Will it always be winter in Washington County?

One could ask, will it always be winter in Washington County? Will folks here continue to shun the summer fires of world culture and economic well-being, to stay isolated out in a winter cold? Will this county remain like a body drawn inside itself to mere survival functions, while frostbite threatens? Here, we have a reversal of an idea put by Henry Adams (in his “Education”): that winter confinement and gloom was a characteristic of towns, while summer liberty and delight in the world around us was a characteristic of the country.

Washington County is gloomy these days. People attempting to bring economic development here are greeted with a cold shoulder and frostbite.

The message to LNG developers and others is clear: Washington County does not want smokestack industries. Add your manufacturing value elsewhere.

So, how is our thaw to come? Many of us would welcome it, but there are many here frozen into roles to which they’ve grown accustomed, and who do not want change. Some are homegrown, some are escapers from cities, and some are pseudo-intellectuals possessed by radical environmentalism – no matter that all of them lament being left out of the sunshine of culture and economic well-being which seems to hang over southern Maine.

Some have told me suggestions made here over the past couple of years are good, others remain indifferent, and still others have accused me of being harsh in my presentations.

Here are some of them:

To do.

. Expand the new Downeast Heritage Museum to include a research and publication center. Genealogical research, a pretty hot activity even now, comes to mind, and there are talented persons who could use some help in publishing their works.

. Expand the uses of our existing schools and colleges, much as is done in Bar Harbor. Research, aquariums, art. Get foundation and other grants, to sponsor Chairs of Learning here, to support teachers and courses.

. Develop a magnet school here. Maine has science-technology-industry magnets, so how about a magnet school for art and culture here? The opponents of smokestack industries – some call them tree huggers – would embrace this, I think.

. The tree huggers might also embrace a major art center, similar to the one in Rockland. Such a center could have courses in quilting, writing, music, dance, acting, painting, photography, sculpture, pottery, etc. We have some of this now, but such

an expansion might be welcome.

. Extend the existing riverside walkway-bikeway. I think the governor has endorsed such development along the Machias to Calais rail bed. If the new crossing is located up by Baileyville, there could be increased opportunity for naturalist and observation and other recreational activities in the Maguerrewock.

. Make bold strokes to enhance the beauty and use of the new downtown. For example, engage the idle artists who leave their artwork on the walls under the Main Street bridge, to paint murals on vacant sides of buildings; this, also, could be remedial in leading the idle from their idleness, and in showing them how they can be useful and appreciated. Put a cobblestone patch in the new plaza, so folks can shed their shoes and massage their weary feet.

. Encourage inter-business cooperation, and discourage the petty rivalries which have prevailed. In some times, all the restaurants, for example, place their advertisements in one town-wide brochure, even including menus.

. Expand river usage, by having naturalists take visitors on tours, similar to whale watches. I believe some of our folks are doing this now, but there’s room for expansion.

To think about.

. Many of the suggestions above carry the idea Calais and Washington County could have people year-round, a different proposition from current “tourism” efforts, which focus on folks who are here two days, two weeks, two months. We could have folks here all year renting, shopping and otherwise contributing to community life. Rather than a trap

for travelers, Calais and Washington County could be a nest for researchers, magnet scholars, art students and naturalists. All year round.

. To do many of these things requires imaginative leadership, folks who can get about, see how issues here are addressed elsewhere, find formulae for success. Washington County has long had a deficit in this, the main drain being fear of change. Perhaps the very magnet school and art center proposed here could serve as nests in which the imagination to overcome the deficit could be nurtured.

Will it always be winter in Washington County? Or shall we work to make it a true sunrise county?

Ron Cuddy, a resident of Calais, is a former philosophy teacher who says he likes to look around and ask questions and try to find answers.