Welcome to our brand-new platform, Western Maine Neighborhood News (wmnn.org) on Substack! This new venture is a collaboration between the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society and the dedicated local town correspondents, formerly of the Bethel Citizen.
We intend to use this space to carry on the longstanding tradition of providing the most truly local of local news. Our goals are twofold: 1) to inform and entertain and continue to share with current readers the news and events taking place in our towns, presented in our own unique voices (and often with our own stories and commentary added for good measure), and 2) to provide historians studying Maine’s past—perhaps a century from now—with access to the kind of local news that has informed their research for 240 years, since the founding of Maine’s first newspaper, The Falmouth Gazette, in 1785.
With regard to the second goal, History Today notes, “Historians have relied on the local press for valuable snapshots of everyday life. Column after column of births, marriages and deaths chronicled the ebb and flow of human existence, enabling the tracing of ancestors, celebrities and locally influential people.”
As for our goal to inform and entertain our readers, I can’t count the number of times people have told me that the town columns are their favorite and most valued part of the local paper. I hope that those who miss reading us in print will find their way here—if you’re here online reading this, please spread the word!
Town Managers Kim Sparks and Tonya Lewis of Greenwood and Woodstock have received word from Casella Waste Systems that the cost of their services to transport waste from the Greenwood-Woodstock Transfer Station will be increasing by 30 to 50 percent in 2026. The towns’ multi-year contract with Casella ends December 31, and prices will increase January 1. Kim and Tonya will be looking into the costs paid by other towns, and the possibility of requesting bids from other haulers before a new contract is signed.
At their last meeting of 2025 on Tuesday evening, the Greenwood selectmen made the following one-year appointments: Codes Officer Anne Kwoka; regular Planning Board members John Kwoka, Sarah Wood, Andrew Baker, David Newcomb, and Cheri Thurston; and alternate Planning Board member Matt Mitchell.
The Planning Board’s next meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 5, at 5 p.m. at the Greenwood Town Office. The Board of Selectmen will meet on the first and third Tuesdays, January 6 and 20, at 5 p.m.
By the time you read this, Christmas will be just a week away! Here are some holiday events still ahead:
Friday, Dec. 19, from 4-6 p.m.: Greenwood Farmers’ Market and Holiday Wonderland at the old Town Hall on Main Street in Locke’s Mills. Shop for all your favorite local goods, including maple syrup, granola, eggs, delicious baked goods, fresh greens, and Icelandic wool yarn, then go “free-shopping” for donated holiday décor to round out your seasonal decorating. Donations for the Bethel Food Pantry will be collected at both December markets.
Saturday, Dec. 20, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Jackson-Silver Post #68, 595 Gore Road in Locke’s Mills: Legion Cookie Walk. Purchase a festive holiday cookie box for $8, then fill it to the brim with homemade cookies for a perfect last-minute gift.
Sunday, Dec. 21, at 4 p.m.: Annual Candlelight Service at the First Universalist Church of West Paris, led by Pastor Linda Couture. There will be Christmas carols, a Christmas story, and a reading by Rodney Abbott, with music performed by organist Elaine Emery. No collection will be taken at the service, but there will be a collection of non-perishable food items for the West Paris food pantry. Holiday refreshments will be served after the service.
It’s hard to believe that it’s time to start thinking about a new year already! If, like me, you’re hoping to find time for some quiet and/or creative pursuits in 2026, here are a few like-minded groups to get you started:
The Bethel Library Book Club meets monthly at 2 p.m. in the Reading Room of the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society’s Robinson House, next door to the library. The Reading Room is located in the back of the building, with access through the rear door on the driveway side, and plenty of parking behind the building or on Broad Street. Here’s the schedule of 2026 books and meeting dates.
The Yarn Hub Drop-In knitting group at the Bethel Library meets on Tuesday mornings from 10-noon. The group is currently on hiatus for the holidays, but will resume meeting on Tuesday, January 6.
The Village Makers meet year-round on Tuesdays from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Whitman Library in Bryant Pond to enjoy crafting and community. Organizer Liz Hatch calls herself “an obsessed knitter,” but crafters of all kinds are welcome.
MSAD 44 Adult and Community Education is sponsoring a four-day hands-on workshop on the Art of Sourdough, Wednesday-Friday, January 7, 8, and 9, from 6-7:30 p.m., and Saturday, January 10, from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. For more information and to register, contact the office at 824-2136, ext. 1341, or email adulted@sad44.org.
If you’re looking for something to keep you active throughout the winter months, the Age-Friendly Community Initiative sponsors a drop-in indoor walking program at the Gould Academy Fieldhouse on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-2 p.m. through April.
I’ve been baking and sewing, but my preparations for Christmas are far from complete. We’ll be heading to Portland on the 24th for a Christmas Eve lunch with our granddaughter, Lila, and her family. Our tradition has been to go later in the day and stay through dinner, but that long, dark drive home from Portland has been getting longer and darker every year, and we’re happy to be switching the schedule up this year to allow us to get at least part of the way home in daylight.
Speaking of daylight, I’m happy to report that we have passed the date of the earliest sunset, which was at 4:04 p.m., and sunset tonight (Thursday) is at 4:05! Next Thursday, Christmas, the sun will set at 4:08, and by New Year’s Day it will be all the way up to 4:14. However, sunrise will still continue to get a little later each morning until the beginning of January, when we’ll slowly start to gain daylight on that end of the day, too—just seconds at first, but by the end of January, sunrise will be at 7:03, up from its latest time of 7:19. And the day’s length will increase from eight hours and 50 minutes on the shortest day, December 21, to nine hours and 47 minutes by January 31, a welcome and noticeable difference!
Sunday, December 14, marked 5,000 days for my “exercise streak,” meaning that I haven’t missed a day with at least 30 minutes of some form of exercise since I started the streak back on April 7, 2012. I celebrated with my longest hike so far with my new knee, a 4.3-mile loop of all three peaks in the Buck’s Ledge Community Forest: Lapham Ledge, the summit of Moody Mountain, and Buck’s Ledge. Because of the powdery snow on the trails, it took me somewhat longer than I had planned, but that worked out well, because I ended up at the overlook on my way down the logging road just in time to catch the sun setting behind Mount Abram. (And yes, I do carry a headlamp, but I didn’t need it this time.)
This new online newsletter is intended to keep our communities informed, so if you have news, events, or photos you’d like to have included here, I hope you’ll share them with me! You can reach me by email at amy.w.chapman@gmail.com or by phone or text at 207-890-4812.
“The need for connection and community is primal, as fundamental as the need for air, water, and food.” – Dr. Dean Ornish
As a severely directional dyslexic the codes disappeared before I can write them down - technology is defeating me - so I probably won't be commenting again, BUT I am very very grateful to have local news. Thank you Amy... like you I walk a lot and lately have enjoyed snowshoeing which just about to end.... but I like the warmer temps and so do the wild turkeys!