When locals think of famed Pemaquid Oyster Company co-founder and head of operations Jeff “Smokey” McKeen they might focus on the aquaculture industry he’s helped foster on the Damariscotta River. While the business is a big part of McKeen’s day-to-day, the South Bristol resident is also a carpenter who built his own home, a folklorist, and a world-traveling musician.

The process of making art is almost as important as the product. For local artist, pumpkin decorator, and puppet-maker Melissa Glendenning, of South Bristol, the art of storytelling and creating is a way to connect children and adults with the magic that lives all around us.

In romance movies, love can look like running through an airport, kissing in the rain, or candlelit dinners in a quiet restaurant. While those events can still happen in real life, love’s maintenance and kindling happens in smaller moments: affirming texts, holding hands in the kitchen, or remembering the little things.

Life presents itself in a series of challenges, and how individuals rise and respond to these trials reveals who they are. For Rifat Zaidi, of Newcastle, a well-known orthopedic surgeon at LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus in Damariscotta, award-winning photographer, cook, and director of a girl’s school in Pakistan, the way he’s met those challenges has revealed his determination and his imagination.