Also home to the cheapest, and best movie theater I've ever been to. Still has $4 matinees, the last time I was up to visit my folks.
You're the only other Mainer I've seen on HN and I'm 'from away.' Yes, I live here by choice. I retired here.
I don't want to derail the thread or meander off topic.if you want, uninvolved@outlook.com will get seen and replied to.
I only lived there when I was a kid (extended family lives there too), so I don't know if I can call myself a Mainer.
Nobody but you will understand the significance of that comment, unless they Google.
It's technically in Lisbon Falls, which is just down around the corner.
I have like a dozen Moxie shirts. Man, the poor village people had to put up with me moving in. I used to drink - a lot.
But, we've come to grips with each other. It was so different than I'd expected. I do love it here. It's home. It's the only hometown I've ever had.
And it is awesome. The people crack me up. I've even got the accent figured out.
But as a community, it troubles me. But...it's a sand trap. I wish it were otherwise.
I know it's the second most rural state, but the Portland area seems urban enough to offer a variety of places to purchase food, so I don't completely understand how so many Dollar stores seem to thrive here especially with a Walmart nearby.
I've only been going up to Rangely for the past few years, and I've always wondered what type of store there was before IGA, because it doesn't seem to cater to a low income crowd like dollar stores in general.
I've never had an encounter with dang but hopefully dang won't be too harsh, this is just too special of an occasion.
Rangeley has a buttload of money. There are some poor, but not many. They only have 1200 residents, or so. However, they can swell to ten times that size during tourist season. They love them some tourists.
And, yeah, this is a definite rarity. I've browsed for years, joined almost two years ago, kept lurking to get the feel if things, and just started posting a few months ago.
I have no idea what was there before the IGA. I suspect that building has always been an IGA and has been since the 60s. That's going by the architecture internally.
There are an insane number of places to eat and the community is doing something all the time. I can live anywhere in the planet, for the most part. I live here.
It's a downright Mainah convention! I'm accepted as a native, but I came here to go to boarding/prep school as a kid. Kents Hill, no apostrophe. I'm quite partial to the lifestyle and people.
I should be quieter. People will start moving here.
Funniest bumper sticker ever: Welcome to Maine; Now go Home!
These days, there's little logging left. They still have the festivals with the demonstrations and competitions, though.
The lumber quality wood from my land goes to turning and some specialty mills - some goes down to Belgrade (Hammond). Over in Vienna, I've got a bunch of commercial blueberry fields, about 400 acres.
So, I've tried to fit in and the natives accept me as one of their own. I still call them the Village People, though.
You can tell when they've accepted you. The gossip is no longer about you - and now they tell you gossip about the new people. I moved here after selling my business and built a giant house.
The locals would come sit in my future driveway and talk about me. Sometimes, they'd spend the whole day there. So, I made it a point to hire anyone who asked. That worked wonders.
I paid people to teach me how to hunt, fish, use a chainsaw, process meat, preserve things, grow a garden, etc...
It's been VERY different than what I'd expected when I opted to move here. It's been much better, actually. It's the first place I've ever called home - which might explain my gushing about it.
But, I'm from away.
It is amazing how different the regions of Maine are. I'm in NW Maine, which isn't like it is up in the county, nor the mid coast, down east, southern, central, or even western.
I'm more Jackman and less Bethel, but the village is more Bethel and less Jackman. It used to be a bit more Bethel, but the ski slope needed money to replace the lifts and they are now shut down.
So, just in this one State, it is a lot of variation.