Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 3 Fact Book / Doing Business in Maine C O N T E N T S Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. Mainebiz® (ISSN# 1530-0749) is published bi-weekly 29 times a year, including special issues published in July, September, October and December by New England Business Media LLC. Periodicals postage paid (USPS# 018-715) at Port land, ME and at additional entry points. Postmaster: Please send changes to: Mainebiz, PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-0330. Annual subscriptions are available for $84.00 and include Fact Book and Book of Lists. To subscribe, please visit our website at www.mainebiz.biz, email circulation@mainebiz.biz or call our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Mainebiz® accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts and in general does not return them to the sender. Q UA L I T Y O F L I F E Fact Book cover inspired by mountains, rivers and the coast . . . . 4 Population data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Education and employment data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Income data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Maine's hospitality and leisure workforce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 LIST: Maine's largest hotels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Maine's ski resorts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 LIST: Maine's most popular tourist attractions. . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Where did Maine's home buyers come from. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 during the pandemic? Vermont construction firm, bullish on southern Maine market, 20 opens Portland office Rural lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Maine CEOs talk about what they learned growing up in a small town A handful of fashion brands call Maine home. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Maine is making a name for itself in the fashion world Electrifying the fleet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Biddeford company takes aim at converting commercial vessels to electric Foodies lament closings, hail openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 In the past year, Maine has seen a lengthy menu of restaurants opening and closing S P E C I A L A DV E R T I S I N G S E C T I O N Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 B U S I N E S S R E S O U R C E S Where to find business resources in Maine: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Start with the SBA and FAME LIST: Maine's largest SBA loans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 LIST: Most active SBA lenders in Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 S P E C I A L A DV E R T I S I N G S E C T I O N Back Cove Financial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 These guys know rope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 The Rope Guru finds success in a niche market HOW TO: Better position your company to do . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 business with the state of Maine S P O N S O R E D C O N T E N T Portland Symphony Orchestra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Guitar maker stretches for a new note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Bourgeois Guitars buys a sawmill as part of an effort to source the best wood LIST: Largest Finance Authority of Maine loans . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Resource Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Maine's resources for innovators S P O N S O R E D C O N T E N T Wright-Ryan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Q&A with Liza Fleming-Ives, executive director . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 of The Genesis Community Loan Fund I N N OVAT I O N / R & D Breeding innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Rarebreed grows out of Maine's animal-health hub Q&A with Brien Walton, director of the Richard E. Dyke Center . . 68 for Family Business at Husson University LIST: Maine's National Institutes of Health grant recipients . . 69 LIST: Maine's largest brewers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 LIST: Maine's largest chambers of commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 PHOTO ESSAY: A total eclipse as seen by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 a Maine photographer WO R K F O R C E Employment data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Filling the need for multifamily housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Construction jobs in Maine, in thousands, 2008–2020 . . . . . 79 HOW TO: Bridge the skills gap and develop a workforce . . . . . 80 I N F R A S T R U C T U R E / D I S T R I B U T I O N PHOTO ESSAY: A photographer's view of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Maine's agricultural fairs Energy data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 LIST: Largest Maine-based construction firms . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 LIST: Maine's largest business and industrial parks. . . . . . . . 90 A division of New England Business Media LLC C E O / GROUP PUBLISHER Peter Stanton P R E S I D E N T Tom Curtin DIGITAL DIRECTOR Jan Holder PUBLISHER Andrea Tetzlaff EDITOR Peter Van Allen MANAGING EDITOR / DIGITAL OPERATIONS William Hall SENIOR WRITERS Renee Cordes Laurie Schreiber STAFF WRITER / SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST Alexis Wells CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mark Jeanneret Boden Terry Clarke Canfield RESEARCH DIRECTOR Stephanie Meagher RESEARCH ASSISTANT Heide Martin ART DIRECTOR Matt Selva HOSPITALITY Buster HOSPITALITY EMERITUS Malcolm, Zoey SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGERS Ken Hanson Kerry Rasor Betsy VanderPloeg EVENTS & MARKETING DIRECTOR Samantha Elliott OPERATIONS COORDINATOR Allison Spies AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST Leah Allen

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