LETTER FROM THE EDITOR – May 2014
by Rebecca Falzano, Managing Editor

We closed this issue in early April, with the last of the season’s snow clinging to the ground in a gray, icy protest. On the day I visited the Neuberger house (Beauty & the Beach, page xx), it was damp and dreary; the cottage’s uninsulated 130-year-old wooden walls stood up against the wind while the waves pummeled the rocks just a step off the porch. The windowboxes were bare, the beach roses hibernating. The nearby beaches were empty, save for a dog walker here or a jogger there. I got a parking spot easily and surrendered to the rhythm of the waves for a few minutes. Winter was saying goodbye. In just another month or two, this sand will be speckled with umbrellas and sun seekers, and I can’t wait to be one of them. But right now—right here—this was beautiful, too.

The Kennebunks swell in the summer, when Dock Square is bustling and the River is moving, and the streets and beaches are bursting. The Kennebunkport Festival celebrates all that is vibrant about this area and beyond: the chefs, the artists, the food purveyors, the musicians, the wine enthusiasts, the beer makers. It happens in the early days of summer, when everyone starts feeling that first flush of warmth after a long freeze, but it’s a reminder that incredible things—incredible art, incredible food, incredible music—are being made here year-round.