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