Dreams Unfolding | Inside Yankee

In a small Pennsylvania town there is a modest brick house, built at the end of the Second World War. You can see on one wall countless tiny nicks, the result of someone having thrown a hard object against it for hundreds, even thousands of hours. I know this to be true because, from early spring until fall, I spent my boyhood standing roughly 25 feet away from that wall, baseball glove on my left hand, battered baseball in my right. I would throw at the wall, as hard as I could. When the ball ricocheted back, I’d scoop it up and throw again, letting that wall hold the hope shared by so many kids that a baseball scout would one day see us play, and ask our names.   

Although that dream ends for nearly everyone, in summer it fills the ball fields of 10 Massachusetts towns, where for generations the country’s best college players play in the Cape Cod League. There is no admission fee, and fans sit on modest bleachers, or on blankets on the grass, or in lawn chairs, watching the sport’s next generation in action. Several hundred Major Leaguers this season alone can tell stories about those fields of dreams on Cape Cod. Photographer Alex Gagne has followed the Orleans Firebirds for more than a decade, looking for the intimate moments within the drama of young athletes during the most important summer of their lives [p. 80].

Maybe it is because this past year has affected so many hopes and dreams, but as I read through this issue I felt them percolating in nearly every story, even the ones set far from a playing field.

Michael Terrien and Eric Martin, childhood friends from Maine, are bringing to life their improbable idea that Bluet, their sparkling blueberry wine, just might revitalize Maine’s struggling blueberry industry, with vast blueberry barrens transforming into Maine’s own Napa Valley [p. 72].

Massachusetts native Varshini Prakash, the 28-year-old founder of the Sunrise Movement, embraces the vision that her generation, born under the cloud of climate-change disasters, will now lead the fight to preserve the world’s fragile ecosystems [p. 104].

And when John Worth came to East Burke, Vermont, to open a bike shop more than 30 years ago, he had the audacious idea that here, in the hardscrabble Northeast Kingdom, a mountain bike mecca could be created. Over 100 miles of trails later, Kingdom Trails is, yes, sometimes a source of local angst but also a nationally renowned destination and a regional economic boon [p. 94].

In a summer when our dreams may be as simple, and as vital, as simply being with loved ones on sun-kissed days, this issue is for all of us who can look at those who never stopped throwing their own balls against unyielding walls, who never stopped believing in the impossible, and feel the prospect of boundless hope once more.

Mel Allen editor@yankeemagazine.com

Mel Allen

Now editor at large, Mel Allen's first byline in Yankee appeared in 1977 and he joined the staff in 1979 as a senior editor. Eventually he became executive editor and led the staff as editor from 2006 to 2025. During his career he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel, while his pursuit of long-form storytelling has always been vital to his mission as well. He has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, profiled astronaut Alan Shephard, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. He also once helped author Stephen King round up his pigs for market, but that story is for another day. Mel is author of Here in New England: Unforgettable Stories of People, Places, and Memories That Connect Us All (Earth Sky + Water LLC, 2025).

More by Mel Allen