“Houlton Unitarian Church” (1903)
This photograph taken in the Fall of 1903 shows the new Unitarian Church, recently built, following the Great Houlton Fire of 1902. Before I cropped the photo, you could still see extra lumber laying on the ground from the construction job (I just thought I’d clean it up a little bit). None of the gentlemen in the photograph are identified, but my hunch is that it’s the building and grounds committee with some sort of supervisor off to the side. Our building has not changed all that much in the last one hundred and twenty years. The history continues…Our Ingathering Service (the UU version of Homecoming) is Sunday in the sanctuary. There will be organ music on the historic Frisbee organ, congregational singing and a water ceremony. Please bring a small bottle of water you have collected from special places nearby or far away during your summer adventures. We individually pour waters into our collective basin and reflect upon our life as a spiritual community. The four elements will be represented on the altar as we explore our relatedness to each other and the world around us. Following the service there will be a pot-luck luncheon in the church basement. We had originally planned a lawn party outside, but the weekend forecast does not look favorable. So instead, we will move the party indoors. The grill will be available if you’d like to grill something outside and I still plan to bring some red hot dogs for the occasion. Hope to see you there!
YouTube
Channel content for this week is an Open-Pulpit Service. These services are always amazing in how they tend to develop their own theme and timely structure in a spontaneity of the flow. This service was no exception. In an Open-Pulpit Service w
e invite you to bring a reading, poem, a show and tell object or a personal observation to share with the group. We hope you can join us for one of the services online or in-person.
See you at Ingathering!
In Ministry,
Dave
Words from the Moderator
Rev. Dale Holden shared these words during last week’s Sunday Service.
“For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.”
– Ecclesiastes On July 24 of this year, our minister, Rev. David Hutchinson, became eligible for Medicare as he turned 65 years of age.
For 25 years, David has served our church community – pastoring, nurturing, and loving our church family, creating and overseeing our many innovative programs, as well as taking good care of, and even cleaning our beautiful building from time to time. Also, over the years, Dave has been actively involved in the Houlton community, in civic groups, and when it was active, in the ecumenical clergy group. Our church was always well represented and had a presence in the local religious community. This past Friday, David was invited to present the message at the ecumenical climate care service held in Monument Park. Dave remains active and connected with the state and national UU organizations.
So, today, as Moderator speaking for our UU Board of Trustees, per David’s request, we are announcing his coming retirement, effective on July 24, 2026. Over these past 25 years, David has preached inspired created, worked, loved, struggled and cried with this congregation. (And, as I will add, as a “half-time” minister with no added benefits, he has given way over and above our financial compensation to him.”
“Well done, good and faithful Servant.”
So, we ask, “What now? What next?” We don’t know. What we DO know is that this church (meaning each and every one of you) is a strong foundation stone for our future. Over these past years you have continued to build on the support and devotion of our faith ancestors. We have an active and very capable Board of Trustees, a very active, knowledgable and forward-looking group of Financial Trustees. We have strong lay leadership, excellent and faithful financial support, creativity coming out of the walls that is finding wonderful avenues of expression. But most of all, we are a loving and diverse and welcoming community. Yes, David is our leader, but YOU folks make it all happen. And we are growing! We will also be looking to and counting on all the ways, ideas, and plans that the National UU has that can help us move into whatever comes next.
So I encourage you all to support David and our church in this coming year – with your presence, your talents, your opinions and ideas, as well as with you financial support.
David, may this be your best year yet. Go for it. Remember. God is with you and we are, too. We love you!!
Dale
THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE:
HERE IS THE SERVICE LINK FOR THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE
(Please note it won’t be active until 10AM on Sunday morning)
HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY COFFEE HOUR:Topic: UUHoulton zoom coffee hour & check-inTime: Sep 7, 2025 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/87577040562?pwd=sP9oySXbObjz5BTFxq6Ec65SC0X5bS.1
Meeting ID: 875 7704 0562Passcode: 688546
Calendar of Events @UUHoultonSept 6 “A Moment in the Sun” documentary at Temple Cinema The film runs from Sept 5- Sept 11Sept 7 Ingathering Service led by David Hutchinson (followed by a bbq and pot-luck on the church grounds)Sept 7 Trivia Night at the UU’s Cup Cafe 5:30-7:30PMSept 8 UUHoulton board meeting in the parlor 4PM (Congregation members are welcome to atttend)Sept 13 LGBTQ+ Luncheon 12 NoonSept 13 Houlton Coffeehouse 7-9PMSept 14 Sunday Service: Rev. Dale HoldenSept 21 Sunday Service: David HutchinsonSept 28 Sunday Service: Randi Bradbury &Ira Dyer
Trivia Night
September 7 Sunday 5:30-7:30PM
At the UU’s Cup Cafe
Following the tremendous success of our Fiesta Mexicana trivia night – and in response to the clamor for more brain-challenging fun – we’re DOING IT AGAIN!Join us at The Cup Cafe on the first Sunday of each month for Trivia Night. See what facts you can pull out of the depths of your mind (you’ll be surprised!), laugh with friends, and enjoy a light meal and coffee treats from the cafe.We’re starting out on SEPTEMBER 7 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and will continue at the same time on Sunday, October 5. As we head into winter, we’ll review the day and time – depending on feedback, we may move the event to earlier in the day to minimize nighttime driving on potentially messy roads (yes, they’re coming back).It’s $5 per person to participate…teams can be of any size, so bring all of your smartest besties. Word has it that the Nickerson Nincompoops, winners of the first Cup Memorial Cup competition, are ready for all comers!
Award-winning film about Houlton and eclipse premieres locally Friday
HOULTON, Maine — The Temple Theater is rolling out the red carpet on Friday for the local premiere of the award-winning documentary that features the town of Houlton’s preparation for the 2024 total solar eclipse.
Houlton gained instant global notoriety as the last U.S. stop along the sun’s path of totality and the place forecasters predicted to be one of the best clear-sky viewing locations. The 78-minute film, “A Moment in the Sun,” explores how a rural community of 6,000 pulled together to welcome nearly 30,000 eclipse chasers, scientists and tourists from around the world.
Shot all on location in Aroostook County, New York City-based directors Mia Weinberger and Tom van Kalken shadowed several local people in the months leading up to the once-in-a-lifetime event.
“We were drawn to this story not just because of the eclipse,” said Weinberger, “but because of the people we met while we were up there.”
Van Kalken said the film at its core is really about the human stories that take place all around us all the time.
On Friday, starting at 5:30 p.m., premiere ticket holders can walk the red carpet, get their photo taken and enjoy the cocktail hour prior to the film’s 7 p.m. showtime.
The documentary will be shown simultaneously in the Temple’s two auditoriums with cameras in each location so people on the opposite side will be able to see each other and participate in the question and answer session with the filmmakers and the featured characters, said theater manager Jason Howe.
“As far as I know, this kind of event has never been done in a movie theater before, much less at the Temple,” he said.
Johanna Johnston and a handful of others featured in the feature-length film attended the documentary’s international premiere in July at the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville, where the documentary won the prestigious Tourmaline Award for Best Feature Film. The film also won Best Feature Film at the Maine Outdoor Film Festival in Portland.
“Watching the film brought me right back to what it felt like in the middle of planning — the uncertainty, the blind faith, and the trust we had to place in each other,” said Johnston, executive director of the Southern Aroostook Development Corp., one of four community members featured in the film.
“The storytelling is incredible, and it shows just how hard this community worked to rise to the occasion for a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Johnston said.
As the time grew closer to the actual eclipse, the filmmakers focused their lens on a few locals including Johnston who, along with a team of planners, started the preparation three years in advance. Also featured are a local astronomer who shared his first eclipse with his late husband in 1997, a local entrepreneur with 800 eclipse-themed T-shirts to sell and a couple who got married right at the moment of totality.
“There’s something incredibly moving about watching a small town of a few thousand people rise to meet the moment and welcome tens of thousands of strangers,” van Kalken said.
The Houlton-based feature-length documentary began a bit by chance when the New York filmmakers started thinking about viewing the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. As they explored the swath of American towns cast into total darkness by the moon’s shadow, the filmmaking duo decided to tell the story of Houlton.
“I was watching a video of a Houlton eclipse planning public forum and I was like, ‘I love this town, I love these people and it’s so interesting and cool that it’s the last place to see the eclipse in the country,’” Weinberger said.
The evening opens with a short film, “The Comeback Mill,” directed and produced by Josh Gerritsen and followed by the feature presentation.
Organizers are encouraging attendees to dress as they would for a wedding to walk the red carpet, although it is by no means mandatory, said Howe.
The theater still has a few tickets available for Friday night’s event, but they are getting low.
Tickets are $10 each and include a free small popcorn as well as hors d’oeuvres during the cocktail hour. Tickets are available at the Temple Theatre ticket counter or by visiting templehoulton.com.
This is a re-issue post from Backwoods blog about last year’s Houlton Total Solar Eclipse Event. A flashback moment…and Dave’s 5 Minute Interview with A Moment in the Sun filmmakers Mia and Tom on YouTube. Just click.
Total Solar Eclipse ’24 was the biggest thing to happen in Houlton since “The Great Phish Migration” back in the late 1990s when the Vermont-based jam band Phish came for a series of concerts at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine. The Phish traffic flow of 70,000 concert goers mostly missed the Houlton downtown as travelers took the Houlton exit and then headed north up Route 1. At one point traffic was backed up 42 miles all the way from Limestone to the Houlton exit. I remember Phish-Heads pitching tents in the middle of the traffic median overnight and taking over any available parking lot. As Houlton prepared for the Total Solar Eclipse event, comparisons to the Phish concert were common, along with the recurring question of “How many people do you think will show up?” The best guess from event organizers, eclipse chasers and town officials was 10,000 to 40,000 attendees depending on a confounding number of circumstances and the weather forecast. Hotels and lodging were totally booked from Caribou to Bangor, so those provided some solid numbers, but how many more would come?As it turned out, the crowds arrived slowly. On Friday it was lightly snowing (which probably didn’t help). Foot traffic was slow in the downtown, below expectations, and continued so into Saturday with modest attendance at various events around town. But that was about to change. The forecast had come out calling for clear skies, 50 degrees and 100% visibility on Monday for the eclipse. Suddenly, Houlton was one of the best spots in the country from Texas to Maine to view the total solar eclipse! Since serious eclipse chasers base everything on the best viewing forecasts, we knew the crowds were on their way. The major news networks and NASA covered the eclipse from downtown Market Square and the crowds, did indeed, show up under bright sunny skies with no clouds in sight. Estimated crowd size was 20,000 as the perfect score forecast certainly boosted the numbers. For one day, Houlton, Maine made the national news. Personally, it was my first experience of a total solar eclipse, or what’s know as “totality.” Initially, I must admit, I downplayed the importance of clear skies and the role of the short range weather forecast. But now that I’ve experienced it, I can see why people go out of their way to get to the best viewing location possible. The clear view of totality is everything. People talk about totality as a life-altering experience, transformative or transcendent. While it is deeply personal, and each individual has their own specific experience of totality, I was amazed at how quick people were to comment about their experience when asked. I had the sense that you could literally walk up to anyone in the town of Houlton that day, ask them about what they had just experienced and have an engaging exchange. What I remember is everyone looking up at the sky at the same time. In our increasingly mechanized and artificial world, nature can sometimes sit quietly in the background without being noticed. A total solar eclipse gets our attention and places the focus on nature at large; the sun, the moon, the planets in motion and the extended cosmos beyond. You could literally stare down the sun directly for three minutes and eighteen seconds and not back off. You could feel the temperature drop as the moon occluded the sun, see the corona and then experience the return. Having directly experienced totality I am no longer the same person. I’m calling myself an eclipse person now. I’m not sure if I’ll travel all the way to Iceland or Spain in ’26 for the next total solar eclipse, but for now, let’s just say, “We’ll see…” Dave Dave’s 5 Minute Interview with A Moment in the Sun filmmakers, Tom and Mia. (just click on the link) Eclipse ready…(Christoph has the gear!!) Mia, Tom and the film crew on the eclipse stage… Happy Birthday, Betty! (from last week’s service) Prayer ListFor those working for social justice and societal changePray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nationThe war in Ukraine continuesPrayers for the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza Prayers for those affected by recent governmental (and policy) changes in DCPrayers for those affected by the tragic airliner crash in India Prayers for Peace in the Middle East Prayers for those affected by the wildfires in the Grand CanyonPrayers for those affected by the wildfires in Eastern CanadaPrayers for those affected by Hurricane Erin on the American East CoastPrayers for the lives lost and those affected by the school shooting in MinneapolisPrayers for those affected by the earthquakes in Pakistan. The Four Limitless Ones Prayer May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.May we be free from suffering and the root of suffering.May we not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.May we dwell in the great equanimity free from anger, aggression and delusion.* |
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