Eastport, a ‘startup town,’ gets some national attention

A few high-profile members of the national media descended on Eastport, Maine, this week.

James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, and Kai Ryssdal, host of the well-known public radio program Marketplace, visited Eastport as part of their American Futures project, which is looking at “reinvention and resilience across the nation.” Basically, Fallows and his wife are traveling to communities throughout the country and reporting on what they find. Ryssdal drops in along the way to join the journey and file some radio stories from the road.

Fallows and his wife visited Eastport’s port operatons, and was surprised to learn about the amount of hardwood pulp we ship to Asia, and got to know the town, even attending a community production of The Glass MenagerieFallows and Ryssdal also toured Raye’s Mustard mill.

Fallows writes that many communities he’s visited during the course of his career have made bets that have paid off with future success.

“Eastport, which has endured a number of disappointments through the decades, seems plainly to be in the middle of placing a number of such bets, as we’ll try to describe. Seeing people who are trying very hard, but who can’t yet look back and tell a tale of success, has its own drama. ‘We’re a startup,’ one of the people we interviewed this morning said. ‘Really, the whole town is a startup.'”

Fallows plans to continue writing about Eastport in the coming days on the American Futures blog and the bets it’s placing on its port, clean energy, and downtown revitalization.

Check back here if you’re interested to learn more about how Eastport is explained and described for a national audience.

Whit Richardson

About Whit Richardson

Whit Richardson is Business Editor at the Bangor Daily News. He blogs about Maine business, entrepreneurs and the economy.