WALDOBORO — Neighbors and friends of Broad Bay Congregational UCC are invited its 35th anniversary celebration with block party from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 22, at the church at 941 Main St. The free event will feature music by The Rusty Hinges, a children’s bounce house, games and a variety of foods.

Appetizer-sized helpings of both fish chowder and lobster chowder will be available, as an edible tie-in with an evening concert at Broad Bay, Music on the Medomak. There also will be hotdogs, salads, ice cream, cake and a variety of beverages.

The Rusty Hinges is a midcoast-based band that plays an eclectic mix of acoustic music from folk and oldies to pop and rock, bluegrass and country to songs of the sea. The band includes guitar, mandolin, dobro, fiddle and cello as well as vocal harmony and the occasional harmonica.

The church’s evening event, Music on the Medomak, will feature the Halcyon String Quartet in an audio-visual celebration of the river and working waterfront. That concert will start at 7 p.m., with admission by donation.
Halcyon String Quartet focuses on environmental stewardship through music and the arts. Group members are Josie and Sophie Davis, violinists, originally from Waldoboro; Colin Wheatley, viola, and Ju-Young Lee, cello. The quartet will play music by Dvorak and Holst as well as a selection of Danish folk tunes, each paired with photographs and artwork by midcoast artists.

Broad Bay Congregational United Church of Christ started as a house church in the kitchen of Carol and Don Hakkila. The church soon moved to the Waldoboro Grange Hall, where it was located for more than a decade. In 2002, members of the church voted to buy what had most recently been the First Baptist Church. Since that purchase, the congregation has restored the 1875 Hook & Hastings organ, replaced the roof, refurbished the sanctuary and is nearing groundbreaking for a $1 million-plus project that will help restore and renew parts of the building, including the foundation, with an emphasis on safety, accessibility and flexibility. The congregation, led for the past 15 years by Rev. Nancy Duncan, is active in supporting, working with, and opening the church doors to many other local groups.

The celebration will be held rain or shine. For more information, call the church office at 832-6898 or visit broadbaychurch.org.