In Maine, it’s not hard for cabin-fever sufferers to find harbingers of a long-awaited spring.
Some might settle for seeing potholes filled with water. Others will point out muddy roads and lawns.
Diehards may say it’s not spring until a few tufts of grass turn green.
Add this to the list: The season is truly upon us when the Old Town Canoe Co. stages its massive factory sale.
Customers come from across Maine (and far beyond) to check out deals on canoes, kayaks and all kinds of paddling equipment that’s lined up on every patch of spare grass or pavement at the company’s Gilman Falls Avenue plant.
On Friday morning, Dan Deveau was among the hundreds of bargain-shoppers milling among the assorted boats.
By 11 o’clock, he was loading four brand-new yellow sea kayaks into his truck and ready to return home.
When you hear where “home” is, you’ll begin to understand how popular this yearly sale really is.
Try Surrey, Prince Edward Island.
“It’s about seven hours to here, if you’re to do it right through,” Deveau said.
But that’s not what the avid paddler did.
“I came down last night. I have a friend on [Route 9], so I stayed there and came down early this morning,” Deveau said.
Early, yes. Too early? Not quite.
“We were here this morning at about quarter after six, in the lineup,” Deveau said. “There were about 60 people ahead of us. And no coffee.”
For the record (and in order to show you, again, how popular this sale is), the sale didn’t officially open until 7 a.m. And Deveau didn’t actually finish filling out the paperwork, paying for the boats and pulling out of the driveway until nearly noon.
The sale continues today (9 a.m. until 6 p.m.) and Sunday (10 a.m.-3 p.m.)
Deveau said he lives near the beach in Surrey and enjoys paddling. But he said there were two big reasons he came to Old Town for the sale for the second year in a row.
“I heard the deals weren’t going to be as good this year, but with our dollar coming so close together [with the U.S. dollar] right now, [it made financial sense],” Deveau said. “Plus the fact, my wife felt it was time that I got out and gave her some space for an hour or two, so I thought, ‘OK, no better reason. Let’s go.’”
Deveau said he actually headed to the sale hoping to find more than four boats, but he came up empty. Emptyish. More or less.
“I’ve been kayaking now for 20 years and my old, original boat, I still have,” he said. “I came down here, really, to upgrade on that boat, but the value just wasn’t there to upgrade.”
Since he had four boats in his truck, the fact that he didn’t find his dream boat obviously didn’t slow Deveau down for long.
“So I thought I might as well get a couple for my kids, and of course, coming from a small town, when someone hears that you’re coming down, they say, ‘Gee, would you look for me, too?’” Deveau explained. “So that’s why [I bought] four.”
Many of the shoppers apparently shared Deveau’s mindset. Some bought one boat. Many others bought two. And still others brought pickup trucks towing multi-boat trailers, and filled them up with assorted canoes or kayaks.
For Deveau, the payload for his return trip to Prince Edward Island: three 13-foot Cayuga sea kayaks and one 14-foot Cayuga.
All were bright yellow.
“Easy to spot out there on the bright blue Atlantic,” Deveau said with a smile.
Want to go camping?
It’s no secret that we’ve had an incredibly mild late winter and early spring.
It should come as no surprise, then, that outdoors enthusiasts are able to take advantage of the weather and do some things they usually wouldn’t think of this early in the year.
Want to go camping?
The Maine Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks and Lands announced this week that those who want to enjoy a bit of early camping (or, for that matter, just enjoy a day hike) can now do so at five state parks.
Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal and Sebago Lake State Park in Casco and Naples opened for the season on Wednesday.
Camden Hills State Park and Lake St. George State Park in Liberty each opened last weekend.
And this weekend, visitors will be able to camp or enjoy day use at Cobscook Bay State Park in Edmunds Township.
In a press release, Mike Leighton, the Bureau of Public Lands regional park manager, said in a news release that the Cobscook opening is the earliest on record for the facility.
“We’re opening because we can,” Leighton said in the release. “And because the demand is there. With this early season, people want to recreate, and because the weather has been so favorable, we can open up the water system without fear of its freezing.”
All 106 campsites at the park will be open this weekend. The park typically opens in May.
Among the other state parks that the BPL is eyeing for early openings: Lamoine State Park, which will likely open May 1; and Peaks-Kenny and Lily Bay state parks, which will probably open earlier than normal but not as early as many other state parks.
For more information, go to www.parksandlands.com.
‘The Good Life’ hits Brunswick
If you missed Thursday night’s Bangor showing of “The Good Life,” and you’re not averse to a road trip, you can catch the show in Brunswick on Thursday evening.
The Gray Ghost Productions film drew more than 100 anglers and onlookers to the Sea Dog Brewing Co. this week, and Thursday will be held at the Frontier Café and Cinema at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
The film is the third full-length fly-fishing feature produced by Maine native Carter Davidson. It includes fantastic footage filmed from Labrador to the Florida Keys … with Maine prominently included.
Fly Fishing in Maine (www.flyfishinginmaine.com) is presenting the Brunswick screenings, and all proceeds from the event will go to the FFIM Grassroots Grant Fund.
FFIM is an online fly fishing community that also performs valuable outreach and conservation work in the state.
