Even though the annual Damariscotta Mills Alewife Festival was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the quilt raffle was not. At the Alewife Festival Quilt Raffle drawing on Labor Day, Christine Ruffley was the lucky winner. In front of a small crowd of 11 cheering onlookers her ticket number 253 was drawn from the bag by Mary Chase, according to a news release from the Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder Restoration Committee.

On learning that she was the winner Ruffley’s reaction was, “I am absolutely speechless! Well that’s not true. I just ran around the house screaming. I love the quilt so very much!” Ruffley lives in Massachusetts and spends part of her summers in Damariscotta Mills. She hopes to soon become a full-time Maine resident.

The Fish Ladder Restoration Committee thanks the 79 quilt raffle participants who bought 589 tickets and thereby raised a net $2,390. At the current time, fundraising efforts are focused on “Bridging the Gap”: the repair and upgrade of the viewing bridge that has supported many Fish Ladder onlookers since its construction in the 1920s.

The Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder Restoration initiative is a grass-roots, community-based project run by volunteers. Donations of any size help make this project possible. those who find it exciting to really make a difference — continuing to bring back the river and lake’s alewife population and helping the wildlife that depend on them as well as preserving and enhancing a place for up-close viewing of that wildlife — please consider helping. Every dollar that is donated goes directly to project costs.

For more information, visit damariscottamills.org.