Four Days til' the Ball!

There are just four days left until the Blackfly Ball! From creating beautiful works of art to structural building projects, our bees are busier than ever before... and with all of our projects and preparations running full tilt, we're about to dash across the finish line to a magical night of celebration & community!

This work is possible only because of the enthusiastic energy of volunteers and the generous donations of our supporters from near and far. We can't do this without you! Please visit our Kickstarter Campaign and consider making a donation to get our worker bees over the finish line. You can also give us cash or check donations at our house (101 court street in Machias), at the Machias Valley Grange & Cultural Center (1 Elm Street). Project collaborators include the Machias Rotary Club and Viking Lumber, which is providing lumber at cost.

The Wild Blueberry Festival is just around the corner, and the set for the play is coming together beautifully!

The Blueberry Musical will be showing this week at the Centre Street Congregational Church.

Folks are working around the clock to make crafts that will be sold at the Blueberry Festival. We're turning the Beano/Bingo cards from the Grange into books!

Bookbinding, screenprinting, puppet-making, oh my!

Folks are scaling scaffolding stacked six stories high to paint the Whole Life building...

We have to assemble the scaffolding in mid-air!


We're hoping for good weather so that we can get it all done before the ball-- keep your fingers crossed for us!


The accessibility project is running along swimmingly-- Matt is installing a rooftop over the stairwell so that the wheelchair lift will stay safe from rain and snow.


It's all coming together really quickly!

It helps that Matt is not afraid of heights!

Our decorations committee is creating beautiful and intricate sculptures and flags to adorn the beloved park.


Coming soon... more pictures of the amazing progress of the decorations crew...


Folks from all over the country come to celebrate their regions and help us celebrate ours. Molly has a tattoo of the state of ohio on her back, which means we don't get to keep her!

Being a bee has never been more fun.

On Sunday, we played a game of Ninja that must have broken world records for attendance.

We're so lucky to have the opportunity to make such good friends with such kind, talented, and passionate folks.

We're almost done putting up the two temporary outdoor stages for our 10+ bands performing this year!


Look for more photos later this week upon completion of the backdrop!


We took an adventure to six mile lake on the night of the full moon to swim and be merry...


... and to keep our chins up and admire the stars.


If you want to see even more photos, our photographer friend Nicola Krebill is here taking hundreds of photos every day! You can check out his Flickr account to see more!