Page 6 of Starfish Cottage
“Good idea.”
“So, I thought maybe a sandcastle competition.” Maddie looked at the three ladies hopefully.
Rose frowned. “Don’t they have a big sandcastle competition in Old Orchard at the end of August?”
Pearl nodded. “Yes. I don’t think we should do something that another town is having.”
Okay, first idea shot down. Maddie ran her finger down the list. “How about an art fair? We could set tents up on the pier.”
Leena shook her head. “Nope. They just had one in Ogunquit.”
Maddie’s stomach sank lower. “Okay, well what about a food event? Clam dig? Lobster bake?”
Rose poured more tea. “We just had the baking contest. I don’t think we could top that.”
“And there’s a big lobster bake in several towns already. Nothing new there,” Pearl said.
“I was thinking the restaurants and shops could show off their dishes.” Maddie knew it was a weak idea, but she was basing her ideas on events she’d been to in other towns. Shell Cove didn’t even have many restaurants.
“These sound like ideas that any town could have.” Leena gestured toward the notebook. “We need something unique. Something people can’t get anywhere else. Something people will drive out of their way for.”
Maddie frowned down at the list. It was true. Everything she’d considered was so common. But how to come up with something unique that people couldn’t get anywhere else?
Rose patted her arm. “Don’t worry, dear. You’ll think of something.”
The ladies started clearing the table.
“Maybe something specific to Shell Cove,” Leena suggested.
That was a good idea, but what? The only events Maddie knew of that towns were famous for were motorcycle rallies and landmarks. Rose, Pearl, and Leena had been in town their whole lives; maybe they knew something.
“Is Shell Cove famous for something? Maybe something that happened when you were kids or a famous person that lived here?”
The looked at each other but shook their heads.
“Can’t think of anything off the top of my head,” Pearl said.
“I know you’ll figure it out. We have faith in you,” Rose said as she loaded the last dish into the sink.
Maddie hugged the ladies and thanked them for the basket. Outside, Dex was unloading more tools. Hopefully he wouldn’t leave them strewn about the yard as he’d done at the Beachcomber. Just the thought of it made her feel disorganized, and that was the last thing she needed right now.
She sat at the table and closed her eyes, trying to come up with something unique. Wyoming had Longmire Days after the TV and book series, but they didn’t have a series associated here in Shell Cove. Sturgis, South Dakota, Laconia, New Hampshire, and Daytona, Florida had motorcycle rallies, but those events were on a tradition that had built over almost a hundred years.
Even Ariel, Washington had the unique distinction of being the area where the famed elusive hijacker D. B. Cooper parachuted over and had a festival in his name. What did Shell Cove have?
Her phone pinged with a message from Jules.
Wine at Beachcomber tonight? Gina made a chocolate cream pie….
With all the candy she’d eaten at Saltwater Sweets, Maddie really should decline. She thumbed in a text reply.
I’ll be there at five!
Maybe wine and chocolate would help her think.
* * *
“I don’t thinkshe has any ideas for an event,” Leena said back in Rose’s car as they drove away from the cottage.
