SEARSPORT—At the site of the old Captain Tinkham's Emporium, a new brewery has quietly opened, becoming a new "third place" for locals and visitors to sit down at the wooden benches, talk, and…

ROCKPORT—You know what Maine can never see enough of? Great Mexican food.

Joe Simko, owner/chef of the new Taco Joe’s food truck, opened quietly last week in the parking lot of The Country…

LINCOLNVILLE—It’s always exciting to see someone’s hobby bloom into a full entrepreneurial business as we’ve seen in past PenBay Pilot stories, from…

ROCKLAND—It was Anthony Bourdain’s first book, Kitchen Confidential that first introduced me to the chef’s term, mise en place, a French expression for having all your…

CAMDEN — First Fig, a neighborhood wine shop and bar at 31 Elm Street, has opened for business, Wednesday through Saturday 12-7 p.m.

Tucked into a welcoming old storefront adjacent to the…

CAMDEN – Albatross is a new restaurant opening at 115 Elm Street in Camden, on the same property as the Cedar Crest Inn. Owners Maggie and Jeffrey Harris have a rich history in the food service…

MIDCOAST—It’s been five years since Rockport native Davis Saltonstall and his partner Tessa Rosenberry started ScrapDogs Community Compost, an innovative business to collect food waste from…

JEFFERSON—In a rural corner of Maine, a sanctuary for farm animals has quietly taken shape for pigs, goats, equines, and birds who’ve been abandoned or dumped by their owners. Or, who grew too big…

Cody Wilson, of Camden, was one of eight recent graduates from the Downeast School of Massage. The school held commencement exercises for the new massage therapists as the 71st graduation class…

CAMDEN  - Captain Gus Kodros is originally from Alton, Illinois When asked what brought him to Camden, he says with a wry smile, “a boat.” Kodros recently purchased the Schooner Lazy Jack II…

CAMDEN—A favorite Rockland store has reemerged in Camden on the Lyman-Morse waterfront boardwalk this summer. Motifs, a boutique specializing in coastal-inspired wares, men’s and women’s fashion,…

After the pandemic left a dearth of empty storefronts in Camden around 2022, as reported in our annual Welcome Back Snow Birds series, the town has gotten a shot in the arm with a number of new…

MIDCOAST—Two micro-bakeries have quietly opened their doors this summer. Take a look at what they’re offering:

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LIBERTY— From 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Nicole Moore, a first-generation Liberty farmer, does not stop working. Most farmers understand that lifestyle already, but Moore has more on her plate than just…

WASHINGTON—Just down the road from Union where Jillian Lary and Brian Fickett, owners of Sterlingtown Public House live and work, sits a roadside take-out called The Spot by Sterlingtown, the…

WALDOBORO – The faces of Waldoboro are changing and we mean that literally; heads, too, for that matter. Dark Harbor Barber Company has established a shop at 904 Main Street.

Sam Weldon, (…

OWLS HEAD—Though the Knox County Regional Airport may be far away from the downtown Rockland dining scene, the fast-casual eatery called The Apron at Terminal A located inside the terminal is…

SEARSPORT—A new, independent bookshop has opened in Searsport to the delight of Midcoast book lovers. The grand opening of Anodyne at 33 East Main Street, took place April 8.

Owner Elly…

CAMDEN—A cold-brew coffee shop has just opened on the quiet side of the Camden harbor this spring. Tom and Holly Griffin opened their first Camden-based business in the Lyman-Morse Marina April 5…

CAMDEN—Wolfpeach, a Camden restaurant at 50 Elm Street, has undergone some pivotal changes since it opened in 2021. First, it opened as a pop-up to meet the community’s needs while renovating the…

THOMASTON—A Thomaston couple has plans to open a community tavern and restaurant in the spring with the aim of serving lunch and dinner as well as give late-night workers—such as restaurant staff…

ROCKLAND—With fewer than 200 square feet on 497 Main Street, Dana Ruth, a self-taught metalsmith and studio jeweler, has everything she needs to make her art and she couldn’t be any more pleased…

CAMDEN – A new private car service has been established in Camden. Called Wollfie’s Wheels, it is a collaboration of Chris Wolf and Joe Harris. The Camden cab company offers private car service…

ROCKPORT – Street Food 330, where southwest meets southeast. But what does that mean?

This new small eatery, at 330 Commercial Street (Route 1) in Rockport, is a collaboration between two…

Well-known interior designer Michael Hampton, who has led projects all over the United States, is opening a shop in Rockport Village under the name of Hampton & Co.  The shop, at 25 Main…

Steel-Pro Incorporated, currently based in Rockland, has purchased approximately 12 acres in Union and intends to relocate its…

ROCKPORT—Put together a rich, dark chocolate gelato in a handmade waffle cone and a beyond beautiful deckside view of Rockport Harbor and you’ve got yourself a sweet little business.

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CAMDEN—It has been a twisty, tumultuous path for Blue Barren Distillery’s owners Andrew Stewart and Jeremy Howard. When they first opened on the “quiet side” of Camden in 2019, little did they…

BELFAST—She barely remembers it, but nearly 47 years ago Sierra Dietz, the owner of The Grasshopper Shop,  used to play in a playpen in the window of The Grasshopper Shop’s original Belfast…

BELFAST—Matt Burke and Jim Thompson, who moved to Midcoast Maine four years ago, have been working toward taking their cookie and granola company, Sweet Monkey Business to its fullest potential—…

CAMDEN—In little more than a year and a half, Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding, Inc has transformed the east side of Camden Harbor into a modernized marina. On Tuesday, June 12, Lyman-Morse celebrated its…

THOMASTON – Laurel Cristopher is business owner, baker, dishwasher, and as it turns out, she’s a good carpenter to boot. Christopher is from Winthrop; she was scouting places where a small…

ROCKPORT−Brother Shucker is a new fixture in Rockport and beyond the cheeky name, the food truck offers something no other food truck in the Midcoast has ever offered: fresh, raw oysters shucked…

ROCKLAND—Nate Luce and his partner Justine Kablack have a little spot on Main Street that’s probably going to be Rockland’s hippest joint this summer.

They quietly opened Luce Distillery…

UNION—After three years of successfully running the Sterlingtown Public House in Union, owners Jillian Lary and Brian Fickett decided to open a new business this winter under the Sterlingtown name…

ROCKPORT—Lobsterman Sadie Samuels, whom Penobscot Bay Pilot interviewed multiple times over the years, is the subject of filmmaker Greg Kohs’ seven-minute film…

BELFAST—Belfast will soon have a new Thai restaurant named Fon’s Kitchen at 132 High Street, opening March 31.

Fon, which means falling rain in the Thai language, just so happens to be co-…

CAMDEN — Walk-ins to a storefront in Camden this week are being turned away from ordering gourmet cupcakes, and that’s a promising sign. As bad as Vicki Murray feels about leaving people empty-…

SEARSPORT—‘Hey Sailor’ is serving a definite vibe, which, simply put, is “TACOS+. ART. BOOZE.”

The newly opened bar and restaurant on 25 East Main Street is the latest venture of the…

THOMASTON—One Midcoast man is on a mission to free up landfills from junked computers and to turn those parts into usable devices for people who can’t afford a new computer.

Gordon…

ROCKLAND—It’s never a bad thing to have another independent bookstore open in the Midcoast and Arctic Tern Books is the newest bookstore to cement Rockland’s reputation as a thriving cultural…

JACKSON—Last week, we did a story on the off-the-beaten-path Marsh River Cooperative…

BROOKS—As Marsh River Cooperative’s manager Matthew McKillop will tell you, “You’d be surprised to know there’s a lot going on in Brooks.”

A tiny town in Waldo County with a population of…

CAMDEN—There’s a passage in “The Great Gatsby” where the narrator Nick observes Jay Gatsby reaching his arms out at the end of a dock to embrace what looks like green light across the water. The…

BELFAST—An old 1980s Toyota Huntsman camper van that had been sitting in Larraine Brown’s backyard for about a month has come back to life as a traveling art van. Rechristened “Betty The Brilliant…

PORTLAND—Sometimes a brilliant idea for a new business is just a phone call away.

For Sarah Guerette, Director of the CEI Women’s Business Center, that idea sprung from multiple phone…

For the holidays, we’re shining the spotlight on Maine craftspeople. Shop locally and support innovators and entrepreneurs who keep the creative economy alive in this state. Each week, until…

ROCKPORT—Farmer Mary Nelson née Clayton and her husband, Tom, recently bought the nearly 40-year-old Cardinal Cove Mini Golf Center and an adjacent house with big plans for its future.

The…

ROCKPORT—Sometimes you just want to say things you can’t out loud. Liz Polkinghorn, a knitter, understands that need, and designs the type of hat that ”allows you to put all the things you'd like…