PORTLAND, Maine — There’s no one else in Maine with a job quite like the one held by Gale Ross. As the state’s official foliage spokesperson, she offers expert guidance on how much color has emerged in various parts of the state, where the leaves are at their peak, etc. The job is so much fun for Ross that she did it for more than twenty years, retired, and now comes back for a few weeks when the state needs her in September and October.
She and Rex Turner, an outdoor recreation planner with the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, joined us on 207 to talk about foliage and the new ways the state is promoting it. The updated theme the state wants to get out: This is not your parents’ foliage tour. A dwindling number of people want to get in the car and drive around for a day with numerous stops at scenic turnouts. Most would rather hike, bike, paddle, and hunt as they look at the leaves, and the state wants to accommodate them.
RELATED: Chasing the foliage through Maine
Want some ideas on how to be active and get the most out of Maine’s foliage season? Watch the interview to hear what our guests have to say.
To track the foliage, visit here.