Scott McPheeters and Niki Cousineau pause inside the light-filled studio they created for artists seeking uninterrupted time to explore ideas. Subcircle is one of only a handful of artist residencies in Maine devoted primarily to contemporary performance, dance and interdisciplinary art. Photo by Cy Cyr. On Guinea Road, an old barn has become a place where artists find something increasingly difficult to come by: time. The first thing I did after climbing the stairs was take

Painting Joy How Adrienne Kernan LaVallée spent a lifetime finding her own artistic voice Sea Watch Chopped Sea Clams cans make for great paint brush holders. On one of the first truly warm days of summer, the doors to Adrienne Kernan LaVallée's studio stood open in Biddeford. Sunlight spilled across unfinished canvases, palette knives rested beside thick pools of oil paint, and dozens of brushes stood upright in recycled clam cans. Just down the road, Biddeford Pool shimmere

Ten years after opening a tiny yoga studio in Saco, Sarah Spiegel has created one of Biddeford's most enduring communities. The Ocean She Built Dark clouds drifted across the sky above Biddeford Pool as Sarah Spiegel stepped into the grass and looked toward the horizon. For 45 minutes, the sun had remained hidden behind a thick layer of blue-gray clouds, leaving only hints of what might happen before nightfall. Then, just before disappearing below the horizon, it found a narr

Maureen Massey, left, and Linda McLaughlin, owners of Between the Tides in Biddeford Pool, Maine, have opened for their 16th season. Between the Tides in Biddeford Pool, Maine. Forty years ago, Linda McLaughlin received a collect call about a man she had never met. Actually, she received a collect call about two men. Neither of them was coming home. It was the mid-1980s, before cell phones, text messages, or any easy way to explain that everything was fine. Linda's husband an

At 7:30 on a June evening, Ashley Nadeau and Tina Gosselin were already joking that they were up past their bedtime. A cool breeze drifted across the rooftop of their downtown Biddeford apartment building. At 63 degrees, the air felt a little chilly for June, but neither woman seemed eager to leave. The view helped. Below them, downtown Biddeford settled into the evening. The Saco River reflected the last light of the day while streaks of orange, pink, and purple stretched ac

More than a dozen school groups filled Hadlock Field during the Portland Sea Dogs’ Education Day game Thursday morning in Portland. Hadlock Field was loud before the first pitch. By 10:00 in the morning, school buses lined the streets outside the ballpark. Students poured through the gates in waves, teachers counting heads while volunteers pointed groups toward the concourse. Inside, the smell of popcorn and grilled hot dogs drifted through the cool spring air as players stre

Josh Johnson, of Biddeford, had a front row seat to the start of Instagram. It begins, as it probably should, with a phone call from the two Instagram founders who were still figuring out what they had built. Josh Johnson had been posting every day—quietly, methodically—on an app that had barely introduced itself to the world. Three days after it launched, he downloaded it because someone on a podcast said it made photos look better. There were no hashtags yet, no search, no

Frank Coletti, owner of Coletti's Pizza in Biddeford, Maine, owns one of the most popular pizza shops in the state of Maine. At five years old, Frank lived through the 1980 earthquake in Naples, Italy. His family spent the next five years in temporary housing. I’ve been gone a long time. Twenty-five years. Most of that time was in Orlando, where the pizza restaurants tend to feel interchangeable after a while—Ferrara's, Nona Street, Flame, Blaze—different names, same menus,

Tori and Abby opened Bird Bones Tattoo Studio on Elm Street in Biddeford in 2024. The Entrance Tori, left, and Abby in the lobby of Bird Bones Tattoo Studio. The door opens into something that doesn’t feel like a waiting room. A desk sits just inside, but it’s surrounded—framed, stacked, layered. A mounted muskrat looks out from the wall to the left. Above it, turkey wings. Behind the desk, shelves hold objects that feel collected over time, not ordered all at once. The wall

Michael Macomber and Katie Pinard outside Elements on a cold March morning in Biddeford. Inside, the shop has been a gathering place on Main Street for 13 years. On the second day of March, winter in Biddeford feels less certain. The cold is still sharp enough to stiffen your fingers, but the light has changed. It comes in clearer now, a brighter blue stretched over Main Street. Snowbanks along the curb have thinned and grayed at the edges. Meltwater runs in narrow ribbons to

Peter McPheeters, of Biddeford Pool, rows his boat around Wood Island Lighthouse during sunrise on February 22, 2025. Photo by Cy Cyr/ BrickTides.com The flagpole snapped in the dark. The wind came hard through Biddeford Pool on Monday — snow moving sideways, drifts building against the harbor-facing buildings, the kind of February storm that reminds you who owns the coastline. By Tuesday morning the blizzard had moved offshore. The sky was hard blue. The Pool lay exposed at

April Laverriere, of Kennebunkport, started competing on her bike after a foot injury sidelined her running career. It was five degrees when we met, the kind of clear January morning in Biddeford where the light is sharp and the cold doesn’t pretend otherwise. We were inside a small studio near The Lincoln, catching up after a long gap, talking easily in that way that only happens when you’ve known someone since before life got complicated. April Laverriere and I graduated

Driving through Biddeford, you can tell something about a house by how close it sits to the road. The older the house, the less it seems to care about being polite. Steve’s house sits so near the intersection it feels like the road had to adjust its plans. Not the other way around. Steve's house was constructed when the 8th US President was serving, Martin Van Buren. Subscribe to BrickTides.com. The workshop is not where you expect it. To reach it, you have to step outside a

From President Bush at Cape Arundel to mornings on the Atlantic, a family’s life on the land Greg, left, and Bob Searle on the first hole at Abenakee Club. If you arrive before sunrise at the Abenakee Club in Biddeford Pool, you can watch the world brighten in layers. The ocean moves first, catching a strip of pink before anything else. Wood Island Lighthouse glows white long before the neighborhoods wake up. And then, at a certain angle that only appears in spring and fall,

Michelle and John Corgan outside Bell Farm Shops. They purchased the property in 2017 and have transformed it into one of the most beloved shopping destinations on the Seacoast. Bell Farm Shops in York has a presence that stops people in their tracks. The tall red barn at 244 US Route 1 looks like it could be the set of a movie. The cupola rises above the rooftops with a horse weathervane. The morning sun rests on the shingles and the red picket fence. Wind chimes move on the

Melissa Colley at Saco Scoop in Saco, Maine. A Door That’s Always Open It’s a Monday afternoon on Main Street in Saco, Maine, and the Saco Scoop shop smells like hot fudge and waffle cones. Behind the counter, Melissa Colley greets every customer by name — or, if she doesn’t know it yet, simply as “my friend.” “Because that’s the way it always was,” she says, glancing at the handwritten menu above her shoulder. “And don’t change what’s not broken.” At 209 Main Street, next

Kathleen "Pidge" Pigeon, owner of Lucky Pigeon Brewing in Biddeford, Maine. Biddeford, Maine — The hum of a canning line cuts through the stillness of an afternoon brew day. Inside a restored brick building off Laconia Street, sunlight pools across the floor, the air rich with the earthy sweetness of fermenting grain. A group of regulars trade stories at the bar while a brewer wipes condensation from a stainless-steel tank. Behind the counter, greeting everyone by name, stand

Katie and Cody Sherer, owners of Mainely Blooms at 1903 Portland Road in Arundel, Maine. Photo by Cy Cyr. Three Generations on the Same Patch of Maine Soil Here on a long, humming stretch of Route 1 in Arundel, a family’s land has been put to work for three generations—and three entirely different businesses. That continuity is the quiet power behind Mainely Blooms , the perennial nursery and flower farm owned by Cody and Katie Sherer at 1903 Portland Road in Arundel, Maine

The Pemigewasset Overlook, left and the Graham Overlook, right along the Kancamangus Highway on Sunday, September 28, 2025. For southern...

Mike Norcia, owner of Sternlines and Forewind Golf