FREEPORT – Harraseekett Inn general manager Chip Gray sums up his family’s definition of community with a simple adage typically associated with sharks: “Things that stand still are usually dead. You have to keep moving as a business and a community.”

Gray, along with his sister Penny and mother Nancy, were honored last week as People of the Year by FreeportUSA, a membership organization devoted to marketing Freeport to tourists and Mainers alike. The award came during the organization’s annual meeting Jan. 24 at the Hilton Garden Inn, where a total of nine honors were handed out. The People of the Year award “recognizes a person or group that has demonstrated a life-long commitment to community service and the betterment of Freeport,” according to FreeportUSA.

Janet Dutson, FreeportUSA’s executive director, said the Gray family has been an institution in the Maine hospitality industry for generations. Both Chip, a Freeport Community Improvement Association board member, and Nancy, an ardent supporter of land preservation on the state and local level, are very giving with their time, said Dutson.

“They are truly trailblazers not only in Freeport, but for the entire tourism industry in Maine,” Dutson said. “They have contributed enormously to the growth of Freeport not only as a shopping destination but as a community.”

The Gray family opened the Harraseeket Inn in 1982 after renovating an old apartment building that had once been a stagecoach stop in the 1700s. The family, Nancy Gray in particular, as her son noted, recognized the need for additional lodging in Freeport and built a modest, five-room B&B, preserving much of the original building. In 1989, they expanded the facility, and continue to make changes while honoring the original character of the inn.

Gray said the family is anchored and guided by his mother, who is nationally recognized in the tourism industry. A fourth-generation steward of the hospitality business, Nancy Gray began her career at the age of 12 working for her parents, Bill and Beatrice Dyer, who bought a set of sporting camps on Holeb Pond, near Jackman. She washed dishes, cooked, waited on tables and even cleaned windows. The camp was only accessible by plane and her father would pilot a two-seat Taylorcraft to bring in supplies.

The family eventually sold the lodge and bought an inn, the Gloucester Traveler, in Gloucester, Mass., in 1955. Nancy Gray and her husband Paul, who met in Holeb, built a house next door to the inn and raised four children. After her husband took a job in Maine as head of the water district in Gardiner, the family moved back and she began the task of creating the Harraseeket Inn.

“Back then, Freeport was light years away from what it is now,” her son said. “Mom was a visionary.”

According to her son and a family history provided on the Harraseeket Inn website, Nancy Gray fell in love with a run-down, three-unit apartment building called the Conant Farm, which sat on five acres of overgrown field in the north end of town. If real estate is all about location, this was prime and a short stroll across the street from the legendary L.L. Bean store. Rather than demolish the crumbling cape, she renovated the post-and-beam structure into what is now the Carriage House, an eight-room section of the Harraseeket. Through the years, her original concept blossomed into a 93-room, upscale destination with two restaurants: the Broad Arrow Tavern with its sloped floors, and the Maine Dining Room

Nancy Gray went on to become the first woman to chair the Resort Committee of the American Hotel and Lodging Association and served as president of both New England Innkeepers and Maine Innkeepers Association. She also was an early proponent of “green” building, and the inn still buys first from local Maine farmers, fishermen, foragers and regional suppliers.

“She was about community before community was a buzzword,” said her son.

He attributes his family’s community involvement to a “generational” way of thinking popular with other early Freeport business leaders, such as Cole Haan founder George Denney and Steve and Judy Brown of Brown Goldsmiths.

“The old-timers understood the value and obligation of taking care of our own,” he said. “Fortunately it’s being passed on to their children and their grandchildren.”

While Freeport has absorbed the influx of many national retail stores with few problems, Gray said it is imperative to have newer businesses continue the spirit of cooperation.

“It’s not about money all the time,” he said. “It can be something as simple as volunteering your time for a dinner to help out those without heat. If we maintain the spirit and we’re in it together, it becomes a sustainable concept.”

Dutson said the Gray family is an example of what makes Freeport a unique community that invests as much in its people as its trade.

“They are just a wonderful family and really deserving of this recognition,” Dutson said.

Members of the Gray family, Chip and his mother Nancy, are seen as “trailblazers” in the hospitality industry. The owners of Harraseeket Inn received the People of the Year Award last week from FreeportUSA. The following were honored by FreeportUSA during its annual event Jan. 24 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport:Amtrak Downeaster: Let’s Go Freeport! Award, recognizes a marketing initiative or promotional event to advance the image of Freeport and attract visitors.Coffee By Design:??Sustainable Business Award, recognizes a Freeport business that best exemplifies green practices.Nordica Theatre: Growing Freeport Award, recognizes a business that significantly adds to the economic vitality of Freeport.Freeport Seafood Co.: Shining Star Award, recognizes a project that represents an innovation or major improvement in an existing business or infrastructure.Freeport Community Services: Nonprofit of the Year, recognizes a nonprofit that contributes to the enhancement of the community.Hilton Garden Inn: Sustaining Business Member, recognizes a FreeportUSA member that shows an outstanding commitment to the organization and mission to promote Freeport for destination travel.Brown Goldsmiths: Small Business of the Year, recognizes a small business with one location that exemplifies best business practices and notably supports the community.L.L. Bean: Business of the Year, recognizes a Freeport business that implements outstanding business practices and is remarkable for its longevity, growth, innovation, and contributions to community-oriented projects.The Gray Family: Person (or People) of the Year, recognizes a person, family, or group that has demonstrated a life-long commitment to community service and the betterment of Freeport.A closer look