Coffee house raises funds for LNG fight -- The Quoddy Tides, Eastport, Maine

The old Perry Grange Hall was filled to overflowing Saturday night, March 3, as people from around the Downeast region came to a coffee house held in the historic structure. The coffee house, which was billed as: "LNG Tanks? No Thanks!" and sponsored by the Perry Citizens for Responsible Growth, exceeded the group's expectations, as over a hundred guests attended and another 50 volunteered.

Live music was provided by Om Sweet Ohm and Slim Chance and The Can't Hardly Play Boys. These two groups kept the evening lively with fiddle playing and guitar pickin'. Stephanie Allard, backed up by the Can't Hardly Play Boys, performed an original piece that pays homage to Eastport's now defunct Mexican restaurant, La Sardina Loca.

Volunteers baked desserts, and an attendee was heard to remark that there were "so many chocolate desserts, it looked like Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory had exploded in here." One of the more popular items was a batch of cookies decorated with frosting that read "No LNG."

Gary Guisinger, a spokesman for the Perry Citizens for Responsible Growth, expressed the group's gratitude to the volunteers and people who came and made donations. Guisinger says that all proceeds from the coffee house will go to the group and will be used in the continuing fight against proposed LNG projects in Passamaquoddy Bay.