The Edgecomb Barnstormers 4-H Club came back from their first Union Fair with a blue ribbon for group participation and prizes in many of the competitions. The kids participating were Maggie and Joe Hoyt and Nat Blackford, and Karen and James Brown, all on the River Road, Dylan Tedford on McKay Road, and Amanda Boucher on the Mill Road. Leader Cheryl Tedford says "I am very proud of all the hard work and time that the children put in to make our first Fair fun. I would like to say thanks to Suzie Stephenson for all her help. Without it, we would not have made the Fair this year. And thank you to all those who have put in their time and contributions to our group. We are looking forward to next year's Union Fair."

Nat received not only a blue ribbon but a very special Judges' Choice for his loon decoy project. In Arts and Crafts, Amanda took a 1st for a hand-painted pottery rose, while Karen had a 2d for her hand sewn catnip toy. In the handmade soap competition, Maggie took a 1st prize, Nat and Joe 2ds. The tool-making event brought Nat a 2d for an axe handle, Maggie and James Brown each a 2d for walking sticks, and Joe a 3d for a toy axe. Dylan and Nat showed goats. Maggie and Joe showed a pig.

Nat and Maggie entered the Great Pig Scramble. And each caught a pig. Since the prize is the pig, we'll be hearing "oinks" from the north of us, in addition to Alan Cooper's cattle lowing to the south of us!

If any other Edgecombers participated at the Union Fair or the Acton Fair, please let me know! This column is always hungry for news of people's achievements.

Let us celebrate the birth of Miss Moorea Rose Mitchell on July 18, 2002 in San Jose CA! And what does this new child have to do with Edgecomb ME? Her parents are Jennifer and Garrick Mitchell of Sunny Vale CA. Joyce and Bob St. Pierre of New Harbor, who sent me this item, are little Moorea's grandparents. Her great grandmother, Joyce St. Pierre's mother, is Imogene Johnson, who at one time lived on the Merry Island Road! Mrs. Johnson now resides at Hodgdon Green. Moorea is her ninth great grandchild!

Nick Cook, grandson of Charlie and Cheryl Armstrong, our tenants, celebrated his 10th birthday while visiting here from Vermont. He likes to play baseball, pitcher or first base.

The Friends of Fort Edgecomb will be holding a business meeting at 5 p.m. during the Saturday of their August 31-Sept. 1 encampment at the Fort. If you plan to come, please let Fred and Beth Maitland (829-5753) know so they can plan their communal meal.

Recently, Tom Blackford's replica privateer "Increase," a 100-ton 22-foot lapstrake cutter, put in an appearance at a French and Indian War re-enactment at Crown Point NY, on the shores of Lake Champlain. Watch for it to perform locally at Fort William Henry in Pemaquid in September.

The Edgecomb Historical Society's annual meeting will be Saturday, September 28, at 1:00 p.m. in the Town Hall. After a brief business meeting, we will tour the Schmid Preserve with Bob Brown, the Preserve's historian. For details, call Sophie Quinn at 882-9326. More on the Folly Bar: Stuart Smith, Edgecomb's intrepid webmaster, tells me, "...as long as I can remember, the small ‘culvert' on the Eddy Road between Davis Island and the ‘main' land was always known as Folly Bar... That old bridge that spanned from Wiscasset to Edgecomb before the Davey Bridge was there for quite some time and on the Wiscasset side there was an Agway store (you can still see the wood pillars). The Agway's fuel tanks caught fire one night and the whole place burned to the water. It almost caught the bridge but by then the bridge had asphalt and tar and the fire did not spread. The blaze could be seen from our house on the Eddy Road (by the Eddy Marina)."

What a wonderful name for an Edgecomb business: The Folly Bar and Grille!

The Edgecomb Congregational Church is holding a summer supper Saturday, August 31, from 5 to 7 p.m., this time to benefit the programs of "Healthy Kids." This is a family resource network serving Lincoln County, based in Damariscotta. "Healthy Kids" has offered support and educational outreach to families throughout the County since 1985.

School bells are starting to ring! Although our new school won't be ready by September, the Parents/Teachers Committee is forging ahead with installing its playground. The equipment from Dr. Play, Inc. in New Hampshire has arrived, and now all the group needs is VOLUNTEERS! They plan a workday Saturday, September 7, starting at 8 a.m. Jobs, from one hour of time up to the full day, will range from assembling the playground equipment to providing food for the workers and child care for parents working on the project. If anyone can lend tools, that would also be a big help. Money donations to defray any unexpected expenses would be gratefully received. If interested in participating in any of these ways, please call Ann Poole at 633-2228 or Lisa Clarke at 882-6428.

Meanwhile, I skin the cat at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in The Boothbay Register, The Lincoln County News, The Wiscasset Newspaper, and at www.Edgecomb.org.

PS: Since next week is Labor Day, the papers want news columns to be in on Friday. If you have information for me, please get in touch as soon as you read this! Much obliged, thanks!