2 - News and Events
UPCOMING WILLOW GROVE EVENTS as of May 18, 2024
Ladies Lunches -Alternate Wednesday/Thursday on 2nd week of the month. Next lunch is scheduled for: Contact: Bridget Condon
Men’s Lunches – 2nd Monday of each Month at Byrnes Irish Pub Contact: Doug Calhoun
Monday Gatherings – every Monday, weather permitting, throughout spring and summer. These occur outside beside the Little Library. Bring whatever you’d like to drink and a snack to share. Come to all of them or show up occasionally!
Events Committee Events:
July 15 th – Community Block Party/Potluck and Bingo
Fall and winter events will be announced later
Spring/Summer Garden Tours: Watch for dates to be announced by our Landscape Committee!
May 14, 2024 Pajama Party - 27 folks came out to the Center Garden, most wearing jammies as directed by our fearless Event Coordinator Brenda. The MC Extraordinaire, Gil Gilman, kept things moving and fun as he and Brenda coordinated games of Charades. Timekeeper, Bridget Condon and her assistant Liz Newman, helped decide the winners. There was popcorn when all arrived and pizza for dinner!
May 11, 2024 Annual Spring Cleanup - Friends and neighbors met for coffee amongst the daffodils in the Center Garden, then set off with gloves, rakes, clippers, and barrows to beautify the Grove. Thank you to organizers and participants alike!
Sept 2023: It's been a foggy rainy summer and most Maine gardens suffered, including the Willow Grove Community Garden 😢 But Sarah Harvey's butternut squash patch still managed to produce ~ 140 lbs of winter squash. Like last year, she has generously donated all of her crop to the Midcoast Hunger Project.
Thanks Sarah! :-)
Thanks Sarah! :-)
May 8, 2023 "Ocho de Mayo" - Willow Grove had fun in our beautiful Center Garden with over 40 neighbors in attendance. Music, games, and taco salad rounded out the festivities!
October 31, 2022 Halloween Parade - It doesn’t take much encouragement for our "old grumpy elderly residents acting up" to come out for any sort of fun! Thanks to our Events Queen, Brenda O for yet again encouraging us to be foolish and have fun!
Check out the videos and photos below:
Check out the videos and photos below:
Halloween elderly acting silly.MOVBridget trying to get rid of Doug.MOV
Sept 2022: This year's harvesting of the great Willow Grove Community Garden is underway. Check out this photo of Sarah Harvey's bumper crop of butternut squash that weighed in at 179 lbs! She has generously donated all of her crop to the Midcoast Hunger Project. Thanks Sarah! :-)
Sept 27, 2022 - The Events Committee sponsored another great Willow Grove fun get-together! 35 people attended, and enjoyed lite fare of hot dogs (prepared by chef Ron Condon), chips and cookies. Our own Don Gerrish emceed the rowdy crowd of storytellers – some were telling the truth and some were lying! Thanks to contestants, Nancy Guest, Irv Ouellette, Marty Szdlowski, Holly Calhoun, Carolyn Wollen and Bridget Condon for braving this group and telling us their stories. Panel of Judges – Beth Levesque, Bill Bannon, Carla Davis and Mary Ann Holcombe voted, along with the community to decide who was fibbing! It was fun to hear the stories, and get to know our neighbors a little better – even if some were making stories up! Thanks for everyone who attended and to those who organized and participated! – see you all next time!
June 5, 2022 - Willow Grovers watched MayPole dancers in the Center Garden while enjoying snacks and punch. The "one" and "only" group of "Jack Only" performed 50s tunes. And attendees took home gifts created by the Willow Grove Craft Group.
Many thanks to our Events Committee for this fun celebration!
IMG_3159.MP4IMG_3139.MP4
November 21, 2021 - The Holiday Season has begun at Willow Grove! On Sunday evening, three clusters toward the end of Willow Grove (#41-82) gathered to celebrate the annual lighting of the Glover's Holiday Birch Tree! The Glovers have generously lit this huge tree for several recent years. What a joy it is on a dark winter night to drive around the corner and see the beautiful white lights! George and Liz mentioned that perhaps this Gathering should be a Community event next year! We will try to make that happen! If you are out and about, take a drive or walk by #65 to experience the glow of this beautiful tree. It will warm your heart and help you get through the cold season! Many thanks to George and Liz for their generosity, to Deb Merrill for the pics and to Bridget Condon for helping to organize a fun evening.
IMG_4037.MOVOctober 31, 2021 - A fine cast of Willow Grove characters showed up for the Halloween parade and were rewarded with various goodies at the central garden. Folks and dogs all seemed to be in a spooky spirit and a fat Willow Grove squirrel was seem affectionately hugging a stone bird. Strange indeed!
October 2021 - A rather macabre cannibal pumpkin has taken up residence on the bench opposite the new gathering place. I wonder where it came from?
I think we found the culprit! Doug had a bumper crop of giant pumpkins, to say the least!
Sept 2021:
Harvesting of the great Willow Grove Community Garden is now well underway.
Harvesting of the great Willow Grove Community Garden is now well underway.
Just check out this photo of the bumper crop of pumpkins from Grandpa Rick's Pumpkin Patch!
September 14, 2021 - Great fun was had by all as we Yankee swapped both useful and useless items in the spirit of Christmas in September. Click on the video at the lower right to watch Brenda's amazing cat story. :-)
CV-19 Gathering - Bridget Cat Story.movMay 17, 2021 - An Escape from COVID19 Gathering took place at the Willow Grove Central Garden to share stories, creations made during quarantine and to celebrate the much reduced CDC restrictions. Check out the photos and videos below to relive yet another historic CV-19 related event.
CV-19 Gathering - Bridget Cat Story.movDecember 29, 2020 - Here's the link to a short YouTube video made by Deb and Blake of all the
Holiday Lights that brighten up Willow Grove as we approach the eagerly awaited New Year of 2021
Holiday Lights that brighten up Willow Grove as we approach the eagerly awaited New Year of 2021
March 22, 2020 - A COVID19 Dance Party took place at the Gathering Place prior to the Maine order to "sequester in place". Everyone did their best to stay 3-6 feet apart! Special thanks to our professional DJ Jack Gallagher. Check out the photos and videos below to relive this historic event.
CV-19 Dance Party IMG_4382.MOVCV-19 Dance Parth IMG_3026.MOV
CV-19 Dance Party IMG_3025.MOVCV-19 Dance Party IMG_3024.MOVPut your mouse pointer on the photo at the right, hold down your left mouse button and drag the pointer around to explore an interactive 3D Google Photosphere taken at the Willow Grove Gathering Place in November 2018.
December 9, 2018 - Here are a couple of photos of the Yule Log Sing at the Gathering Place. We all had great fun in spite of the singing ;-) !!!
August 2018 - How lucky we are to have such hard-working community volunteers! Our Willow Grove entrance has been greatly improved! Thanks go to Deb Merrill for designing the new double-sided sign layout and to Wes Boynton and Irv Ouellette who rebuilt the beautiful stone wall. They all worked closely with our amazing Landscape Committee on this project – old plants were removed; mulch was installed and a new small tree has been planted. Work is underway at our new Center Garden too. A lovely new tree has been planted.
WG Kentucky Derby Tailgate Party - June 3, 2018:
2018 Kentucky Derby YouTube Videos:
Click on the links below to view YouTube Videos of past Willow Grove events :
Click on the pdf files below to see more photos of past Willow Grove events:
WG Block Party 2017.pdfWG Lobster Bake - July 2016.pdf