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GARDINER — Gardiner Library Association continues celebrating Maine’s bicentennial with a yearlong speaker series elaborating on the history of the communities making up the Lower Kennebec Valley. All events are free and open to all.
“The communities that make up the Gardiner Library’s primary readership — Farmingdale, Gardiner, West Gardiner, Litchfield, Randolph and Pittston — all have stories to tell from the past 200 years. With this speaker series, we’re going to tell some of them,” said Tom Farkas, president of the Gardiner Library Association. “The Gardiner Library Association’s Avis Ames Speaker Series Celebrating Maine’s Bicentennial on the Lower Kennebec Valley will take a close look at local happenings before, during and after 1820 when Maine became our nation’s 23rd state.”
The nonprofit library association financially supports services provided by the Gardiner Public Library and maintains the library building for all residents in its service area.
The upcoming speaker is Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, who will talk about “Maine’s First Referendum: The Who, What, Why and When of the Vote for Statehood in the District of Maine and the Lower Kennebec Valley,” The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5.
Although there are now six communities in the Gardiner Library Association’s service area, in 1819 the geographical area included only three — Gardiner (ecompassing West Gardiner and Farmingdale), Pittston, which included Randolph; and Litchfield.
Dunlap will speak about the 1819 referendum question overwhelmingly approved by voters in the District of Maine. Dunlap was elected by the Legislature to serve as Maine’s 47th and 49th secretary of state. He was sworn in on Jan. 8 to his fourth consecutive and seventh overall term of office.
Former Gardiner Library Association president Dennis Doiron is chairman of the committee that developed the bicentennial speaker series.
“We’re really thrilled with this speaker series because it puts local names, places and faces from the Lower Kennebec Valley over the past 200 years in the context of Maine’s bicentennial,” Doiron said. “Additional speakers in the winter and spring will be announced later; this speaker series will continue well into 2020.”
