Transcription of Beautiful Bethel #268
Spencer: You are Listening to Love Maine Radio, hosted by Dr. Lisa Belisle, and recorded at the studios of Maine Magazine in Portland. Dr. Lisa Belisle is a writer and physician who practices family medicine and acupuncture in Brunswick, Maine. Show summaries are available at LoveMaineRadio.com. Here are some highlights from this week’s program.
Dana: We’re part of an organization called Ski Maine which Greg Sweetser leads. The biggest goal is to make sure that the small areas have the resources they need to stay in business, both Sunday River and Sugarloaf, try to do what we can to support them not only from a resource standpoint but from a knowledge standpoint where we’re able to …
Robin: I learned from so many other people who are in the work, other community leaders around the state of what they were doing in their organizations and that really help to inform what we could do.
Dr. Lisa: This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine Radio Show Number 268: Beautiful Bethel, airing for the first time on Sunday, November 6, 2016. Nestled in Maine’s Oxford Hills, the town of Bethel has long welcomed home owners and recreational enthusiast alike. Today, we speak with people who know and love this beautiful town. Dana Bullen, Resort President and General Manager of Sunday River Ski Resort and Executive Director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, Robin Zinchuk. Thank you for joining us.
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Dr. Lisa: Today, it is my great pleasure to have Dana Bullen in the studio with me. Dana has served as the Resort President and General Manager of Sunday River since September 2, 2004 and brings to the position more than 25 years of ski industry and management experience. Prior to his promotion to Resort President and General Manager, Dana served as Vice President of Partnership Marketing for American Skiing Company where he oversaw corporate partnership programs for the company’s entire resort network. A native of Farmington, actually New Sharon, Dana tells me. Dana worked his way up to the ski business ladder surely after college holding various positions at Sugarloaf and their award-winning Sugarloaf Golf Club as a golf pro. Thanks for coming in.
Dana: Good morning.
Dr. Lisa: I have actually been through New Sharon. We were talking about this and it’s interesting because I haven’t met a lot of people who are from there. It’s a pretty small town.
Dana: It is, pretty special place. I guess the reason I’m in the ski industry is because very close to New Sharon is a small resort or small ski mountain called Titcomb. When I was two years old, my parents started taking me in ice skiing pretty much every weekend from that point until 50 years later today it’s been a great journey that started very close to New Sharon.
Dr. Lisa: Believe it or not, I’ve actually been to Titcomb. I think I skied there myself quite a while ago but I would agree with you. I love the fact that we still have in Maine the smaller ski resorts that are almost feeders for the bigger mountains sometimes.
Dana: Yeah, not only feeders for the mountain but they are feeders for the industry as a whole. We’re part of an organization called Ski Maine which Greg Sweetser leads. The biggest goal is to make sure that the small areas have the resources they need to stay in business both Sunday River and Sugarloaf and try to do what we can to support them not only from a resource standpoint but from a knowledge standpoint where we’re able to.
Dr. Lisa: I mean, I don’t want to just say that they are feeders for bigger mountains because they are very active and vibrant communities in their own way.
Dana: They sure are. Both my kids was ski racers. We went back if you’d have, I came from Titcomb. Went to Saddleback, started work at Sugarloaf. Went to Sunday River but then when the kids got on the race circuit we had the opportunity to go back to every ski resort in the state of Maine. There’s something really, really special about each one of them.
Dr. Lisa: I would absolutely agree with that. I remember from my own cross country ski racing days and being on the Yarmouth Ski Team, I mean, that was something that was so interesting was to go into the communities to be at these smaller places, to see really the support of the community members for skiing in general. People who are not skiers would come out and they would help organize the races which I found really fascinating.
Dana: The heritage you mentioned the Yarmouth team still today, right, the folks that create the passion pass that on from place to place whether you’re talking about Black Mountain or Titcomb, there’s these folks that pass on that passion for being outdoors for cross country skiing, for Alpine skiing and the heritage that goes along with that. It’s really special.
Dr. Lisa: When you were growing up in New Sharon, did you think that you would have this lifelong affiliation with ski industry?
Dana: It’s funny I guess I thought I was going to be a school teacher, that’s what I got a degree in and I felt like that’s where I was going to spend the rest of my life. I showed up at Sugarloaf to work for just half a winter and I never left. I fell in love with working in the industry almost immediately and quite honestly set the goal of I wanted to be the guy that was responsible for that resort. Very early on in my career I was able to get pass around from job to job within the ski resort which helped me have the background to do what I do today.
Dr. Lisa: I remember when we did a wellness story on the Sugarloaf Ski Patrol and there were people who had similar stories that they understood that they’re going to be part of this bigger industry. They’ve got their education. They came into the industry and they learned a variety of different … I mean, the Ski Patrol obviously are very highly qualified but they had a really broad experience. Is that common within the industry?
Dana: We have such an array of folks that come in for different reasons. We have retired folks at Sunday River that show up and want to make the rest of their life part of the ski industry which is great. We have kids coming right out of college. At Sunday River, we work with the UMF Industries Program. We bring kids there who one of whom now was out of Big Sky, very successful. There’s such a wide array of people when you have 1,200 team members, the background of them is very diverse.
Dr. Lisa: What has it been like for you to go from spending quite a lot of time at Sugarloaf to now being at Sunday River and being like the guy?
Dana: It’s been an incredible life. The ability to work at two great ski resorts is amazing but the number of people I’ve come in contact with throughout the whole thing is special. It’s really fun for me to watch people grow and if you look at Sunday River, there are nine active general managers and resort presidents that are out there and that have come through Sunday River in the last 15 years. That’s a pretty specific feeling to work some where that’s a feeder to the rest of the industry. It’s fun to get up every day and work with people who are motivated and excited to be outdoors. Outdoors is a big piece of my life whether it’s skiing, hunting or fishing. I truly enjoy every minute of it.
Dr. Lisa: You also have the opportunity to work with people not just here in Maine. You’ve been able to network with people really all over the country, maybe even all over the world.
Dana: It’s funny, one of the things that I got thinking about before I showed up down here was people that have influenced me. They have been from all over different resorts all over the world. Different people mentoring me on different subjects, working with people from Steamboat, working with people from Big Sky, working for family like the Kirchers, the Boyne family that’s been with us the last seven years has been amazing to come back into a ski resort family. It’s been quite a ride.
Dr. Lisa: The ski industry has interesting challenges that maybe not every industry has. For example, last winter there was a little bit of scarcity of snow which I know that U.S. is snowmaking so that’s not something insurmountable but as I said, it’s almost like being a farmer where you’re watching the skies all the time and wondering how this is going to impact you economically.
Dana: Speaking of being a farmer, the Farmers’ Almanac came out yesterday and said we’re going to have a cold and snowy winter which makes me really excited. We have the luxury in the ski industry. It has changed a lot, right? I’ve been in it for the last 30 years. It’s changed. Snowmaking capabilities today, you’ve seen it. You’ve witnessed it at Sunday River and the power we have to make snow. The grooming techniques, the technology we have as it relates to understanding weather and how it impacts us. It has a great effect on making sure that even in a tough winter people can still have a good time at the ski resort.
Dr. Lisa: How do you work with the fact that if it’s not snowing in Massachusetts maybe people are thinking, “It’s not snowing in Maine. Maybe I don’t need to go skiing”?
Dana: We attack it from a number of different angles. One of which, you’ve experienced the Red Bull Frozen Rush at Sunday River. When you immediately say to somebody we’re going to hold a truck race with 800 horsepower trucks on the side of ski resort, they look at you strange. Nick Lambert who does an incredible job as Vice President of Marketing decided that this was something he was going to attack because it was going to put our name out there with folks. It was going to show people how much snow we had even on a challenged year which I did last year. These events, the Santa Sunday events, those help as well but there’s no question, there’s no substitute for when it snow six inches right where we’re setting in Portland.
Dr. Lisa: I like the fact that Bethel has become a destination in its own right so you’re not just talking about Sunday River and skiing at Sunday River, you’re also talking about the ability to get really world class food at some of your restaurants. You’re talking about being able to go to the outdoor discovery center for some of your summer stuff. I mean, you’re doing so much in that region to make it a year round experience for people.
Dana: I think we are. I think the expectations have changed drastically. Twenty years ago you could say it’s all about the snow. Today it’s about the snow and people’s expectations of what they are going to do with their families, what they are going to do on a time that surrounds their outdoor time whether that’s skiing or hiking or golf. The food, the other amenities, the logic components, the expectations of increased and I think we’re doing a pretty good job of meeting it. I also understand that Sunday River is a resort, it’s part of a big community and Bethel and Newry and we rely on a whole bunch of other folks to bring that experience to our guests as well.
Dr. Lisa: I think about my own ski experience very early on. I would get my college ski pass and then in order to make sure I got the value out of it, I would be there as the lifts open and then I would ski till as the lifts close and I can do it through any weather and any temperature drops. Now, I’m a little bit older. I don’t necessarily want to be on the slopes all the time. My kids are a little bit older. Sometimes they want to be on the slopes, sometimes they don’t. I love that flexibility. I love that you don’t have to feel like all you can do when you go out there is ski. Is this something that you’re noticing that these changes over someone’s lifespan?
Dana: Yeah, it sure is. Now the good news is backing you up as the next college kid who will be out there during the rainstorm and then be out there being out there early season and late season but as people grow, we’ve seen a lot of changes. We do night skiing at the resort. The biggest users of night skiing first of all is teens that are stuck in the middle of what do they do and how do they do it. Right on their heels are grandparents and grandkids. Mom and dad are out having a nice dinner and either grandma or grandpa has got the young child out with them skiing at night and watching those demographics change you see it in our hotels with our lodging. You see it with the condos. The demographics changed but I think we’re doing a pretty decent job of meeting the needs of everybody.
Dr. Lisa: Tell me about some of the things that you’ve been putting in place over the last three or four years at Sunday River. I’ve eaten at your restaurant which was really quite wonderful several years ago when it first opened. I know that Harding Lee Smith is bringing another restaurant up there. What’s the vision behind that?
Dana: The vision behind Camp was to take a restaurant that really wasn’t branded, really didn’t have a personality and turn it into a place that was comfortable. Turn it into a place that when folks walked in they could drop out and feel like they are part of the community. When you say the word camp in the state of Maine, you could be referring to a lake house, you could be referring to an outdoors hunting camp, you could be referring to a place on the coast. People have this camp is not so much a place, it is a state of mind.
When we created Camp and David Pooley helped us brand that, we did that restaurant trying to create that sense along with making sure that the food was the type of food you could get throughout the state of Maine. We partnered several years ago with a woman named Poc Sun Lan and she brought Cho Sun into our base lodge. It has been an incredible experience for our guest to be able, in ski boots eat some of the best sushi in the state of Maine. Harding Lee Smith who is undoubtedly one of the best restaurant operators in the Northeast. He’s coming up to do something in the North Peak Lodge and we’re really excited to work with them on that.
Dr. Lisa: I actually really love the idea of doing things out of places like the North Peak Lodge. I love the places that you can almost feels like you have to work a little to get there but then the reward is so great. I think this is one of the things that really appeals to people who like to ski, the sense of adventure.
Dana: It is and part of skiing is that sense of independence. You make a choice every time you get on the lift, which lift you’re going to get on, where you’re going to ski, where you’re going to sneak off to for lunch and people love having those special places that they can call their own out there.
Dr. Lisa: I also love about skiing that it’s such a family oriented activity. I brought my children up there when they were quite small I think my child who’s born in February I probably had her on skis the following winter. It’s something that really can age with you as a family and bring you together.
Dana: It sure can. As I said early, mom and dad started taking me skiing when I was two. That translated several years later to my wife and I taking our children skiing when they were two. It’s become a lifestyle for us. It’s become a family activity and every weekend I see families and next generations of families and new kids coming up and that’s a really fun part of the job.
Dr. Lisa: I’ve also seen that it creates a bond between parents and teenagers during a time that can be a little challenging but when I’ve skied with kids who are teenagers, sometimes I’ll go out and they’ll have their Go Pro on or they’ll be over at the Snow Park and they’ll be doing completely different activities, by the end of the day we all come together. We all have dinner. We all talk about what’s been going on. That’s something that you don’t always get during that age range.
Dana: It is and the great news is it’s really hard to use a cellphone when you’re on a chair lift so some of the best family conversations can happen when there’s not a thing else to do other than to be in nature and be together. I think that’s special.
Dr. Lisa: It’s also special talking about chair lifts just off the cuff. When you are, I don’t want to use the word force but you are given the chance to ride chair lift with somebody that maybe you’ve never ever met before and you can really come up with some interesting conversations. You can really meet some interesting people and that’s not an experience that a lot of us have.
Dana: Saturday mornings, I ski everyday. That’s part of what I view as my job is to go out and see what our guests are going to ski. Really unique in the fact that I get to go out early, watch the sun rise, be able to have the Ski Patrol, spend some time with them but it’s also fun when the chair lifts open to the public. I stay out for about an hour and a half and just skiing around. Some of the chair lift conversations are just very, very interesting. We have a Canadian gentleman who lives right next to Mont Tremblant that actually skies and rents a place at Sunday River because of the snow and the difference. Bumping into people like that just makes your day.
Dr. Lisa: Sunday River has also become known for adaptive skiing which I think is great because the more people we can get out on the slopes the better. You’ve been doing it quite a number of years.
Dana: We have. It’s truly a part of who we are at Sunday River now. It’s part of the DNA. It’s something that as long as Sunday River there, Maine Adaptive will be there with this as well. Pretty unique folks in that group of people as well. Very motivational to watch what some of these people go through and still just have an incredible time. There’s a young man graduated from Boston College that skis there every weekend now. It’s a struggle for him to get to the slopes but once he’s there it’s an art form to watch this kid up on the hill. It’s amazing.
Dr. Lisa: It seems to me that what you’re trying to do is really just create greater access, greater access for different people at different stages in their lives or with different levels of ability or really different I don’t know, passions for the sport. Is that a fair assessment?
Dana: It is. One of my favorite pictures as it relates to Maine Adaptive, they sent me, they had a Wounded Warrior project up there and they sent me a picture of one of our trails with 12 empty wheelchairs sitting beside it. Knowing that there were 12 people out on sitskis was really impactful.
Dr. Lisa: Doesn’t that also speak to the sense of adventure that probably is within all of us? If not, many of us anyway. Maybe you are a wounded veteran or maybe you are born with some different ability and you need Adaptive services but something within you that doesn’t get blunted.
Dana: It doesn’t. It’s interesting, you bring that up. We work with the HOPE Association as well at Sunday River and they bring folks to us that have challenges. They have disabilities of varying forms. What I’ve come to learn from them is every person has something to contribute. We have this one gentleman named Richard who I’m not sure what his disability is but he talks very slowly. I see him every morning and you need to be prepared when you say hello to Richard because it’s going to take a minute.
Last winter when things are going pretty rough, Richard stop saying have a good day to me to have a good destination. I thought that was part of Richard’s handicap that he maybe was confusing his words until I realized one day that he could tell that I was becoming more sullen as it didn’t snow and I finally got what he was communicating. It was funny because once I dusted myself off and got going again a couple days later Richard went right back to have a good day. Every person has a chance to contribute and that’s something I’ve learned from that whole consociation.
Dr. Lisa: How do you let’s say, weather-the-storms or weather-the-lack of storms, how do you keep a positive perspective and look at the longer term goals when things are not going well?
Dana: That’s the job, right? That’s the key to it all. If you’re going to lead it needs to be serving everybody else. Part of serving everybody else is making sure the other guy that tries to maintain that attitude isn’t always easy. Things always don’t go right. We don’t always meet all the needs of our guest but if we can get our entire leadership team focused on positive energy and taking care of the team members, the team members will take care of the guests. It rolls right through. We’ve gone through this incredible process of servant leadership that Boyne introduced to us seven years ago. It has had a pretty big impact on our resort all around.
Dr. Lisa: What would be the single biggest lesson that you’ve learned in all of your years of working in the ski industry and now at Sunday River?
Dana: Boy, if I could go back and teach myself to talk less and listen more. I spend a lot of time leading and charging the hill and what I realized is that asking more questions, getting more people involved and putting their thoughts into the future has far more impact sometimes than doing that. Listening more than talking.
Dr. Lisa: You’re still a young guy so it seems likely that you’re going to be able to put that into practice moving forward I would think.
Dana: I hope to be there 20 more years as I’ve said earlier it’s so much a part of your lifestyle. I can’t imagine not getting up and going there every day. I’d also be remissed if I didn’t tell you that I love going to work, I love the skiing, I love the outdoors. It’s really a great lifestyle.
Dr. Lisa: I’ve been speaking with Dana Bullen who has served as the Resort President and General Manager of Sunday River since September 2004 and who brings to the position more than 25 years of ski industry and management experience. I really appreciate you coming in and talking with me today. We will put the link to your website in our show notes and I don’t think it’s hard for people to find Sunday River so I encourage them to do so. Thanks for coming in.
Dana: Thank you very much. That was fun.
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Dr. Lisa: As a long time lover of the Bethel area and skier and I guess enjoyer of foods in that area and the lovely landscape, I can’t really say more to help people want to enjoy this except I think our next guest can probably do an even better job than me. This is Robin Zinchuk who’s the Executive Director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, a position she has held since March of 1986. In her professional career, Robin has brought the Chamber from a tiny non-profit organization with a post office box and a telephone answering machine to one with more than 225 business members, three full-time staff and a budget of more than $350,000. Amazing. You’re doing great stuff out there in Bethel.
Robin: It’s been a wonderful journey, incredible groups of people have helped along the way, pretty much worked with all volunteers, the board members, the volunteers that come and help at projects and events and we’ve altogether made it really great organization and have really I think helped to put the Bethel area on the map in all four seasons. I mean, one of the very first things you said was that you’re a lover of skiing and I think that’s what a lot of people think about when they think about Bethel and the Bethel area.
Obviously Sunday River and Mount Abram as ski destinations but it’s so much more than that and I think that we’ve really helped to bring people forward that can help to tell the story of why it’s such an incredible place to visit. We’ve seen a steady string of people who have maybe originally been visitors there. Maybe they were skiers or they came and hiked or whatnot but they really love the vibe of the place. They’ve come and brought now their talents from wherever it is they came from and really have enriched the community in so many ways.
The Bethel area is really becoming a terrific place for young retirees to come because they really value that community life that maybe the small town that they were from at one point in one of the Southern new England states or mid Atlantic states. They’ve seen so much change and growth that they are yearning for the more simpler community centered existence. Those folks obviously coming with almost a whole lifetime of experiences and perspectives have really enriched the areas so I’ve really enjoyed leading in a way that helps to facilitate people to come forward. That’s what I think my biggest gifts to the community has been.
Dr. Lisa: You began doing this back in 1986.
Robin: I was just a very, very young girl I guess, young woman, 29 years old.
Dr. Lisa: That was a long time ago.
Robin: That was a long time ago.
Dr. Lisa: You’ve made an incredible commitment to this area.
Robin: You know and I don’t think that when I started. I foresaw doing it for my life’s ambition. I don’t think I got into it thinking of that that way. I was a business owner. I owned a bed and breakfast. My husband and I bought a big old home right on the Bethel common and we didn’t really know what we were going to do with it. Somebody suggested a bed and breakfast because Sunday River was starting to grow and there wasn’t enough room base for the skiers. It was and being a business owner first that I got interested in the Chamber of Commerce.
I really didn’t even know what a Chamber of Commerce was when I first moved to the community but it was just a group of volunteers. At the time that I came on to the scene the group that was very involved was starting to get tired and a little burnt out. A few other young business owners and myself got together and we started dreaming about what the community could use and that the business community needed. As Sunday River was starting to grow and more people were coming to open small business, it was a very, very part time back then because I had little kids when I first started with the Chamber. I had two small children under the age of two and a half.
Then I quickly got pregnant with my third and it was oh my. Then the fourth came and it was oh, oh my. I did the burnt Chamber as I could with lots of other helpers. It’s just really grown. I didn’t really do the work full time until all of my children were in school. I had lots of people helping me. My husband’s always been self-employed so we did our kids as a team. They are all active little boys involved in lots of different things. The Chamber work just happened as we could make it happen and I learned from so many other people who are in the work, other community leaders around the state of what they were doing in their organizations and that really helped to inform what we could do. Yeah, it’s just been a journey.
I think one of the biggest turning points in the work was the year that I spent at Leadership Maine. The intention of that program is to take 40 some different individuals from all over the state and help us to understand about the Maine economy, all the different facets of the Maine economy. One of the very first trips that we took was up to Aroostook County after Loring Air Force Base had closed. We heard the story of the people of Aroostook County determined not to all have to leave because there was a big majority of people who had somehow been employed by the base or in conjunction with the prosperity that the base brought to Aroostook County.
That was really inspiring but there were lots of other stories that came here to Portland and we learned about Congress Street and the rebirth of Congress Street and how non-profits and the municipal government and private businesses worked together to ensure that Congress Street could prosper and they brought the Maine College of Art downtown and they re-invigorated Merrill Auditorium and they rebuilt the organ and the multicultural center up at the other end of the Congress Street. It was just those were each month’s topics and went around and learned about these incredible entrepreneurs in different corners of the state who are really making things happen.
I’ve always taken those lessons back to my own community and said, “Wow, if the people can do what they have done despite all kinds of difficult circumstances working against them, we can work with our assets to make this community and this region great.” That was a gift, the Leadership Maine year was a real gift.
Dr. Lisa: It is interesting to think about Maine because we are a state that’s been in transition really from the very beginning. I mean, we’ve had paper mills and other sorts of mills come and go. Sometimes they linger a little bit longer, sometimes they don’t. At one point, Bethel was considered a great farm land and was supplying fruits and vegetables to people I think really in this part of the world somewhere around the civil war if I’m remembering correctly. We’ve been lots of things to lots of people for hundreds, thousands of years if you consider the native Americans who lived here. If we decide that we’re going to be whatever it was that we are now and we need to stick with that identity then we’re probably not going to be successful. We probably do need to be able to transition as you’ve described.
Robin: Yeah, when I first moved to Bethel in 1984, there were seven working mills and right now we’re down to Hancock Lumber which is a fantastic employer. When you think about how many people those mills employed and then suppliers to those mills, it’s pretty incredible the transition that just our little community has gone through. Sunday River as Sunday River grew became a real impetus for the hospitality industry to which has Bethel has long had a history of hospitality for a couple of hundred years. A couple hundred years ago the trains came and brought people from Boston and New York and we had this incredible, beautiful homes that were built in what’s now the National Historic District.
These statesmen and stateswomen and whatnot and composers and conductors and people that came to Bethel to rest. They actually came to seek a rest from the city life and that’s been part of Bethel’s story as well. We’ve had this spirit of hospitality for a long time but you know, when we were really relying on the mil economy it was not the focus and really it has become the focus I think of our community. The hospitality story and the hospitality assets that we can market have brought all these interesting people. We’ve got this huge wellness movement that is really very alive and well.
Lots of people that have brought their interesting talents and so there’s a real vibe around wellness. Then we’ve got the incredible Maine Mineral And Gem Museum that is soon to open in 2017. That has amplified the gem and mineral story. That has again been very, very much a part of Maine’s story in general especially Oxford County which has this incredible repository of natural gem stones. There’s a circle of people that have known that but the Maine Mineral And Gem Museum will be able to tell the story to a much broader audience and it’s going to be an incredible attractor of individuals that will each I think …
Oftentimes and I think we all experience this when we travel, we don’t necessarily know how the experience of going to a place is going to impact us and we hear the story time and time again. I came to Bethel 15 years ago for a season and the story has now … I mean, it just lives on. People I think feel very blessed to be in a place that is where folks know one another, they see each other, they greet one another, they are looking out for one another. It’s a really pretty special place.
Dr. Lisa: You know all about coming somewhere and staying because you actually came to Maine to visit your sister. Then you stayed. We gave you a questionnaire to fill out and we asked what kept you here, the landscape, the people, the promise of a fulfilling life in a more rural place but you came from New Jersey.
Robin: I did.
Dr. Lisa: Tell me about that. Tell me about that contrast or maybe comparison. Maybe there’s some similarities between where you came from and where you have lived now.
Robin: I was born and raised in the suburbs of New Jersey so about 35 miles outside of New York City and I went to college in New Jersey. My degree was in teaching. When I graduated in 1978 I was one of those cycles where there weren’t a lot of teaching jobs. There was an overage of teachers and not enough jobs and so I took stock of that. I actually traveled for a few months with a girlfriend out west and I was blessed actually to have a father who was a teacher and my parents met on the west coast although they are both from the east coast and so he had a lot of friends out west. We traveled back and forth across the country a lot.
Every opportunity that my parents could throw us in the back of the van and or the station wagon and take us traveling and so I saw a lot of places. When I came to this realization that I don’t think, I didn’t think that I was destined to stay in New Jersey. It happened that my sister and her husband came to West Paris, Maine and they were doing the Back-to-the-land movement. They had saved up money and they bought a 100 and somewhat acres in West Paris. I came to visit them and actually ironically I met my husband who was the store keeper down at the end of the road and he and I were raised about a mile and a half from one another in East Brunswick, New Jersey. I never knew him there.
He was just enough ahead of me in school that I didn’t meet him. We had that common bond I guess and after a few months I decided to move in and help him work in his little general store. You know those stores, if people remember the old TV show Petticoat Junction it was like that little store where everybody came and sat on the milk crates next to the potbelly stove and exchange stories about their gardens or hunting or the weather or the neighbors or whatever the topic of the day was. I saw the beautiful simplicity in people and I had seen that in my travels but I was not experiencing that in my home town.
People were in a rush. There was constantly traffic. It just wasn’t fitting me. I was fine as a kid there. I feel blessed that I was raised there. I love New York City. I’m very comfortable with going there but I just yearned for more, a slower lifestyle I guess. That’s what I found. My journey from West Paris lead to Bethel when the state bought our store, our little general store to relocate the road. We were looking for a place where we could live and operate a business. That’s when we bought the big old house on the Bethel common and opened what’s now The Chapman Inn Bed and Breakfast. That’s the beginning of my Maine journey.
Dr. Lisa: You also seem to get around a lot. I see you at a lot of events in other parts of the state so as much as you love Bethel you also love the connections that you’ve made to people in other places.
Robin: Yeah, I think that I’ve been very, very blessed through my career that my board of directors whoever is my media bosses have really encouraged me to be active and to be active in tourism related things in Augusta. I was appointed by Governor Baldacci at the time to the Maine Quality of Place Council and they were yearning for someone from a more rural area of the state to be on the council to help to enrich the learning and the discussions. I’ve been really fortunate. I’ve traveled through my chamber work. We have organization in Maine called the Maine Association of Chamber Executives and it’s a professional development learning opportunity and so we get together two or three times a year in different areas of the state.
I really have enjoyed my travels. My work has taken me to all corners of the state from Aroostook County to Washington County to Southern Maine and every place in between and I’ve made friends. I think it’s easier here in Maine and maybe some might debate this but it’s easy to know people because we’re only 1.3 million people here in the state. If you’re a community advocate it’s really easy to get to know people. Now that I’ve been in the work for a long time, there are folks who want me to be on their advisory committee I’m finding that sometimes I have to turn down invitations because there’s just so much of me to go around and I want to do a good job when I agree to do something.
I just love it. I love the coast. My husband and I just bought a home on Orr’s Island in Harpswell. We’re active and very avid sea kayakers and so we’ve been up and down the coast. It’s not until you really get out into the water and look back that you realize how beautiful the coast line is. I mean, you certainly experience the wonderful little sea side towns and whatnot and the economy that they have but man, you get out in the water it’s like being on top of a mountain and looking out at this incredible landscape that you can really fully appreciate it.
It’s like you have to be up or out to really, sometimes when you’re in the middle of it you don’t necessarily see it but being out in the water and it doesn’t … I mean, we’ve been out here in Casco Bay and we just are blessed to live in such an incredible state. The communities, the people are just fantastic and I’ve also just realized that the collaborative spirit is alive and well here. People do really want to work together and help one another to be better. The more we realize that we don’t have all the answers that there’s a different perspective, a different way of doing things the better we all are and that’s been great.
Dr. Lisa: What do you see in the future for Bethel?
Robin: I see us becoming more and more aware of climate and I mean last winter was a real lesson and how dependent we are on our snowy winters. I think it makes us more when we realized the dependency is not a good thing that we realized that we have all the tools in our tool boxes to prosper no matter what. I think we can be sensitive and make decisions that are going to be better for our environment. I think our businesses are doing those good things. I mean, Hancock Lumber does incredible job. Sunday River and Mount Abram are doing incredible things to really be good stewards of our environment.
I see us becoming more diversified and the Mineral and Gem Museum I mean there’s been a lot of anticipation about that facility opening and what it may help to create on Main Street, Bethel. All the major highways bypass the village of Bethel and in some ways that’s a blessing and in some ways it’s not because a lot of people miss the village and as they think the town of Bethel is the blinking light where the intersection of Route 2 and Parkway is because they just miss it. Despite we put up signs that say historic village and straight ahead but there are people that miss it. I think that the intentionality of the visitation to the Mineral and Gem Museum is going to be have spectacular lasting effects.
It will help to inspire the small business owners on Main Street that sometimes they get discouraged because they again this feeling of over-dependency on Sunday River, on the snow, or on something that is outside of our control. This makes us more resourceful. We have this wonderful edible Bethel initiative going on that involved everything from the youngest student lead initiatives to our active senior community all working together to bring attention to being closer to the earth, raising vegetables and our food. There’s a lot of really positive things happening there that I feel very proud to be a part of.
Dr. Lisa: I appreciate you coming in and talking to us about what’s going on in Bethel and also I appreciate the work that you’ve been doing as the Executive Director. We’ve been speaking with Robin Zinchuk who is the Executive Director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce. Absolutely, a friend of Maine Magazine and I appreciate you just in general and I think about people who are cheerleaders for our place and our state and you are definitely one of them. You are doing a really, really good job so thank you.
Robin: Thank you very much.
Dr. Lisa: You’ve been listening to Love Maine Radio, show number 268: Beautiful Bethel. Our guest have been Dana Bullen and Robin Zinchuk. For more information on our guests and extended interviews, visit LoveMaineRadio.com. Love Maine Radio is downloadable for free on iTunes, our preview of each week’s show, sign up for e-newsletter and like our Love Maine Radio Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter as Dr. Lisa and see my running, travel, food and wellness photos on Instagram.
We love to hear from you so please let us know what you think of Love Maine Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also, let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enabled us to bring Love Main Radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Beautiful Bethel show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.
Spencer: Love Maine Radio is made possible with the support of Berlin City Honda, The Rooms by Harding Lee Smith, Maine Magazine, Portland Art Gallery, and Art Collector Maine. Audio production and original music have been provided by Spencer Albee. Our editorial producer is Paul Koenig. Our assistant producer is Shelbi Wassick. Our community development manager is Casey Lovejoy, and our executive producers are Kevin Thomas, Susan Grisanti and Dr. Lisa Belisle. For more information on our post-production team, Maine Magazine or any of the guests featured here today, please visit us at LoveMaineRadio.com. Here’s a clip from our upcoming interview with me, Love Maine Radio producer Spencer Albee.
Spencer: It is a lot. I don’t know how many. I did a Spotify check on other artists and it really is a lot of records since I’ve started professionally it’s almost a record a year, 21 years about that I’ve been doing this.
Dr. Lisa: You were born here in Maine?
Spencer: York.
Dr. Lisa: You grew up in York.
Spencer: Technically I was born in Dover, New Hampshire but …
Dr. Lisa: We’ll still let you be.
Spencer: Thanks. Do I qualify as a native?
Dr. Lisa: Yes, since you probably crossed the boarder a few days of age I would imagine.
Spencer: It wasn’t my choice.
Dr. Lisa: Yes. I was just down in York for the York Hospital fund raiser and it’s interesting to have people in the audience come up to me afterwards and say, “I knew Spencer,” one of them was your piano teacher.
Spencer: Yeah, Ray DeMarco.
Dr. Lisa: He was doing piano for the event and he was very excite to have me mention your name during the presentation that we gave.
Spencer: That’s so funny.
Dr. Lisa: Also somebody that you went to high school with who is a radiologist now with York Hospital.
Spencer: Yeah, Jenny Cuts.
Dr. Lisa: You’ve maintained some strong relationships over the years with your hometown.
Spencer: Yeah, I still feel very connected to it. I go back, I was recently asked to speak at the Honors Dinner which was for kids who have maintained was it a B plus or higher overall like no C’s. Not an average, just all grades B plus or higher which is really impressive and I was also very curious that they had me speak at it because I had a little bit more of a creative approach to my high school education with that I guess.
Dr. Lisa: I mean, it seems like when they think of Spencer Albee they think of a person who has made a success out of themselves.
Spencer: Yeah, they’re very kind to say so and it actually kind of gives me pause where I can … Because I feel like if I were to look at where I’m at now through the eyes of my eyes at 18 maybe I’m not where I thought I would be in the specific terms of success as I defined it then but to look back now at 40 and realize that I’m still allowed to be musician, I’m still allowed to primarily do what I feel like I’m born to do. I was very fortunate. There’s a lot of people who are not that fortunate. They had to take jobs that maybe they don’t like or aren’t as inspiring.
It comes with some struggles for sure but ultimately though I feel very lucky in having those moments like some of my high school friends or former teachers. Ray DeMarco for instance had the unfortunate task of prepping me for USM because I didn’t know how to read music. I still don’t. I mean, I understand the fundamentals of it but some people you can push sheet music in front of them and they can play beautifully and I just can’t make the connection between the written note and my hands, I get stuck somewhere behind my eyeballs. I do feel very fortunate. It is a good community to be part of for sure. There’s a lot of people up here involved even for the magazine Matt Cosby he’s from York. Derek Lombardi who’s also my manager and there’s a lot of us. We still bond together in a really fun way.
Dr. Lisa: I honestly had only ever passed through York and had never been to the town itself. It’s a really nice little area. They got a beautiful harbor, there’s a cliff walk, there’s this fascinating long beach which starts with a couple of very nicely maintained mobile home parks at the entrance.
Spencer: Yeah, if you’re coming up from the harbor. Yes, it’s funny, my dad grew up there so I have another set of stories associated with each of those areas. As we see them now my dad has a different version of what it used to be. Lots of local references like the running gag is like over down by the Maggie Nason Road, the sick narrow road, this is like where this woman Maggie Nason lived in 1952. It was certainly very fortunate to grow up in a town that had I guess such a beautiful beaches. The way York is organized. I’m actually from Cape Neddick which is just south of Ogunquit so Cape Neddick even though it has its own post office, went to the York school system which involved York beach, York harbor and then just the town of York which extended a little more west.
There’s a lot of resources there. We grew up going to a beach that was incredible. It’s different now because of the way the sands have changed and stuff but it was a small beach and then about say 50 feet of water when the tide was out, 50 feet of water that was about a little below your knee so the kids could play but then as you get older you could go past the rock formation there’s the deep hole. All this stuff that you would … Someone from New Jersey would work all year long to gather up enough vacation time and resource to come up here and have that just for a few days it was just our backyard. Pretty fortunate. The mountain, I mean, use that term loosely it’s more of a …
Dr. Lisa: That’s Agamenticus?
Spencer: Yeah, big hill.
Dr. Lisa: You have a little lighthouse?
Spencer: The most photographed lighthouse in the world.
Dr. Lisa: Small but mighty.
Spencer: Small but mighty, indeed.
Dr. Lisa: Being that we were there in late September it was really striking to me how busy it was. I mean the town was filled, the beach had all kinds of people walking up and down. There really was an interesting pride. When I say nicely maintained mobile home park, people had their lounge chair up front, they had their flags, I mean this was something that absolutely as you’ve said, this was something that was such an important part of their lives to be at their little bit of beach for however often they are able to get there. It seems like people return year after year.
Spencer: Yeah, these aren’t what you’re referring to like camp ground. The name is escaping me but these are people who have their plots and they come back every summer. Likely you got a set of people who are maybe retired down in Florida but as soon as it warms up they are back up in Maine. A lot of people are from there. A lot of people are from Massachusetts and a way they come to enjoy that beach. It does stay busy up through Columbus Day. That’s really the beginning of the tourist season down there. It always stay pretty busy but certainly up until Labor Day. Thank you for listening to Love Maine Radio. We hope you can join us for next week’s program.