Camden Conference Community Events season has begun! We got off to a wriggling start with a fascinating presentation at the Camden Public Library on September 20 by Sara Rademaker, Founder and President of American Unagi, America’s only glass eel farm, based in Waldoboro. Eels do not breed in captivity, so they must be raised from wild-caught elvers, or glass eels. American Unagi raises the tiny elvers to market size when they are sold to top sushi restaurants and a growing list of other eateries as Americans become more comfortable with eel cuisine. Our Community Events are always related to the topic of the upcoming February Conference, which in February 2023 is Global Trade and Politics: Managing Turbulence. The global marketplace for eels has a sometimes murky supply chain, and by harvesting and raising the elvers in Maine, Rademaker’s American Unagi is providing transparency to the supply chain and assuring consumers of a quality Maine-grown product.   

Next on the Community Events schedule is “Space: The Race for the Final Frontier,” presented by John Doughty, Chief Investment Officer of R.M. Davis, a private wealth management company, on October 18 at the Camden Public Library. John, a former Camden Conference board member, will talk about the new space race – the race to capitalize on our ability to reach other planets in the solar system and tap into their potential wealth of resources.

Bill Hall, the immediate past president of the World Affairs Council of Maine will discuss supply chains and international trade policies at the Rockland Public Library on December 1. We have all been affected by supply chain breakdowns during the pandemic and lately by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Bill Hall will offer some clarity in his presentation on a complex global tapestry of trade and politics.

Check in often on our website, camdenconference.org, for other upcoming presentations. On the website, click on the Events tab to get the latest on who’s speaking where. We will be offering many more interesting and informative Community Events at our fourteen partner libraries up and down the Maine coast right up to the weekend of February 17-19 when the 2023 Camden Conference will present Global Trade and Politics – Managing Turbulence, live at the Camden Opera House and live-streamed to additional venues and around the world.