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Travelers in Portland, Maine, a city bursting with culture, restaurants, and outdoor adventures, just received a helping hand from The New York Times.
The publication recently focused on Portland for its popular “36 Hours” series, and recommended things to do and places to eat in the coastal city over a 36-hour time period.
“From the fishing piers and wharves lined up like piano keys along Commercial Street to the ocean views and historic Queen Anne-style homes atop Munjoy Hill, Portland offers a lot for visitors to take in,” wrote the Times. “And then there is the food. Maine’s largest city has long been nationally known as a top food destination, and just this year two Portland bakers won James Beard Awards.”
When hunger strikes, travelers should check out places like Hot Suppa! or Ugly Duckling for breakfast, wrote the Times. Other spots worth dining at are Terlingua for Texas-style barbecue; Izakaya Minato for sake and shared plates; Công Tử Bột for Vietnamese food; and Luke’s Lobster for fresh lobster on Portland Pier. For drinks, head over to Oxbow, one of many local breweries, or Anoche, a Basque-inspired cider house and bistro.
For culture, visitors can wander the Portland Museum of Art and check out “Jeremy Frey: Woven” through Sept. 15, wrote the publication. Meanwhile, music lovers will love the sounds at Blue Portland Maine, One Longfellow Square, or Thompson’s Point, an outdoor stage and “Portland’s go-to venue for summer concerts by nationally touring artists.”
Outdoor activities abound in Portland, and visitors can rent bikes at places like Brad & Wyatt’s Island Bike Rental, go on kayak tours with Portland Paddle, and more. It’s also worth grabbing a ferry to Peaks Island with Casco Bay Lines, noted the Times.
“Leave time for the 15-minute drive out to Fort Williams Park, a 90-acre park owned by the nearby town of Cape Elizabeth that has a cliff walk, a children’s garden and a panoramic view of Casco Bay,” wrote The New York Times. “It’s also home to Portland Head Light, a historic and much-photographed lighthouse.”
Read the full New York Times article for more recommendations.
Portland just made CNN’s inaugural list of best places to visit in America.
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By now, it’s probably pretty clear that someone behind the scenes at HGTV really likes Portland, Maine. The powerhouse television network has featured Portland in many different ways through on-air and web content. That includes the city being chosen in 2020 for HGTV’s massive “Urban Oasis” contest.
So it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Portland was featured on another list from HGTV. It’s a list Portland has found itself on often from various publications. HGTV has named Portland, Maine, one of the ’50 Best Places to Live in America’ for 2024.
View of Portland, Maine 2022
Naming Portland to the list isn’t the problem. The problem is the small blurb HGTV wrote to explain why Portland was featured on the list this year. The excerpt reads:
“…some locals jokingly refer to their culture-filled city as Portlyn, suggesting their city is the Maine equivalent of Brooklyn, which many consider the hippest of the five New York boroughs”
In life, there will be many firsts. And this is likely the first time hearing that “locals” refer to Portland, Maine, as ‘Portlyn’ for many people. It’s likely the first time you’ve heard it because it isn’t true. Nobody refers to Portland as ‘Portlyn’ and they never will.
Harbor in Portland Maine
The foolish nickname HGTV invented shouldn’t anger Mainers as much as it will. HGTV meant it as a compliment. Maine’s largest city rivals New York City’s coolest and hippest borough for culture, food and fun. But here in Maine, we will still get annoyed and angry because that’s what we do. Nobody calls Portland “Portlyn” unless we say so.
Water taxis and boats on the busy Maine Wharf, Portland, Maine
And we’re saying no.
Summer in Southern Maine is always fantastic. However, these 23 experiences make it even better.
Gallery Credit: Chris Sedenka
Gallery Credit: Joey
I would like to tell people about Joan Beal, who is running for representative of Maine House District 81.
I have known Joan for 15 years, as we are both members of the First Universalist Church Norway, where we have worked together on several committees.
Joan has been involved in a number of community service organizations, including the Norway Budget Committee, the Comprehensive Planning Committee, the Climate Action Advisory Committee, and as a leader of the Save the Belfry Committee for her church.
She has been a voice for children as an educator for over 30 years, working in classrooms, halfway houses, treatment programs and in her work as a court-appointed special advocate for children.
Her experience and vision are broad, and we would do well to elect her as our representative in Augusta.
Janice Cardoza, Norway
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BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – Girls from across the state are getting the chance to explore technology at Husson University free of charge through Educate Maine’s Project Login’s partnership with Girls Who Code.
“The piece that I really think that the girls like about Girls Who Code is they offer this sort of safe space to learn, to try, to fail, to troubleshoot,” says Project Login Program Director Angela Oechslie about the organization’s years-long partnership with the camp.
This year, the five-day camp was hosted at Husson University.
For Husson School of Technology and Innovation Outreach Specialist Ashleigh Page, the collaboration between the university and the summer camp made for a perfect match.
“We wanted to support it because we really believe in getting technology in the hands of as many people as possible,” Page explains. “And I think for girls especially, getting an opportunity to go to camp, get hands on, and kind of explore for the first time, maybe not the first time, but say, ‘Okay, this is something I can see myself doing, and this is something I’m capable of doing’, I think is really important.”
Lily Osborne, 13, is going into eighth grade in the fall. After getting introduced to robotics, she attended Girls Who Code for a deep dive exploration into tech: “My school doesn’t have a lot of quality classes like this, not a lot of good opportunities, so I wanted to take this opportunity to, since it was a grant, to come and do this.”
Due to the multiple business sponsorships, all girls who attended the camp did so at no-cost.
Another camper, Ellora Fairbrother, 14, also got her start in computer science with robotics.
Now getting ready to enter high school, Fairbrother opted for Girls Who Code to strengthen her skills in coding.
“We only have like five or six girls, and that was pretty surprising to me because I thought we had like two or three. So I’m glad that there’s like a lot of girls out there who wants to computer science and code,” Fairbrother comments on the camp’s turnout.
“We’ve made motion sensor lights, we’ve made motion sensor sounds, and right now we’re making this thing that, it’s like a parking garage,” explains Osborne on the skills learned.
On Thursday, the group was tasked with creating a small-scale parking garage gate. This includes multicolored lights, motion sensors, motors, and complex codes to let the gate know when the garage is at capacity.
The girls are able to take their computer coding and through wiring bring their ideas from screen to life.
On Wednesday, the group got to meet the women of Bangor Savings Bank’s IT department.
While Girls Who Code creates a comfortable space to girls to learn and connect, the program also shows the tech opportunities right here in Maine.
“It’s really important to not only see and hear from women in tech, but also see the job environment,” says Oechslie. “So that’s why we added a field trip day component to the Girls Who Code camps so that they can physically go and see people who do the job that they’re interested in.”
Both Osborne and Fairbrother say they are definitely considering entering tech when it’s time to choose a career path.
Project Login is offering many other STEM camps for kids this summer.
For more information, visit their website.
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