The Little Town that Might

Posted On February 26, 2014

Brenda Goodine

James Fallows is an Atlantic Magazine national correspondent who, with his wife, has been visiting smallish cities and towns as part of a project called “American Futures”, where promising feats of economic or cultural reinvention are underway.
 
In his article in the January/February 2014 issue of The Atlantic he describes their visit to Eastport, Maine. (Eastport is near Calais and St. Stephen) He writes that a century ago, Eastport was a centre of the Atlantic Seaboard sardine canning industry with a population of more than 5,000. He adds that the population has decreased in every census since then, and a Maine state economist recently projected that if current trends prevail, by 2025 the population will be reduced to less than 1,000.
 

Most current residents are older, with a median age of 55. By national standards, they are also quite poor, with median annual household incomes of less than $27,000. The median income is even lower in the adjoining Passamaquoddy native reservation.
 

Fallows and his wife went to Eastport because they heard that this hard pressed little town was the scene of a creative recovery attempt. Fallows states, “By the time we left, one week later, we were convinced of the breadth and intensity of the effort.” He went on to write that he can’t say whether this will be enough to return the town to economic and demographic health, but, he adds, “The next time you hear some generality about the need for “resilience” and “reinvention” in America, give a thought to the 1,300 people in Eastport, Maine”.
 

Initially, Fallows stated they formulated questions before they visited places where reinvention was happening. (1,000 small cities and towns were nominated by readers of an online request for names of communities that fit the profile)
 

The questions were:

1. Why was this city able to maintain a manufacturing base?
2. How did that city revive its downtown?

Fallows wrote, “The most important questions are those you didn’t know to ask before you made the trip.”
 

He says one of the surprises so far has been the power of the local “turnaround narrative”, that is, the way people in town understand and try to apply the lessons of their successes. He cited Holland, Michigan as an example and wrote how this small city uses waste heat from their power plant to warm its streets and sidewalks to keep them snow free during winter. He continued to explain an important result of this by saying, “Everyone in Holland knows this story, including a downtown revival program, and uses it to underscore the ongoing importance of committed local leadership.
 

Fallows states that in Eastport, people are telling their own success story as part of willing it to be true. They are harnessing the Power of Positive Thinking! When Fallows and his wife asked whether Eastport seemed to be declining, to have levelled off, or to have begun an ascent the answers they received were “We are beginning the ascent” and “we are poised”.
 

“We’ve always thought of this as a 20 year effort”, an Eastport native told Fallows. “We are in 10 years now” This resident’s brother and his wife run the “Quoddy Times”, and he himself and his wife have set up a local museum of art, an art institute (Tides) and have converted a derelict downtown building into studio space for their artist-in-residency program. “Eastport Art Center” has three major productions a year. There is also a local string group that performs classical music sessions.
 

Other things going on in Eastport:

1. Reviving the port and recognizing that they are the closest Atlantic Seaboard Port to China, Korea and Japan. (Use what you have!)
2. They are lobbying hard for state and federal help in restoring the rail link that connected Eastport with Maine Central Railroad until it was abandoned in 1978. Even so, Eastport has steadily increased shipments by sea….One of its specialties being pregnant cows. European beef and dairy herds, reduced by mad cow disease, are now being rebuilt with largely American stock. Since 2010 some 40,000 head of cattle have been loaded aboard ships in Eastport. A native of Eastport convinced Sexing Technologies that Eastport would be an ideal transit point…a perfect example of Local Vision!
3. Another niche scheme: “Torrefied wood” pellets. Torrefied, from the Latin word “torrefacere”, means heating and drying and is a process designed to convert pulp and wood by-products, including stumps, into briquette-like pellets, thereby producing low carbon fuels. With state and federal aid, the Port authority has invested 9 million dollars into an enormous conveyor belt system that will make Eastport the fastest and cheapest site for offloading and shipping pellets and wood chips to Europe. They have processed 450,000 tons of wood pulp in a year. (Creativity!)
4. Tapping the tides. Fallows reports that Eastport is one of two places in the U.S. that tested, designed and developed tidal powered electrical generating systems. (Intelligence!)
5. Salmon Farming: A family owned Canadian firm, Cooke Aquaculture set up salmon farms around Eastport. (Success due to a Canadian company!) Lobster and scallops are other local harvest of the sea.
6. Building by downtown renovation. In Eastport downtown, facing the water is a super life sized statue of a bearded Viking-like fisherman holding a big fish. It was a gift from Fox TV after they filmed a reality series in the town in 2001. After the film crew left, townspeople started to think of how the downtown might look if revived. A group of local women bought a crumbling downtown building and renovated it with luxury apartments upstairs and an art gallery downstairs. Other “re-emerging” businesses Fallows reports are: Raye’s Mustard Mill which ships jars of specialty mustards all around the country (editor’s note: Raye’s Mustard is delicious!); The new boat making company; the quiet defense contractor who makes hazmat suits for the Pentagon and police departments all around the world.

 

“Willed optimism sometimes deludes people”, but as Fallows states, “It can also empower them”. Henry Ford famously said “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.” In practical terms, a belief that you can shape your fate is more useful than a belief that you cannot. (Hear hear!)
 

James Fallows asked a resident of Eastport (who had worked in Europe, California, Asia and South America and who still travels for business all around the world) “So why are you living here?” as he looked around at the small town.
 

“This is where I’m from”, was the reply, “Where the hell else would I want to be?”
 

This article may be read in its entirety here.