25th Anniversary Issue

Over the past 25 years, an increasing number of visitors have discovered Maine’s attractions. As a result, Maine has seen a huge increase in the presence of national hotel brands, complementing an equally strong brand of small, locally owned lodgings.

As much as it’s been fun to look back, we are very much looking ahead. With the new website, we also join much of the rest of the media industry in instituting a subscriber pay wall.

A line graph depicting manufacturing’s workforce in Maine over the past 25 years is not a pretty sight. From 1995, the manufacturing sector was in a steep steady decline for 15 years, falling from 84,700 jobs at the start of 1995 to 51,000 jobs in 2010. It levels off at roughly 51,000, with slight seasonal dips and rises, until the end of 2018, when it begins a modest rise.

Like some of its products, cultivated from the cells, strands and science of living organisms, Maine’s biotechnology industry has grown organically.

Maine’s wild fisheries have experienced numerous challenges over the past 25 years. A booming lobster resource has helped keep fishermen employed. And emerging aquaculture sectors are viewed as having great potential for diversifying the economy.

Today, Susan Collins and Angus King represent Maine in the U.S. Senate, the latest in a long line of moderate lawmakers helping the Pine Tree State punch above its weight in the corridors of power in Washington, D.C.

With recovery from the 2008 recession came a real estate boom that started in 2011 and has steadily grown since.

Right from their start, in April 1994, the Portland Sea Dogs have been embraced by their fans in Maine. In their first year, they drew an Eastern League record 375,000 fans. By the next year, the team was drawing well over 400,000.

There’s a good and a bad side to Portland’s being named 2018 restaurant of the year by Bon Appétit magazine. On the one hand, it’s long overdue recognition of an evolving foodie culture that’s an increasing draw for tourists and transplants from away keen to get away from bigger, busier and pricier cities. But being in the national spotlight also has its drawbacks, like big crowds on weekends during the prime tourist season.

Municipalities are finding ways to bring new life to downtowns, spurred by federal tax incentives, local programs and, increasingly, public-private partnerships.