Upcoming activist events & meetings
… Rally Every Saturday at Noon at Chapman Park in Rockland …
Weekly Pro-Democracy Demonstration in Rockland, Maine
When: Saturday, July 26 2025 at Noon
Where: Chapman Park in Rockland (at the corner of Park & Main Streets)
We gather every Saturday at Noon as long as authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption plague our nation, and all those in nonviolent opposition are welcomed to join us in our demonstration of resolve.
We sing songs of protest, resistance, democracy, and a better world.
We collect food and hygiene items to donate to the local food pantry.
The Audacity’s Visual Arts Production Workshop
Visual artists, meet at The Audacity’s summer office: 2561 Atlantic Highway (Route 1) in Lincolnville — each Sunday from 1-4 PM.
We will be working on posters, buttons, scarves, and whatever else we come up with. Bring supplies if you can; we will have some there, including a sewing machine, scarves, and a banner. Bring your ideas as well; we all have a need to create.
Democracy Huddle
Democracy Huddle Meeting
Monday, July 7, 2025, from 5:30-7 pm
Thomaston Public Library Community Room, 60 Main Street, Thomaston, ME
We are starting a small discussion group on democracy, which we are informally calling “Huddles.” We will:
huddle—i.e.,have an open discussion about what’s going on right now with our democracy, how it fits with the international scene, what we can do, and what it all feels like; and…
discuss ways of spreading the idea of open, regular democracy conversations. One suggestion might be that we prepare regular 'huddle reports' for the audacity newsletter that would highlight the articles, books, and questions the huddle thinks would be useful for others.
Bring a friend, and let others know. Feel free to forward this invitation to others.
The Audacity’s Visual Arts Production Workshop
Visual artists, meet at The Audacity’s summer office: 2561 Atlantic Highway (Route 1) in Lincolnville — each Sunday from 1-4 PM.
We will be working on posters, buttons, scarves, and whatever else we come up with. Bring supplies if you can; we will have some there, including a sewing machine, scarves, and a banner. Bring your ideas as well; we all have a need to create.
"By Land or By Sea" Flotilla for Chief Justice John Roberts
"By Land or By Sea" Flotilla for Chief Justice John Roberts in Port Clyde, St George Peninsula
Where: 880 Port Clyde Road, Port Clyde, Maine
When: Saturday July 19 (Rain Date July 26), Carpool due to limited pkg, 2 boats per vehicle, if possible.
7:30-8:00 Launch at public boat landings (Boat < 20': kayak, dinghy, paddleboard,canoe)
8:30-9:30 Silent Vigil before 10 Hupper Island residence (need 7 volunteers to duck tape a letter bow and stern of kayak to spell "Mainers Resist" seen by drone, contact Susan) Bring PFD, Sign (non violent, non profane), Dress for weather.
9:30-10:00 Disembark and clear public pkg lot and landing
12:00 Noon SING!,Chapman Park, Rockland
Launch- Old Boat Ramp: btwn Ferry Terminal and Squid Ink/Linda Bean's
New Boat Ramp: to right, end of new pkg lot
Parking- Free All Day spaces (about 6), 2 Hour spaces (about 12) in new lot. Park along Factory Road. Paid pkg @ Monhegan Boat Line.
There will be crowd marshals and rescuers in fluorescent vests for safety. Questions contact Susan: 508-274-8976, smacdens@gmail.com
Community Forum: What Does Good Trouble Look Like in Knox County, Maine?
Getting Ready for Good Trouble
"Find a way to get in trouble: good trouble, necessary trouble. Make our country what our country should be." -- John Lewis, May 2014
It has become more and more clear over the last few weeks that all three branches of federal government -- executive, legislative, and judicial -- have become captured and are now controlled by Donald Trump and his representatives. We can no longer hope for Congress or the courts to save us. The law was always tilted in favor of those in power, but it is swiftly being converted from at least a possible means to resist fascism into a direct tool of fascism itself.
How about institutional forces outside the government? The "fourth estate" -- media -- have largely been cowed into silence or tepid underreporting under threat of expensive lawsuits. Campuses are eerily, meekly silent -- as the president of one of the seven Maine public universities told faculty recently, "the lesson of Germany is that you hide." Massive law firms have entered into agreements to help the administration squash dissent, and principled pro bono lawyers are so overwhelmed with case work that most people being hurt by the government can't find legal representation. The national Democratic Party is uninterested in promoting broad grassroots resistance, playing the sort of inside game and election fundraising reserved for normal times. A few of our local civic institutions (clubs, churches, school boards, libraries) are providing resources to help build resistance, but too many are hiding as well, insisting that because they have some members who support fascism, they must remain neutral.
When the law and our institutions are at best cowardly silent and at worst intentionally complicit in the destruction of our democracy, all that is left to us is... us.
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation, a mission and a mandate, to stand up, to speak up and speak out, and get in the way, get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble." --John Lewis, November 2016
The Audacity has to date been working within the system of laws and conflict-averse norms to demonstrate the presence of dissent and on more than one occasion appeal to the system. We will continue to do so. But as the late civil rights icon and member of Congress John Lewis reminded us throughout his life, when the system of laws, government, and status quo are themselves twisted toward wickedness and oppression, speaking out remains important but is no longer sufficient.
"Good Trouble" is a phrase that John Lewis used to refer not only to declarations made in safe spaces, but actions that identify and confront the sources of injustices in society. "Good trouble, necessary trouble" involves getting in the way of the system. Directly confronting the system. Nonviolently obstructing the system. Causing disturbance of the system to provoke needed change. To commit to causing Good Trouble in Maine is to commit to nonviolent action that causes inconvenience to the status quo, to make the way things are unstable and the people who benefit from them uncomfortable. Making good trouble also means exposing ourselves to the personal consequences of our disruption. Are some of us willing to engage in good trouble? If we are, what steps must we take to make it happen?
What does it look like for good trouble to live on in these times, here in Knox County, Maine? What good trouble is needed here, and how do we bring it about?
On the five-year anniversary of John Lewis' death -- Thursday July 17 -- we are holding a community meeting to discuss this crucial question. All members of The Audacity and the broader public are welcomed to 345 Broadway Rockland at 7 PM.
Good Trouble Lives On, July 17 2025, is a national day of focus on the question of good trouble, and our community meeting is a part of that day. Creating a morally righteous, responsibly nonviolent, and practically effective campaign to disrupt the new American system where we live is not an overnight endeavor, and so this day marks just a beginning of a process in which we will:
1. Ask the question, "what does good trouble look like in Knox County, Maine?"
2. Listen for answers.
3. Form affinity groups based on different answers to this question.
4. Within the broad boundaries of The Audacity (nonviolence, support for diverse, equitable, and inclusive democracy, and opposition to authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption), support the work of these affinity groups to enact effectively disruptive good trouble.
When? Thursday, July 17 at 7 pm
Where? 345 Broadway (the Universalist Church of Rockland -- park across the street)
Who? You and three friends.
This meeting is a moral reckoning, marking a new step in the struggle for freedom. The meeting needs your voice -- so come. Bring three friends. Use your voice and open your ears as we find a way to our own authentic version of good trouble.
Mobilize Online Social Movement Leadership Training
Mobilize offers this online social movement leadership training session, writing:
“Across the country, authoritarian forces are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations, rollbacks of civil rights, weaponized courts, and full-scale attacks on our democracy. We don’t have to wait until it’s too late. We can stop this. But it’ll take all of us. That’s why this summer, we’re launching
One Million Rising — a national effort to train one million people to help lead in this moment and gain the skills to lead others. This is how we build people power that can’t be ignored. You’re invited to join us—and lead.
Let’s build a force bigger than fear and louder than hate. Let’s get ready. Let’s get organized. Let’s stop Trump.”
Held online at 8 PM on Wednesday, July 16. Register online at https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/803953/.
Visual Art Production Workshop
Visual artists, meet at The Audacity’s summer office: 2561 Atlantic Highway (Route 1) in Lincolnville — each Sunday from 1-4 PM.
We will be working on posters, buttons, scarves, and whatever else we come up with. Bring supplies if you can; we will have some there, including a sewing machine, scarves, and a banner. Bring your ideas as well; we all have a need to create.
Weekly Pro-Democracy Demonstration in Rockland, Maine
When: Saturday, July 12 2025 at Noon
Where: Chapman Park in Rockland (at the corner of Park & Main Streets)
We gather every Saturday at Noon as long as authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption plague our nation, and all those in nonviolent opposition are welcomed to join us in our demonstration of resolve.
We sing songs of protest, resistance, democracy, and a better world.
We collect food and hygiene items to donate to the local food pantry.
Democracy Huddle
Democracy Huddle Meeting
Monday, July 7, 2025, from 5:30-7 pm
Thomaston Public Library Community Room, 60 Main Street, Thomaston, ME
We are starting a small discussion group on democracy, which we are informally calling “Huddles.” We will:
huddle—i.e.,have an open discussion about what’s going on right now with our democracy, how it fits with the international scene, what we can do, and what it all feels like; and…
discuss ways of spreading the idea of open, regular democracy conversations. One suggestion might be that we prepare regular 'huddle reports' for the audacity newsletter that would highlight the articles, books, and questions the huddle thinks would be useful for others.
Bring a friend, and let others know. Feel free to forward this invitation to others.
Speaker Panel on the Crisis in Palestine
Guest Speaker Panel in conversation with community, on
The Crisis In Gaza
51 Main Street, Newcastle, Maine
Saturday, July 5, 6-8 PM
Weekly Pro-Democracy Demonstration in Rockland, Maine
When: Saturday, May 31 2025 at Noon
Where: Chapman Park in Rockland (at the corner of Park & Main Streets)
We gather every Saturday at Noon as long as authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption plague our nation, and all those in nonviolent opposition are welcomed to join us in our demonstration of resolve.
We sing songs of protest, resistance, democracy, and a better world.
We collect food and hygiene items to donate to the local food pantry.
The Audacity Monthly Meeting
The Audacity holds its monthly Mass Meeting!
When: Saturday, July 5, 10-11:30 AM
Where: 345 Broadway, Rockland — UU Church of Rockland (please park across the street if you can)
Who is invited: EVERYONE who loves democracy. EVERYONE who believes in the power of collective nonviolence. EVERYONE who thinks diversity is better than uniformity. EVERYONE who thinks equity is better than discrimination. EVERYONE who believes that inclusion is better than exclusion. EVERYONE who is shocked by the rapid descent of American government into outright, brazen corruption.
Why: This social movement to defend democracy against the forces of authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption isn’t funded by billionaires, or supported by paid staffers, or bought into by media networks. It runs on the power of people — and we need your ideas, your determination, and your resilience to keep going. Please bring all of these when you bring yourself!
March with The Audacity in Thomaston's Independence Day Parade
The Audacity CAT (Creative Action Together) is entering in the Independence Day Parade in Thomaston! JOIN US!
Bring your American flags. Bring your signs. Bring your music. Bring your dance. Bring yourself.
What's more patriotic than Dancing/walking for DEMOCRACY on the Fourth of July to save our Independence and our Constitution! Have fun! Let the Sunshine In! No Kings in America!
Line-up: 8:00 - 10:30 AM on Dwight Street - off Main Street. Parade start: 11:00 AM
Parade Route: Erin Street to Main Street to Booker Street.
Demonstration to Support the People of Palestine
A weekly rally is on the Damariscotta-Newcastle Bridge in support of the people of Palestine every Thursday from 3-5.
Handmade Art Books - Heart Made Healing (Week 5)
HANDMADE ART BOOKS. HEART-MADE HEALING.
Art Workshop for Play and Creative Expression
Every Monday, Starting June 2nd, 1pm-3pm
Thomaston Public Library, Community Room
60 Main St., Thomaston, Maine
These are tricky times. Sometimes we are freaking out, exhausted, or actually ill and we need a little sweetness to bring us back home. Making art is just such a restorative habit. So c’mon along! Learn simple, gentle, colorful bookmaking techniques. Express your true heart self, and feel better. It’s magic.
Details: $5- $10 contribution, as you are able.
Bring your own tools and materials or use ours.
Space is limited. Sign up at: handmadebooks.audacity@gmail.com Please include your name and email address.
Visual Art Production Workshop
Visual artists, meet at The Audacity’s summer office: 2561 Atlantic Highway (Route 1) in Lincolnville — each Sunday from 1-4 PM.
We will be working on posters, buttons, scarves, and whatever else we come up with. Bring supplies if you can; we will have some there, including a sewing machine, scarves, and a banner. Bring your ideas as well; we all have a need to create.
Pro-Democracy Demonstration in Rockland, Maine
When: Saturday, June 7 2025 at Noon
Where: Chapman Park in Rockland (at the corner of Park & Main Streets)
We gather every Saturday at Noon as long as authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption plague our nation, and all those in nonviolent opposition are welcomed to join us in our demonstration of resolve.
We sing songs of protest, resistance, democracy, and a better world.
We collect food and hygiene items to donate to the local food pantry.
Demonstration to Support the People of Palestine
A weekly rally is on the Damariscotta-Newcastle Bridge in support of the people of Palestine every Thursday from 3-5.
Democracy Huddle
The Democracy Huddle is a way build relationships to ensure our flourishing, not to say our survival.
What: Discussion About Democracy, aka “Huddle”
When: June 24, 2025, 5:30 to 7 pm
Where: Laite Memorial Beach, Bay View Street, Camden ME
Handmade Art Books - Heart Made Healing (Week 4)
HANDMADE ART BOOKS. HEART-MADE HEALING.
Art Workshop for Play and Creative Expression
Every Monday, Starting June 2nd, 1pm-3pm
Thomaston Public Library, Community Room
60 Main St., Thomaston, Maine
These are tricky times. Sometimes we are freaking out, exhausted, or actually ill and we need a little sweetness to bring us back home. Making art is just such a restorative habit. So c’mon along! Learn simple, gentle, colorful bookmaking techniques. Express your true heart self, and feel better. It’s magic.
Details: $5- $10 contribution, as you are able.
Bring your own tools and materials or use ours.
Space is limited. Sign up at: handmadebooks.audacity@gmail.com Please include your name and email address.
Visual Art Production Workshop
Visual artists, meet at The Audacity’s summer office: 2561 Atlantic Highway (Route 1) in Lincolnville — each Sunday from 1-4 PM.
We will be working on posters, buttons, scarves, and whatever else we come up with. Bring supplies if you can; we will have some there, including a sewing machine, scarves, and a banner. Bring your ideas as well; we all have a need to create.
Let the Sun Shine In! Rockland Solstice Celebration 2025
Let The Sun Shine In!
Celebrate the Solstice and the Return of Hope in Rockland, Maine, Saturday, June 21 at Noon in Chapman Park (Corner of Park and Main Streets)
The Rockland Solstice Celebration continues (despite the city’s decision to discontinue its own event) with this Solstice event scheduled for Saturday 6/21/25 at Noon. We will gather in Chapman Park and sing songs of resurgence, joy, illumination, potential, and resistance to those forces that would quash these.
Bring a drum for our drum circle.
Bring your kids for balloons and chalk art.
Bring your people-friendly dog to soak up the sun and greet people.
Join the movement of folks in Midcoast Maine who represent the forces of joy and energy and inclusion and growth and diversity and difference and the embrace of potential!
We will celebrate and through our celebration, we will help the world turn back toward justice.
Rockland Pride Sing-Out
Participate in a Sing Out outside Hello Hello Books in Rockland, Maine from 10-11 AM as part of the Rockland, Maine Pride celebration on Sunday, June 15.
Bring your songs of joy and wear bright colors of the rainbow!
Rockland Pride Parade and Speakout
As the ascendant political powers try to define LGBTQIA+ people out of existence, PRIDE IS ESSENTIAL. No more corporate-sponsored mellow-fests: it’s time for us to assert our existence with as much gumption as we can manage!
Tentative Rockland Pride Schedule for Sunday, June 15:
10-11 AM Setup and (unconfirmed) crosswalk painting on Tillson Avenue
11 AM - 4 PM: Music at Speakout Stage (between Winter Street and Tillson Avenue)
11 AM Drag King Story Hour at Hello Hello Books
2 PM Pride Parade (meet at CMCA — 21 Winter St, Rockland, ME 04841)
3 PM Speakout
4-5 PM Non-Binary Social at Hello Hello Books
No Kings Demonstration at Noon 6/14 in Rockland, Maine
No Kings!
Demonstration for Democracy
Saturday, June 14, Noon to 1 PM in Rockland’s Chapman Park
As part of the National No Kings Demonstration of Defiance across the nation on Saturday, June 14, The Audacity is holding a nonviolent protest in Chapman Park (corner of Park and Main Street in Rockland, Maine) at Noon.
While our President is throwing himself a multi-million dollar birthday party at taxpayer expense, complete with the kind of military parade that Soviet, North Korean, and German dictators like to see, we will show the world what real democracy looks like. All patriots who believe in inclusive, active, grassroots democracy are welcome.
Knox County Democratic Committee Meeting
The Knox County Democratic Committee writes:
“KCDC will hold its next business meeting on Tuesday, June 10, at 6pm. THIS IS AN IN-PERSON MEETING AT THE COMMUNITY ROOM OF THE ROCKLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Please join us for the KCDC monthly meeting on June 10th from 6-7:30pm in the Rockland Public Library Community Room. We’re happy to welcome guest speaker Knox County Sheriff Patrick Polky for an informative discussion and Q & A session on current issues facing the Knox County Sheriff’s department including, among other topics, its relationship with ICE, and coverage for towns that do not have their own police departments.
Sheriff Polky’s talk will be followed by the regular business meeting of KCDC.
All Knox County Democrats and unenrolled progressives are welcome to attend KCDC meetings.”
Democracy Huddle
Democracy Huddle Meeting
Tuesday, June 10, 2025, from 5:30-7 pm
Audacity Office: 2561 Atlantic Highway (Route One), Lincolnville Beach, ME
We are starting a small discussion group on democracy, which we are informally calling “Huddles.” We will:
huddle—i.e.,have an open discussion about what’s going on right now with our democracy, how it fits with the international scene, what we can do, and what it all feels like; and…
discuss ways of spreading the idea of open, regular democracy conversations. One suggestion might be that we prepare regular 'huddle reports' for the audacity newsletter that would highlight the articles, books, and questions the huddle thinks would be useful for others.
Bring a friend, and let others know. Feel free to forward this invitation to others.
Testify against Police-ICE cooperation at the Rockland City Council Meeting
On Monday, 6/9 the Rockland City Council will vote on Order #44 “Law Enforcement Interaction with Federal Immigration Authorities” and Order #26 “Directing PD Not to Accept Grants w/o Agreement”. Every week we hear of more instances of arrests and deportation processes throughout Maine, many facilitated by local, county, and state police. These are vital members of our community, not the violent criminals often depicted by the Trump regime. These two orders help protect our community from federal overreach and pressure to support ICE and immigration enforcement, preserve local resources, and offer robust protections for immigrant communities. Cities and towns in Maine are being pressured to conform and support immigration enforcement in abducting our neighbors. NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT! Urge Rockland City Council to support and protect immigrants’ rights by enacting these robust ordinances and turning away Department of Homeland Security funding.
MOST IMPORTANTLY Come to the Rockland City Council meeting on Monday, June 9, 5:30PM, 270 Pleasant Street, and tell City Council that Rockland needs robust ordinances to protect and support immigrants’ rights, and that the Council should not accept funding without a chance to review the terms. There are no zoom details yet, but if you email mill.ken@proton.me we will share them with you if they’re made available.
If you can’t make it, email City Councilors via City Clerk Stuart Sylvester at ssylvester@rocklandmaine.gov. Ask him to share your email with city councilors and the city manager. If you want your comments read aloud, you can request that. Written comments should be sent on Monday, June 2nd in order to be read aloud.
Share a copy of whatever you’re sending to the group who is coordinating for strong policies in Rockland: mill.ken@proton.me
Tell a friend and get them to attend or email as well!
Make a donation to Presente! Maine, Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition or Maine Immigrants’ Legal Advocacy Project.
Handmade Art Books - Heart Made Healing (Week 2)
HANDMADE ART BOOKS. HEART-MADE HEALING.
Art Workshop for Play and Creative Expression
Every Monday, Starting June 2nd, 1pm-3pm
Thomaston Public Library, Community Room
60 Main St., Thomaston, Maine
These are tricky times. Sometimes we are freaking out, exhausted, or actually ill and we need a little sweetness to bring us back home. Making art is just such a restorative habit. So c’mon along! Learn simple, gentle, colorful bookmaking techniques. Express your true heart self, and feel better. It’s magic.
Details: $5- $10 contribution, as you are able.
Bring your own tools and materials or use ours.
Space is limited. Sign up at: handmadebooks.audacity@gmail.com Please include your name and email address.
Visual Art Production Workshop
Visual artists, meet at The Audacity’s summer office: 2561 Atlantic Highway (Route 1) in Lincolnville — each Sunday from 1-4 PM.
We will be working on posters, buttons, scarves, and whatever else we come up with. Bring supplies if you can; we will have some there, including a sewing machine, scarves, and a banner. Bring your ideas as well; we all have a need to create.
Demonstrate for Democracy in Rockland, Maine
When: Saturday, June 7 2025 at Noon
Where: Chapman Park in Rockland (at the corner of Park & Main Streets)
We gather every Saturday at Noon as long as authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption plague our nation, and all those in nonviolent opposition are welcomed to join us in our demonstration of resolve.
We sing songs of protest, resistance, democracy, and a better world.
We collect food and hygiene items to donate to the local food pantry.