Your guide to Memorial Day in Portland

Good evening from the BDN Portland office on Congress Street. Tonight we’ve got your line up of memorial day weekend fun; the banks of Stephen King’s river give a reporter the chills; and residents want to pay for the mayor’s aide.

What we’re talking about

Memorable weekend on tap — There’s beer and oysters to be consumed, the Sea Dogs are in town and Thompson’s Point opens its summer concert series. Why head up the coast?  Here are a few events that don’t suck for your Memorial Day 2017: — Kathleen Pierce

Music: The xx (yes, that’s a band) open Thompson Point’s outdoor concert season in spectacular, British fashion. The show is Friday night, tickets are only $40 and for some reason it’s not sold out. To take it down a notch, One Longfellow Square has folk songstress Antje Duvekot who shares the stage with Lena Rich, a 19-year old upstart from Yarmouth.

Not to be outdone, Port City Music Hall hosts 90’s rockers Buffalo Tom Saturday. The Boston band brings their sultry rock to soothe Gen Xers everywhere.

Libations: Start the weekend off right at Rising Tide Brewery’s monthly beer and oyster tasting. From 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday bivalves are shucked and paired with Maine Island Trail pale ale and flights of fancy. 103 Fox St., Portland.

Funky Bow Brewery in Lyman turns four this weekend. In beer years that’s like eight. The country brewers have a BBQ, special release, and some killer music on tap. The funk starts at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Sea Dogs weekend. Head over to Hadlock Field, Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday to root, root, root for the home team. If they don’t win see you at Salvage BBQ for post-game cue and suds. Trenton steps up to the plate. Tickets here.

We paddled down Stephen King’s river — The banks were thick with trees, maybe a little spooky. The Royal River appears in many Stephen King stories, flowing near his imagined town of Castle Rock. King grew up in these parts. The classic 80s movie “Stand By Me” and the story that inspired it — “The Body” — were set here. — Troy R. Bennett

Resident rally for mayor’s aide — A handful of Portlanders are offering to raise money to pay for the special assistant to the mayor after the city council eliminated the job earlier this month, the Press Herald’s Randy Billings reports. Peaks Island resident Timmi Sellers asked the city if she and a group of unidentified residents could earmark donations to fund Jason Shedlock’s salary, which would be about $69,000 next year. But the donations would have to be accepted and appropriated by the city council, which voted 6-to-3 to eliminate the job.

Tweet of the day

From 41 Strange:

The Big Idea

Magic mushrooms — Hallucinogenic mushrooms are good, safe fun, according to the Global Drug Survey, although they may still not be right for the whole family.

Got any interesting story ideas, suggestions or links to share? Email Jake Bleiberg at jbleiberg@bangordailynews.com, or tweet @JZBleiberg.

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