Kenney Awards celebrate the accomplishments of the Kennebec Valley business community

Friday's celebration marks the 90th anniversary of the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce and honors its members who have achieved both business and personal success.

Gardiner Area High recognizes honor students

Proposed Gardiner sewer rate increase wins early support

Proposed 4% increase expected to raise about $52,000 during this fiscal year, which would help pay higher costs during the fiscal year that started a week ago and allow the Wastewater Department to begin saving toward the next phase of its system upgrades.

Gardiner officials to consider 4% increase in sewer rates this year, 8% next year

This latest request for an increase follows annual 4% increases in each of the last four years to fund the operation of the city's wastewater treatment department.

Gardiner gallery exhibit features paintings by city artist

Photos: Annual music series are back live and in-person along the Kennebec River

Hallowell's Rock On The River shows run every Tuesday through August from 7-8:30 p.m. on the Warren Heald Bandstand, at the corner of Water and Winthrop streets. Augusta Parks & Recreation along with radio stations 92 Moose and B98.5 sponsor the SummerFun Concert Series that happens on Wednesdays 6-7:30 p.m.in Mill Park. The free concert series will run from June through Wednesday, Aug. 3, and will wrap up with an end-of-summer block party on Aug. 10 with kids' activities and bounce houses. This year's Johnson Hall Free Waterfront Concert Series in Gardiner’s Waterfront Park will have a different live band every Friday from 6-7:30 p.m. through the end of August. Photos by Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Gardiner store robber to serve 30 months in prison on felony charge

Joshua L. Brown was identified as the robber, including by his own mother, after police circulate security video image of him at the Big Apple store.

Gardiner officials adopt $7.34 million spending plan

Slate of budget-related actions receives unanimous approval from City Council, and while the city's share of the property tax rate is expected to remain unchanged, the spending plan is to fund paving projects and additional staffing for Fire Department.

Photos: Salvaging wood from Maine’s oldest opera house

Renovations to Johnson Hall Performing Arts Center, considered the state's oldest opera house, began this month. A crew from Barn Boards & More, a local wood salvaging business, was pulling up and saving the tongue-and-groove floor boards from the theater Thursday to reuse as flooring or make into tabletops. By December 2023, the three-story performing arts venue in Gardiner is expected to reopen to the public with a 400-seat theater, a large lobby and concession area, full-service box office, green rooms for performers, and an elevator. Local hotel owner Benjamin Johnson turned the former livery stable into a performance hall in 1884, and it became an opera house in 1888. All photos by Kennebec Journal photojournalist Joe Phelan.

Random Ideas plan Johnson Hall Free Waterfront Concert