Maine News You May Have Missed

Virtual alpaca-farm tours in the era of social distancing, UMaine students preparing for liftoff, and more.

Brewer

Joe Meyers’s Quarantine Karaoke Facebook group, to which members post videos of themselves singing karaoke while self-isolating during the pandemic, attracted some 63,000 members within 36 hours of the Brewer resident creating it. The group now has more than 565,400 members.

Kittery

Two of travel-TV host Samantha Brown’s top three Maine stops are in the state’s southernmost town: Tributary Brewing and Chauncey Creek Lobster. Brown, who visited for PBS’s Places to Love, also counted Bath’s Maine Maritime Museum among her faves.

Unity

Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm, where visitors can take alpacas for walks, has been offering virtual tours on YouTube to cheer up people rendered housebound by the coronavirus.

Bar Harbor

Nicole Cote defeated 22 other baggers from across the country in the National Grocers Association Best Bagger Championship. Contestants were judged on speed, packing techniques, style, attitude, and appearance. Cote won $10,000 — and bagging rights.

Orono

Is it bigger than a breadbox? Not the satellite being developed at the University of Maine. Part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, the small device will examine urban heat islands, harmful algae blooms, and water quality.

Ogunquit

Edward Hopper’s Sea at Ogunquit is featured on a new Forever stamp celebrating Maine’s 200th anniversary. Hopper spent the summers of 1914 and 1915 painting around Ogunquit and courting art student Jo Nivison, whom he later married.