in obligating to contracts and identifying responsible parties.

In a combination business decision and leap of faith, Ms. Meade stepped forward to assume responsibility for the space through the creation of Freeport Square LLC. The move appears to be very practical and mutually beneficial according to Dick Collins, Executive Director of Freeport Merchants Association. “There is now a high quality space on Main Street dedicated to the arts in many forms. That’s a big plus for our merchants, our Freeport brand, the artists involved, and therefore our local economy,” says Collins. “FCA members, along with other artists, will now have the opportunity to be a part of that wonderful space right away, on a sort of  ‘shared cost as needed’ basis, without FCA members having large or long term risks until they are ready down the road.”

The grand opening reception will be on this Sunday, June the 29th beginning at 4:00pm. Area restaurants will provide refreshments; there will be music, art and more. FMI call Freeport Square at 865-1616 or go to FreeportUSA.com and click on Arts in Freeport.

Look for the July issue of the FMA Shop Talk Newsletter coming in the next few days. Lots of new info about Freeport happenings are gonna be in it!