DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — Business owners in Piscataquis County's largest town are hoping to find a new engine for the local economy that centers on tourism and attracts new residents.
This comes as the Piscataquis Economic Development Council seeks developers to take up its proposal to build an 80-room hotel in Dover-Foxcroft. To many locals, this will help visitors stay in town.
“I'm excited to the extent that people will be coming here, and spending the night and spending their money,” Mary Annis, the leader of the Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society said Monday.
The area around Dover-Foxcroft is one of the more economically desperate areas in the state — its condition brought about by the closure of several prominent mills, in recent decades — including the Mayo Mill, located downtown.
As a result of this, Piscataquis County reported the highest unemployment rate in the state last year, at 4.9%, according to the Maine Department of Labor.
Now, as the area tries to remake itself, supporters of a tourism approach say investing in small businesses will be critical to both powering the local economy and preventing reliance on one major employer.
“You see a lot of businesses in the community that all have their part to play,” Patrick Myers, the executive director of the Center Theater, said. “But it is more sustainable in the long run so that if one business doesn't work out, the whole downtown isn't sunk.”
The plan, however, has its skeptics, including Wayne Erkkinen of the Piscataquis County Commission. He puts it simply: “I don’t think the tourism can employ that many people as the mills did.”