Brett Shain of The Maine Accent waters a window box Wednesday at Slates Restaurant in Hallowell. Shain said it’s been so hot and dry this summer that the plants in containers there have needed to be watered most days. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Berta Harrington watches a crane hang beams within Johnson Hall on Monday, Sept. 12, during the renovation of the Gardiner performing arts center. The Water Street venue is being transformed into a 400-seat upper theater with a large lobby, concession area, box-office, green rooms and upgraded studio theater on the ground floor. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

JoEllen Cottrell, executive director of the Winthrop Food Pantry, reorganizes inventory in one of the group’s seven freezers before distribution Thursday at the food pantry. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Derek DeGeer, owner of Hootenanny Bread, center, assists a customer Sunday, Sept. 11, during the Maine Cheese Festival at Manson Park in Pittsfield. Assisting DeGeer is this wife Marcia, left, and daughter Frances. The business is from Nobleboro. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Josh Ross, right, and Shawn Reed with the China Public Works Department carry Margaret Ayer’s headstone to her gravesite Tuesday at China Village Cemetery in China. The headstone was discovered in storage, and in pieces, at the L.C. Bates Museum in Fairfield and it remains unclear when the stone was taken from Ayer’s gravesite and why it ended up at the museum. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Margaret Henderson enjoys an order of fries with her friend Earl Littlefield as the Clinton Fair opens on Friday, Sept. 9. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

A pod of juvenile alewife fish circle as bass hunt them Monday, Sept. 12, at the confluence of Cobbossee Stream and the Kennebec River. The river herring rotate in a cluster to defend against predation by other species, such as bass, while migrating from fresh water, where alewife are born. The fish later travel to the Atlantic Ocean, where they live until returning to the Kennebec to spawn as adults. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

Clouds billow behind Mike Weston, of Williams Roofing, as he carries tools while walking across the gymnasium roof at Lawrence High School in Fairfield on Thursday. Weston said workers are replacing 53-foot-long panels on the roof and attaching new ice breakers. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Messalonskee’s Keira Goldsmith (23) reaches for the ball after a partial block on a shot by Cony’s Addi Lebel (2) left, in Oakland on Tuesday. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

Skowhegan’s Paige Gilbert, back center, jumps for joy after teammate Layla Conway, foreground, scored against Mt. Blue during a field hockey game Thursday in Farmington. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

Gardiner’s Cole Brann leaps over Belfast’s Eli Veilleux and Thomas Littlefield into the end zone to score on a 2-point conversion during a football game Friday, Sept. 9, in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal