On Thursday, Oct. 18 from 5:30-8 p.m. the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual meeting and Business of the Year celebration at The Commons at Central Hall. The chamber’s board of directors is pleased to announce that this year’s Business of the Year recipient is Gordon Contracting of Sangerville.

The good people of Greenville have always banded together for a community cause and as September comes to a close the activities downtown have picked up in the spirit of cooperation for the common good. You may have noticed a lot of people down on the boardwalk near the Steamship Katahdin hammering and sawing away as they replace boards in the walkway.

In partnership with the United Way of Northeastern Maine, Helping Hands with Heart (HHH) has received one of six Early Childhood Community Planning Grants in the amount of $25,000 from The Maine Community Foundation. These funds will support a rigorous study of the region’s age 0-5 population, map community resources, identify barriers to early childhood education and develop local solutions intended to help communities ensure their youngest children are ready to learn and thrive when they begin school.

As you drive north to Greenville, not long before you get to Indian Hill, you may have noticed a place on your right, with tidy freshly painted brown buildings and wood stacked in a style reminiscent of the artist Monet’s impressionist haystack paintings. This is The Farm at Moosehead, and as their Facebook page states, they are “a working homestead farm with naturally grown produce, eggs and pastured poultry sold in their Farm Store.”

Pilots and spectators both flocked to Greenville over the weekend for the 45th annual International Seaplane Fly-In from Sept. 6-9. On the morning of Saturday, Sept. 8 crowds gathered on the shore of Moosehead Lake downtown to watch seaplanes land and take off from the water.

The Spotted Cat Winery is a wonderfully discoverable gem in the Greenville area; it is a small home-based farm winery specializing in natural and handcrafted wines, according to their brochure. This place is named for their cat, Aphrodite, who presides regally over her two diligent humans who grow the fruits and tend the tanks to create the varieties of small-batch wines they produce every year.

The steamboat Katahdin, historic flagship for the Moosehead Marine Museum, is back to plying the waters of Moosehead Lake after engine failure on July 20 led to her being out of commission. Her engines have been replaced and she began her regular cruising schedule on Friday, September 7.

The Piscataquis County Commissioners recently filed a motion to intervene in the state’s lawsuit against the owner of Moosehead Mountain Resort in the Greenville and Moosehead Lake region. The motion to intervene is the most recent significant development in ongoing legal proceedings of consequence to the future of the ski resort and the economic health of the region.

Each year the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) recognizes a cooperator in Piscataquis County who has implemented exceptional conservation practices on their land. This year, the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) Maine Woods Initiative will be honored for their outstanding on-the ground conservation efforts, educational outreach and overall excellence in sustainable management of the land.

Shaw Public Library in Greenville has been through some remarkable changes in the last five years. It has doubled its available space with the addition of a house adjacent to the original structure and become an invaluable destination for anyone looking to be enriched, entertained and enhanced by new learning experiences. It’s a delightful journey through this library from the Book Barn, where books are donated and shared, to the adult books and information in the original building.

A hard-hitting thunderstorm blew through the woods and lakes north of Moosehead Lake on Aug. 29, churning the air at speeds that reached nearly 70 mph and indicating to the National Weather Service that Maine may have seen its first tornado of the year.

The executive committee of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) is seeking nominations for the annual Warren "Pete" Myrick Community Service Award, to be presented at the annual meeting of PCEDC in December. Meeting date and location will be disclosed soon.

On Saturday, Sept. 1 the Moosehead Quilters will present the “Quilts in the Woods” quilt show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Union Evangelical Church (at the blinking light) in Greenville.

Pleasant Meadows Estates is sporting a brand new flagpole at Dover-Foxcroft assisted living facility. Rep Paul Stearns, R-Guilford presented Administrator Kellie Brazier with a flag that was flown above the Maine State Capitol in honor of the residents and staff.

An Integrated, Consolidated 9-16 Educational Facility Pilot Project involving four of the area’s school districts, the Tri-County Technical Center (TCTC) and the Jackman school system remains on a list of state fudning finalists. The local collaboration is again ranked third behind projects in northern and southern Aroostook County, the same position on several previous rating lists from earlier in the year.

Dispatchers with the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office are currently using an antiquated radio system, with components dating to the 1980s. Dispatch Sgt. Gary Grant has been working for several years to upgrade the telecommunications division of the department through grants and other funding sources, but in order to complete the project more money is needed. The specifics are to be determined, but the Piscataquis County Commissioners passed a motion to proceed with an upgrade during an Aug. 21 meeting.

Two other regional proposals that also made the approved priority list must now wait to see if the state will find additional monies to fund their projects. The third-ranked proposal was submitted by officials from SAD 46 (Dexter area), SAD 4 (Guilford area), SAD 41 (Milo area) RSU 82/MSAD 12 in the Jackman area, the Greenville school district and the Dexter-based Tri-County Technical Center.

Gary Dethlefsen has discovered that when you live in a decidedly rural county like Piscataquis, diversification can be a key to successfully making a living. He has been interested in food related work for decades and has created three companies that help sustain him during the year: Moose Bee Jam and Granola, Lakeshore Provisions, Catering and Chef Services, including Mainley Treats Wholesale Baking Company (supplying bakery items for Northwoods Outfitters in Greenville), and Big Moose Deli which provides meals to hungry skiers during the winter season at Big Squaw Mountain. Now he has a fourth – Comida del Lago, a charming street taco stand at 3 Lakeview St. in downtown Greenville.