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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 31 O C T O B E R 5 , 2 0 1 5 "Our goal is to increase the sea- sonal economy from three months to eight to 10 months in order to provide more jobs and have a year-round economy," she says. " at's what will attract families and help keep our school populated. … We are at a turn- ing point in time. We need to focus on our economy, bring back jobs and get us back to where we are on a sus- tainable course as a community." Another facet is history, which is what brought Liz Cannell back to the Moosehead region after a 25-year career working for Jobs for Maine's Graduates and then the national organization in Denver, Colo. In accepting the job as execu- tive director of Moosehead Marine Museum and Katahdin Cruises three years ago, Cannell is following in the footsteps of her father, the late Duke McKeil, the museum's previous direc- tor who had led the successful eff ort to get the historic steamboat Katahdin back on the lake as a cruise vessel. "I came here by choice," she says. " is is where I vacationed as a girl growing up, but this is home. is is 'community' the way I remem- ber it being when I grew up. It's the people who are here that drew me. Everybody looks out for each other." Built in 1914 at Bath Iron Works, Cannell says, the steamship Katahdin spent its early years transporting tourists, mail and supplies to the Mt. Kineo Resort halfway up the lake. In 1940 it was sold to a precursor of Scott Paper Co. and was used for the next 35 years as a towboat hauling timber across the lake. Having no othe plans for the vessel, the paper company sold it for $1 to local citizens who wanted to preserve it as an historic landmark and a fl oating museum. A few years later, she says, after learning from a marine surveyor the vessel was sea- worthy, her father and other local resi- dents launched a campaign to restore it as a cruise boat for visitors, running tours from July through mid-October. " at's our primary exhibit," she says. "Nobody goes on this boat with- out falling in love with it and this lake. is enterprise [the Katahdin] has a very measurable impact. It's a very real economic driver for this region." But Cannell is quick to make the point that tourism is only one element of the branding initiative. "Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery and a way of life," she says. "It's about 'working to live' rather than 'living to work.' You can have a life here. When you come up over Indian Hill, you feel all the cares and worries fall off you. Now I live and work where I used to vacation. And that's a happy ending." Scott Harding, a broker with Folsom Realty Group, located a block from the Moosehead Marine Museum, shares those strong feelings about the branding initiative's emphasis on community. He's lived in the Moosehead region his entire life and applied to be on the branding leadership team, in part, because three of his four children have already left the area to fi nd jobs elsewhere. Year-round jobs, he says, are the key to the region's future. " ere are a lot of people who have their eyes on this," Harding says. "We're going to be a model for rebranding and reorganizing small communities in Maine. at's why we're going to do it right." The crown jewel Alison and Scott Snell are the husband-and-wife owners of Wilsons on Moosehead Lake, a small colony of year-round rental housekeeping cottages on the western shore of the lake near Rockwood. Each cottage has a panoramic view of the lake and surrounding mountains, including Katahdin in the distance. Nearby, rap- ids below a dam at the headwaters of the Kennebec River off er fl y-fi shing opportunities for trout and salmon. Established in 1865, Wilsons has been a Snell family business for 32 years, with Alison and Scott taking it over from his parents 13 years ago. "We have guests with diff erent backgrounds, who come from all over," says Alison, one of the 17 members of the branding leadership team. "What really gets them here is how we're our own little village of cabins on the lake. When they get here, they feel the rest of the world stops. Here we hear the loons and water fl owing over the dam. C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » All of Your Staffing Needs in One Place Quality health care staffing to help you maintain excellent patient care. Call us today! 207-854-2422 directpersonnel.net 1-800-639-8802 mainestaff.com A corporate division of Maine Staffing Group 207-358-7900 | www.milkstreetcapital.biz | 84 Middle Street, Portland Milk Street Capital llc Open 4:30AM tO 1AM Or lAter. Drive 100 yards past baggage claim, look for our green sign. www.parknjetportland.com 747-5650 get your oil changed while yOu're AwAy Valet parking AirpOrt per day $10 Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery Our brand promise is about beauty and scenery and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather and a way of life. It's about 'working to live' rather than 'living to work.' You can have a life here. ... Now I live and work where I used to vacation. And that's a happy ending. — Liz Cannell, executive director of Moosehead Marine Museum

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