Welcome to the Bayside Neighborhood! The latest BNA goings-on are here. For more information about the BNA click on the menu above. Subscribe to get email notifications of new posts using the blue button on the right. Reach out to info@baysideportland.org with any questions or ideas. Thanks for staying in touch!
Get ready for the Bayside Gnome Roam! 🧙♂️
What a night! During April’s First Friday, dozens of neighbors and friends packed Maine Clay Collaborative for our Gnome Roam prep event — and the results were magical. Scores of handmade clay gnomes are now drying, ready to be fired up and let loose on the streets of Bayside.
So what happens next? The fine folks at Maine Clay will fire all those little characters in the kiln. Then we’ll fan out across the neighborhood and tuck them into nooks, perch them on stoops, and hide them in plain sight — ready for neighbors to discover during Bayside Week, April 25th through May 2nd. Find one, photograph it, share it. It’s part art project, part hide-and-seek, and totally Bayside.
Bayside Week is shaping up to be something really special. Get a head start on the Gnome Roam by showing up at our kickoff cleanup event from 10am-noon on Saturday April 25th at the Bayside Community Garden. Check out everything that’s happening at www.baysideportland.org/community-calendar/ — and if you have an event to add or want to get involved, reach out to the events team.
Let’s show everyone why Bayside is the Playside!
Thank You Maine Clay Collaborative!
Every year at the Annual Meeting, one-half of the board is elected for a two-year term. Last year the board voted to add two seats, so in order to keep balance between odd and even year members, two new seats are added this spring, bringing the total number of individual board members to ten. The nominating committee is charged with recruiting a slate of candidates for election to be announced 30 days ahead of the annual meeting.
Susan McCloskey
Susan is a longtime resident of Bayside and charter member of the BNA board, first elected in 1999. She is board liaison to the Community Garden Team and the Trees & Greens Team, contributor to The Baysider which she previously served as editor, and dependable volunteer for the Citizens’ Trash Brigade, Events Team, and Monday Community Lunches. Susan lives on Parris Street in Bayside.
Rayyaan Hakizimana
Rayyaan is Operations Manager at Food For All Services, a family food pantry located on Parris Street in Bayside. He was appointed to the board of the BNA in 2026 to a non-resident seat vacated by Alex Landry last year. Now leading the BNA Welcome Team, Rayyaan has laid out a plan to help with Bayside branding and social media outreach. Rayyaan lives in Gorham, Maine.
Sarah Gauvin
Sarah lives on Hanover Street in Bayside and works as a program manager at Hope Acts, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving asylum seekers throughout Southern Maine. She was appointed to the BNA board in 2026 to fill the seat left by Deb Van Hoewyk’s passing last year. Sarah has been active in the city’s ESOL Collaborative group, and has 10+ years working for non-profits in administrative, program management, outreach, and volunteer roles.
Michael Hayes
Michael lives at the corner of Cumberland and Forest Avenue in Bayside and has been a neighborhood resident for over six years. He has been attending BNA board meetings in recent months and currently serves on the BNA Safe Streets Team, participating in last year’s Pedestrian Safety Focus Group, and the recently organized Portland Safe Streets Coalition. He also regularly attends and assists the Wayside Food Programs community lunches in the apartment complex where he resides.
Patrick Beacham
Patrick lives in Westbrook and works in Bayside as the property manager for Avesta Housing’s Pearl Place Apartments. He brings experience in communication, budgeting, financial analysis, political advocacy, and both journalistic and academic writing. Patrick is committed to serving the community, drawing on years of close ties and a deep investment in Bayside’s wellbeing and future.
Elections Process Summary:
Per BNA bylaws, the ratio of individual board members not residing in Bayside shall not exceed 1/3. A full description of the nominating process can be found here: Nominating & Election Procedures and Policies.
Current Board of Directors
Calling all Baysiders! Now is the time to have our voices heard! In response to demands for public involvement before selling the Midtown Properties in Bayside, The City of Portland announced a comprehensive process for soliciting community input. Click here to access the City of Portland website for more information and to take the community survey
Community members are invited to share their ideas for how these sites should be used at upcoming public meetings and through an online survey. A summary of community feedback will be presented to the Council’s Housing & Economic Development Committee in May. Based on this input and subsequent Council guidance, marketing materials may be developed for further Committee review.
The Bayside Neighborhood Association has been working on this for decades, and was instrumental in producing the landmark New Vision for Bayside in January of 2000 as part of the city’s comprehensive plan. Still relevant today, it’s the centerpiece of the city’s supporting documents on Midtown. At the heart of the plan, as illustrated below, is a sequence of urban-density buildings lining the then-unrealized Bayside Trail, anchored by a central “public open space.” We respectfully request that the city honors that commitment to the public good by reserving a 125′ x 125′ piece of the property (about 1/10th of the total area) for a much needed public recreation area.
Today, we’re asking Baysiders and allies to affirm and amplify the board’s multiple entreaties to the council. Below are copies of the BNA’s official statements. Please feel free to refer to them when filling out the survey and/or writing to your city councillors. We also want to hear your ideas so please reach out to board@baysideportland.org and let us know what you think.
More on Midtown:
from our friends at the City of Portland Office of Sustainability: Portland’s upcoming Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 18th from 11am-2pm at Deering Oaks Park by the Bandstand, just steps from the opening day of the Portland Farmers’ Market.
Drop by Maine Clay Collaborative during this coming First Friday, April 3rd from 5 to 7pm to help us get ready for the Bayside Gnome Roam during Bayside Week (4/25-5/2)
What’s a Gnome Roam? All through Bayside Week, handmade clay figurines will be tucked into corners, perched on stoops, and lurking in plain sight all across the neighborhood. You make them and the folks at Maine Clay will bake them. Next we’ll hide them so neighbors can find them, photograph them, share them. It’s part art project, part hide-and-seek, and totally Bayside.
Bayside Week is coming this spring — April 25th through May 2nd — and the Gnome Roam is just part of what’s happening. Find out more at www.baysideportland.org or contact the events team to add an event or join in the fun. Help us celebrate the neighborhood you love and show why Bayside is the Playside!
The BNA Citizens’ Trash Brigade is teaming up with The City of Portland Office of Sustainability, Portland Parks, Recreation and Facilities, and The Portland Parks Conservancy again this year for the Annual Spring Cleanup. This event will also clear the way to kickoff Bayside Week, with lots of surprises, so stay tuned and keep in touch!
Deadline for the Spring 2026 Baysider is April 1st. Get your content in so we can get it out! baysider@baysideportland.org
The Bayside Neighborhood Association presents the first inaugural BPM Drum Festival on the Bayside Trail this summer thanks for a generous grant from the Levitt Family Foundation which leverages the power of free, live music to strengthen the social fabric of communities, creating places people love while amplifying local pride, activating underused public spaces and fostering more healthy, equitable, and thriving communities one city, and one concert, at a time. A perfect fit for Bayside!
We believe that the BPM Drum Festival is the first EVER to synchronize the beats of several groups performing simultaneously. The impetus of the idea, however, came from another unique local festival called Vigorous Tenderness which features avant-garde chamber music in plein air. Both festivals invite the audience to move freely along a route from one sonic space to another, sometimes blending performers’ work, as well as the surrounding sonic environment. The idea for using drums came naturally from the plethora of ethnic drum groups in our culturally diverse neighborhood, as well as a wildly successful tree-hugging event we staged on the Bayside Trail featuring a local
Penobscot tribal drum group.
Bayside is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the State of Maine. Long neglected and red-lined by cynical city policies, it is now the subject of intense land speculation. Meanwhile the vacant lots and unkept promises can make it
hard for residents and visitors to enjoy our few greenspaces. The Bayside Trail was designed to connect the neighborhood and create positive change, and the Bayside Neighborhood Association is committed to making that promise a reality. The BPM Drum Festival is our chance to do just that, and celebrate our shared hope for the future.
This will be the first inaugural year for the BPM Drum Fest. Many block parties, fairs and community events over the last 25 years have brought us to this moment. We also have strong partners at the City Office of Sustainability,
Portland Downtown, Creative Portland and other community organizations who have helped us in the past. We’ve reached out to several drum groups who are excited to participate, including the Keepers of the Penobscot Drum, Taiko Maine, Namory Keita, and others. We’re looking for volunteers, fiscal sponsors, and other collaborative partners to help make this dream a reality. Can you help? Contact eventsteam@baysideportland.org
NBT Bank Opens a Branch in Bayside — and Invests in the Neighborhood.
On March 10th, NBT welcomed neighbors and community members to their new location at 191 Marginal Way for a ribbon cutting and branch tour, before continuing the celebration at Rising Tide Brewery. It was a warm, well-attended afternoon — and a nice way to mark the occasion.
We want to say a genuine thank you to NBT Bank for their $2,500 donation to the Bayside Neighborhood Association, made in conjunction with the opening of their new Bayside branch this month.
NBT’s decision to expand to Bayside is something we don’t take for granted. It reflects a belief in this neighborhood — in its residents, its businesses, and its future. And their contribution to the BNA shows that their interest in Bayside goes beyond opening a branch. They want to be part of the community.
That matters to us. The BNA exists to support and strengthen Bayside, and having partners who share that commitment makes that work more possible.
We’re glad NBT is here, and we look forward to what we can do together.
Prosperity ME will be offering their Basic Money Management course on Wednesday evenings, March 25 – April 22, in their Bayside office from 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM.
In the five-session Basic Money Management course we cover goalsetting, budgeting, banking and managing your credit. Participants can register online using this link. Instructors will send more information before the class to all registered participants. We are proud to share that our course is approved to help prospective homebuyers who qualify for the FirstGen program with MaineHousing.
The BNA Events Team is gearing up for Bayside Week from April 25 to May 2 — a weeklong celebration of Bayside pride to show that Bayside is the Playside of Portland. The week culminates on Saturday, May 2nd with the Annual Meeting and Feast, which also coincides with the annual tradition of Jane’s Walk. Last year two local Bayside history buffs offered walks centered around the Preble Street Chapel. We’re encouraging even more participation in Bayside this year. Got an idea? Let’s do it! Sign up with Portland Downtown below and let us know your ideas by emailing eventsteam@baysideportland.org
