Mainebiz Special Editions

4 Fact Book / Doing Business in Maine Where there's room for improvement: 23 rd Best state to start a business 23 rd State ranked by taxpayer ROI 34 th Best state for singles 37 th Best state economy Where Maine ranks high: 4 th As a charitable state 5 th Best state to have a baby 5 th Most environmentally friendly state 9 th For summer road trips 9 th For health care 10 th As a place for working moms 12 th As a place for working dads 13 th Best state to live 14 th Best public school system 14 th Best state to retire Q UA L I T Y O F L I F E T his year's Fact Book has a particularly visual feel to it. We enlisted three photographers to cap- ture Maine as they see it. Regular readers will know the work of Tim Greenway, who has been the go-to photographer for Mainebiz for nearly two decades. For his photo essay, Tim visited more than a dozen manufacturers around the state. (Tim is also the primary photogra- pher for the Made in Maine column, which runs in regular issues of Mainebiz.) What we get is a look inside the factories, sewing rooms and workshops that produce ships, woodstoves, pizza ovens, axes, heat-resistant textiles, lumber, grains, shoes and even surfboards. From Maine Grains in Skowhegan to Grain Surfboards in York, Tim was there. See Tim's photo essay, "Beyond Vacationland," which starts on Page 98. Jim Neuger, who took up photography after a long career as an editor at Bloomberg, has been a Mainebiz contributor for the past several years. He is also married to our deputy editor, Renee Cordes, but it's his keen eye that has won him an increasing number of assignments. For these pages, he spent several months photographing Maine's illustrious public libraries, which have a rich history and are often visually striking. As a photographer and editor by background, Jim is a double threat, as his photo essay, "More than books," demonstrates. e feature starts on Page 26. Fred Field has been a road warrior for Mainebiz, trekking long distances to get the right shot. at gumption showed in his willingness to venture north for his photo essay, "Monson's moment," which documents the growth of an arts community. Fred first visited the Piscataquis County town of Monson in 2017 while on assignment for the Boston Globe. Over the past eight years, Monson, with help from the Libra Foundation and the influx of artists, galleries and a James Beard Award- winning restaurant, has indeed become an arts hub. To get photos and to report his story, Fred made four trips to Monson. His hard work paid off, as you can see from his report, which starts on Page 80. e Fact Book also includes the usual array of lists, charts and other data. Peter Van Allen pvanallen@mainebiz.biz A showcase for Maine photographers — and data, too HOW MAINE STACKS UP ON SOME NATIONAL LISTS Mainebiz enlisted three photographers to capture Maine as they see it. Maine's quality of life continues to garner interest nationally Here's an overview of how Maine ranked on a wide range of lists, according to the personal finance website WalletHub. S O U R C E : WalletHub

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