Some people doubted anyone would want to eat baked beans in the middle of summer.
On Islesboro the Masons do a ham-and-beans supper on the fourth Tuesdays of September through May. There’s mac and cheese, coleslaw, tossed salad, rolls, sometimes hot dogs, desserts including cupcakes, cookies and sometimes chocolate or blueberry pie, and different sodas. The Masons offer standard beans with salt pork. Some pots are sweeter than others, and there is always a vegetarian—yeah, even vegan—option. The fee is reasonable; one can rub elbows with neighbors and dine at long tables or to-go.
This summer, though, the Up Island Church organization (which preserves the former Free Will Baptist Church building) took on the three suppers from June through August with the blessing of the Masons whose members, with the exception of a few retired folks, spend the summer largely on a dead run keeping the island community functioning.
Well, guess what? People came and ate ham and beans at the up-island church. Best of all, many year-round and summer folk alike made the mac and cheese, coleslaw, brown bread, desserts, and all to go with them. It was delicious and fun!
There’s no particular affinity that brings us together, even a love of beans, except a desire for connection…
While I don’t need to be convinced to eat ham and beans any time of the year, I did wonder why these and other suppers were so popular.
First off, Islesboro doesn’t have a restaurant.
We have a food truck out by the ferry terminal in summer, and another one operates into the shoulder season, stationed close to the center of town near the post office, Baptist Church, and Community Center. Billy’s ice cream shop provides wonderful sandwiches and treats from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and both island stores have hot and cold take-out. As long as you call enough in advance, you can order pizza. The Tarratine Club serves its membership at a white tablecloth restaurant at the golf club and, less formally, lunches and dinners at the yacht club building.
That’s it.
So other groups step in. On Thursday evenings the Sporting Club satisfies the town’s hankering for burgers, fries, chicken tenders, wings, and onion rings. The community center invites island cooks to present dinners, often ethnic-themed ones, on some Saturday nights; and the Baptist Church has comfort food lunches at least once a month. Oldsters and work crews alike show up. Members of the junior class are always laboring to raise thousands for their senior class trip by serving up yards of lasagna.
Thing is, for most of our cooler months, we eat out when it is offered. In January, there is no such spontaneous thing as, “Oh, honey, I’m too tired to cook. Let’s eat out tonight.”
“We need a restaurant (and bar) out here,” is a frequent refrain, as I suspect it might be on many unbridged islands. A quick survey shows that except for the high season when most islands have at least a cafe, Vinalhaven seems best equipped to offer commercial options for breakfast, lunch, and occasionally dinner. It helps to have a population of more than a thousand souls.
So what is it that brings people out besides being too tired to cook, or not liking it, or hating to do dishes? At Tuesday’s bean supper, I asked attendees why they showed up. The frequent response was, “I came out for the people here, and to support the Masons.”
Community, in short, is more important than the menu.
Turned out that particular Tuesday was local fire chief Murt Durkee’s birthday. Close to 60 sang him a happy birthday. What a mighty sound rose up. Mike Clayton, head of the Masons, offered ham bones to anyone wanting to make soup, pea or otherwise.
Folks lingered over bean-smudged plates, conversing. There’s no particular affinity that brings us together, even a love of beans, except a desire for connection with one another and a belief that our organizations have great value.
What a wholesome thing in a troubled time.
Sandy Oliver is a food historian who cooks, gardens, and writes on Islesboro. She may be contacted at sandyoliver47@gmail.com.
