BUCKSPORT, Maine — The one thing Bucksport can’t afford to do in the wake of the shuttering of its largest employer is rest on its laurels and think about what was.
On Saturday evening, about 100 community members came together in the middle school’s performing arts center to toss around ideas to help rebuild their community — some big, some small, some complex, some simple and some outlandish.
Residents started by sharing the town’s and surrounding area’s assets — a rich history, the riverwalk, theater, shops, river cruises, the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, Fort Knox, a skilled labor force going back generations and more.
Many suggestions for how to sustain the town through the loss of the mill focused around small and large changes to refocus the economy around retail and tourism.
David Weeda owns the Williams Pond Lodge, an off-the-grid bed and breakfast in Bucksport. He’s known for playing the bagpipes around town, and proposed a “Buskport Festival,” in which buskers — people who play musical instruments or otherwise perform in public areas for tips — from across the state come perform at the Bucksport waterfront. Weeda’s idea drew applause and chuckles, but the idea seemed to be a popular one.
Residents threw around ideas that ranged from a waterfront concerts series — on a smaller scale than the one in Bangor — to historic walking tours.
“We’re a jewel on the coast of Maine that is easily accessible to all the other jewels around us,” from other coastal communities to the Katahdin region, Weeda argued.
Residents want the town to capitalize on the cruise ship and yacht traffic coming up and down the river. Visitors should be exploring Bucksport and spending some there, rather than hopping on a bus to Bar Harbor, they argued.
Other residents suggested looking to alternative energy, partnering with the universities to develop tidal and hydropower, harnessing the Penobscot River. Some suggested approaching institutions, such as Maine Maritime Academy or Jackson Labs, to see if they’re interested in finding a new place to expand.
Christian Koelbl, an RSU 25 kindergarten teacher, suggested redeveloping a portion of the mill property to court retail outlet stores, potentially drawing some of the same shoppers who travel south to shop in Kittery or Freeport on a regular basis.
There’s a lot of uncertainty, not only for the town’s residents and laid off workers, but also for town officials, about what the former Verso Paper mill’s potential buyers plan on doing with the 250-acre property.
Some residents want officials to find a way to continue making paper at the mill, putting skilled, laid-off millworkers back to work making paper products with a more reliable market, such as paper towels or tissue paper. That might be out of the town’s power, as it doesn’t own the mill.
It’s unclear what AIM Development, the prospective buyer, plans on doing with the mill, but the most common speculation is that much of the mill will be demolished and AIM might redevelop the site to run a scrap operation, according to Town Manager Derik Goodine.
The sale by Verso to AIM Development is expected to close after a Jan. 13 hearing on a lawsuit challenging the sale is held in federal court in Bangor, according to a Verso spokesman.
“We aren’t going anywhere,” Goodine told the crowd Saturday night. “As a community, we have to survive.”
BDN reporter Bill Trotter contributed to this story.