Scott Krouse - Executive Director of the Freeport YMCA

From early childhood to the present day, the Y has been an integral part of Scott's life. Raised in Boothbay Harbor by parents who are from Pennsylvania (his dad from Allentown & his mother from western PA), Scott feels there is no better place to live than in Maine.

He feels very lucky to be working as Executive Director at the Freeport Y which is one of three facilities that comprise the Cumberland County YMCA. An avid basketball and baseball player in high school, Scott picked up golf and tennis when he went to college. He felt golf and tennis would be activities he could enjoy for a lifetime; he also became a tennis coach during college. Scott graduated from Boothbay High school and moved on to further his studies at Springfield College in Massachusetts where he majored in Sports Management. Scott then went on to pursue a Masters degree in Education from Springfield College. As part of his graduate work Scott completed an internship with the Boston Celtics working in their front office.

Mike Harrison, a former Executive Director at the Boothbay Harbor Y, proved to be very helpful in Scott's emerging career. For starters, Mike employed Scott at the Boothbay Y during college allowing him to work in many departments experiencing the true diversity the Y offers. As he emerged into the world of work, Scott started out at the Portland Y where he was a sports and recreation director. He eventually became Executive Director of the Portland Y.

Scott handles multi-tasking very comfortably or so it seemed to me when I saw him handling situations that arose and needed his immediate attention. As I waited to interview him, Scott lead a tour of board members through the new construction site that will give the Freeport Y very needed space to expand. Susan, one of his employees, was informing Scott about a critical repair needed in the women's shower area. As Scott and I sat down to talk, he told me he had to prepare for a board meeting later that day.

Scott spoke earnestly about his goal to raise $167,000 for financial Aid to both individuals and to families who can't afford the many wonderful programs that the Y offers. I learned that noone is turned away from the Y due to inability to pay. The Y provides financial assistance in many different ways such as: childcare, summer day camp, membership, adaptive services, swim team, etc. The need for financial assistance continues to rise. For example, this year alone there are 110 members on the Stripers swim team; over $5,000 has already been provided in financial support for children to swim on the team.

The next time you visit the Y ask for a copy of their Long Range Strategic Goals. I had no idea that the Casco Bay Freeport Y serves 600 indivduals every day! How do all of these activities happen and who are these faithful workers? Scott says that a Y is as strong as the community that supports it. The Freeport Y wouldn't be what it is today without the dedicated support of all their volunteers. In fact there is a goal to double the number of volunteers this year. Another major goal this year is to address the high incidence of obesity, chronic disease, and other healthcare crises among our community. For web information, click http://www.cumberlandcountyymca.org/ To suport the financial aid program, call 865-9600.

Royal River Natural Foods - A one-of-kind Maine organic store!

I had just read an article in the newspaper titled "Happiness is a warm 'thank you' in the Christian Science Monitor before my interview with the owner at Royal River. Marilyn Gardner, the Monitor staff writer, says "Ask bosses what makes employees happy at work, and many are likely to think in terms of tangible rewards: a good salary, a pleasant office, generous benefits." Marilyn goes on to say, "...workplace specialists are discovering that for many workers, the "happiness factor" depends heavily on intangibles, such as respect, trust, and fairness"

Ruth Finch who comes from Connecticut is the founder and owner of Royal River Foods. She is fully committed to taking good care of her workers. This fact is proven out when former workers move away, but return to Maine to visit Royal River and express their appreciation for the special place that it is. Customers like this place so much that they periodically ask Ruth whether she would consider opening other stores in Maine or even out-of-state. For Ruth, her workers are like extended family and she takes good care of them by offering a profit sharing program. Founded 14 years ago when Ruth had two small children, she came up with the idea to start her own organic market. She said to me that she had no idea how hard it would be to start her own business. Had she known, she might not have even tried.

Royal River is all about providing quality organic food and being one of a very select few outlets that support Maine organic farmers. Ruth began her career in organic natural food working many years ago at the "Good Day Market" in Portland. Ruth first started Royal River Natural Foods in Yarmouth, at that time hardly anyone in this area knew what Tofu was. Today world headquarters is located in a beautiful building on US Route 1 in Freeport.

Tina Wilcoxson, the general manager, is from the county. She has been with Ruth for 12 years. Tina said that in 2007, 25% of goods sold at Royal River were from ME organic producers. Tina loves the work culture at Royal River so much as evidenced by her 12 years of service. She said, "If I didn't like it here, I would have moved on a long time ago". Tina's husband calls her the "mayor" because she is recognized everywhere she goes. When Tina and her husband reached the summit of Tumbledown mountain, within minutes a Royal River customer was madly waving and hollering out her name.

Doug hails from Easton Massachusetts. He is the grocery manager who coined the phrase "the home office is upstairs" Indeed the home office of Royal River Foods knows how to satisfy their Freeport, Pownal, and Yarmouth customer base. Ruth saw a customer in the store that has been shopping here for 14 years. You'll see her in the above photo with Ruth's arm around her! So, no need to call Austin Texas to find out what the corporate office feels is right for the Maine organic client base! I don't think I will ever feel quite comfortable shopping at the new Portland big box organic food store ever again.

Sharon Hughes & the Freeport Hardware Crew!

While visiting with business owner Sharon Hughes Saturday morning, I learned a wonderful story about the woman and her very capable crew that make Freeport Hardware a "true value" to the Freeport community. Sharon didn't want me to take her picture without including all the employees that make her company such a success. Candidly, she admits she couldn't operate Freeport Hardware without their fine customer service and their depth of knowledge about the products that she sells. Sharon and her late husband Mark ran the business for many years. Mark's life's dream was to own a hardware store. For years Sharon and Mark were climbing their respective corporate ladders as they moved about the country. It was hard on her family because they weren't able establish roots and strong ties to a community. Sharon described her life as fairly ordinary until she and Mark embarked on their small business journey of a lifetime. Mark and Sharon mortgaged just about everything they owned to start the business. I don't recall how many years they ran the business together before Mark contracted cancer and passed on. Sharon, alone at the helm at Freeport hardware, without seemingly any working knowledge of running a hardware store had some important decisions to make. I'm sure she had many a sleepless night wondering which direction to take with the business. But she forged on with the business and with her employee partners who keep the ship profitably on course. Sharon says she never goes home at the end of a day without learning something that is pretty cool about the hardware business. Sharon's expertise is in the area of finance and she mentioned working with such companies as M&M Mars and McGraw Hill in New York.

A native of New Hampshire, Sharon and her family regularly came to Maine during summer vacations in the Kezar lake area. Sharon and her husband were so glad that they landed in Freeport because she feels the residents are so wonderful and were so supportive when Mark passed on. She and I agreed that this town is a great community of both locals and people "from away". She has one son who graduated from Stonehill College in Massachusetts and is now working in Manhattan for Goldman Sachs. Given recent events on Wall Street, I'm sure he is helping Goldman Sachs chart a steady course through some pretty stormy times. One day, Shaon hopes her son will come back to Freeport. For more information, call 207-865-9557.

AutoWerkes Maine - European Auto Service

I am having a blast this week meeting so many remarkable business people in Freeport. Today I interviewed Voit Ritch, owner of AutoWerkes Maine which specializes in fine European automobile service and sales. A native Pennsylvanian like myself, Voit lived and worked in the Lehigh Valley area of PA http://www.lehighvalleypa.org/. Voit has considerable professional experience working on foreign cars. I'll let you click on his website for a more complete presentation of his professional qualifications http://www.autowerkesmaine.com/. But before you click away, let me share with you an interesting fact I learned about him. Voit was a partner in AIR Corporation. What is AIR? Bill Cosby, one of my all time favorite comedians, had a funny answer to that question in a 1960's record album. Anyway, in Voit's case, I learned that AIR stands for Automotive Import Recycling. In the late '70's and early 80's AIR Corp. would do a "total makeover" of an old BMW or Volvo in just 8 to 10 days. For many years, Voit enjoyed coming to Maine in the summer and he always found suitable work here. In 1982 he moved here for quality of life reasons including more affordable real estate and less clogged highways. Today, he has his new auto repair business in Freeport. Voit is a real estate investor in the Augusta area. I'll have to help him invest in property here in the Freeport area. So, drop in and introduce yourself to Voit or to his service writer and parts manager Ryan Jenks. Autowerkes services BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, and Mini brands as well as Volvo cars. For more information, call 865-6600.

Freeport Tack Company - Lisa Judd owner

You would really enjoy getting to know this fascinating Freeport business owner as I did earlier today. Lisa hails from Massachusetts, yet was brought up in Saudi Arabia in the port city of Jeddah. Her father worked for an American company with a base of operations in Saudi Arabia. As a young girl she got to know Prince Sulton's daughter who was an avid horse back rider. Lisa and her Saudi friend had access to the Sulton's horses and rode horses over a vast area on his land. I mentioned to Lisa that I visited Jeddah 10 years ago when I was shipboard director for Class Afloat www.classafloat.com , a 188' tall ship that served as a floating high school for Canadian and American children. Lisa said she sailed on the Red Sea in small sailboats known as Lasers. The Red Sea is known to have a large white shark population and Lisa said it wasn't as much fun to snorkel after she saw "Jaw's" in a Saudi Arabia theatre. She grew up without TV in Saudi Arabia and it served her very well because she took advantage of all that a woman could enjoy in that country. As you may know, women can't participate fully in that country as they do here. For example, women can't drive cars. Lisa mentioned that there was a pool near her home where the Americans and other foreigners lived, however, the pool was segregated in such a way that there were hours for men to swim and hours for women to swim. She lamented the fact that she never got to swim with her father. Lisa and her family knew friends who lived in Tehran back in the 1970's and several of her family friends became hostages during the crisis in Iran during the Carter era. When Lisa reached the age of 15, she had to leave the country as the government felt that western teenage values were in stark contrast to Saudi values. The government paid for her to attend a fine school in New York; although Lisa laments that she didn't opt for a private school in Italy or elsewhere in Europe. Lisa speaks Arabic, French and of course English. She came to Maine to attend Bates College and is a trained Speech Therapist. In April of 2003 she started to work at Freeport Tack company. By December of that year, the owner decided to move on in her life and sold the business to Lisa. She has an active local clientele including a number of clients from Quebec and other parts of Canada. So, please stop in to see her fine store before Lisa moves next door where she will double her current retail space. For more information, www.freeporttack.com or call 865-1811.

Imported Motor Cars of Freeport

Mark who is featured here in front of his new business, Imported Motor Cars of Freeport, has extensive experience in the automotive business. Last year he bought the building here at 353 U.S. Route One in Freeport which previously operated as Freeport Automotive, a small local used Volvo dealership. Mark has an active Mini Cooper business including European cars such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes, VW, Saab and Volvo as well as Japanese brands. Many of his cars are purchased at the Manheim auction located one hour west of Philadelphia where I'm from. Each car he purchases is subject to a thorough inspection to make sure he offers customers the best quality used vehicle. Mark is thrilled with his new business and is amazed how all the details of purchasing the business all fell into place. He leases a space behind his showroom to a company that focuses on foreign car repair, a business that will be featured in a upcoming sofreeport post. Go online at http://www.importedmotorcars.com/ to check out his inventory. Or call Mark at 865-0008.

Freeport's George Brockman - Watercraft and Sport car enthusiast

After swimming my laps at the Freeport YMCA, I ran into Owen, a regular reader of this blog. He offered the wonderful suggestion to start featuring Freeport people in the SoFreeport blog. So, please meet George Brockman and his wonderful golden retriever, Olive Oil. George grew up in South Freeport and spent many years sailing on Casco Bay. George excelled in sailing so much that he competed in the National Sear's Cup where he raced a variety of sailboats including Turn-Abouts, Lightnings, and Explorers. He spoke enthusiastically about the thrill of sailing on a 16' Hobie cat strapped into a trapeze harness and heeled over to the max! His love of speed led him to power boats and eventually buying and selling them. Today I saw everything from a 16' skiff to a 34' Luhrs Motor Yacht on his lot. He business is both local and from those who are from away including a number of Canadians from Prince Edward Island (PEI), Nova Scotia and even Newfoundland. Apparently the PEI customers are in the Oyster business and are willing to drive the 10 hours down to Freeport to pick up a good, used boat. George is a youthful looking Vietnam Veteran who is an amateur race car driver. He competed at the 2004 Vintage Celebration in New Hampshire International Speedway in a very cool looking 750 horse power Chevrolet. Top speed he told me with a wide grin was 180 mph. Maybe I sould sell George my ME license plates with "007" on a conservation plate.

Jay Pinkham - Freeport's Harbormaster - Summer seems a long way away.

Today's post is a work-in-progress as I need to connect with Jay Pinkham, Freeport's harbormaster for an interview. Jay has the best water view town office in Freeport located at the end of town wharf. Jay manages a busy harbor including a waiting list for those who like me would like a permanent mooring in the harbor. To be on the waiting list, you need to pay a $5.00 dollar yearly fee. The thinking behind this is that those who are willing to pay a yearly fee are truly interested in having a mooring. Last time I spoke with Jay I learned that the waiting list was significantly whittled down. Freeport residents are eligible to be on the waiting list which effectively means that as a Pownal resident I will not be able to get a mooring. However, there are moorings available at Strout's Point Marine and Brewer's, the two private firms that provide year round boat services. You can easily google "Freeport Maine harbormaster" to find out how to apply for a mooring. You might want to also check out http://www.maineharbors.com/ Fair winds and following seas!

Would you believe this is MacDonald's in Freeport?

I was speaking with a new client of mine who is moving to Freeport from the Midwest. She and her husband are so taken with our town for many reason. One in particular is the way the town maintains it's New England charm with respect to all the national retailers who have to tone down their signage in order to business in Freeport. For example, one of the first things that visitors notice upon entering the village off of Exit 22 is how subdued and almost camouflaged the MacDonald's restaurant is at the corner of Mallet Drive and Main Street. My Midwest clients live in a town in Illinois where national retailers clog main street with large stores and super-sized signage. Ah, Maine the way life should be!

Motoboat "Knot too Fast" ahead of me on 295

I was thoroughly amused on my commute from Freeport to Portland by having a motoboat ahead of me with the name of "Knot Too Fast". As a sailor, the Maine State police couldn't have orchestrated a more original idea for reminding motorists to obey the speed limit during morning rush hour. Anyway, Happy Friday!

On the real estate front, my wife and I looked at the second phase of the Concord Brook condominiums located just off Pine Street in Freeport. We liked the way the developer tucked that phase into the woods. There is an extensive trail system behind Concord brook that leads to R&D auto as well as all the way to South Freeport village. Call me to set up a viewing of both the new and resale units at Concord Brook.

Tree Clearing near Exit 22 in Freeport? What's the Scoop

There still is no definitive word on what kind of building, if any, that might emerge on land that appears to belong to Pine Tree Academy. Perhaps Brendan Krueger, the school's Principal, will post a comment soon about what might be happening. The school, which is owned by the Northern New England Conference of the Seventh Day Adventists, hosts a large gathering of church member in July on their property. They also have a wonderful classic car show in August that car buffs wouldn't want to miss. The school's website is www.pinetreeacademy.org

Pine Tree Academy - A school with a fabulous music program

Pine Tree Academy is a K-12 Christian School whose mission is a quality Christ-centered educational institution full dedicated to the development of the spiritual, intellectual, physical, social and artistic talents of each student. My wife and I have been thrilled with Dottie Krueger who runs the music program at Pine Tree. Our daughter Elizabeth took piano lessons with Dottie for many years. My son Daniel has taken cello lessons there as well. Mrs. Krueger has taken some of her Pine Tree Academy music students on a European tour. If you have any further questions about the school, you can send an e-mail to Mr. Brendan Krueger who is the Principal at bkrueger@pinetreeacademy.org

Pine Tree owns 80 acres of land that borders in part 295. I've had several inquiries from readers of my blog about a large clearing of trees visible from 295 near Exit 22 that appeared within the last month or so. I may have an update from Mr. Krueger soon to share with you about potential development plans.

Beans has banner snowshoe sales this Christmas Season

I bought my wife snowshoes at Beans just before Christmas. Actually, I made my purchase the day before Christmas. According to Bean company spokesman, Lori Brooks, the company identified a new spending pattern shift where consurmers like me did a significant amount of shopping the two weeks before Christmas.

My snowshoe salesman, Eric, was very knowledgable and helpful in assisting me with my purchase. He mentioned low inventory for snowshoes including the new "snap-on" snowshoes that I bought for my wife. Clearly the heavy snows here in Maine have driven consumer demand for this product. Fortuneately, I had a box of snowshoes under the tree for my wife. However, I had to call Beans catalog sales to order the actual shoes that went with the snowshoes. The shoes arrived the Friday after Christmas and my wife was ready to head outside and enjoy a walk in our woods.

My wife is from Rio de Jeinaro where snow is unheard of. So it was all the more fun to see happily walking on top of our 22 inches of snow in the yard.

Stay tuned for updates about Village Station which is land that Beans owns in the center of town but has leased to a developer. The developer is charged with building the new garage and stores and leasing them. This project will make shopping in Freeport an even better experience than it is already. My wife and I stopped in at the Kittery Mall on the way back from Boston last weekend. What a boring shopping experience that is!

Cabella's, a national outdoor sporting good store headquartered in Nebraska, is moving to Scarborough on the corner of Haigis and Payne Road sometime in the spring of 2008. Scarborough seems like a bit of a drive from Freeport, but I'm sure I will make a trip down there to see how it compares to Beans and to see how price competitive they are.

You can't beat homeownership - Freeport ranch, log home!

This is a lovely 3 bedroom home in Freeport situated on 2.5 acres of land on Baker Road. I am the listing agent and it is scheduled to close on January 15, 2008. Once it closes, I can provide you the sales price.

It still makes sense to own a house and here is why. You have a "Use" asset that depreciates over time, while it grows in market value. Naturally, you need to keep the home in good repair to maximize your return on investment.

For example, with a stock you put in all your money for a little piece of a company. With a house, you put down a small amount of money (small is debatable) and you get all of the house. What other investment can you put in 5 percent of the cost of the asset, reap all the appreciation and pay no capital gains? Of course you need to own the house for two years and for singles you pay no tax on capital gains up to $250,000. If you're married, you pay no tax on capital gains up to $500,000.

Winslow Park Caretaker's house

I am hopeful that someone at the Freeport Historical Society will comment on my blog to interpret this house at Winslow Park. The restored house no doubt has a story including when it was last renovated. It appears to be the home provided to the caretaker of the park. I would think there would be a long line of applicants for the caretaker position when the current one decides to move on.

Freeport's Purple Pet Pantry & Webster's Proposed Septic Bill

The Pet Pantry featured here in this photo was the center of local media attention this fall with respect to whether or not it conformed with Freeport's ordinance for preserving the traditional New England village look. The owners prevailed when Fred Reeder, the code enforcement office, stated that in fact purple was an acceptable color. In fact, there were probably many colorful homes during the Victorian era around the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Freeport's David Webster is proposal a septic system bill modeled after a Massachusetts law that has allowed that state to have a thriving shellfish industry on Cape Cod, the Elizabeth Islands, including Nantucket. Webster's bill would require that failing coastal septic systems be corrected at the point of sale by the seller or the buyer.

Passenger Rail Update

There is much discussion about the Downeaster and how to fund the train in Maine. There is also talk in the state house about a proposal from the rail authority for Maine to pick up an 8 million dollar tab. In as much as I like the idea of the train service from Boston to Portland including an additional northern rail service to Freeport and further north, I'm a tax payer who is not willing to pay that kind of ticket. I think I've taken the train to Boston twice since the service began4 + years ago. I usually take the bus to Boston's Logan airport as an alternative to driving. It's still cheaper to drive to Boston for the occasional visit to Boston's back bay or to a sporting event.

On the real estate front, there is talk in the media about how home prices rose faster than rents. Since 2000, the price of buying a home shot up faster than the cost of renting one. This large divergence illustrates an overpricing of homes that can't be sustained. "Historically there's a relationship between value of a house and equivalent rents," says Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans in Livonia, Mich. Information gathered for the real estate news is from the Christian Science Monitor 1-2-2008 article written by Mark Trumbull In 2007, 22 parcels of land in Freeport sold, far fewer than during the peak of the market several years ago.

Forecast for the 2008 Housing market

The Wednesday, January 2, 2008 Christian Science Monitor had a front page article "Home prices: Where's bottom?" There were a few nuggets of information that I wanted to pass along to you including the National Association of Realtors data that said America's median home price is now $210,200, down 3.3 percent from a year ago but 7.6 percent above its 2004 level. In the last 3 months sales volume and prices for existing home sales, not new construction, were fairly stable. The current for-sale market has a 10 month supply of previously owned homes and a nine-month supply of newly built homes. An area of concern is that there is a higher foreclosure rate than in past housing downturns. Obviously a higher foreclosure rate could push prices down faster because a foreclosed home most often sells for a much lower price than a home sold with a Realtor. For a full report see Mark Trumbull's article at http://www.csmonitor.com/

Pound-of-Tea to Bustins - Winter canoe races anyone?

This is a racing canoe seen training on the St. Lawrence river for the upcoming race during carnival time in Quebec City. I propose that Freeport start such a competition especially this year with the early snowfalls we've had that normally don't come until February. In the Fall there is the Lobsterman triathlon here in Freeport. Why not a canoe race from Pound of Tea island to Bustins and back. Maybe I'll contact Beans to see if they want to be a lead sponsor. Who wants to join in and help organize this?

On the Freeport real estate front, there were 100 homes sold in town in 2007. 84 units were single family, the others were condos. Today I've shown property at the Running Ridge subdivision off the Baker Road. This is an affordable, convenient subdivision which seems to be selling well given the market that we are in.

New Year's Day in Freeport & at Pineland Center

Happy New Year! Here is a photo of Snowbird, a lobster boat tied up at the Freeport Town Dock. The easterly, raw wind was starting to kick up while I was down at the harbor this morning and you could feel a snowstorm brewing in the air. All the seasonal snowbirds who enjoy Maine in the warmer months are missing out on all the fabulous snow we are getting this winter. My wife and I went to Pineland Center www.pinelandfarms.org after lunch today to enjoy the miles and miles of groomed cross country ski trails. I saw many Freeporters at the Visitor Center or on the trails this afternoon. What a great way to kick off the new year.