Current and former military and USAA members can get FREE tickets to a Minor League Baseball game this summer, courtesy of USAA. Here in Southern Maine that would be for a Portland Sea Dogs game.

How to get free Portland Sea Dogs tickets

Each team has select games that are available for this offer and there are limited seats for those games. You can get up to four tickets to one of these games, completely for free.

Go to mlb.com/milb/tickets/usaa and select a team to get started. You’ll need to verify yourself as a military member, veteran or USAA member by logging in or registering on the site.

There are only a certain number of tickets each game available for this offer. There’s no telling how quickly they’ll sell out so if you’re interested, register today.

Besides the Portland Sea Dogs in Maine, which are the minor league team of the Boston Red Sox, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats team is also partcipating. The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the minor league team for the Toronto Blue Jays, play in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Free and Cheap Things To Do in Southern Maine This Week

Here are FREE and cheap things to do in Southern Maine in the coming week.

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Here is a freebie just for teens: they can exercise for free this summer at Planet Fitness. Basically, it’s a free summer gym membership. Called the High School Summer Pass program, this is the fifth year that teens could work out for free at Planet Fitness.

Why Planet Fitness wants teens to exercise for free

Why did Planet Fitness start this summer program? Because they wanted “to offer high schoolers a way to stay active during the summer months in a fun, safe and Judgement Free environment,” says a Planet Fitness press release. This program is designed for teens ages 14 through 19.

So, how does the program work?

• High schoolers should visit the Summer Pass page on the Planet Fitness website to register for the program. FYI, teens under 18 must register with a parent or guardian. They can do this online or in person.
• On June 1, the summer program kicked off. It goes through August 31.
• Teens have access that all Planet Fitness has to offer for its members. This includes free fitness training from in-club certified trainers as well as free workouts designed specifically for high schoolers that they can access in the free Planet Fitness App.
• You must pick a home club location where you want to exercise. This is the only Planet Fitness location where the free summer pass works. Sorry, if your family travels this summer and wants to work out at another Planet Fitness location.

Another summer freebie is kids bowl for free.

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The folks at Simon Outlets created National Outlet Shopping Day in 2022, and have been celebrating it every year since. This year is no different.

I guess no one should be surprised that a company that owns one of the largest groups of outlet malls created this shopping holiday. And, as someone who loves shopping outlets, I was thrilled to learn about it.

I love shopping at the J. Crew and Banana Republic factory outlet stores near me. That would be the Kittery Premium Outlets, the only Simon-owned outlet mall in Maine.

That’s me trying on a coat at the J. Crew Factory store. Yes, I bought it.

Photo credit: Leah Ingram

When is National Outlet Shopping Day

National Outlet Shopping Day is June 11-14 2026. Unlike when this shopping holiday first started, National Outlet Shopping Day in 2026 is five days long–running Thursday through Sunday.

What makes it a holiday? Well, the fact that all of the 90 Simon properties are participating, including the Kittery Premium Outlets.

Plus, there are sweepstakes and giveaways for the shoppers who show up on June 10 and 11.

List of Kittery outlet stores

As I mentioned, there is one Simon Properties outlet in Maine, and it’s in Kittery.

Here is an alphabetical list of the outlet stores along Route 1 .

This does not include restaurants.

• Adidas
• Aeropostale
• American Eagle
• Ann Taylor Factory Store
• Banana Republic Factory Store
• Barbour...

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This past year, my husband and I decided to focus on reading books set in Maine, by Maine authors or both. While we didn’t get to nearly all of them, we did read a dozen. Of them, only one was a DNF–did not finish–for me: The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. My husband loved it. Otherwise, we handed nearly a dozen books back and forth throughout the year. Then we continued the tradition into 2026. If you’re looking for your next great read set in Maine, you’ve come to the right place.

Favorite Books Set in Maine

When acquiring these Maine-centric books, we used one of two sources: the public library and/or an independent bookstore. We were so excited to have Octopus Bookshop open on Main Street in Kennebunk in 2025. That was where I purchased my copy of How to Read a Book by Monica Wood.

There’s another way you can support Maine’s independent bookstores if you can’t shop in person: purchasing books online through Bookshop.org. When I buy books online through Bookshop.org, I identify Octopus Bookshop as the beneficiary.

As far as the books set in Maine that we read in the past year, here’s the rundown. Once I read more, I’ll add more to the list.

Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King

Carrie by Stephen King

Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein

The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie

The Cliffs by J....

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There are 2,000-plus Aldi stores in 39 states across the country. Recently, Maine became the 40th state when the Aldi in Maine opened on Brighton Avenue in Portland. We visited a few days after its opening.

What the Aldi in Maine is like

We are experienced Aldi shoppers, having visited stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, New Hampshire and more. I can tell you this: the Aldi store in Maine is one of the largest footprints I’ve experienced when shopping with the brand. A recent newspaper article says the entire space (retail and storage area) is 25,000 square feet. I would guess it is nearly double the size of the Aldi store in Newington/Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which is where we’ve been shopping when we needed to go to Aldi.

If you’ve never shopped at Aldi, it’s no Market Basket, Hannaford, Shaw’s or even Costco. It’s a small-scale store that is completely manageable to shop. It’s also a no-frills store. Similar to the produce aisle at Costco, you’ll find warehouse boxes filled with fruits and vegetables. The racks of bread are on trays that look like they rolled right off the truck. Even packages of cookies are shelved still in the cardboard box they were probably shipped to the store in.

Speaking of cookies, Aldi is one of the best places to find knock-off Girl Scout cookies or Girl Scout cookie dupes. When it’s not cookie season and you’re craving peanut butter...

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