Mike Perrino, Principal owner of Casco Bay Yacht Sales

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for spring! Like many sailors, I love to ski; however, after February school break I'm starting to long for the lazy hazy days of summer. Today I saw the first signs of spring at the Portland In-Door Boat Show off Warren Avenue. There were rows and rows of glistening new motorboats and a few new sailboats. Under foot on the walkways, there was a comfortable, soft green astro-turf on which to leisurely walk around and visit with the boat vendors.

I was hoping to run into Mike Perrino at the show and as you can see I was successful. Mike loves the used boat business and he loves his prime Freeport location on US Route One across from Cold River Vodka. During the summer, tourists will get off 295 by the Delorme mapping store in Yarmouth and cruise up to his facility in Freeport.

Mike grew up on Great Pond in the Belgrade area of Maine and has been involved with boats his whole life. Mike majored in Forestry at the University of Maine in Orono. He become involved with Casco Bay Yacht Sales in 2005 when he decided he would pursue a career that he really loves. He has a a few service technicians working for him as well as Heidi, the woman who manages his office.

I saw a few sailboats for sale that caught my eye. He has a 33' Hunter sloop listed at $21,000 which doesn't sound bad at all for a sailboat of that size. He also has a 20' foot 1975 centerboard Balboa with a full suit of sails on a trailer (no engine) for $2,495. Visit his office at 398 US Route One or visit his online store at www.yachtworld.com/cascobay/ His toll free number is 1-877-242-3472 or the local number is 207-865-4103

Meet Clinton Swett - At Freeport Town Hall

Clinton Swett is the Assistant Freeport Town Assessor and someone you will enjoy getting to know. He is knowledgable, helpful, organized and calm amidst all the demands on his job. Clint and I spoke about his Maine roots, education and career development in his very attractive corner office at Freeport town hall. Clinttold me that there are many Maine residents with the last name of Swett just as I know that there are many Drakes located throughout Maine. His mother is from Calais and his grandfather is from the Houlton area. There is a Canadian family connection too with several family members in the Bangor area. Clinton's mother remarried a Pharmacist in the Portland area which is how Clint arrived here in southern Maine. H graduated from Portland High School, one of the oldest and prestigous urban American public school systems in the US. He attended the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Technical School where he focused his studies in the Travel industry. He obtained his first job as a computer operator for a Research and Development firm in Columbus Ohio where he worked for 18 years. Clint and I both share work experience in computer operations back in the days when computers were large behemoths requiring special air conditioned rooms. Clint joked about working a CDC mainframe computer that was water cooled. Clint moved back to Maine in 1998 and took a job at CMP in their computer operations department. When CMP outsourced their computer operations department to New York, Clint had been working a part time job in the town of Freeport Finance department. When Lynn Anderson, the assistant assessor, left her position, Clint was a natural choice especially with his extensive and highly developed computer skills. When he is not working, he enjoys dabbling at golf. He says it is a good day on the golf course when he doesn't lose too many balls and no one gets hit by one of his shots. He and his wife love to travel, especially to Quebec City. He also loves living in Freeport and marvels that he and his wife live in a town that attracts thousands of tourists from all over the country and the world. He and his wife are within easy walking distance from their Kendall Road home to local restaurants and shopping.

Cold River Vodka - Chris Dowe

I enjoyed getting to know Chris Dowe today, an Operating Principal and Head Distiller, at Cold River Vodka in Freeport. Cold River's other Operating Principal is Bob Harkins whose past professional life included U.S. Women's ski team coach. Cold River Vodka came to market in October of 2004 with an official launch meeting held at the Harraseeket Inn. Chris and Bob have a unique corner on the US vodka market in large part because of the copper pot still that you see in the photograph. The copper takes out the bitter sulphur compound and yields a vodka product with a "backbone" as Chris describes it. Cold River Vodka obtains fresh potatoes from Donnie Thibedeau's Green Thumb Farm in Fryeburg Maine. It takes about 11 days to produce 200 cases of Cold River vodka. Chris has extensive experience setting up microbreweries nationwide; so far Cold River is distributed in all the New England states including Delaware, Maryland, DC, South Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana and Florida. Just like the nationwide microbrewery movement that created strong demand for local beer, Cold River is part of the "craft distilling movement" comprised of a large number of small distilleries surfacing across the country. There were 60 new craft distilleries when Cold River came to market. Today there are 140. Chris says that the demographic for vodka drinkers is a high income 35 to 65 year old. Chris is originally from Windsor, Connecticut. He lived for a short period of time in Kennett Square, PA, known as the mushroom captial of the country where he sold medical office equipment. Today Chris and his wife live in New Gloucester which is close to Freeport and is a Maine town that has beautiful rural land and open space. For more information http://www.coldrivervodka.com/

When you live in Freeport, you occasionally need to get away!

I haven't been posting for the past week as it is Maine's February vacation and our family had a Colorado getaway. Here I am with my two boys, Phillip and Daniel on top of Snowmass earlier this week. Perhaps our family was the exception, because undoubtedly many Freeporters have skied the "loaf" or other fine Maine ski establishments like Sunday River, Mt. Abrams, etc. In fact, one Californian who rode with us up the chair lift asked me "Doesn't Maine have good ski areas?" Of course I answered a resounding "yes".

Heidi, my wife, is a travel consultant with her own travel website at http://www.mybesttraveldeals.net/ She knows how to save you money on travel and she did just that for our family for February break. We visited family in the greater Aspen area this past week so we had no lodging expense. We saved significantly on the airfare because my wife booked our travel on her travel website. We flew the outbound and return leg of our trip on a Thursday. Did you know that Thursday is the cheapest day of the week to travel? It would have cost us an additional $400 per person to travel on any other day. Our rental car that we picked up at Denver International Airport was almost as expensive as our plane tickets. Yet, with Heidi's travel agent discount we saved significantly on the car. When you live in Freeport or the Greater Portland area for that matter, you are in easy striking distance of Logan Airport, just a 2 hour ride on Concord Trailways www.concordtrailways.com We flew Midwest Airlines which has the most comfortable seating, business class leather seats with tons of leg room! Oh, did I forget to mention anything about Aspen real estate? Real estate is all about location, right? I saw ads in the Aspen Times for a 9,000 s.f., seven bedroom, seven bath home offered at $29,000,000. The former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States has his home on the market for $110,000,000. Apparently, the ambassador sold his guest house for a mere $25,000,000. Anyway, it's nice to be back home, refreshed, and ready for a good solid spring Freeport real estate market.

Freeport Curves - Imagine all the fun You'll have working out here!

Jacqueline who is the owner, seated on the excercise machine in the photo, and Mary Lou, Amanda, and Julia are the staff that will make working out a whole lot of fun. My wife, a Curves member, mentioned that Julia is a great artist with some of her works featured in the health club here. Jacqueline is from Kansas City, Missouri which is a classy mid-western town. Jacqueline and I were talking about the "city of fountains" where a JC Nichols, a local developer went to Europe in the lat 1800's and bought many grand fountains and them shipped to Kansas City where he integrated them in one of the most attractive residential developments that I've ever seen. We also talked about the great barbeque that is a hallmark of the town. Speaking of Hallmark, the world headquarters of Hallmark Cards is in KC. Jacqueline is certified by the American Physical Fitness Council. She received her certification at a course she took in Las Vegas where she studied with famous fitness icons like Jack Lalane and Arnold Swartzeneger. She started her women's fitness career at a health club in California. According to Jacqueline, it was a long story how she arrived here in coastal Maine, a story she felt would be too long to include here. Jacqueline opened her first Curves in York, Maine about 13 years ago. She's delighted to now be in Freeport and she simply loves living in Maine.

The mission of Curves is "Strengthening Women" founded by Gary Heavin and his wife. Gary says in his book, "The Curves' dream began over thirty years ago when I dropped out of a pre-med program and took over a failing health club. With nothing but a passion for women's health, I began the learning process that would inevitably evolve into the world's largest fitness center franchise" The book I refer to is titled "Member Guide: Curves, strengthening Women". So ladies, don't delay, go visit Freeport Curves today which is located above Thai Garden, easily reached off Exit 20 in Freeport. Or call 865-3147

Freeport Conservatory Design Gallery

I had the pleasure of meeting Heidi Pranger who manages the retail end of Freeport Conservatories. Many of you have probably driven by world headquarters here in Freeport as you can see their contemporary office from 295. Heidi and I talked about her business and her background in the conservatory featured in this photo which is one of three conservatories that you can view. Heidi is a Mainer who has lived in far away places like Oslo, Norway and not-so-far-away places like San Diego. She also lived for a while in New York City. She and her husband, who is from Cumberland, were glad to finally make it back to Maine. I was interested to learn that Heidi is a flight attendant who is quickly making a full time transition to managing Freeport Conservatories. check out the outside view of the conservatory featured in my photo at http://www.freeportconservatories.com/

The custom designed conservatory featured with Heidi seated for this photo measures 14' x 14' and was constructed in the UK. While I was in the showroom a man came in who lives in a retirement community in Falmouth. Heidi gave him the tour and arranged to meet with him in Falmouth for a site survey. This customer seemed very enthusiastic about what he saw. The process typically works as follows: Heidi visits the site and takes the measurements which are converted by computer design equipment to the metric system and sent to England. The time can take as little as 8 weeks; but normally takes anywhere from 12 to 16 weeks. There can delays assoicated with the trans-Atlantic voyage via cargo ship from the UK to Boston. US Customs can delay a shipment up to 3 weeks. The conservatory is locally assembled with a final cost of around $250 dollars per square foot. A 4' deep frost wall foundation is poured on which the conservatory is placed.

I am a prime candidate for a conservatory. I need as much winter sunlight as possible to make it through January and Febrary. My Brazilian wife would also enjoy winter living more easily if we had one attached to our home. We may call Heidi soon at 207.450.3522.

Frost Gully Violin - A one-of-a-kind Maine Music Store!

I had a very pleasant, late afternoon visit with Kevin McElroy at Frost Gully Violin in Freeport. There was a nice piece of Irish or Celtic recorded music playing in the background. Kevin is a New Englander with family ties to Downeast Maine and to the north shore of Boston. He has been fixing instruments all his life. He studied music instrument restoration at UNH in Durham under the famed Hans Nebel. Nebel is from Bavaria and was fortuneate enough to escape Nazi Germany in 1944. Kevin founded the business here in Freeport 12 or 13 years ago. A unique, full service store, Frost Gully provides the opportunity to buy a violin, a cello, a viola, a mandolin, or simply to buy bows. No worries if you can't buy an instrument, Frost Gully has music instrument rentals. Right now Kevin has 300 rental instrument contracts which he is particularly proud of. I shouldn't neglect to point out that you can also sign a contract where you can rent-to-own an instrument. As long as a school has a music program, Frost Gulley provides rental instruments to grade schools all the way through to colleges. He supports musicians at the Portland Symphony Orchestra, the Bangor Symphony as well as the Mid-Coast Symphony. This store is so unique that you won't find another like it between Freeport and Boston. Kevin likes the variety of interesting and diverse people in the Freeport community. Kevin has clients who come as far away as Winnepesaukee, NH. He says that people always have a reason to come to Freeport. Kevin appreciates Freeport's busienss-friendly environment. For more information, drop in the store located next to Royal River or go online at www.frostgullyviolins.com

Mako My Day - Perfect Description for our Weather today

The name of this boat caught my eye as I drove down US Route 1 in Freeport today. The boat is bundled up in shrink wrap and sits cheek by jowl to other winterized motor boats on the lot owned by Casco Bay Yacht Sales www.yachtworld.com/cascobay/ . Today's weather includes a winter weather advisory for the Freeport area which includes a wintery mixture of rain, sleet, snow and who knows maybe even a smattering of hail if we're lucky.

On the real estate front, I have a new listing at 72 Webster Road in Freeport. The price is $461,600 and it shows beautifully. Check it out on http://www.realtor.com/ by using the MLS number of 877853. I had an open house before the disappointing Super Bowl last Sunday. The 3 people who dropped by to view the home loved it!

Kevin Gallagher - Freeport area Personal Insurance Agent

I have a daily regimen of swimming laps at the Freeport YMCA. Recently I've had the pleasure of meeting a fellow Pownal resident, Kevin Gallagher. He and his family moved up from Portland in 2004 to enjoy country living with the convenience of easy access to Maine's largest city. Kevin and his wife Mia treasure being able to walk in their woods, keep chickens and the occasional pig, and enjoy the peaceful life. I was interested to learn that Mia Dyson is the minister at the South Freeport Church.

Kevin grew up in the Fairfield county (Westport, Norwalk) area of Connecticut which is about an hour from New York City. As this is the day after the Patriots lost to the New York Giants, it is important to point out that Kevin is a passionate Patriots fan who is heart broken as I am about the game last night. Kevin spent the summer of 1974 up the coast in Friendship which made a great impression on him. In 1982 he moved to Maine to work at Portland Stage Company as Lighting Designer and Master Electrician. After different careers that included work as an electrician and social worker, he raised mllions of dollars for Friends of Casco Bay and the Univeristy of New England. Kevin is now proivding insurance protection to families and businesses throughout southern Maine through his work for J.C.Milliken Agency and Guardian Life.

Kevin has served as a Board Member of MaineShare, the Pownal LandTrust, and the Maine Society for Clinical Social Work, as well as Chair of the Finance & Stewardship Committee at Mid-Coast Presbyterian Church in Topsham. Now, his free time is spent driving his four children around, reading, and cheering on the Celtics. Give him a call at 651-9411 if you wish an insurance quote for Auto, Home, Busienss, Life, Disability, or Long Term Care.