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| Follow the L.L. Bean boot! |
In Bath time, summer begins the second
weekend of June with a parade of events second to none! In order to arrive for the start, Joe and I packed up our “vintage” SUV and headed east on the fastest U.S. highways. In Ohio on the Interstate near Toledo,
we spotted the L.L. Bean boot and followed it far into Pennsylvania before we
lost it at a rest stop outside of Erie. The boot, of course, had a coveted
Maine license plate. Our SUV, on the other
foot (Get it?),
had an Illinois license plate, but our bumper was sporting a large Bath sticker,
and it was clear that both vehicles were going the same way!
For Bathites,
the high season climbs to full speed towards the Morse
High School Alumni Association’s Reunion Weekend. As the oldest alumni
association in the country, they set the standard for reunions! Morse welcomes
their returning graduates with a blue and white banner across Front Street, a
score of shop windows displaying old yearbook photos and letter jackets, and wide
open doors at all of the local inns, taverns and restaurants around town. This year Maine’s Cool Little City seemed to be humming as early as Wednesday
night because that’s the night we arrived from Chicago to find there
wasn’t a single vacant seat at Byrnes’ Irish Pub on the tenth of June! Except
for the absence of snow, last weekend felt a lot like Christmas in downtown
Bath. Everyone was saying hello with a hug, and lots of people were out strolling.
They were telling stories and laughing at old, familiar jokes. Their joyful
sound seemed to cast a silvery net around hearts that will be forever young when they
come home to Bath.
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| The Mitchell School (a.k.a. Universe Gym) is 100 years old. |
Officially, the
first big party of summer was Friday night’s 100
th Anniversary
celebration of the Mitchell School at 361 High Street. Today this impressive
brick building is home to the Universe Gym and Fitness Studio, which has been
owned and operated by Bath’s native son and daughter, Shane and Kari McKenna,
since 1996. The building was originally designed
by Lewiston architect Harry S. Coombs as a primary school for children in the
South End and was praised for its fire safety because it was built with
two stairways at opposite ends. As a high school teacher who works in a three
story building built in 1929 in Oak Park, Illinois, I salute the attention paid
to safety. I also appreciate the large windows that allow for the entrance of
natural, inspiring light! If Joe and I had not been busy preparing our
house for the second big party of the weekend, Sagadahoc Preservation, Inc.’s
13
th Annual House Tour, we would have been at Friday night's celebration to applaud the preservation of one of Bath’s genuine treasures! But as fate and Bath would have it, our house on Washington Street was scheduled to
be the third “Marching Band” in Saturday’s parade of historic homes. We
could almost hear the 76 trombones (a.k.a. docents)!
Looking back, last
weekend seems like a foggy dream. I believe Joe and I together greeted at least 200 people as they passed through our home, and that number of hellos can leave you dizzy. For us, however, the most amazing aspect of the House Tour is how we became a part of it. Joe and I have only owned our
home in Bath for two years, and last year we attended our first S.P.I. House Tour,
which happened to take place in Phippsburg. Our participation in this classic
Bath-style event seems impossible, but then that’s the magic of Bath!
A
community filled with talented volunteers can make the impossible inevitable. How does magic happen? The director of S.P.I., Lorena Coffin, asked us to open our house
to possibly 300 visitors and promised there would be docents to guide and watch-over
the flow of people. She also offered flower arrangements for the dining room
and entry hall, and I am a fool for flowers! Needless to say, Lorena convinced
me that people would come if I only opened the door. I said, “Yes.” In turn, I
persuaded Joe that it was the right thing to do if we were truly committed to
preserving the beauty of this historic city of shipbuilders.
How could he refuse? He said, “Yes!" Funny, a song that frequently plays
in my head is
Before the Parade Passes By.
I‘m a fan of the Barbara Streisand version:
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| Flowers from the Bath Garden Club |
Before the parade passes by
I’m gonna go and taste Saturday’s high life
Before the parade passes by
I’m going to get some life back into my life…
When the whistles blow
And the cymbals crash
And the sparklers light the sky
I’m going to raise the roof
I’m going to carry on
Give me an old trombone
Give me an old baton
Before the parade passes by…
We all choose different
songs for our playlist. Clearly, I love parades, and the City of Bath loves
them, too! You could call me crazy if I were the only person, who wanted to
join the parade and play the trombone, but there were twelve houses/gardens on
the tour, and many of the owners resembled Joe and I. On Thursday evening, we met
the other homeowners and most of the volunteers at the docent meeting at the Winter Street Center. There
were almost 80 docents who helped Bath throw the baton, blow the whistles
and crash the cymbals during the House and Garden Tour. They were fabulous
“musicians” who showed up as early as 9:30 a.m. to review the histories and
distinctive architectural features of their assigned homes. I had the pleasure
of volunteering with my musical daughter, Katie, as well as Roger and Sukey Heard, who were seasoned docents and
helped me feel at ease. I was also honored to have the help of Polly, the owner of Brick Store
Antiques, a store which captured our hearts and wallets when we first moved to Bath.
After twenty years as a shopkeeper, Polly recently closed the store on Front Street,
but she continues to be an active antique dealer in the region. Marilyn Reed, Bath’s
famous tap dancer, also guided people through our home, and she did it in her
signature pink shoes! Cynthia Galea rode her bike, with her
readers and her guidebook in the basket, down the street to our place to direct
the visitors upstairs. Joe, Katie and I
feel as if we have made some new friends, and that is always a good feeling!
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| Can you see the glass door knob? |
We
learned a wealth of information from our docents and guests. One
visitor from Phippsburg told me that the glass knobs on our doors were from
the 1840’s, but the few brown knobs were from the later, Victorian era, and
they are less unusual. A lady from Bath told Joe that we had great fireplaces
and could restore them to full use without much trouble; another visitor from
the area told us she had the same bannister in her house and knew that a father
and son carpenter team made this federal-style bannister only between 1820 and
1840 here in Bath. After touring our home, a neighbor
commented that she and her husband had shared their home on the House
and Garden Tour four years ago, and even though they had lived in Bath for many
years, they met new people and enjoyed the experience. Joe and I agree. By
opening our doors to the community, we not only helped support the preservation
of Bath’s distinctive architecture, we also deepened our appreciation for our
hometown. Bath is a place where people know how to build a caring community as
well as strong ships!
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| Ornament's owner is a proud Morse alumna! |
Truth be told,
some mighty Bathites volunteered to help at multiple celebrations last weekend.
A few incredibly generous individuals were
involved in all of them! I know for a fact that Marilyn Reed left our house and went directly to the Morse Alumni
Reception to help serve refreshments. Of course, she was
still wearing her fancy pink shoes! And the inimitable Ms. M., who was the
chairperson for the entire crew of docents, was also attending the anniversary
celebration of the Mitchell School as well as the 2015 Morse graduation! Her
grandson graduated, and her daughter, Kari, celebrated her own Morse
reunion in addition to celebrating her son’s graduation and the Mitchell
School’s 100
th Anniversary! That is officially a party weekend! The
good people of Bath certainly know all the lyrics to
Before the Parade Passes By, and they like to sing in perfect
harmony! Even though I am not a graduate of Morse High School, I certainly
enjoyed rocking and rolling with the Shipbuilders!
Now it’s full
speed ahead to Heritage Days and the next parade, which will actually include real marching bands with real whistles
and drums. I can hear that song, Before the Parade Passes By, playing in
my head again:
Look at the crowd up ahead
Listen and hear that brass harmony growing
Look at the crowd up ahead
Pardon me if my old spirit's showing
All of those lights over there
Seem to be telling me where I’m going…
