Readfield Union Meeting House August concerts will support restoration

READFIELD – Two August concerts will raise money to support the ongoing restoration of the Union Meeting House.
David Mallett will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 7, at the Meeting House, 22 Church Road.
Mallett has played at the Meeting House before and says he always enjoys it because of the excellent acoustics and enthusiastic audience. In a career spanning four decades, he has recorded 17 albums, and artists across the world have covered his songs, including the American folk classic “Garden Song.”

Mallett and bass player Mike Burd have performed in clubs, concert halls and festivals across the US, Canada and Europe.
Fiddlers Greg Boardman and Owen Kennedy will perform at the Union Meeting House at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15.
Boardman, who has been performing for four decades, and young Kennedy have both won awards for their music, not only in the U.S., but in Scotland performing in competition with Scottish fiddlers. It promises to be a fun time with great music.
The Union Meeting House, built in 1828, was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It’s considered a particularly fine example of Federal period architecture for a rural context. Trompe l’oeil murals by Prussian artist Charles Schumacher adorn the interior. Of his 51 works completed in Maine in 1860 through 1880, this is his last known surviving work, completely intact. The hand-painted stenciled windows and a working 1890s pump organ are two other features of the Meeting House.
A formal restoration program began in 2009 after the building fell into disrepair. The nearly restored meeting house is now being used as its builders intended – as a community gathering space for concerts, talks and visitors.
Tickets for both events are available at the door the night of the event. Admission to Mallett is $25 and Boardman and Kennedy $15. All profits go to the restoration of the building.

PHOTO: Union Meeting House (Maureen Milliken photo)