Since 1996, every June the Northern Maine Soap Box Derby Race runs in the town of Houlton ME. This blog post is about this past weekend’s June 22nd 2024 race and with a little Maine soap box derby rich history mixed in for good measure.
The Houlton Maine / Aroostook County soap box derby race run in Houlton Maine was largest local in the entire nation for five years in a row.
And the Northern Maine race is one and only venue for the state race held each June. To determine a winner in stock, superstock and sometimes master soap box derby race divisions. At one time, Maine had five local races held in Bangor / Brewer, Camden, Houlton, Rumford, South Portland.
The top derby racers in each division class go on from Maine to represent the state out in the All America Soap Box Derby 3 lane track in Akron, Ohio.
The big world series of soap box derby racing tradition started back in 1934.
Maine Soap Box Derby Racers Do Well Competing In Akron Ohio All American Race!
With perfect sunshine summer weather, the 34 derby racers gathered to race on Derby Hill.
This year’s derby race fielded 24 stock and 10 super stock racers. This specially engineered soap box derby racing hill constructed in Community Park in Houlton Maine makes set up and tear down a breeze.
Houlton Maine’s Derby Hill In Community Park! The Thrill Of The Hill in Northern Maine Happens Each June!
The World Series Of Soap Box Derby Racing Happens In Akron Ohio. Since 1934, Kids Compete In Local Races To Go On To Akron’s Big Race.
Derby Hill has a garage storage building perched on top courtesy of the Houlton Rotary Club.
The aviation grade pavement put down on the two lane soap box derby race track has lights, guardrails and is over 900′ long.
One neat slick efficient hill to race on and no more setting up and tear down to make a public street your soap box derby course to compete.
A paved derby side run keeps the supply of soap box derby cars steady. Specially built derby trailers are loaded with empty cars on back. Their car drivers riding in the front tow vehicles pulling these loaded soap box derby trailers.
Helping Young Soap Box Derby Drivers, It Takes A Village, Your Family, Sponsors.
The stock derby car class winner this year was Aiden Cyr. Super stock derby car winner was Addyson Lynds. For more on the Northern Maine Soap Box Derby history, check out the images and information here. Visit the Northern Maine soap box derby website.
Stock Racer Aiden Cyr And Super Stock Racer Addyson Lynds Win Houlton Maine Soap Box Derby 2024 Race!
Always looking for new Maine soap box derby racers to catch the fever.
Derby race, car sponsors and family support to help new drivers learn the “Thrill of the Hill” in Houlton Maine. Those folks all come together to create the small Maine town friendly, fair soap box derby racing experience for our youth.
Ready To Race After Loosing A Wheel Pin Cotter Key. No One Hurt, Safety First.
Love to talk “derby” and figure why should a kid wait until they are sixteen to drive a car?
Neat racing event and your entire family is involved in soap box derby. Each child can compete along with their big or little brother and sister. Lots learned about gravity, science of engineering, safety and competing fair and square on Derby Hill in Community Park, Houlton Maine.
Have helped lots of derby racers, including two of my own kids make the trip west to compete in the All American big race in Akron Ohio.
Gather Round The Soap Box Derby Racing Exam Table. Like A Field Hospital For Repairs And Therapy.
Maine soap box derby racing in Houlton Maine. Reach out, here for questions about everything soap box derby. The Northern ME soap box derby committee puts on the big state of Maine race event each June.
No thank you, it’s carry in, carry out in Maine. I was taught to pick up after myself.
Everyone Enjoys Outdoor Maine Lake Ice Fishing. Even The Family Dog.
But now that we’re on the subject, who taught you how to litter? Are you good at littering? Would you consider yourself an amateur or professional or in-between level litter bug?
Littering, sounds strange when asked about a skill or talent that helps no one.
But how best to help ” give a hoot, don’t pollute”? (Thanks Woodsy Owl. Like to come out of retirement?)
This Maine blog post about littering, what makes a litter bug let fly.
Keep It Clean. The Air, Water, Earth. Give A Hoot, Don’t Pollute!
To open the window wide. Toss the Happy Meal packaging remains out through the hole where glass used to be.
You could take the approach that litter creates jobs. The highway clean-up crews and effort put into recycling litter all pump lots of money into the economy.
Is it like no no, don’t take your shopping cart to the parking corral or push one back into the store thinking.
Because someone makes a living, can be hired to do that for you. Even though inside more and more shopping places, you and I are being trained to scan and bag our own items. Then asked to rate how did you do with the five-star option. I’d give myself a five for a fine job bagging and tagging at the Wally World or Piggly Wiggly check out.
Any Season Is The Right One To Visit Maine.
So littering when walking along a Maine hiking nature park trail or around home.
Done with the empty bottle or can, the candy or gum wrapper, the food container. Throw it, get rid of the debris on your four wheeling or snowmobile stop. Just let gravity do what it does best here on Earth.
Maine’s Mt Katahdin Is Almost A Mile High. Carry In, Carry Out And Protect Maine’s Tallest Mountain Hiking Trail Camping Experience.
Park the car.
Statistics show most littering in Maine done by motorists and usually in the 30 something age group. Tossed on a highway means you can get away from your litter at 55 miles or faster and less apt to know who generated it right? But take a walk down over into the road highway ditch. Littering along a beautiful Maine highway or hiking trail is not pretty. Not many would argue about that right?
Family Fun Is Always Outdoors In Maine
But nothing worse than a Maine blog post that shames.
Instead, how to be proactive in understanding the “why” folks litter. I never saw my parents litter. I was brought up to pick up and put litter where it should go… into a garbage pail. So not made to clean up after yourself or just not caring. Is it just lazy?
Take a trip to a third world country and it’s whoa.
Look at all the garbage, everywhere in heaped deep layers around you. It smells, is not sanitary and contaminates. Garbage can be industrial littering where jobs over the environment tkaes priority.
Or just no structure in place for here’s what you do with with littler on any level ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.
If the increase in litter because of the higher cost to get rid of it?
Maine Would Love To Have More European Tourists From Across The Atlantic Ocean.
No more backing up the family sedan on Saturday morning at a small Maine town dump. To throw another bag or two where the black bears are never far away.
The bulldoze operator idling and ready to pack it down and cover it up to remove it from sight. To ready the land fill dump for the next deposit. Land fills in Maine, those did not help the ground water quality.The black bears were entertaining though.
Take the case of an appliance now that wears out?
Where does it go if not a recycling center transfer station? Dump along an old woods road on someone’s private property?
One of the best ways to cure littering is to grab a pair of gloves, a large refuse bag.
Then high ho, let’s go comb a stretch of Maine highway garbage together. Everyone should take a turn.
Why not adopt a stretch of roadway or trail, parkway to tidy up on a regular basis. Make it a family or civic, school, church group regular event. Not just in spring. Maine highway vegetation can hide a lot of garbage.
Awareness of how bad the situation is often requires hands on, up close and personal inspection of what’s out there for litter.
To study the sheer amount that piles up along a Maine highway over time.
Got This Maine Cat In A Real Estate Property Sale.
Broken bottles are dangerous. Wildlife has to deal with six pack plastic rings that will never biodegrade.
Left where a Maine lake ice shack sat that just becomes part of the waterfront habitat below.
Shifting up to bulk buying to avoid the individual packaging something to promote?
Why not join a co op and bring your own containers to reduce packaging waste?
Do you have a compost bin out by your garden where you give the crank a heck of a yank?
I’ve witnessed the highway road crews collecting the returnable bottles, collecting the debris each spring in Maine.
Winter must be the peak time for litter bugs.
Or harder to get out to retrieve it. When what’s tossed is out of sight and mind under white fluffy snow during shorter days of light.
As you lead a crew picking up litter it’s hard to not think about how to stop the sheer volume of it.
As you toil, you think what steps need to be taken for this constant clean up procedure to become unnecessary.
Just how best to reduce the growing amount of litter in Maine?
Singing, Crying, Or Paddling By In Silence. Maine Lake Loons.
Sure glad Maine has a bottle redemption law. No billboards to pollute the highways with distracting message either.
Littering, why people do it? Is it like the Hank Williams Jr song that littering is “a family tradition”?
Hope not.
Remember the classic litter campaign PSA’s?
Sometimes the trash, litter floats in from across the pond washing up on the coast of Maine.
There are more productive uses of time and money than picking up trash and litter after someone else. With a few adjustments. litter can be reduced or eliminated.
No, don’t need another law on the books about the stiff penalty for littering.
It’s all about education for young grasshoppers. Who help convert older family litter bug members to see the error of their ways.
Clean, Outdoors, Unspoiled. That Is Maine, The Way Life Should Be!
Falsetto parenting, where Mom or Dad throw their voice into a higher register like Frankie Valli.
To plead please don’t litter Jimmy or Jane.
That’s not the best way to cause litter reduction.
But if kids don’t practice pick up after yourself at home, they sure are not going to out in the World.
Like quitting smoking, the movement to stop littering takes awareness, education and a statewide approach.
Stopping By For A Slurp Of Sweet Syrup, Maine Hummingbirds Give Winds A Rest.
I worked at Maine Broadcasting in Bangor during and after graduating from the University of Maine in Orono.
Fred Nutter would do editorials on the direction the state of Maine should be taking or correcting. Summing it all up with “that’s our opinion, we welcome yours”. Wonder if Fred ever did an editorial on Maine littering?
At Baxter State Park, there is a famous rock to remind all it takes effort.
To keep it clean, to preserve beautiful four season Maine.
The huge rock boulder is called Pockwockamus at the entrance to Baxter State Park in Maine.
Set On Stone, Don’t Pollute, Give A Hoot! Pockwockmus Rock, Baxter State Park.
Colorfully decorated with a stone billboard reminder it is up to you and I to keep it clean and pristine. Keep Maine beautiful.
No People, No Man Made Structure Or Noises. Welcome To Baxter State Park’s Mt Katahdin.
Recycling helps reduce the trash, Maine litter.
Keeping trash items in a bag inside a vehicle until you arrive at a place to dispose of them. While traveling instead of throwing debris, garbage out a car window, save it, hold it until you get to a place to deposit litter.
Respect, How To Enjoy Maine And Keep It Clean! One Pastime Learned From Your Loved Ones.
Maybe like the “I voted” or gave blood sticker, there could be a version for a litter bug with a circle slash through the trash image. Or a lineup of five Mainers and the simple question “Can you spot the litter bug?” Keep it clean, it’s your planet, state, local Maine community. Please don’t litter. Keep Maine beautiful.
Have a ride, signed up to race down Derby Hill in Houlton Maine?
The “Thrill of the Hill” happens again June 22nd, 2024 on Derby Hill in Community Park in Houlton Maine.
It’s year number 29 for the Northern Maine Soap Box Derby. Tech Day for new parents and drivers is May 18th at Derby Hill. Derby tech day helps teach car drivers and their support team about safety procedures. And an opportunity to order parts and for new races to test drive Derby Hill. Here’s the race course for down hill derby local and rally races.
Houlton Maine Soap Box Derby Hill Sketch When “Selling” A Piece To Local Volunteers, Contributors.
Houlton Maine’s local race on Derby Hill is the only venue if a boy or girl age 8 to 18 wants to compete in all of “Vacationland”.
Back in the 1990’s, there were five local race locations in Maine.
One of the big reasons the Houlton Maine derby committee continues the racing tradition is a specially engineered hill.
Derby Hill is fast, long and two lanes. Derby Hill has a run off area, a car return lane and a launch / storage garage at the top.
Safety Cones On Run Off Area Of Derby Hill. Houlton ME Race Largest In USA 5 Years Running.
Ease of setting up a safe course for the local annual race and for spring/fall rallies. Derby Hill is one sweet set up and kids love to race down it. Lights for night racing, guard rails in place, easy car return lane.
To keep a soap box derby program vibrant and year after year up and running means build a hill.
Taking over a street logistics and set up, tear down are too labor intensive. And none of us derby diehard volunteers are getting any younger
Check them out.
Have you watched a few Northern Maine Soap Box Derby race videos?
Reach out with questions, let’s get your young derby drivers signed up to compete in the state of Maine race June 22nd, 2024.
There are existing cars to slide behind the wheel or consider buying a new stock, super stock or master kit.
The soap box derby program in Maine teaches kids a lot.
How to assemble a car from scratch following instructions . The fun of derby program and good sportsmanship along with the science and engineering that goes into gravity downhill car racing. It sure beats sitting on a couch, inside on their device.
Anywhere in Maine, the state race in Houlton is part of soap box derby district ten.
Had two children win the local and go on to race in Akron Ohio which is an experience they will never forget. Have stayed active in the Maine soap box derby racing program since 1995 and enjoy it immensely.
Heavy Boys? Super Stock Derby Cars Can Be A Tad Heavy To Lift Up, Set Down.
Please reach out and would love to help you get started in soap box derby racing. It’s exciting car racing and gravity is your motor. It’s all downhill from here.
Anxious, Nervous, Excited All Mixed In With The Stomach Butterflies.
Tips to get your local race off the ground and how to compete with simple hacks all part of the discussion once you get “derbymania”.
Here is the All American Soap Box Derby rules to scan and consider. Maine had 5 local race sites around the state. Now the big state of Maine race is on Derby Hill, Houlton Maine. Only race course in state if the one in Aroostook County, Derby Hill. Like to learn more about the Houlton Maine soap box derby racing program or to set up your own?
The Great North American Total Solar Eclipse, did you witness Totality? April 8th, 2024 was a pretty big deal in my small hometown of Houlton Maine.
Maine Eclipse Watchers Set Up Cameras, Timers, Telescopes For Total Solar Eclipse In Houlton Maine.
Perfect weather, years of planning, lots of food, fun and family spreading blankets, putting on eclipse glasses. Loads of people young and old from everywhere flocked to Houlton Maine. Traveling to Southern Aroostook County for the total solar eclipse experience.
The screams, laughter, cheering, clapping, singing then silence to take it all in at the moment of Totality.
Temperature 62 Degree, Clear Blue Sky Sunshine On Total Solar Eclipse Day Houlton Maine.
Different than watching a yearly small town fireworks display to celebrate the 4th of July nation’s birthday.
It is high emotion and relief, hope, faith, wonderment, science all rolled into the one Johnny one time hit wonder.
Knowing this kinda spectacle does not happen everyday, not once a year nor is it a CGI Hollywood digital stunt.
Weather temps drop, a solar wind develops, animals and humans alike can be caught off guard if you missed the memo about totality.
Besides the 6,000 locals, how many visitors showed up for the Houlton Maine total solar eclipse?
To me it felt like (adding machine stops, ripping paper sound) … 27,417. Seriously, like the prediction of how many would come, the exact head count of how many actually did will cause wild speculation. Then the media herd will run with the distilled number or a tad little higher in the race to be the most accurate source of news.
From Other Universe Solar Systems, Everyone Came To The Houlton Maine Total Solar Eclipse April 8th, 2024.
Talked with a family from Maryland next to us with two young children. They peered up at the 2017 total solar eclipse. Said they are hooked on totality and just had to travel to Houlton Maine for another town with one.
Another West African man who lives in Berwick Maine now among the many. Sadie’s Bakery took an informal census from their donut sales, claiming 21 states and Switzerland for eclipse festival customers.
All today rubbing sore necks from all over Maine to California, extending across the pond to England. Heck even from what would appear to be other solar systems friendly curious aliens transported down from the Mother Ship to Market Square.
What builds eclipse nervous excitement is so much at stake for tourist dollars and the maximum experience speculation on the Maine weather.
What good is totality and all the logistical eclipse planning if a stubborn cloud cover pattern blind folds it all to make detailed viewing impossible or diminished?
Don’t want to over stock or wished you had prepared better as a retailer.
Only 3 And A Half Minutes To Capture A Total Solar Eclipse Is Stressful. No Second Chance.
Leading up to the total solar eclipse, the Houlton Maine planners, vendors, dining, lodging and event participants just did not know.
All rolling the dice like a Maine farmer in spring hoping for a money making or at least a break-even year ahead.
You work on the devil in the details part of the let’s host a Houlton Maine total solar eclipse event.
Put the Maine small town on the map and sharpen your tourism skill set. Everyone have a safe fun memorable time and see what a neat small Maine town we live in and what we can do?
Southern Maine coastal towns and cities get a lot more tourist marketing experience.
Totality in “The County” put Houlton and Aroostook on the map for more than the standard fifteen minutes of fame and mention.
Houlton Maine, Aroostook County Town Where Totality Happens During The Solar Eclipse.
It was not until last week that national, state and local weather forecast skies brightened for Houlton Maine.
When you see Al Roker pointing at the eclipse path of totality across the nation smiles ear to ear. Touting Maine as is the only eclipse path section standing out as clear blue, it made everyone’s pulse quicken. Big sense of urgency that something very important was looming.
Ready or not, it was here it comes, the last call for the Great North American total solar eclipse 2024 edition.
Lots of folks did make the trip north up I-95 to the Gateway from Maine to the Atlantic Canadian provinces for the total solar eclipse. Houlton Maine is at the crossroads of US RT 1, 2, 2A and I-95.
Big Green Bridge To Maine. Heading Up I-95 To Attend The 3 Day Festival Solar Eclipse In Houlton Maine. You Going?
Maine weather was the biggest concern because it’s always take it or leave it.
Pivot and adapt to work with what you got and Maine weather is never ho hum the same. The spring like clear blue skies and 62 degree temperature conditions April 8th could have been a better stage for total perfect darkness. Other pathway of totality states like Texas did not fare as well, Houlton Maine got a boost of even total solar eclipse watchers
Houlton International Airport KHUL was the busiest it has been since World War Two days of lend lease flys in.
Where local farmers hooked onto planes to “drive not fly” them into neighboring Canada before the US declared war on the Axis. In my Maine real estate job, that airport is a real asset for travelers.
The Houlton Maine Airport KHUL, One Busy Place For Chartered Jets, Private Pilot Aircraft April 8th, 2024.
Eleven big jets, sixty or more smaller private pilot aircraft added to the total solar eclipse frenzy.
A total solar eclipse and perfect weather conditions is a rare bird.
Pretty Silver And Other Color “Birds” Flew Into Houlton International Airport Maine Solar Eclipse Day 2024.
A Maine eclipse is not something you can put off and maybe view next week or the one after that when your schedule is not so overbooked. There is no rain date or second chance for an eclipse. The dress rehearsal date is missing and the next one is a decade away.
Adam Sandler’s jet, Oprah’s private aircraft, even talk Taylor Swift’s sky ride was here according to the coffee drinkers down at the corner store grapevine news outlet.
Not sure if she was in it or not but lots of media buzz about who flew in for the total eclipse of the Sun. Like the Carly Simon song about heading to Nova Scotia. (Now you have the clouds in my coffee, the “You’re So Vain” song playing in your head right?)
The NASA scientists showed up in Houlton Maine and just as predicted, the perfect calculations hit the astronomical power ball.
Houlton Maine Total Solar Eclipse April 8th, 2024. Lots Of Refresher 8th Grade Science Class Refresher Notes To Review And Share With Other Star Gazers.
At 3:32 PM April 8th, 2024 full totality arrived overhead Houlton Maine.
The weather channel, state and national media broadcast networks and World wide news services were in Houlton Maine!
What really helps studying, capturing a total solar eclipse on film and in the memory banks is not just the weather forecast. Lights, when it gets dark in a small Maine town, the photo sensor kicks them on like night time clock work.
Our local Houlton Water Company power utility pulled the plug in “star parks”. So totality was true total darkness. Thank you HWC for the boom, boom out go the lights!
The day after a Houlton Maine total solar eclipse.
Not quite like a Monday Christmas and then return to a business-as-usual normal Tuesday.
You do think about the solar system overhead when you did not before so much. The power of planets and moons and how their interaction affect our daily life suddenly, well eclipse. Everything gets elevated high above the news of the day and line items on your to do list.
My Totality Overhead Snap Shot. Besides Eclipse Photos Of Total Solar Eclipse, Most Time Spent Capturing People’s Reaction Down On The Ground.
How did the Maine total solar eclipse affect you?
Houlton Maine, Everyone Pumped Up Excited About The Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024!
Some watching the wall to wall eclipse news asking what am I missing?
Am I the only one that does really care about the moon butting in front of the sun to darken the Earth?
Others remember eight grade science class trips and the outdoor night time look up at the stars.
Time to test your constellation star pattern eclipse planet orbit astronomy knowledge recall.
But for those lucky enough to be in totality pathway, the solar eclipse news dominates your thoughts on a Tuesday morning. As life settles down, the population trims and small Maine town life resumes.
You can not help but be reminding all of us are pretty darn lucky to live in Houlton Maine, any of the 450 small communities in this rural New England state.
Would not trade it for anything and I hope folks who came to the Houlton eclipse went
Moose In Maine Further Up In Aroostook County Safe From Drunk Hunters. Who Start Shooting Cows, Horses In Lewiston, Further South.
Are you too busy or healthy enough to witness another one and just how far would you travel to experience another one? Are you an eclipse addict or groupie?
Most solar eclipses go out over the Earth’s expanse of water and are not available to enjoy.
It’s like being a gunslinger preparing for the shoot out getting prepared for the time sensitive solar eclipse event.
Had telephoto lens on one camera, a wide angle one on another on a tripod and the cell phone, Go Pro. No one wants to miss a Kodak moment.
Remember “Time goes by”.
What does a total solar eclipse experience do to a person? There is nothing ho hum about it. Listen to the folks around you react to totality. Going in, during, coming out of the light to darkness back to light.
Emotions bubble up in the anticipation excitement, for some fear, others wonderment. It forces clarity, awards wisdom, develops patience and for a moment there is an out of this World connection.
The Sun, Earth, Moon and stars are a tad older than the rest of us.
The celestial orbits and the plantThe eclipse light to darkness is humbling, powerful, a positive experience for 99% of people no matter what nationality, race, religion, politics. It’s science, historic and definitely time
Eclipse Waters From Everywhere! All In Houlton Maine April 8th, 2024.
sensitive.
An eclipse is a bigger than life event… Far out, right on, it blows your mind man.
In a small Maine town, the eclipse is comforting, unifying, a positive experience that leaves you thinking now what.
Pondering what just happened and how does it change anything going forward.
It opens a person up and spurs you on to be a better person and do more for mankind.
Not hokey, and not because of mushrooms or edibles.
Pills?
No thank you. Pass. High on life.
The Maine eclipse happened just as the corner is turned from winter to mud season to spring.
At first knowledge of the date, I think most folks in Maine thought “Wish it was in summer,
Houlton Maine Celebrates Totality In Market Square Fireworks Display!
any other time than April 8th for all the
company we had drop in for the eclipse.
But now thinking the beginning of spring and renewal, planting new seeds and the end of winter / mud season was the perfect time.
(It did not hurt the weather did 180 degree change to sunshine and warm temps either.)
The older you get, the faster the seasons turn.
Maine, The Way Life Should Be. One Big State, Lots Of Special Hidden Areas To Discover.
Knowing many of us won’t see another one is sobering but freeing as we all accept that.
Turning the page and moving on with a little different outlook thanks to Maine eclipse 2024.
Please follow our Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and other social media outlets key word “mooersrealty”.
Hope you enjoy the image highlights from the Great North American Houlton Maine total solar eclipse 2024.
Maine small towns are proud of their unique area of the state. Tourism in Maine accounts for about 6.4% percent of the state’s economy. I know, that low a figure surprised me too. Or made me think we could bump it up to way more Maine tourists traveling across the big green bridge.
All this space, no crime, no traffic. Plenty of eye candy. But still the tourism dollar numbers are impressive. Tourists pump over 8.6 billion dollars a year into the local Maine economy. One out of seven Maine jobs are tourism related. Maine tourism creates 151,000 plus employment opportunities to bring home the bacon.
Welcome To Maine. How About A Super Sized Ice Cream Cone Treat?
The towns in Maine most memorable are the ones where the entire population wears an ambassador hat.
Putting on a genuine smile. Greeting the day with a healthy attitude of wanting to be helpful. Rolling out the red carpet welcome mat means putting yourself in the shoes of a tourist.
Really friendly, warm and helpful is something any new to your area visitor never forgets.
Returning trips to the small Maine town happen with frequency when the folks you bump into on vacation go all out to be the best tour guides.
The Maine folks you meet from the hospitality industry in the local lodging and dining sector have to provide first class service.
Can’t be hit or miss or depending on which way the wind happens to be blowing casual. Sincere, empathetic, sensitive to help the brand new tourist visitor have a quality stay in Maine.
Like any vacation, a brand new to your area traveler wants to explore, sample the local home grown food, to tap into the recreation. Maybe to just be left alone and veg. And usually to rest up from the very hectic week before they tidy up all the business affairs. For the pack the pack and ready or not here I go.
Take the vacation in Maine.
Life will not end if you take a break to unplug, recharge and change the scenery and routine you practice day and night on the hamster wheel right?
Maine, The Way Life Should Be. One Big State, Lots Of Special Hidden Areas To Discover.
You and I travel for the memories, the sights in a different setting. To try out the new culture that is not the same old same old.
Change of pace and to shake up the drill to shake off the cobwebs. To see how the rest of the World lives and what they do for downtime fun. Family vacations for couples on a budget with young children are taught travel is part of life.
Maine vacations.
Great exercise too if you like to walk, hike, bike, climb, paddle, sail or whatever mode of transportation.
But how to do a Maine vacation cheaply requires discipline and a strict budget.
And asking for help from the local Maine population that live in this section of Vacationland to guide your spending and to learn what there is to do for fun.
Saving your everyday spending dollars frugally frees up the money. The green stuff earmarked for a Maine vacation.
Feed back to the Maine hospitality service providers is critical. To learn what your customers liked on vacation and what was missing only helps shape better future stays for small Maine town travelers.
Plus your travel taps into lots of other service providers. You want to hear what they are doing right or wrong so you can adjust the dials for better performance. According to Maine government officials, state annual tourism visits show a 10 percent increase.
Nightly lodging stays in Maine are up 18 percent.
The Crown Jewels And Europe Jewel Treasures.
What do people want to do for fun, what do they consider entertainment?
Go to a local museum? Farmers markets, paddling a kayak on a bottle smooth Maine lake? To hike the trails up Baxter State park or ride a bike on miles of roads spanned by classic stone bridges around Acadia? To admire the four season space not crowded with wall to wall tourists? Maine is different than Disney Land or Cony Island, Las Vegas, most other places.
Why not own your Maine vacation property spot and possible rent it out to others with a careful background check and healthy deposits taken?
Sitting around an open fire at a Maine waterfront setting.
Enjoying a hot or cold beverage on an open porch watching Maine wildlife. Too slow paced and not action packed enough for you? Maine’s unspoiled four season setting make it low or no cost which only enhances a stay in Vacationland. Try paddling through the river rapids on the Penobscot, Dead, Kennebec Rivers for some adventure.
Camp Fires In Maine. The Circle Of Chairs For Outdoor Group Therapy.
What’s the weather forecast and being ready to pivot to a plan “B” and “C” if needed.
Not jamming so much into the Maine vacation schedule so whoever you are sharing it with does not revolt. grumble or worse mutiny.
Vacationing 101… everyone does it differently but a little help from local Mainers to suggest what should be on the itinerary is helpful.
Making it worth the money and time spent to vacation in Maine hinges on the people you meet along the way.
Vacationing In Maine. Returning To The Same Favorable Haunts Or Somewhere New?
When I was Houlton Maine Chamber of Commerce president, marketing the town for tourism was huge.
Thinking like a brand new traveler wandering into town. What would he or she need besides a warm feeling that they were welcome? How to help the new to your area tourists not waste their short time and hard earned dollars in your Maine home town? Showcasing what there is to do for fun wherever you live in Maine is huge.
So much on the list may not be your personal favorite but what do the vacation audience members want to achieve from this vacation getaway stay?
See sunrises, sunsets like no other. Meet a Maine moose, see a bald eagle, strap on a bib to eat a steamed lobster. Sample a whoopie pie or slice of blueberry filled anything. Pick up souvenirs with Maine splashed across them.
Waterfront Maine Vacations Are The Most Memorable!
How to get a Maine tourist to stick around for a stretch of days and to return for more?
To share their enjoyment with their inner circle of friends to expand on the local Maine tourism traffic to your zip code. Regional tourism and helping tourist travelers “build” an itinerary that includes more than just your corner of Maine is how state tourism dollars increase.
I just got back from a vacation to London England and Edinburgh Scotland.
Touring Edinburgh Castle In Scotland. Lots Of History. Not So Many Castles In Maine That Is A Lot Younger Historic State.
Meg, her mom and I learned a lot and got lots of exercise. How each tourism stop markets itself observed. Online and after you get there. Do you get a sense that the tour operator, restaurant, lodge owner has hospitality training?
Tower Bridge London England Toured On Recent Europe Vacation.
Is the individual providing the service you need? Or on their phone more than spending time with the “how can I help you?”. Meg and I did a lot of planning online and sorted through a lot of marketing, reviews, eyeball the media available. Again, what to do for fun is not the same list of responses for everyone polled.
Maine vacations are hard to beat and this is where our heart is.
The trip to cross the pond flying Delta to London England and Virgin Airlines back to the Logan Airport in Boston MA was different too.
Not because of jet lag or lack of hydration or sleep. Did it by the book. But like the flight experience, the dining, train travel, the museums, historical and scenery experience were not the same either. Like a movie or book you remember for days after you finish it. There is a reason why and all of us harvest different take aways looking back on any vacation.
Delta Airlines Over, Virgin Airlines Back “Across The Pond” On Vacation.
Our bus tour guide to Sterling Castle Paul gave us the history lesson on Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, Robert the Bruce, Kelpies, Nessie the monster folklore.
Train Travel On Vacation in Scotland.
In between hearing Scottish local historic information about the clans, Paul was awesome. All the information served up from a Scotsman while driving the bus along the highland country sides dotted with sheep. There was music. Fill from Paul’s playlist shared with our group added to the local Scottish immersion.
The Chieftains, Proclaimers, Annie Lennox, Simple Minds and other artists on the small bus ride with the panoramic windows made it memorable. We were not in Kansas or Maine or stateside anymore.
Ran into one fellow wearing a kilt who we asked are you cold? He smiled and quickly retorted “it’s not cold, this is Scotland”. Overall the weather was a lot warmer than everyone in London and Edinburgh remembers just like here in the Maine.
Edinburgh Castle View In Edinburgh Scotland.
This trip made me really think about the new to Maine traveler and all the maps, GPS tools available to guide them.
And in my small town in Northern Maine, how to beef up the technology to create a digital guide to help travelers more completely.
The reviews on places to stay, the Maine attractions, where to eat, etc are all well and good. There are lots of happy, crabby and in between remarks and tourism propaganda to sort through building your Maine vacation experience. But what are your expectations and are they reasonable for the time and money available?
Everyone who lives, works and plays in Maine wears a tourism fire in my belly hat. Or should.
Touring Edinburgh Castle In Scotland. Lots Of History. Not So Many Castles In Maine That Is A Lot Younger Historic State. It’s Good To Explore In Travel.Scottish Bag Pipe Shop. Lots Of Bag Pipe Music Heard As You Climb The Hills, Down The Dales In Edinburgh Scotland.
I am proud of where I live and want to share why.
That is a big part of what the Me In Maine blog is all about right? To help shape vacations in Maine for others looking for rest, relaxation, entertainment, culinary delight. And to save them money in the process to help assure the Maine vacation is the best it can be.
All the locals pitch in and because we are not over crowded or withdrawn, the travel to Maine is a lot more relaxed for everyone involved.
Low population and less online to glean and study forces small town Maine vacations to be kept simple.
Need A Mineral Rich Healthy Bath? The Romans Built This Bath England Communal “Hot Tub”.
Instead of a commercialized Disney Land of expensive vacation package options to slide, scroll and display on your device, rural Maine if naturally different.
Less four color glassy tri-fold tourism paperwork to eyeball. The approach to peddling Maine tourism has to be creative. Limited resources and careful spending is the Maine frugal way.
Maine Lake Ice Fishing, Frozen Lakes Needed.
In Maine, there are a handful of cities and over 450 small communities.
Well oiled Chamber of Commerce resources are not always so plentiful online. To use in connecting the dots and reading between the lines to shape up your planned Maine vacation.
Time For Fish & Chips In London England.
But ask a local Mainer who is helpful and more than willing to suggest vacation options for your day and weekend ahead. Don’t just rely on skimpy online reviews and limited blog posts, videos, websites to tell the Maine vacation story.
Taken any interesting trips or are you over due for some R&R?
Houlton Maine, Last Place To Experience Totality, The Total Solar Eclipse 2024!
Reach out and here for questions about anything Maine.
Please consider you are personally invited and on the VIP invite list for a solar eclipse visit or whenever you can take the trek to Maine. Would love to meet any of your blog post followers and here for questions or tips in getting around, where to go, what the options are!
This total eclipse in Houlton Maine is the last stop for totality in the USA. Maine tourism, something that goes not happen again in my lifetime. No better spot to experience the total solar eclipse than in Houlton Maine, Aroostook County!
The estimates are 10,000 up to 40,000 viewers taking the trek to the last USA Houlton Maine solar eclipse 2024. There are lots of logistics to plan to manage that many additional people heading to Aroostook County Maine. When you consider the total local small Maine town population is around 6000 happy souls. May be a little outnumbered but Houlton and the communities surrounding it are ready for a little company.
Plenty of long range problem solving, public discussions needed to happen and did for the total solar eclipse Houlton ME event April 8, 2024.
To pull of the solar eclipse event without a hitch for a positive experience takes everyone on the same page to how best to pull off the four day festival event.
Maine, The Way Life Should Be. One Big State, Lots Of Special Hidden Areas To Discover. Thought About Going To The Total Solar Eclipse In Houlton Maine?
What’s the big deal about a total solar eclipse?
Oh, I don’t know. Just the wrap up of the 13 state 2024 solar eclipse light show tour. A celestial astronomical event that is not going to cause totality again in my home town of Houlton Maine for hundreds of years. There is no rain date and no dress rehearsal. It’s showtime. Hit the lights.
Starting in Texas as the opening act, ending up just an hour later passing over Houlton Maine. Houlton Maine is lucky to be dead center for totality in the path of darkness bathing the Earth as it passes overhead.
The fun continues “over home” as we like to call Canada on this side of the border eh? My Dad’s mom, my grandmother Bessie Burtt was 100% Canadian red maple leaf DNA. Everyone is related back and forth on both sides of the USA / Canada International boundary line. You learn how to play better hockey on the solid sheet of frozen water at a Canadian ice arena.
Last USA total solar eclipse Houlton ME.
Big happenings with the 2024 total solar eclipse as it exits Maine, enters New Brunswick Canada.
Houlton Maine, Last Place To Experience Totality, The Total Solar Eclipse 2024! (Poster copyright by local Mainer Cynthia Taylor Studios)
The solar eclipse 2024 continues rolling on without stopping at customs and immigration inspections thru New Brunswick into Atlantic Canada, then out to sea.
So opening up the highways leading to your small Maine home town. This blog post is about rolling out the red carpet, firing up the welcome wagon. What’s involved in a slightly more complex event with all these out of town visitors. Attendance was high at last night’s meeting, lots of questions and brain storming at one of many solar eclipse gatherings at the Houlton High School auditorium.
What about cell phones and are the local tower systems designed for up to 40,000 visitors for the 4 day festival?
The extra load on communications, Internet, highways, local services, EMS. Traffic flow, what roadways to make one way? Coordinating public safety with the local Houlton Maine police working hand in hand with state police, sheriff’s patrol, US border patrol. I wondered about street lamps on sensors coming on to take away from the afternoon totality black out in Houlton Maine.
Where do you plan to view the eclipse wearing your special eye protection glasses?
Mt Katahdin, the very top would be a crowded place if Baxter Park was open to hikers in April which it is not. Or the site for the Waston Settlement covered bridge in Littleton that is a whisker north of Houlton Maine.
Houlton Maine, Aroostook County. Home Of Totality, The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse.
Local WHOU radio station and Channel 8 public service announcements to keep the public in the know of what to expect.
Solar totality blog posts, Houlton Pioneer Times and Bangor Daily News read all about the latest developments during planning and the actual eclipse festival event. Folks toying with the idea of traveling to Houlton Maine for the total eclipse. They all need to know all about the area, the festival of events, places to stay, where to eat and what to do for fun.
Questions, Answers, Updates From Houlton Maine Eclipse Planners Sharing The Houlton High School Auditorium Stage Last Night.
It’s a lot different than when this is your fourth, seventh or a yearly tradition to know what to expect for the next one.
There is no minutes from the wrap up meeting of last year’s total solar eclipse in Houlton Maine to re-read and build on. Learning from past years lessons to fine tune and tighten up the event are not here to glean.
Adjustments and refinement, like we make yearly to the Houlton Fair, Rotary Auction, Northern Maine Soap Box Derby or Moosestompers etc local events.
Those are easy because something to build on and either worked or did not from experience on each recurring yearly event. This is like the first ever let’s send some astronauts to Moon and back exercise. Risks, weather, expenses and unknowns on just how many people will show up in Houlton Maine wearing solar glasses.
Mark Hovarth, Holder Of A PHD In Astronomy Teaches The Houlton Maine Audience About Solar Eclipses.
The AirBnB and VRBO vacation sites, local motels for lodging are booked solid.
Local folks are opening up their houses, camps, cottages as extra places to stay. Transportation with five buses so far to shuttle solar eclipse watchers, event goers opening up local options to help shuttle all these guests. Want to be an Uber or Lyft operator for a weekend and have a clean driver’s license? Lots of ways to monetize the solar eclipse event.
Parking lots, places to camp with tents, RV’s on open land near the festivities. Lots of opportunities for local property owners to consider sharing their private location for eclipse watchers this April 8th,2024. Parking your vacation on wheels rig at Walmart store #1974? Only so many spaces for the last USA Total Solar Eclipse.
Big Green Bridge To Maine. Heading Up I-95 To Attend The 4 Day Festival Solar Eclipse In Houlton Maine. You Going?
You can read to learn what to do, what to avoid online accounts are helpful. But experience with something of this magnitude and event planning that started years ago. The weather forecast, time of year affectionately known as “mud season”.
How much food to order, like a cruise ship, the best way to serve it up without long lines, big delays or bottle necks.
How to assure a fire truck or ambulance or police officer can respond to an emergency situation with all the traffic and wall to wall people. When you have around a 6000 population, the getting ready for possible six times or more that number of people roaming around in your small Maine community is exciting.
Where Are You? Houlton Maine Welcomes You To The April 8th 2024 Totality. Ever Experienced A Total Solar Eclipse? You Are Invited To Houlton Maine For One!
Lots of jobs and responsibilities for paid staff and volunteers to pull together to make the event a positive experience.
It makes a small Maine community pull together and work hard to tackle the known and unknowns. Stay tuned for more in future posts in this Maine blogging channel.
Communicating what is happening as the event schedule fills up and the calendar days accelerate toward April 8th, 2024’s total solar eclipse.
Maine Humorist, Tim Sample From Fort Fairfield Part Of The Houlton Maine Total Eclipse 2024!
The count down toward totality, the last place in continental USA for a total solar eclipse in Houlton Maine.
Local eclipse watchers to crane their necks skyward to view the light show wearing eye protection. This celestial chain of events is once in a lifetime for most. Protect the peepers and avoid life long damage by covering up eyes to filter out the harmful, powerful Sun please.
This simple video shows you what happens that causes wildlife to hush and everything goes dark in Houlton Maine’s total eclipse.
The area 15 churches and counting are onboard and working together for warming areas, additional places to dine according to Hollie McAffee.
Besides church groups, eclipse planner Hollie McAfee says the local area snowmobile, fish and game clubs, area schools are coming together. Any gym, barn, warehouse is fair game to retool and use for some aspect of the total darkness in Houlton Maine. 10,000 of the 60,000 special safety approved eclipse eye glasses are given free to the area schools. Safety talks and reminders how to not damage your eyes for life education is so critical.
Totality, The Scientific Parts Of A Total Solar Eclipse In Houlton Maine.
I remember the 1963 partial eclipse in Houlton Maine.
My 3 older brothers, mom and dad were ready to watch through welder’s glass for eye protection. But many of my friends were rushed inside into rooms with the blinds and shades pulled down.
As local panel speaker Mark Horvath, holder of a PHD in astronomy warned the group. During last night’s Q&A public session, he told the group you don’t want the total solar eclipse blinding light as the Moon slides away from between the Sun and Earth to be the last thing you ever see.
What Happens During A Solar Eclipse. Total Or Partial Events, What Happens?
Safety first and last. Burning your retina and doing damage of any degree to your eyes is not worth it.
Dumpsters, is 100 porta potties enough? Do we need more venues for dining and how to creatively open up extra lodging options? More varied event entertainment, food trucks, pop up businesses and parking, spacing. Five star parks sponsored and designated for group watching as of this date.
The list of what’s going on for eclipse events grows and changes daily.
Learned last night the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd is ordering 1500 fresh lobsters, steaming them up, adding a baked potato and home made whoopie pies. Last USA Total Solar Eclipse Houlton Maine, you planning the trip north?
The Event Calendar For 4 Day Eclipse Festival Continues To Grow. Stay Tuned For The Calendar Of Events.
Locals are told to get your prescriptions filled, fuel up your vehicles before the mass exodus to the final total solar eclipse 2024 in Houlton Maine.
Like preparing for a Maine storm, stock up on what you need while you can buy it from local stores. School is off, local businesses are encouraged to free up their work force to create additional labor for the solar eclipse 4 day festival. It like a Monday national holiday in Houlton Maine.
Last USA total solar eclipse Houlton Maine.
The climax being the 2:22 to 4:41 April 8th here we go. The actual total solar eclipse is 3:32 to 3:35 PM April 8th, 2024.
The last major crowd traveling through “The County” was one of the two Phish concerts held at former Loring Air Force
Base in Limestone Maine. It is estimated 65,000 music lovers following their favorite band traveled up into Aroostook County a few years back for the outdoor live musical event. Some band followers and music lovers missed the Houlton I-95 Exit 302 and ended up in Canada. But that is a ‘hole ‘nother story for another Maine blog post.
So, Last USA Total Solar Eclipse Houlton Maine, here is why the math has to be just so for planet Earth, the Moon and Sun.
The Moon, Earth, Sun All Have A Major Part In A Solar Eclipse.
The full schedule for the four days of family fun events continues to be added to in Houlton, Presque Isle, Caribou and over into New Brunswick, Canada.
Guided historical walking tours, Howl At The Moon Dueling Piano Show, John Cariani presents “Almost Maine”, Maine author and comedian Tim Sample, Blackfly Brewfest, 3.32 mile road race, astronaut talk, solar system bus tour & planetarium visit. And so much more being added and updated daily.
Lots of fun, food, bring the entire family. Share the eclipse 2024 event with all your friends on social media outlets please.
What Is Happening, What Needs To Get Squared Away Before April 9th’s Solar Eclipse?
The party celebration happens before, during, after the total eclipse ends in Houlton Maine and continues across into Canada.
More to come as the event gets closer and the schedule of events firms up to help you have the best experience possible. Reach out with questions and here to help as a local lifelong native of Houlton Maine. Everyone is an ambassador of Houlton Maine and home town proud. Here’s Market Square, one of your five local star parks to observe with facilities and friends the solar eclipse. Why not attend the last USA Total Solar Eclipse Houlton Maine?
In this video, Market Square Houlton Maine used as a farmers market venue.
What are you doing around April 8th, 2024?
Last USA total solar eclipse Houlton Maine. Have you ever witnessed a total or partial eclipse in your lifetime? There is a major difference between the two. Here’s your chance to travel to Houlton Maine for an out of this World experience. Want to volunteer or help underwrite the tremendous expense to open up a small Maine community for a total solar eclipse? Reach out and let the Maine Eclipse folks know you want to volunteer time, money or both and help in any way.
