Category: Maine Small Towns

Small Towns In Maine | How Do They Keep Their Doors Open?

Small towns in Maine.

The northern rural New England state is known for its sparse population and wide open spaces. So how does a small town exist? Some of them don’t because keeping up with the paperwork to maintain the local identity is slipping. Once Grange halls, local schools, the mill, and one by one farmers or woodcutters fade from the local town landscape, all you are left with is the historical notes.

Small towns in Maine. Some are surrounded by water, neighbor no other community!

Amity ME is a good example of a small town in Maine.

Amity is a bedroom community for a larger population center to support for employment, schooling, shopping, all the essentials to survive in today’s modern age. Amity Maine is located on the USA – Canadian International border.

But a little further south you find the small town of Bancroft Maine .

That was a town but not anymore as it retreated. Waved the white flagf and dismantled local government. Becoming an unorganized township from its previous status as a town is becoming a pattern. Blog posts on deorganization of small Maine towns have gotten press ink lately.

Bancroft Maine took about three years in it’s disconnecting the ties that bound the local government entity. To settle up the financial obligations was the first order. Who plows the roads and fills the pot holes. Mows the grass at the local cemetery. Or writes the check for Maine school education tuition or to pay the bus driver?

Spring run off from heavy winter snow loads fuel our many canoe and kayak races!

Somebody is at the helm no matter how small or limited the tiny small Maine town government running the show.

Issuing the warrants, counting the voter ballots on important issues of the day or to fill a position. To shift gears and divvy up the local control responsibilities between the state and County of Aroostook.

Like a boat on the open water surviving the choppy seas and less than perfect nautical weather, don’t you need a certain number of local players for a crew of a small Maine town operations? Besides figuring out how to raise enough in local annual property tax assessments each year to stay in the black financially.

Who’s going to picked from the flock for representation of the town’s people? To be a local elected selectmen, the chair of this group of committed townspeople. That all one by one step up to help administer the small Maine town obligations and responsibilities.

Home grown and everything is live, local. That’s living, working, playing as a volunteer of a small town in Maine.

In a small Maine town or plantation, someone has to be on the local board of tax assessors, serve on the local school administration education boards.

Tapped to be the local animal control officer to handle a nuisance dog at large and off his lease. To fill the boots of the local town fire warden. For where you get your fire permit. To be legit for that little smudge fire ring circle gathering outback Saturday night. The town clerk in a small Maine town often has a real job doing something else besides registering your friends and neighbor’s cars, trucks, snow sleds, ATV four wheelers and boats.

In the tiniest of small Maine towns, it is not one but many volunteers performing their local duties. Mailing out the annual property tax bills. Keeping track of real estate registry of deeds transfers in the small town divided up into map and lots. Writing out the receipts for early discounted property tax payments. Performing the property tax lien process when its been more than eighteen months since the small Maine town received any real estate taxes from its owner.

Volunteer fire departments responding to local calls for a structure fire. Or when Sparky gets a little carried away with burning fall tree leaves. Or that brush pile that spreads when winds fan the flames.

There may not be a town fire department to fight the blaze. Just like the local police are not in the town limits. But instead serve under the umbrella of protection of the local county sheriff department. Or whatever Maine state police troop barracks is closest to serve this particular radius circle of highways for each section of Vacationland.

In the small Maine community of Drew Plantation, one man in his eighties and not in the best of health holds it all together.

He admits that if he stopped changing all the hats he wears, if he retired from his many roles in Drew Plantation then deorganization steps would begin.

Fish dinner… this is how you snag one of those taught early on in small town Maine living circles.

Township 7 Range 9, in Penobscot County became the township of Drew on April 5th, 1921. But the Great Depression took its tolls. Causing Drew to return to the plantation status is began with September 8th, 1856. With 137 friendly souls populating Drew Plantation in the 1880, two school houses were used to educate the children. Today the US Census population hovers around 45-46 folks calling Drew Plantation home.

Some small Maine towns or plantations share one office, one manager. In the case of Patten Maine, under the same town office roof line, the affairs of Moro Plantation, the town of Hersey are also administered. Each local government body kept separate and not merged to be independent authorities sharing administrative services to defer the cost.

Linneus and Hodgdon Maine in the past shared one town manager. Smyrna and Merrill Maine have one capable lady at the helm of both towns under one shared roof line.

What about when it is water water everywhere… when you are a small Maine island government to keep running?

Depending on where you search online, Maine also has 3166 islands. Or other sites quote 4600 islands off the coast but also counting the ones on lakes. Mt Desert is the largest of the large collection of independent islands in Maine. Some are only visible when the tide is right to keep these ledges exposed.

Island in Maine, this one in Cutler.

Some Maine islands are close enough to the mainland that ferries shuttle the kids to school. And mom and dad take the daily ride in and back to the island from mainland population centers. If their work is not on the island community itself. From retirement checks that support the island life routine. Or from hoisting bounty from the sea fishing or running tourism attractions involving lighthouses, hump back whales and puffins.

Islands in Maine coded “R” are registered and privately owned.

The ones wearing the letter “U” designation are unorganized. Four more structures on an island puts them in another classification. Here is the list of Maine islands and their code designations. More to explore about Maine islands. Inland, Moosehead Lake, Maine’s largest surrounds Sugar Island, the biggest of its water surrounded land masts.

Salt water, sea air, sounds of gulls and navigation buoys. Maine islands offer heavy helpings of solitude.

Maine’s islands are a big part of the tourism industry. Many islands don’t live within municipal boundaries to include them in a bigger government administration. The unorganized townships of Maine divided into the sixteen counties catch all of these lost in the hustle bustle shuffle entities.

Do you know where Jewell Island is in Maine?

For a number of years each summer, a bunch of my friends would boat out and camp on Jewell Island off South Harpswell that has some unique bunkers on them from the World War Two era. To defend the coast and as a look out for early warning detection on any invasions. Add to your collection of Maine vacations with island tours on bike.

Small towns in Maine, the collection of islands too. Ever wonder how they keep the doors open and local government humming smoothly? Quite nicely and everyone volunteers to make it happen. To maintain tradition the best they can as the population shrinks. Strong internet to telecommute and connect small towns in Maine is so critical to keep those town government and local business enterprise doors open.

I‘m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

May 27, 2019
Let’s Do Lunch! Meals On Wheels In Maine.

No one should go hungry and in Maine so many volunteers make sure the local population does not.

Local Maine farmers gladly welcome gleaning the fields and hand off the kitchen grade food to lend a hand to what’s put on the table. Children from families that are struggling get back packs for kids delivered by school bus. Reduced hot lunch programs for breakfast and lunch are available.

No Matter What The Weather, Like The Postman, Delivery Of Meals On Wheels Happens In Maine.

And seniors, the shut ins get meals on wheels. Many of them are Veterans who served and deserve good hot nutrition.

As a volunteer delivering meals on wheel lunches you meet the lady with the walker and southern drawl from Texas. Knocking on her door to deliver the meals on wheels pick of the day offering to pop in the oven or microwave, she flashes a smile as large as the lone star state logo on her apartment door entrance door mat. She is glad to see Meg who like clockwork shows up with the container of filled with what’s for lunch today.

Always cheerful despite being house bound, enduring her share of aches and pains and loss of mobility.

The meals on wheels delivery person is this widows contact to the outside world. Especially when a Maine winter shoves its way into the calendar pages hanging in her apartment unit kitchen. The days locked up at home can slow to a crawl and seem to never end. When you can hop in your car at the drop of a hat it is easy to forget what it would be like for those who can not run the roads.

Gassing Up To Deliver Meals On Wheels. (Ding Ding)

On to the next stop, reaching into the insulated black zippered square box with the shoulder strap. The couple out in the country on a dead end road knows she is coming before the tap tap on the back door at the top of the wheelchair ramp. Before being passed the meal of the day or opening the freezer compartment to tuck it away for tomorrow.

Peggy the old black family dog with graying around her mouth gets animated and signals we have company.

Looking for her green tennis ball while the lunch containers are distributed. Just in case the meals on wheels delivery person might then take time to play toss and retrieve. Her master is confined to a bright red scooter chair with the motor. His wife busy taking care of him but also nursing her own long list of ailments caused by plain and simple accumulated years. And being a round the clock care giver. Contributing to her meal schedule helps lighten her load tremendously. One meal a day is someone else’s responsibility by someone other than me, myself and I in Northern Maine.

They all agree, the food is excellent. I’ve tried one that was left over and no one home to put it in a freezer. The ones in our area from the Aroostook Agency on Aging and all home made tasty. Nothing like the tinfoil hungry man or Swanson TV dinners I sampled in college. Great variety, grateful recipients and a friendship forms between the lunch or breakfast meal provider and receiver. Home bound individuals in Maine who can not get out to attend a facility prepared lunch at a senior center and who have difficulty preparing one appreciate meals on wheels.

Meals on wheels is more than helping avoid hunger than millions of American fear.

It helps with reducing the isolation and belief no one cares. Sadly 8 out of 10 senior citizens suffer from food insecurity. They don’t receive the home delivered food they need. Twenty five percent of the elderly citizens live alone. The meals on wheels program helps keep a home owner in their house as they struggle to make ends meet. More statistics on Maine’s meals for wheels program.

Mainers Volunteer, The Village Meets The Needs Collectively. From The Cradle To Senior Citizen Shut In.

It’s not one size fits all either. The meals on wheels selection work around dietary restrictions. Get heart friendly, diabetic sensitive, vegetarian, gluten free and lower sodium lunch time selections. Take a peek at all that is offered for Maine made meals on wheels lunches.

Are you retired, do you have some time each week to volunteer and give back to your local community? Breaking the cutest, most delicious small loaves of home made bread and sharing meals delivered by you to the home of someone needing them is a unique highly rewarding experience.

To partner up with the meals on wheels program, you only need a valid Maine driver’s license, background check, a reliable vehicle. Volunteers can be paid 42 cents per mile for reimbursement, but volunteers in southern Aroostook County where I live have not asked to be compensated.

It’s more than just delivering a meal, you are checking in on a friend and neighbor.

Maybe the only person besides Bob Barker, whatever talk show host or soap opera star that meals on wheels receiver may see all day long. Meals are delivered one day a week, with five meals presented to each participant. Volunteers are also needed to make phone calls to the many seniors. For more information, tap out the number sequence 1-800-439-1789. More FAQ meals on wheels program details. And if you are in the Portland area, click here.

More drivers are needed and they have the meals to deliver. If more go between connections can be made to link up the delivery person with the hungry lunch receiver.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

November 10, 2018
When You Are Lucky Enough To Live In A Small Maine Town…

It’s the little things and you feel the connection living in a small Maine town full time.

Like during a local movie, when you are at the snack bar as the lights dim. The movie coming attractions begin the splash on the silver screen. Before you can maneuver back to wherever you and your clan are sitting in the dark as the inside of a cow theater setting. As you slow to a creep on the tilted runway carpet when you ask yourself “isn’t it right around this row some place where I need to park?”

Maine, Drop Dead Gorgeous. Low Priced Property, Lacking Crime, Crowds, Traffic.

And then you hear a Psst… a whisper from the folks two rows back that nicely help you get your bearings as the lobby bright light wears off. “Andy, next row, one more.” Thank you to film patrons about to enjoy the same flick.

Or tragedy hits, your cat or dog is hit by a car, drowns in a swimming pool, something takes away the family pet. You get a call, neighbors rally to help you with the loss, know who’s cat or dog it is and help you with the arrangements on what do do now. They feel badly to be the one to announce what happened and continue to say a little prayer. To keep you in their thoughts in the tough days ahead.

Or months, years after a loss in a family out of the blue this and that community member who doesn’t need recognition for an act of kindness drops off tonight’s supper. Providing another meal next week because others surprised them the same way when down and out discouraged.

Energy, Promise, Exercise, Discipline, Entertainment In Small Maine Towns! Our Youth Provide It In Maine Communities.

The grateful recipient not sure who is responsible because so many doing the same meal time pitch in and help ritual. Because they have all been in a tough situation and out of the woodwork many hands helped to collectively pick you up from a life low point. And abundant gardens, making two casseroles instead of one happens in a small Maine town household. And someone else is taking care of desert, the bread or another side dish. Take what you need and share the rest. Amen.

Ask for directions when new to a small town in Maine way of living. Folks are super helpful, often say follow me, I’ll tractor beam take you there right now to avoid delay or chance getting lost. But other times the how to get there from here involves old businesses that are long gone. The former building owner is referred to and old names die hard.

In my home town where Western Auto was or Ames or Chain Apparel were located don’t help much in a search when lost. Hannaford is still called Shop N Save when you need groceries. Some remember it as Sampson’s or can mentally look further back because this is and has been their home town for a long long time. Even though University College now takes up that space, not aisles of groceries or Plaza Pharmacy that had a cure for what ever ails you. If your daughter was on birth control pills, a different pharmacy handled the prescription filling for the sake of appearances for your regular druggist I was told by one local who had more than one outlet for medications for a reason.

The Irving Big Stop though is still called Traveler’s with the green snack bar counter tops even though the Texaco brand of gas and diesel have not gushed in the fuel lines for decades. Whoever has been at a business location longest in your memory is who you associate the GPS coordinates giving directions to the tourists.

Where was Panther Fuel again… you know, the building on Bangor Street with the hand painted drawing of a black as midnight cat wearing a chain with the green emerald. The using landmarks long gone can work with a local giving directions. But telling a lost motorists to head past the Miss Aroostook Diner to the Gulf station at the triangle where you turn left to head past Houlton Truck Garage is not so effective when all the landmarks you refer to are gone or renamed.

Maine Community Bands, One Of The Many Perks In Small Communities That “Band” Together.

Small town community members know and trust each other.

They work on local events, some are relatives and attend the same weddings, funerals, family reunion shin digs. Folks know what others are struggling with and it’s not kept a secret. Working together on this activity forces you to know others on a personal level. You know who to call for anything needing attention because you have first hand experience with others in your small Maine home town.

You don’t just know their name, you know how many kids, their names, stuff about them. Who the third owner back was for this house, that home. What used to be in the empty lot that was lost in a fire or just wore out and went to it’s knees like a dinosaur.

Someone is stopped along the road, we slow and roll down the window to ask need help? Jumper cables ready and held in both hands like shocking paddles to get you back in the flow of traffic and moving. Had a mason tell me today about living in Rochester New Hampshire where on the way to a job there was a car on the side of the road with steam pouring out from under the engine hood.

We Should Take This Route Over By Bible Point When President Teddy Roosevelt Started His Vacation Day Hunting / Fishing In Maine. See? It’s Right (Squinting) There On The Trail Map.

He stopped to ask how he could help, what they needed, what was the problem to offer his assistance. The car owner cowered, did not roll down the glass to create the door opening to talk. And wanted him to go away, not trusting him to be of any help with a fearful leave me alone reception shared.

Trying to help lend a hand does not play well in areas where crime is heavy and your sincerity is questioned.

Don’t get involved becomes the order of the day to play it safe for your own survival. To avoid a set up in situations where everything is not as it seems.

Maybe we are naive, too helpful and trusting in a small Maine town. But I am glad we are and it is sad everyone is not no matter where they live on the planet. Always carry a set of battery jumper cables, have a willingness to share a cell phone to make calls. Hide a tow rope in the back to use pulling a vehicle out of a ditch or stuck in a snow bank. Let’s try a bottle of dry gas, pump the hood and let’s hunt for loose wires or an easy fix to the current vehicle problems.

You have front line first hand information on the lay of the land and everyone in it past and present in a small Maine town.

That makes it like David and the sling slot quick to fix and repair a need. To know who you gonna call. In city urban living you don’t know the others on the crowded sea of faces on the sidewalk of asteroids coming at you. And you hunker down, look low and don’t want to, don’t need to, don’t care to because it’s cold and impersonal rules the day.

People care about the individuals in a small Maine town.

The circles we travel are smaller so you bump into people you know more often too. The population is more spread out and the landscape slightly sparse in rural areas. Most of Maine are small, many teeny weenie. A little out of the way on the road less traveled. The locals know why the little league field is named the way it is. Steve Porter was a veteran lost in the Vietnam War who was a heck of an athlete. More than just a solider who gave all.

911 addresses are not used by all who still prefer to call the McSheffery Road the Hogan Road. Most back roads and town streets had another name or two or three in Maine communities. The locals knew the names, the standardization happened for those who did not in Emergency service providing.

Parades For Causes, To Increase Awareness And Show Support! Small Maine Towns Are Like That When Lucky Enough To Live In One.

Working on local fund raisers, sporting events, community projects makes the connection with others in your area even stronger. The connection increases the longer you live in a small Maine town. That’s your ball coach over there, that man in line at the grocery store ahead of you is the son of your town manager. The lady behind you gets a smile, nice day and you receive a comment back about community theater, the canoe race, the upcoming holiday.

Something is discussed with others you meet in your travels to the hardware store, popping into a local business for a product, service repair, whatever. And no one is ignored or avoided in small Maine towns. That would be rude when you do know each other right?

People let others go ahead of them in the banker teller line. They smile, wave, are friendly and seem happy. The elderly shut in are worried about, looked in on and you don’t want them breaking a hip and needing a pin because they slipped on glare ice hidden under a blanker of new white fluffy powdered snow that only makes it more polished and dangerous.

You serve on boards, rotate into new ones and know how small towns rock and roll. You face new challenges together when the economy dips. You share joy in hard fought battles to fix problems and belt tighten where there is waste in public spending. Frugal is not the same as cheap. Nothing sucks the life blood out of a small Maine community faster than duplication of services.

You feel the joys, the pain, whatever happens in a small Maine town as a group, as one unit in this all together.

You know who is driving many of the cars and trucks approaching you on a highway. And instinctively know old Mr. Jackins has poor vision and to give him a wide berth. Maybe pull over to let him pass by with an accident. Plus he is driving a pickup with an angled your direction bright yellow Fisher snow plow blade up front that demands your attention.

You Can Hear Yourself Think! Ever Thought Of Living In A Small Maine Town?

Small rural Maine locations also help you find solitude when loneliness requires it to heal from a loss. They knew your parents, you remember theirs long after they depart this Earth. Everyone pulls together, leans in to begin the steps to process grief when it arrives right on time as it will in any person’s life.

In small Maine towns, you share the joys, experience the low points and have historical perspective on the folks who live two houses over or the next road up in your country location.

You know others from serving on sports or music boosters groups. From capital campaigns to raise money for something very needed in the local area. Working behind the scenes makes you pulled deeper. As the investment in your local community tugs on each and every one of your heart strings.

Is it like that where you live? Do you have this kind of view? Lots of low priced real estate inventory to select from in your area? Do you lack crime, traffic, the sounds of airport jets or EMS vehicles where you call home now?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

October 26, 2018
Maine Is Mostly Small Maine Rural Towns.

Maine small town living involves lots of volunteers working together for the unique quality of life experience.

And when local festivals or celebrations are started, the tradition needs protection to keep them happening year after year. New laborers and creative minds introduced to help the event expand and to replace those that have to step back and pull away. The events build, even the date they are held becomes sacred. Because folks plan their vacation routines around working the local small Maine town celebrations or attending them. Many travel long distances to come home from far away year after year. Both natives and new to the area folks that enjoy the experience. But the dates are what cause so much to be done to build around them.

Merchants plan their retail sales around the event. Motels and other lodging options get reservations in advance preparing for the local special event. Lots of publicity promoting the dates and times of the local community activity are put into print circulation and with online electron mass media transmissions. Social media outlets are set up to spread the word across the land. But based on a particular date in time that drives all that is planned around the event.

The Black And White Realities Of Running A Red, White & Blue Maine Small Town. Providing The Family Fun Without The Big Price Tag.

There are 25 state fairs in Maine.

And each one is special, hand made, a clever grass root creation unique to the area it reflects. The communities in Maine are not just the empty buildings on Main Street, town hall, schools, churches and houses but the people who live in the small town. The folks that invest their creative spirit and financial, time resources into everything that goes on in the small Maine town. There is nothing stronger than the heart of a local Maine volunteer with fierce pride in their home town. It is a sad day when another community threatens another’s labor of love activity in the same Maine county.

Like small plant seedlings that need protection from the elements until they gain strength and stamina, small Maine towns face lots of challenges to keep the event that swims in the local economy going. To weed, feed, water, guide and groom the festivals that struggle due to the dwindling economy. Whatever recreational, educational, sporting or amusement, all the local events and any annual celebrations that improves the quality of life are the spark of the community spirit. So many of the happenings to improve living in the small Maine town are 90 percent volunteer home grown effort and ten percent actual infused upfront monetary subsidy. Hard work trumps writing a check to pull off the event annually.

So when year after year a Maine town sponsors a festival, celebration, event, that town putting on their all out best effort for any local well planned activity, it is a beautiful thing.

It’s an example of local team work. Until something ugly happens. When a county town is pushed and they return the shove that affects another community in Maine. That’s what is happening concerning the 4th of July Houlton Maine Agricultural State Fair and the one held later the same month in Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle. The latter is touted online as “always the fourth Friday in July to the first Saturday in August”.

Houlton State Fair, Lead Off Of Maine’s Agricultural Fair Schedule Over The 4th Of July.

The Houlton celebration a licensed State of Maine Fair since 1981. The fair, parade, retail sales in Midnight Madness in Market Square, Demolition Derby, truck pulls, horse shows, the craft fair in the park and more offer amusement and entertainment for all ages around the 4th of July. The 4H exhibits and demonstrations of all kinds, the musical acts, demonstrations, rides, games, vendor food make it a memorable experience for old and young alike. The local tradition does not just happen and is worked on and attended by most of the population in the surrounding Maine communities where it is hosted.

In August of this year, Smokey’s Greater Shows and the Northern Maine Fair agreed to petition the State of Maine to have their fair operate from Friday June 28th to Saturday July 6, 2019. Smokey’s is telling Houlton Fair to change the long time tradition July 4th schedule as the first state fair on the schedule. Recreate everything July 11th through the 14th, 2019. Whoa. And if we don’t, Houlton Maine won’t have them for a carnival amusement ride and game provider next year and for subsequent years. The hearing on the state level for such a move is considered October 12th at 10 AM in Augusta.

Tourism in Maine is strongest the closest you get to population centers out of state.

Where people in the urban areas can and do travel across the big green bridge to the south. To access the beach regions of Maine where the cost of living is a little bit steeper. To venture into the handful of cities small rural Maine has dotting the map. Up into the interior, the further north, east, west you go into this under populated New England state the flow of money slows, the economy is more rugged. But the community spirit and real not spun grass roots things we do for fun take place.

A bean supper, a fishing derby, an opening day of hunting season for someone with say a moose permit is a big deal. The lumbermen’s or agricultural museum reflect the traditions surrounding those two big industries where hard working Mainer’s earned their World wide known and respected work ethic reputation. Regional and state sporting competitions of any kind are a big deal in small rural Maine!

Maine, 108 Small Towns, Villages, Vibrant Communities.

With farming, timbering forest operations getting bigger in size and fewer in the actual company numbers, the scramble to find anything to replace the loss of jobs and our Maine heritage is a hard fought struggle.

The push for speed of thought Internet connectivity. The “bring your job with you to work online remotely” for members of the audience considering relocation here to Maine is one highly important segment to court and woo. Bragging up Maine’s small town wholesome values and building work ethic spirit, a quality life skill sets for young families members to benefit from is another trumpet blast being made daily from Vacationland.

Spelling out the lack of crime, traffic too and availability of quality health care for the “new at being old” elderly members out in the wild blue yonder are another important marketing target to keep the US census numbers up around the state of Maine.

Those retired transplants moving, relocating to Maine bring skills and donate their free time now that they don’t chase the dollar in the work world. They contribute their free manpower and creative ideas from a new area of the planet to add to the small Maine town way of life. All of us are ambassadors of Maine. Each and everyone of us wants to help spread the word on why we live here, what we love most about Maine.

It was sad to hear this week of a move underfoot to undermine the Houlton ME State Fair by another state fair venue in the same county. There is pressure from the carnival provider to make the two events closer together to justify the spin up into Aroostook County. The trip for just one outing is not cost effective, we get that. But for the Presque Isle Fair along with the carnival provider to petition the to change both venue dates is concerning.

Small Town Parades Over 4th Of July Special!

I am hopeful something can be worked out in the spirit of compromise to help both venues continue their years of tradition providing family fun. But not at the expense of either state fair venue’s historical success. And to avoid doing something that ends up hurting both communities because of the programming just too closely to give locals a chance to feel the need and to afford each of the area events.

The licensed Maine state fairs are an excellent educational and amusement entertainment value!

Carnivals in Maine have suffered from the high cost of insurance, difficulty getting quality employees for seasonal work and meeting the demands the public expect in their hungry as a horse entertainment appetite. Like most things in life now profits are smaller and businesses have to be keenly run. Your profit is found in your expenses. Volume, higher user numbers grease the gears and in a small population rural state like Maine located quite a ways up the pike, there’s the rub. The distance away from major markets helps insulate and isolate at the same time.

To step out and find a new replacement carnival circus amusement provider is difficult when the number of shows up and running is a low one. And when you read comments on the social media sites of state fairs, the public is very vocal and some very critical.

Being a volunteer on a Maine event is a thankless job and you must be tough skinned, tender hearted. It is harder to please the public members who want something for nothing or just don’t the money needed to take in multiple days of a celebration. Pride you gain from a job well done is the reward and don’t expect attention and praise from other community members who are working just as hard or putting even more effort into their list of community events.

Here’s the 2018 list of Maine’s State Fairs and their dates.

Another Hot Sausage Smothered In Onions, Peppers? (Burp) Excuse ME!

I am sure all the other state fairs, festivals in Maine that build around amusement rides that a carnival operator provides are feeling the same pinch. How to keep the well establish date for the celebration but to modify the schedule of events to make it something for everyone. Without going head over heels in debt that would kill the past time completely.

Leaving one big air sucking hole in the local fabric of life in a small Maine town proud to be the sponsor of the year after year event.

Where late night meetings, study of other venues, where planning for the next celebration or festival starts the day of the last one. It never stops and you work the event for life because looking behind you shows no person or a very short line of new blood willing to step in and work behind the scenes forever.

Writes your letters, show your concern and in the spirit of cooperation hammer out a plan to show how to preserve the state fair experience in Aroostook County, any county. Done with the least disruption to all the hard working volunteers feeling threatened and territorial that put their back into the local event that helps keep their town on the Maine map! The effort should be plowed back into the event not spent with the politics of how to poach, protect and maintain what we already have to avoid hard feelings and resentment.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

September 26, 2018
American Folk Festival On Bangor ME Waterfront!

Hear the live music? Outdoor anything in Maine is memorable because fresh air, sunshine and blue skies are the perfect backdrop.

And the wide open space coupled with friendly people creates the setting for a fun experience in Vacationland. The American Folk Festival held on the Penobscot River Waterfront is one event that started off with a bang and just improves season after season. Several stages to make it a buffet for the two ears on the side of your head. Watch a video for highlights of this years American Folk Festival in Bangor Maine.

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Planning through out the calendar twelve months means the American Folk Festival is always evolving for the next installment in Bangor Maine. Which acts to book, what vendors for food and home made arts and crafts takes a lot of logistics. To create the right mix that tickles all the senses.

American Folk Festival Live Stage Performances! Did You Attend The Folk Festival This Past Weekend In Bangor ME!

I am still thinking of the build a burrito, listening to the blues in my head, enjoying the talks with Maine craft vendors.

Under a moonlit sky on the waterfront feeling a warm breeze shared with my best frien. As we sat on a grassy side hill looking down upon the big stages of performer after performing artist bands! The American Folk Festival is one major bright spot in the on going outdoor live music events to enjoy and to consider volunteering to help make it run smoothly. More images from the Bangor area American Folk Festival.

Thank you to volunteers who have to be tough skinned to keep up the grueling pace as crunch time approaches for another festival in Maine. Who take often more criticism than praise but that’s okay and not why they do it. Maine is hard working individuals in all they do and the local pride shines brightly at whatever event you attend.

Looking for more indoor, outdoor music venues in Maine?

Maine has so much talent from through out the state but helping to spread the word on what is happening means we all need to share the news. Festivals around a local community celebration are extra special. And make it more than just a musical performance to take in. Add the local food favorites and meeting the community artisans just adds to the take away from the mix. We all know lots of people on our gift list that need nothing or very little. Makes it hard to be creative until you start sampling the wares at a slew of local vendors of arts and crafts. Some claim to improve your health and the conversation alone is good medicine for the soul.

American Folk Festival In Bangor Maine! No Way It Could Be Kept Free Without The Local Volunteers, Local Sponsors Helping Underwrite The Performances On Stage!

Don’t pick them up the same Wally World or hurriedly order mail order same old same old this year.

Check out the local craft vendors for that one of a kind special gift that they don’t have. That will make them smile because they know you care.

Something to do for fun where many in a small Maine community pitch in and work together to pull it off year after year. It is a lot more fun working an event than just paying for your ticket, showing up with your folding chairs to hit and run done.

Get more involved, receive more out of the event by traveling behind the tent flap into the inner workings of a small Maine community event. Your talents are needed and the people who live in the small rural towns and our handful of cities in Maine are the event. Not the streets, empty buildings along Main Street. Be part of the excitement, the

Welcome To Bangor ME! Home Of The American Folk Festival On The Penobscot River Waterfront!

celebration and local home grown amusement!

Fiddling around. Don’t think summer festivals are over yet. Get outdoors, stay outdoors in Maine!

Check out the County Bluegrass Music Festival this weekend in Northern Maine as one more example of how the performances happen around the clock in the Pine Tree State.

And don’t forget the Springfield Fair happening this weekend too. The 168th Springfield Fair is September 1st and 2nd and is one of the longest running continuous fairs in the country. Thank you for following our Me In Maine blog posts faithful reader.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730

August 29, 2018
Mainers Like To Mow Big Lawns.

Maine homes are more often than not surrounded by big lawns

If you have company from across the pond, this fact is one of the first observations someone from say London or Paris noticed. Back where they hail from, something that big for a wrapper of land surrounding a home is tilled up and farmed. Something besides blades of grass kept crew cut short is what the generous helpings of land are used for… it is tilled or something with four legs grazes on the grass, clover, whatever else good looks good to eat if you are a farm animal.

Maine Lawns Are Bigger Than Most. Cats Enjoy The Vegetation Around The Lawns To Hide Out.

What is the reason for such large lawns? Maybe it is because not so long ago, everyone lived on small family farms in Maine. We all farmed and mowing large lawns now gives us a feeling of haying once a week spring, summer, fall. Now that many of us chase the dollar working for someone else 9-5.

The rolling lawn in front, to the sides and out back of a New England farm house is pretty when it is kept free of burdocks, red brackle and small poplars that take hold quickly. Even fiddle heads show up around houses and the more moist areas around a property in Maine. If you don’t keep the land mowed weekly or at least bush hogged once a year or the land hayed.

Some of my best thinking is done riding the John Deere or Cub Cadet International garden tractor with the large mowing deck.

You can see what you did when you tuck the mower away in the barn or garage and there is a sense of accomplishment, of property pride. You notice birds in the trees, you check of the home and the countryside as you gawk around mowing. Because it is not a hard, mind bending exercise.

If No Lawn Grass, Something Other Than Brush, Burdochs Needs To Be Growing In Open Space In Maine. Like Lupines. A Pretty Weed.

Fresh mowed lawns. It is relaxing to mow, to see the rows in the sequence and all of us in Maine were taught by expert lawnmowers. It was not racing around in circles but trimmed around the trees with a hand mower or weed wacker combined with the power mower exercise. It was done right or time to do it over.

Big lawns, how large should you mow? Some folks check the watch, mow for an hour, give or take depending on how big a time pledge they want to put to keeping the grass trimmed. And when they get to that pre-determined time, that’s it. Shut off the mower, pull up the deck and be line back to the storage area until next week. Or earlier if sunshine, plenty of rain means you need to repeat the lawn mowing more than once some weeks.

Lawn mowing is contagious. You like to get the property mowed before the weekend, prior to long holiday spans. It is something your parents instilled in you as a young grass chopper in Maine.

Mowing by hand is great exercise.

Victorians In Maine Have Big Lawns Wrapped Around Them. Landscaped Grounds Add Sparkle To The Big Homes.

Up and down hill slopes. Back and forth, alternating the angles to make it new and different for the travel pattern. Instead of a treadmill at the gym, just pull the cord of a hand pushed, not self propelled model and see the wright drip off slow by sure. Working around the weather makes mowing hard when three days of rain elevated the blades longer than you would like. The clubs of dead grass clippings clog a mower, make it work Cherry, harder and look like yard hair balls.

Mainers love to mow lawns.

I have had properties for sale where sellers are out late at night applying weed and feed and in one big private competition to make sure their landscape is picture perfect. They act like it just happens on its own but deep down inside are pretty competitive with neighbors around the hood where they hang their hat.

You can use gang reel mowers behind a tractor or four wheeler to mowing large level to rolling stretches of green grass. If not grass, apple orchards are planted, wild flowers are encouraged with meadow in a can seeds broadcasts. Planting something for flowers or vegetables is always a personal choice for what grows around a home in Maine. Ornamental and fruit trees help showcase a property. We are brought up in Maine that is 91% forestested to plant trees, not cut and harvest them only. Being a good steward of Maine trees means thin them out, don’t clear cut or leave nothing to grow when the over story is removed. Hardwood ridges, so many trees to study and enjoy hiking in Maine.

Cherry, apple trees, raspberry bushes. Landscaping your lot in Maine is a delicate but rewarding process to plan out what goes and grows here or there. The attraction of birds, the sound of wind in the pine or fir needles vibrating with a low hum. Trees know the meaning of patience, time. Maples grow fast but can decay later on. I have a bunch of maples along a circular driveway that are ailing.

Cedar hedges look scrawny when you pull them out of the swamp and place the roots in burlap bags for transport and to be kept moist. But other than trimming, they are way way better than erecting large expensive fences that heave with the frost and need paint or stain or other maintenance. White birch trees are pretty and frail. Yellow birches are better for fire wood believe it or not. Beech, ash, not so many oak trees though all round out the choices you or Mother Nature will supply on open Maine land. Don’t forget the patch of rhubarb, high bush blueberries, elderberries, black berries, and herb garden to add to your flower beds, vegetable gardens on our patch of Maine dirt to enjoy.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532-6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

May 21, 2018