Eastport building given new life Women remaking eyesore into arts hub

EASTPORT – Whether or not you have been to Eastport, you know the Minctons Building on Main Street. Like many aged and rejected downtown storefronts throughout the state, it has lived many lives since it was built in 1887 – an auto parts store, a clothing store, a real estate agency, a gallery and a medical office. In recent years, however, the brick building with a view of the harbor has often been unoccupied and in disrepair.

Now a group of determined women are hoping you will get to know the Minctons Building in a new and promising way. Last fall, Nancy Asante, Linda Godfrey, Meg McGarvey, Sue Crawford, Alice Otis and Ruth Brown formed a corporation to buy the building for $100,000 and are in the process of remaking the old eyesore into The Commons, which they hope will be a hub for cultural activity for summer and year-round residents. In addition to conference, workshop and performance space, the building will also house a retail shop for local artists and artisans, office space for the owners, and two furnished apartments for weekly summer rentals and academic-year leases.

“People in the area have been talking for 30 years, deploring the downtown area and its shuttered storefronts,” said Asante, who grew up in New York and spent summers in Eastport before moving here year round two years ago. “When this building went on the market, we decided to put our money where our mouths were.”

Renovations are under way in anticipation of a grand opening May 1. In the meantime, the new owners are hosting a series of events at the nearby Crohn Family Conference Center in Perry to raise awareness and money for the project. The first gathering is a dinner of hearty country stews on Saturday and the unveiling of “Unsafe Tenement,” an etching by the American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, will be unveiled. The work of art, which has been authenticated, was discovered in the Minctons Building during the renovations.

“The dinner celebrates Whistler’s tour from Paris to Cologne during which he did etchings of the ‘common people,'” said Crawford.

While the word “common” has become the unifying principle for this group of driven women, they are quick to call Eastport, which is about 126 miles from Bangor, an uncommon community of diverse talents.

“We think Eastport is a happening place,” added Crawford. “It’s poised on the brink of making a statement on what can happen in Down East Maine. There’s a physical and intellectual energy here.”

Not to mention family ties. Asante and McGarvey are sisters. Alice Otis is their mother and Ruth Brown is her sister. Otis and Brown, both of whom are in their 90s, are Eastport natives.

All the women are accustomed to hearing their beloved city described by outsiders as being on the edge of civilization. Asante bristled at the idea that Eastport, with a population of 1,640, might be considered by some to be a frontier city.

“We are rather on the edge, but what we’re hoping to do is create a reason for people to come to Eastport,” said Asante. “In the winter, it’s quite a sleepy little burg but in warmer weather, there’s quite a thriving artist community that’s already here. People come in thinking of Eastport as a tabula rasa, and it ain’t.”

Joyce Weber moved from Maryland to Eastport in 1983 and is the chair of the Eastport Arts Center board of directors, which, coincidentally, once had a gallery in the Minctons Building. She noted that Eastport, the country’s most eastern city, has several established arts organizations, including a seasonal theater and a puppetry collective.

“People are really enthusiastic about seeing the building being restored, and it has been fun to watch the changes,” said Weber, who once ran a bed and breakfast in town. “What they have planned sounds very interesting. It certainly will draw more people to Eastport, but actually there is a lot going on in Eastport culturally and arts wise that people don’t realize. The Commons will be very nice, but it will be an addition to what is already going on.”

Other events hosted by The Common this winter and spring include: “A Palette of Colors: Beauty and Design Together,” a discussion by the architectural consultants on the project, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 7; “Spring into French: Getting Ready for Ste. Croix 2004,” a workshop on French phrases and conversation, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. March 20; and “Meet the Design-Makers,” a sneak preview of the artists and artisans whose work will be for sale at The Commons, 1-4 p.m. April 17.

For information about reservations and costs for the above events, which will take place at the Crohn Family Conference Center on Otis Lane in Perry, call Nancy Asante at 853-4571, Linda Godfrey at 853-6036, Meg McGarvey at 853-2318 or Sue Crawford at 454-2673