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Shh! They don't need to know about Reny's. They're finally gone until skiing starts up, except for a few hunters. There's a Dollar General in Farmington and th
by KGIII 9y ago
Shh! They don't need to know about Reny's. They're finally gone until skiing starts up, except for a few hunters.
There's a Dollar General in Farmington and they always have cars in the parking lot. I've never been in there but they appear busy. There's another one over in the mall thing, across from Burger King.
Also, Big Al's. I've been in there. They have the strangest of stuff, almost. Marden's is a bit stranger.
- megaman22 9y agoHaha, I never imagined I'd find somebody on HN that knew where Farmington was, except as the last vestiges of civilization before they hit Sugarloaf... 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.
- KGIII 9y agoI know the owner of the theater. I'm up past Rangeley, in unincorporated township territory. 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.
- afarrell 9y ago> only other mainer 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.
- KGIII 9y agoMaine has a serious brain drain issue, though I suppose we've begun to digress too far for HN standards. dang is gonna come yell at me.
- bradleyankrom 9y agoformerly of Lisbon Falls (for HS ~15-20 years ago)!
- KGIII 9y agoI f*cking love Moxie. Nobody but you will understand the significance of that comment, unless they Google.
- eropple 9y agoI do. Moxie is awful though, I don't care what Ted Williams says.
- KGIII 9y agoYou know about the Moxie Festival?!? It's technically in Lisbon Falls, which is just down around the corner.
- eropple 9y agoI grew up on the other side of Lewiston. =)
- KGIII 9y agoI'll be damned! It really is a Mainah convention. 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.
- eropple 9y agoThat's an interesting way to think about it--I moved away because there's no work and I don't really ever want to own a car again. I miss parts of it. It's a nice place. (I grew up in Casco, went to high school in Naples, and one of my biggest clients right now--their lead devops guy went to my high school a decade before me!) But as a community, it troubles me. But...it's a sand trap. I wish it were otherwise.
- JCharante 9y agoI'm also in the Portland area (first time I'm able to say that without having to include the state) and grew up here. Also haven't come across another HNer. 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.
- KGIII 9y agoYou live in the big city! My town name consists of a single letter and has six residencies. I'm out past Rangeley. 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!
- megaman22 9y agoIt's been an IGA as long as it's been there, I think. I think I remember it being built, or maybe expanded, but that was way back when I was a kid and my Dad was cutting wood for DC Mortons - their garage was where Boss Power Equipment is now.
- 9y ago
- dugmartin 9y agoMy favorite Maine tale is about the obituary of Mary, a 103 year old woman who died in a small town in Maine. She moved there when she was three weeks old and spent her entire life living in the house on the small farm that she grew up on. She went to the local school, graduated and started teaching then later got married and had a family and eventually grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her obituary lead with "Mary, from away, ...".
- KGIII 9y agoI am accepted as a native but always will be from away. I can hunt, fish, twitch logs, drive a tractor, plow snow, and spit. I know the woods and roads better than most natives. But, I'm from away.
- smaili 9y ago$4 showings? That's unbelievable.
- KGIII 9y agoNarrow Gauge, in Farmington, Maine. You can also buy tickets in bulk for $4.00 and they include soda and popcorn. It's over behind the bar, near the health food store.
- fallingfrog 9y agoThere's one in milbridge that has 3$ movies, and before each show an old man comes up and loads a reel into a player piano, and then you listen to some ragtime tune before the movie starts. No joke! It's famous.
- secstate 9y agoGood old Farmington, but I'm actually in the midcoast, which is a world apart from central and northern Maine.
- KGIII 9y agoI just noticed your comment. 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.
- rconti 9y agoI can't parse this: "They're finally gone until skiing starts up, except for a few hunters." I gather it has something to do with number of customers but I'm not sure how it benefits someone that a store gets FEWER shoppers.
- KGIII 9y agoOh, it doesn't benefit the stores. It removes them from our roads and stores for a short while. During tourist season, we get up to 10x the population which is not something it's really designed for. It's pretty good money for the locals, they are well adapted to the breaks. The foliage peepers, with tour buses and whatever, have finally gone home. Almost without fail I get a whole bus driving up my driveway because their GPS insists it is a road. I don't mind, actually. Our local sport is making fun of tourists. We all go down to the boat landing on Memorial Day. You can watch them wreck $80,000 worth of boat, trailer, and truck. We don't get much amusement, otherwise. If tourism stopped, the town would be dead. They milk them for all they are worth. Locals just go to Farmington where things are often about half the price. So, no... It doesn't help the stors but it gets used to give a quick break and prepare for the winter rush. There are still tourists, but not as many. It's a tourist area, pretty much exclusively, all year long. Skiing, hunting, hiking, climbing, fishing, boating, swimming, camping, etc...
- rconti 9y agoOh, I see, "they" was just about tourists in general, not specific to shoppers at that store. As a west coaster visiting New England for the first time this past summer, it really stuck me how serious the crush of tourists must be for places like small town Maine (made it as far up the coast as Acadia NP). The overwhelming number of shops, of american flags, of lobster rolls, of store advertising Yeti coolers for sale.. it was just 10x what we see in small towns in the west. No matter where you go, of course, tourist town folk make fun of tourists but I think the crush must be much worse up your way, where small town life here, even for those of us who live in heavily populated areas, isn't quite as novel. It makes sense, though, given the massive population of the east coast. I remember once being angry about how everything is always advertised eastern-time-centric, and pulled up a map to try to make the argument that not THAT many people live in the Eastern time zone, but then realized it's almost 50% of the entire country... http://kurtostergaard.com/us-population-by-time-zone/ http://kurtostergaard.com/us-population-by-time-zone/
- kerash 9y agoi want to be hucker doller genral