How It Started

I'm coming clean right off the bat. I'm from the dreaded "away." In fact, I swore off Maine before I even visited. Living in New York City in 2005, my then-boss and now-wife had a habit — shared by most Mainers, as I’d later learn. She

Never.

Stopped.

Talking.

About.

Maine.

Then life did its thing: we went from work buddies to best friends. Dated. Got engaged, married. And all along, Maine was a third wheel in the story — showing up on regular trips to visit family and friends, weaving its way into our conversations about what life outside the city might look like. Ten years after meeting in an office on 5th Ave & 17th St with the idea of putting down roots and starting a family, moving to Maine didn’t just feel possible.

It felt inevitable.

Yeah, Maine LOVES Maine

As the idea of relocating became reality, we spent time in Portland interviewing and networking. In one such conversation, the (oh-so-shocking) topic of Mainers' emphatic love for their state arose, and the person on the other side of the desk chuckled and let out a knowing sigh:

“Oh yeah, Maine LOVES Maine.”

I bought the URL that night knowing they were potentially the most accurate three words ever spoken.

Living It

Now we’re raising kids here, and I get it. It’s the same friendly faces you see at the beach. The summer concerts in the park. A camp escape on a lake in Casco or tucked up in the mountains of Rangeley.

It’s my kids swimming in the ocean and lakes, skiing and hiking trails, and the laid-back kindness of people who make you feel like you belong. Maine feels like home in a way I didn’t know I needed.

You Know the Feeling

Maine Loves Maine isn’t about souvenirs or kitsch. It’s about an inescapable attitude that has always been here — sometimes understated, sometimes boisterous, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, but always present. And it's about how I, someone “from away,” came to discover it, live it, and embrace it. How that love for the land, the people, and the approach to life turned me — a Jersey boy with a decade of NYC grit under my nails — into a proud convert, praising Maine from the top of Katahdin. Just like anyone else who's ever experienced The Way Life Should Be and realized it goes deeper than just a slogan.

This brand is our way of capturing that pride, honoring it, and planting a flag proclaiming that without condition or refrain, Maine Loves Maine.