On Monday, we celebrated with the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the train platform at Brunswick Station. This marks the next phase in the Amtrak Downeaster expansion from Portland to Brunswick, which is scheduled to commence in November.
We believe the arrival of the Amtrak train service in Brunswick will be hugely beneficial to our downtown.
Brunswick and regional residents will benefit from this convenient transportation option for their travels to Portland, Boston, and beyond. In addition, the train will bring hundreds of passengers to the area who will be eager to visit our shops, eat in our restaurants and stay in our hotels and inns.
This will offer a regular influx of additional income potential to Brunswick businesses, helping them to thrive, which will in turn bolster the stability and vitality of our downtown. As more dollars are spent in our downtown, the businesses grow stronger, and in turn reach out to enlist the assistance of our town’s service-based businesses to guide them in their growth.
We are excited about the potential growth opportunity this presents to our downtown and are equally excited to announce that Brunswick has been named a Main Street Maine community. This designation, bestowed by the Maine Development Foundation, recognizes Brunswick’s commitment to preserving the historic character of our downtown and revitalizing our local economy.
The Maine Development Foundation (MDF) is a private, nonprofit membership organization that was created to drive sustainable, longterm economic growth for Maine.
MDF delivers this through a variety of programs and through the highest quality, non-partisan economic research. The program’s goals include bringing in new businesses, generating more visits to downtowns and fostering the creation of public spaces.
Brunswick will be the first town in Cumberland County to be named a Maine Street Maine community and joins nine other communities that have achieved and maintained Main Street Maine titles: Bath, Belfast, Biddeford, Gardiner, Rockland, Saco, Sanford, Skowhegan and Waterville.
As part of the award, the Brunswick Downtown Association will receive a variety of resources, including guidance, technical assistance and a multi-year package of professional training services in the art and science of downtown revitalization though the Maine Downtown Center staff, the center’s 24-member volunteer Advisory Council and the National Trust Main Street Center.
In return, Brunswick has pledged to create a locally supported and sustainable program for its downtown revitalization. That is not a problem, as this has been the driving force behind the BDA since our inception.
At the BDA, we are always looking to new, fun ways to revitalize our community and help entice individuals to come experience our downtown. As part of that commitment, we have recently created yet another great new event that we hope you will participate in and enjoy.
The First Days of Summer celebration will take place June 18 to 23. This familyfriendly event will be Brunswick’s official kickoff to summer and will include a week of specials, promotions and in-store activities and entertainment.
On Saturday, June 23, the last day of the event, there will be a sidewalk sale as well as a Brunswick-wide Community
Yard sale. The registration form for the yard sale can be found on our website, and additional details on this event will be forthcoming. So mark your calendars and stay tuned.
If you’d like to come help us celebrate these exciting new developments, please join us from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., Thursday at the Captain Daniel Stone Inn, 10 Water St., where we will be hosting a celebratory breakfast with special guest speakers Laurie Lachance, president and chief executive officer of the Maine Development Foundation and Roxanne Eflin, senior program director of the Maine Downtown Center. You can register online for this event via the BDA website. This meeting is generously being sponsored by Mid Coast Heath Services.
And as always, we’d love to hear from you. If you have questions, feedback, and/or suggestions, please contact us at info@brunswickdowntown.org, visit the BDA website at www.brunswickdowntown.org or “Like” the BDA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/brunswickdowntown. And to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings in downtown Brunswick, sign up for The Brunswick Blast, the BDA bi-weekly eNewsletter.
Tracy Coughlin is marketing and communications director for the Brunswick Downtown Association.
letters@timesrecord.com
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