June 11, 2000
Tourists mad about moose find mecca
Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
GREENVILLE — For Linda DeRoy, an admitted moose-aholic, vacationing in Maine has been almost heavenly.
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A moose, above, stands last week in Socatean Stream, which flows into Moosehead Lake. Greenville is one of the best places on earth to spot moose, and the region around Maine's largest lake has capitalized on it, boosting tourism opportunities.
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"We just went out for a drive to look at the area and try to see some moose, and then all of a sudden right there was a bull moose not more than eight feet away from us – from here to there," she said, pointing at the wall. "I was so excited I couldn't stand it. I rolled down my window and HE WAS RIGHT THERE. I was trying to take a picture, but I had to change film and my hands were shaking."
Ah, the glories of Greenville and the lure of the moose.
Fueled by a good economy and the publicity surrounding the town's annual Moosemainea celebration, Greenville is generating increased tourist business – and diversifying its appeal beyond hunting, fishing and summer camps.
Even with the help of the area's dramatic scenery, attracting more tourists is not easy given Greenville's distance from major highways and the undeniable pull of coastal Maine.
But a combination of events has started to add to Greenville's allure. Interest has increased in outdoor activities such as biking, hiking and snowmobiling in the area, and Moosemainea, a monthlong festival of weekend activities, has helped tap the sometimes intense interest people have in moose.
Although still a relatively small player in the tourism industry compared with southern Maine, the Moosehead region hopes to take a larger slice of the state's $4.9 billion tourism pie.
The signs of those gains are evident in and around Greenville. New shops have sprouted at the foot of Moosehead Lake. The Lodge at Moosehead, which opened in the early 1990s, is now able to attract guests to its rooms at rates of $200 to $400 a night. Other visitors can stay at a range of places from the beautiful 19th century Greenville Inn to family cabins along the lake.
At the root of many changes has been Moosemainea, which started as a local celebration in the early 1990s, drawing only a few hundred people its first year.
The celebration, which ends this coming weekend with Family Fun Day and a craft fair, features the Tour de Moose bike race, a rowing regatta and a canoe race.
The idea was to bring people to Greenville from mid-May to mid-June. That month has historically been very slow because of the unpredictable spring weather and, of course, black flies. However, it is perhaps the best time of year to see a moose.
The event and the idea of seeing moose in the lake or alongside the road quickly attracted the attention of newspapers, magazines and national television. The tremendous publicity helped to boost attendance at the spring event tenfold or more. More importantly, more tourists seeking moose or just beautiful scenery now come to the area throughout the year.
Linda Koski, a major force in building the event and a guide who helps run Allagash Canoe Trips, a family business, was surprised by just how successful Moosemainea has been. "It was designed to help in June," she said. "Nobody foresaw that it would help with a year-round industry, but that is what happened."
Moosemainea has spawned cottage industries such as moose safaris and aided inns and other tourist businesses. In a moose safari, guides take tourists out in airplanes, canoes, kayaks, pontoon boats or even floating tubes to look for moose.
Despite the current fascination with moose, only recently did the region really begin to exploit the presence of the creatures, in part because they weren't that common.
"I grew up in Greenville, and I was 18 years old before I saw a moose," said Richard L. McKeil, a retired University of Southern Maine professor and head of the Moosehead Marine Museum.
But that has changed. Now Greenville is one of the best places on earth to spot moose, as well as one of the best places to buy moose lawn ornaments, moose glasses and moose light switch covers.
The drive to Greenville, more than three hours north of Portland, offers tourists a virtual crash course in rural Maine. The route, dubbed the Moosehead Trail, follows small roads that wind through small towns such as Corinna, Dexter and Dover-Foxcroft. Along the way it offers beautiful vistas and passes family farms, trailers with built-on wooden porches and houses with year-round Christmas lights. Nor is there any shortage of local variety stores and purple lilac bushes.
Such a long drive along back roads is a forbidding obstacle for many remote communities in Maine seeking to build tourism. Yet, like Greenville, some are succeeding by finding a good hook tied to some resource associated with the region.
For example, the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race in Fort Kent has created a draw for that area of Maine each March. The event, which started less than a decade ago, fills the region's hotels and motels. Local residents even open their homes to participants who need a place to stay. And, as with Moosemainea, the benefits of the 250-mile race that loops from Fort Kent through the Allagash have been far-reaching.
"To me it has put Fort Kent on the map," said Rita Cannan, a local tavern owner and president of Can-Am Crown, which organizes the event. "If they come for Can-Am, you can almost be sure they will return with their families and friends. We have even had mushers who have moved here."
Despite the unquestioned lure of the moose and the growth of tourism, there are some serious issues confronting Greenville as it works to build on the success of Moosemainea.
The greatest fear is that state officials will enlarge the annual moose hunt so that it overlaps the foliage season in late September, an increasingly important time for tourism.
That possibility is hotly opposed by many in Greenville, a center of the moose hunt. Greenville is already filled with dead moose and butcher wagons during the weeklong hunt in October. What will happen is still being debated and public hearings will take place later this summer.
"When you have visitors coming in September from places like western Europe and you have pickups all around with dead moose, it is awful," McKeil said. "If you need to extend the moose hunt, let's not do it at a time when it is offensive to other industries."
Some also worry about the end of clear-cutting. Clear-cuts helped Greenville in two ways. They opened up viewing areas, making it easier to see a moose. Secondly, moose fed off the new growth that followed those cuts. Some locals worry that moose might move to other areas seeking better feeding grounds if clear-cutting is prohibited.
How these issues will be resolved is, of course, unknown, but clearly the plentiful moose are now the main draw in Greenville.
Harold Hanson is in his seventh year of ferrying guests of The Birches Resort from Rockwood past Mount Kineo and Farm Island through Socatean Bay into Socatean Stream.
The landscape may be dramatic and the other wildlife may be abundant, but that's not enough for his clients, Hanson said. People desperately want one thing: moose.
"They don't pay attention to anything else," he said. "We might see otter playing or beaver or eagles, but they don't care. They might not even see them. They just want to see a moose."
That certainly holds true for Rod and Linda DeRoy and Chris and Kathy Roberge, who traveled from Indiana to Greenville. Both Chris and Linda are moose fanatics. They give each other moose trinkets and Linda has outfitted a new room in her house with moose decor, from moose crossing signs to moose wine glasses.
The two couples spent hundreds of dollars trying unsuccessfully to see moose in Alaska a few years ago. But they finally came to Greenville last fall, booked a room at The Lodge at Moosehead Lake (Rod and Linda are staying in the special Moose Room) and saw a moose.
They returned this year after hearing about Moosemainea.
"It has been fantastic," said Chris Roberge, a Cape Elizabeth native. "We saw five last year and this year we have already seen 18."
Staff Writer Dean Lunt can be contacted at 791-6461 or at: dlunt@pressherald.com