Pat·i·o: From early 19th century Spanish, denoting an inner courtyard. From the Latin patere, meaning “to lie open.” Portland after dark S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 3 7 meaghan Maurice Starry Nights By Sarah Moore Savor the last sips of September sun on Portland patios. W elcome to Patio Season in Maine–a rare, precious, slim spell of time. With our long winters, you may think Portland’s estab- lishments would forgo the effort and money needed to create killer patios. Lucky for us, they know the juice is worth the squeeze– Portland’s patios come alive with revellers almost every evening throughout the long, golden evenings of September. Like fiddle- head season, it’s fleeting, vanishing, some- thing to be savored, and for that, it’s all the more fun, especially when you know where the unforgettable patios are hiding. A windy but sun-drenched Friday evening in Portland sees us making the ritual evening bike ride downtown in search of hedonism and happy hours. In- stead of peeling left from Congress Street and gliding into the familiar web of the Old Port, we veer right on Elm Street, our bikes picking up speed on the steep incline that leads us swerving into the parking lot of Bayside Bowl (pictured above) on Alder Street. My aversion to sharing footwear with strangers means I’ve never visited the bowling alley and bar joint (please keep your rental bowl- ing shoes at a safe distance.) However, rumors of a game-changing rooftop bar are enough to entice our group to ven- ture into West Bayside for the night. We pass through the bowling hall and hop