Culture on the Menu Pub, cafe add artistic twist to downtown Dover-Foxcroft

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It’s 7 p.m. on a Wednesday in Dover-Foxcroft. Abel Blood’s Pub and Restaurant is standing-room only, and at the tables, conversation shifts from art to food – “I think you’ll like the steak,” or “I had the Mediterranean pasta last time and I loved it” – and back to art as the evening’s guest of honor, painter and tile artist Jane Daniels Hall, stops by to chat.

The president of the area’s historical society stands near the entrance, beckoning the crowd across the street to his museum. He has to speak loudly over the din.

Near the bar, a young, stylish duo sip white wine. They grew up in the area, and up until a year ago, there wasn’t much of a “scene” in town. Then came Abel Blood’s, the neighboring Cup and Easel, and their partnership in First Wednesday, an informal series of cultural events that takes place at the beginning of each month.

“It’s a new artist, a new perspective on life, a glass of wine,” said Katahdin FitzGerald, 28. “It’s a very pleasant evening.”

His companion, Sandra Beaulieu, 22, agreed.

“It’s just a great atmosphere at Abel Blood’s,” she said of the year-old restaurant named for one of the town’s original settlers. “It’s really new, really exciting. Everyone in Dover comes every month.”

They come for the food. They come for the beer (Abel Blood’s international selection rivals most area restaurants’ wine lists). They come for coffee and music during the Cup and Easel’s monthly open mike night. They come for camaraderie. But most important, they come downtown.

“The art openings have been absolutely wonderful,” LuAnn Tibbetts, one of the restaurant’s six co-owners, said. “It’s brought so many people out – people I wouldn’t normally see on a Wednesday night.”

When Tibbetts and her husband, Bruce, moved to town from Hampden 30 years ago, “they rolled up the sidewalks at 5 o’clock,” she said. The couple, and others in town, have seen a substantial difference in the past five years, and Abel Blood’s, with its diverse menu, affordable prices and classic atmosphere, has been a driving force.

“We wanted to create a place we would want to go to, food we would want to eat, drinks we would want to drink,” said Tracy Gayton, another Abel Blood’s co-owner. “And we didn’t want to drive to Bangor, or farther, to get it.”

So Gayton, his friends Erin Callaway and Steve Grammont, Bruce and LuAnn Tibbetts and their son Matthew, who moved back from Portland with dreams of opening his own restaurant, transformed the former Peter’s Pharmacy into a warm, understatedly chic dining room.

Then they devised a menu that was were familiar enough to keep people satisfied and diverse enough to keep them interested – Mediterranean pasta with feta, olives and tricolor peppers; black bean salad; fajitas; burgers; and the occasional filet mignon.

The cultural part came later when they teamed up with Maine Highlands Guild for monthly art openings. Though the owners didn’t set out to make their restaurant a cultural hub, it was a natural fit. Several of the owners sit on the Center Theater board, and all are fans of the nearby East Sangerville Grange’s coffeehouse series.

“We’re kind of an eclectic group of people, but all of the owners have a special affinity for the arts and culture in general,” Gayton said.

And they found a kindred spirit next door when Dan Philbrick opened a cafe and gallery in December. Philbrick, a Bangor native, was working as a sales representative for a paint company in Massachusetts. He came to the area looking for a camp, but he ended up falling in love with a 17-room house. After five years of spending weekends in Dover-Foxcroft, he decided to move there full time.

He had always wanted to open a coffee bar, and when he found the downtown property with its existing gallery, he became an art dealer, too. He wanted to host live entertainment there, and George and Joanna Zink-Tarazzi of Abbot, who had organized successful festivals and fund-raisers in the past, suggested an open mike night.

“We thought it was a great way to connect with the local community of musicians and artists,” Joanna Zink-Tarrazzi said.

Philbrick didn’t know what to expect. The first night, he scheduled it early, and no one showed up until 7:30 p.m. – they were all eating at Abel Blood’s. So he moved it back to 8 p.m.

“They overflow into here after the art openings,” Philbrick said. “We work well together.”

Now in its sixth month, the coffeehouse is a resounding success. Come 8:15 on a recent Wednesday, the Cup and Easel was packed with local teens, twentysomethings, baby boomers and a few elderly couples, curled up on couches and gathered at tables. They sipped lattes and cappuccinos as they waited for their turn in the spotlight.

During a lull in the music, Susan Bryand and her boyfriend, Matt DiFilippo, spoke about First Wednesday and what it means to the community. Bryand, 29, is a Bangor native who teaches art in SAD 68, while DiFilippo, 28, works as a sportswriter for the Waterville Sentinel. Until recently, Bryand said, there wasn’t much for people their age to do in town.

“It’s been pretty interesting,” said Bryand, who also teaches art classes at the cafe. “It’s fun – nice to have something open past 7. You kind of forget there are people around here who do stuff.”

But they come out of the woodwork, at least once a month.

Mario Billingslea came from Greenville, N.C., where he’s a captain in the Army at Fort Bragg. His wife, Joy, is a Dover-Foxcroft native, and they were in town visiting family. When he and his son Shane, 8, stepped up to the microphone to perform “Mad World” by Tears for Fears, the crowd cheered.

“We’re a military family, so we travel all the time and we’re always singing in the car,” Mario Billingslea said.

“We’re kind of artsy-fartsy,” he added, laughing, “and we’re into poetry. We pretty much get into all this stuff.”

So does Shirlee Mae Warren, a senior from Dover-Foxcroft who had the whole room singing along to her piano renditions of old-time favorites such as “It Had To Be You.” Several couples got up to dance, and when the audience broke into applause, Warren beamed.

Near the window, Andy and Annie Wendell set up their microphones for the closing set. Behind the coffee bar, Philbrick stood at the espresso maker, and the screech of the steamer drowned out conversation. It was 11 p.m., and the crowd showed no sign of thinning.

“In this whole area, there’s a cultural awakening,” he had said earlier. “There’s a lot of artists in this area, a lot of musicians. It just kind of melds it all together.”

The Maine Highlands Guild holds art openings at Abel Blood’s from 6 to 8 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month. The restaurant is located at 100 East Main St. in Dover Foxcroft and can be reached by phone at 564-0041. Afterward, an open mike night takes place next door (104 East Main St.) at The Cup & Easel from 8 p.m. on. For information, call 564-7101.