Nicole Brann dips alewives May 15 at the headwaters of Seven Mile Stream at Webber Pond in Vassalboro, as Corey Cookson watches. The duo were harvesting the migrating fish for Ron Weeks, who holds the contract from the town of Vassalboro to sell alewife to lobster fisherman. Three dips filled a crate that weighed about 250 pounds, Cookson said, and held about 500 alewives.

A Whitetail deer grazes on the banks of the Kennebec River Wednesday in Hallowell.

Augusta Parks, Cemeteries and Trees employee Gus Gosselin rakes the bottom of the Calumet Playground pool Tuesday in Augusta, clearing debris that collected during the winter. City crews are prepping three pools for swimmers when school is released this summer.

Exhibitors wait to show Belted Galloway cattle Sunday during the youth beef show at the Northeast Livestock Expo, held at the Windsor Fairgrounds. Several hundred children and teenagers attended the weekend event to learn about the welfare of livestock, attend classes and show critters.

Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands employee Matt Myshrall tosses a line to shore from a dock he helped install Monday on the Kennebec River in Hallowell. The state is laying out the docks along the river for summer.

Ann Gleason hangs a flower basket Tuesday on the porch of her Manchester home. Blue skies prevailed as Gleason watered her plants. The weather is forecast to remain mild with clear skies through the remainder of the week.

Jeremy Gorman walks on the lip of the American Tissue Dam Tuesday on Cobbossee Stream in Gardiner while deploying safety barrels. Wearing a safety harness and hooked onto a cable, Gorman said the barrels were deployed in the current to deter boaters from approaching the 20 foot drop off at the hydro-electric dam.

Carroll Whitten, left, and his brother, Kevin, replace a paddock gate Monday at the family’s Manchester farm, after rounding up a beef herd. Several Whitten brothers and some neighbors collected the critters and transported them to a summer pasture to graze in Winthrop.

Camille Myers Breeze inspects a smudge sample from the painted silk banner hanging at the Hallowell Fire Department on Wednesday. Breeze, of Museum Textile Services of Andover, MA, assessed the condition of the banner that is believed to date from 1910 to determine its condition and work warranted to restore it. The banner was carried during processions at musters by the Hallowell Firemen’s Association “It’s one of the nicest painted silk banners I’ve ever seen,” Myers Breeze said. The tiger depicted in the banner was the name of the department’s engine at the turn of the 20th century.

Justine Fontes strums a ukulele on Thursday outside the Readfield Post Office, where she is serving as the relief postmaster. The stringed music serenades customers collecting mail and people walking down the main street of Readfield, according to Fontes. “04355 is the best little zip in Maine,” Fontes said.