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Brunswick

Brunswick

Town Gown dinner returns, connecting student leaders with Brunswick residents

The Main Lounge of Moulton Union was alive with conversation from all ages last Thursday evening as student leaders, staff and Brunswick community members gathered for the annual Town Gown Dinner. For the first time since 2018, the program was revitalized this year, rekindling a tradition symbolizing the strong ties between the College and the local Brunswick community.

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Brunswick

Woods, Water, World: Kaplan ’23 on 50 years of environmental studies

Maine is a paragon of serene, pristine natural beauty, but has also been affected by pollution and other environmental harm. Lizzy Kaplan ’23 honors Maine’s environmental history—and celebrates 50 years of environmental studies at the College—in her exhibit “Woods, Water, and World: Environmental Studies at Bowdoin College.” Though Bowdoin’s environmental studies department was founded in 1972, the College’s relationship with the environment dates much further back.

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Brunswick

GoGo Refill opens doors to low-waste living

What was once another eyesore on Pleasant Street has recently been recycled into a new business that offers alternatives to plastic products, allowing Brunswick residents to skip the recycling bin altogether. Opened in November, GoGo Refill encourages a low-waste lifestyle by selling reusable, refillable or compostable products, all with the goal of replacing everyday plastic purchases that often end up in the landfill.

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Brunswick

New bagel shop Dutchman’s pops up in Brunswick

Every Sunday before sunrise, Jeremy Kratzer is hard at work putting bagels into a wood-fired pizza oven to prepare for a morning serving customers that travel from near and far. Kratzer and his wife Marina started operating Dutchman’s, a bagel pop-up housed in Nomad Pizza’s cafe space, in November of 2022.

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Brunswick

Frontier’s transformation into Nomad Pizza

Nomad Pizza, a business that originated in New Jersey, officially opened its brick and mortar restaurant in the Fort Andross Mill earlier this month. For the past year, Nomad operated as a food truck, serving pizza, homemade pasta and salads in Belfast, Monmouth and Portland, among other cities and towns in Maine.

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Brunswick

Butchers & Bakers closes business

The Butchers & Bakers, a gluten-free artisan bakery and butcher shop located in downtown Brunswick’s Tontine Mall, permanently closed its doors on Sunday. Since its grand opening earlier this year, the establishment has garnered praise for its friendly atmosphere, commitment to sustainability and entirely gluten-free product selection.

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Brunswick

BRJC makes a comeback as a response to Dobbs decision

When Kaitlin Weiss ’25 saw the leaked Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision last May, she was frustrated that there was seemingly nowhere for her to direct her passion for reproductive rights on campus. In response to the leak, she, along with Luisa Wolcott-Breen ’25 and Cambron Wade ’24, revived the Bowdoin Reproductive Justice Coalition (BRJC).

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Good Old Raisins and Peanuts (GORP)

Tree teachings

When you think of a forest, maybe you think of an ecosystem. A hierarchy, a function, a mechanism of inputs and outputs driven by competition. Maybe a million tiny elements working asynchronously, maybe a huge, labyrinthine conglomeration of life bound by rain and sunlight and soft dirt.

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Brunswick

Community panel confronts public mural art and Indigenous representation in Brunswick history

On Wednesday evening at the Curtis Memorial Library, the Midcoast Indigenous Awareness Group (MIAG) hosted a panel discussion entitled “Many Voices: Who Gets to Tell the Story?” The panelists discussed the often erased history of the Wabanaki people and how to acknowledge their continued role in the Brunswick community.

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Brunswick

Flip Breakfast & Brunch Bar fills niche on Maine Street

Tucked away alongside a consignment shop, hotel and Vietnamese restaurant, Flip, Maine Street’s new brunch spot, is open for business. “What does Brunswick need? What does Brunswick want? It was breakfast!” owner Mike Jerome said. “There was no place to sit down and get a Bloody Mary and breakfast without having to go across the bridge to Topsham.” The brunch bar opened on Christmas Eve of last year, taking the spot of Benchwarmers, a long-standing sports bar and pub.

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Brunswick

Let’s try love: Brunswick group fights for peace

Each Friday since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a group of Brunswick residents gather on the town green on Pleasant and Maine Streets, armed with signs calling for world peace. Initially conceived of as a protest to urge the United States government not to retaliate in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the group has continued to convene every Friday at 5:00 p.m.

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Brunswick

Voter guide to 2021 Maine referendum election

The Maine Referendum Election will be held next Tuesday, November 2. There are three statewide questions on the ballot, as well as local elections for Town Council and School Board. Bowdoin Votes will be running shuttles to the polls—located at Brunswick Junior High School—every 15 minutes from 7 a.m.

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Brunswick

Mentor groups remain hopeful despite pandemic challenges

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has limited Bowdoin students’ ability to form and foster connections in the Town of Brunswick, Saul Cuevas-Landeros ’23 is still determined to create opportunities for students to engage with the community. This year, Cuevas-Landeros is co-leading Bowdoin Central Mentoring, a Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good program dedicated to mentoring students in the Brunswick area.

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Brunswick

OTTO Pizza location opens in Brunswick

Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of downtown on 15 Cushing Street, the Brunswick location of OTTO Pizza opened its doors September 7. OTTO already has 17 locations in total, seven of which are in the greater Portland area, where the pizzeria was established in 2009 by New England entrepreneurs Anthony Allen and Mike Keon.

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Brunswick

Restoring the Lemont Block

The Lemont Block, a four-story historic brick building on the corner of Maine Street and Pleasant Street that has been an iconic part of the Brunswick skyline for over 150 years, is about to have a new chapter added to its storied history.

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Brunswick

Oratorio Chorale launches virtual music workshops

This spring, Oratorio Chorale—a midcoast Maine-based choral community—will continue holding music workshops in an entirely virtual format. While the Chorale traditionally holds these workshops in person, Artistic Director Emily Isaacson still sees the value in providing community members with opportunities to further or begin their education in music.

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Brunswick

Bay Bowls: Brunswick’s new spot for a technicolor refreshment

During the College’s two-day break, many Bowdoin students living on campus found a moment of refreshment while enjoying free smoothie bowls sponsored by the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG). More than 1,000 students picked up a bowl from the newly-opened Bay Bowls on March 21 and 22, and the store’s owners are excited to continue serving the Brunswick community.

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Brunswick

Brunswick-based artists and galleries recount triumphs and struggles of past year

What is art worth without people to experience it? In what has been close to a 12-month period where Brunswick-based art galleries and local independent artists have been forced to curtail and restructure their operations, those in the industry have grappled with just that question—and found creative solutions to operate their businesses and safely bring their work to the world, even during the pandemic.

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Brunswick

Giltner ’23 worked to bring historic rocket launch

For James Giltner ’23, what started out as a search for how to fill his semester away from Bowdoin turned into a groundbreaking learning experience—one that culminated in a historic rocket launch. Last fall, Giltner worked full-time at bluShift, a Brunswick-based company that launched a rocket from the Loring Commerce Center in Limestone, Maine, on January 31.

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Brunswick

Voter Guide for 2020 Election in Maine

Ranked-Choice Voting Explained: Maine voters will use ranked-choice voting for the Presidential, U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives elections.  Maine absentee ballots must be returned to your municipal clerk by 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 3. 

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Elections 2020

Local candidates speak at Zoom forum

Last Friday, local candidates for the Maine State Senate, Maine State House and Brunswick Town Council congregated on a Zoom screen to share their campaign platforms and address questions posed by Bowdoin students. The forum, sponsored by Bowdoin Votes, Bowdoin Democrats, Bowdoin Republicans and the Government and Legal Studies Department, was moderated by McKeen Center Associate Director for Service and Leadership Andrew Lardie and Bowdoin Votes fellow Wilder Short ’22.

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Brunswick

Bowdoin community mourns death of Justice Ginsburg

Following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last Friday, the Bowdoin community is mourning her passing this week. A virtual celebration of her life as an icon and trailblazer for gender equality under the law, hosted by the Sexuality, Women and Gender Center (SWAG) and the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies (GSWS) Department, will take place tonight at 7:30 p.m.

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Brunswick

Brunswick orders all nonessential businesses to close

The Town of Brunswick declared a civil state of emergency Monday night in response to the growing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, ordering all businesses to close except those included in the 29 types of sanctioned “essential businesses.” The order is in effect for seven days, after which it is expected to be renewed.

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Brunswick

Squirrel knocks out power on north campus

An equipment failure near the Androscoggin hydroelectric plant caused a power outage that left roughly 2,500 customers in Brunswick and parts of Bowdoin’s north campus in the dark last Saturday morning. The outage occurred when a heedless squirrel damaged circuit equipment near Sea Dog Brewing in Topsham, according to Manager of Corporate Communications for Central Maine Power (CMP) Catharine Hartnett.

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Brunswick

Eight-hour standoff ends peacefully with suspect’s arrest

An eight-hour standoff Monday morning between Brunswick police and an armed man ended with the suspect surrendering after officers deployed tear gas to force him out of his residence, according to police. Nick Christensen, 39, was arrested and charged with felony weapons possession, domestic violence assault, obstruction and creating a police standoff after the impasse ended around 8:20 a.m..

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Brunswick

Two arrested after Brunswick burglary spree

Two men have been jailed in connection with a string of burglaries last week that targeted four businesses and two churches in Brunswick, police say. Jonathan West, 25, and Jarrod Sennstrom, 18, who live together at 71 Hennessy Avenue, were arrested on Thursday and charged with theft and burglary.

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Brunswick

Local keg supplier closes after 62 years

“I’m excited for it … I’m free!” said Dan Bouthot, owner of Uncle Tom’s Market, as a sizeable grin emerged from underneath his unruly white beard. After 62 years and seven months, the market, located on the corner of Pleasant Street and Westminster Avenue, has closed its doors.

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Brunswick

Shooting on Federal Street leaves one dead Monday night

One man is dead following a shooting in a Federal Street apartment on Monday night. Another man was shot and injured at the scene. The first man, Ali Fisher of Lisbon, broke into the apartment carrying a handgun, according to a release from the Maine State Police, and entered into an altercation with an occupant of the apartment, a 22-year-old woman.

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Brunswick

Eveningstar embraces new ownership

Before the age of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, before tens of thousands of movies were available for our viewing pleasure at the tapping of a couple of keys and even before the first Blockbuster opened its doors, the Eveningstar Cinema shone brightly in the Tontine Mall of Maine Street, delivering small-studio indie movies to Brunswick’s most discerning fans.

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Brunswick

Border patrol halts first year student in Brunswick

In mid-September, as Esther Fernandez Rosario ’23 waited for her train in the Brunswick transportation center, she double checked that she hadn’t forgotten anything in her dorm room. She had her toothbrush, her school work, a birthday card for her mom—she was prepared for a weekend back home in Boston.

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Brunswick

Eight students cited for providing alcohol to minors

Eight Bowdoin students were cited early Sunday morning for furnishing alcohol to minors at a party at the students’ off-campus residence. The party was held at 49 Pleasant Street, known by Bowdoin students as “Red Brick House.” All eight residents of the house are members of the men’s Ultimate Frisbee team.

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Brunswick

College House members express BPD concerns

Since five students were issued court summonses at a Helmreich House party by Brunswick Police Department (BPD) last April, Bowdoin students expressed concerns about hosting parties. Concern grew into confusion after College House students met with BPD and Bowdoin Security officers during College House orientation.

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Brunswick

Amidst growth, Brunswick faces food insecurity

Behind Hannaford, a five-minute walk from Bowdoin’s campus, sits the primary facility for Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program (MCHPP). The nonprofit, which handles over a million pounds of food each year, combats food insecurity—a perpetual and growing issue that affects over 200,000 Maine residents each year.

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Brunswick

Four students issued summonses in two weeks, Nichols says BPD sending ‘message of caution’

Four students have received court summons in the past two weeks for charges of jaywalking and possession of liquor by a minor. One of those summons resulted after the Brunswick Police Department (BPD) showed up at the annual Cold War party at MacMillan and Quinby Houses last weekend, while the remaining three were issued the previous weekend.

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Brunswick

Campus and community unite for Longfellow Days

This month, poet and co-owner of Gulf of Maine Books Gary Lawless will once again don his Henry Wadsworth Longfellow costume and roam the town reciting poetry to passersby. This tradition is just one aspect of Longfellow Days, a series of events now in its 14th year, which spans Longfellow’s birth month and involves members of both the Brunswick and Bowdoin communities.

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Brunswick

Some residents find College contributions lacking

Two op-eds by Brunswick residents published this month in local newspapers expressed that the College should make a greater financial contribution to the town. In a letter to the editor published on November 14 in the Coastal Journal, Brunswick resident Jean Powers called for the town to request a greater gift-in-kind from the College.

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Brunswick

Town residents express concern over College’s Pine St. proposal

At a town meeting on the evening of Monday, November 20, Brunswick residents commented on Bowdoin’s proposed plan to discontinue Pine Street in order to build a new athletic facility. If accepted, this plan would mean discontinuing the portion of Pine Street that runs between Bowker Street and Bath Road, adding a perpendicular extension between Pine Street and Bath Road through what is currently a wooded area.

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News in Brief

Brunswick town rezoning

The Town of Brunswick recently concluded a three-and-a-half year project to renovate the town’s zoning ordinance to reflect changes in local policy over the past 22 years. The ordinance focused on reducing the number of total districts, catching up with Maine laws regarding signage and shorelands and rectifying the issues brought about by the 21-year-old ordinance’s failure to account for technological advances.

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Brunswick

Bus service expands to Brunswick

On August 24, the Metro BREEZ bus began regular commuter service between Brunswick and Portland. With $3 one-way tickets and a stop on Bath Road next to Pickard Theater, Bowdoin faculty and staff are already taking advantage of the new extended service.

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News in Brief

Warehouse fire causes shortage at Hannaford

A fire at a Hannaford warehouse in South Portland left a number of the supermarket chain’s Maine locations—including the store in Brunswick—short on refrigerated products this past weekend. The Portland Press Herald reported on April 27 that the fire started in a truck’s refrigerator pump and then spread to the warehouse.

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