The Visitors Information Center (VIC) for Aroostook County is located in its county seat, the “Shire Town” of Houlton. Situated just off Interstate 95 in an inviting, wooded setting conveniently located near gas stations, motels, grocery stores and a Walmart, the VIC is also in close proximity to downtown Houlton and its shops, restaurants and a beautiful downtown park near the library. It provides a safe place for travelers to stop to rest, obtain information on places to go and see, walk their dogs, use the clean and well-maintained restrooms, and even access the free WiFi, too.
The VIC is not “just about Houlton”, though. It is all about the VIC’s friendly and knowledgeable staff welcoming and guiding travelers throughout The County and northern Maine in general, including our friends and neighbors to the south in Washington County and beyond. The staff is professionally trained by the Maine Tourism Association and all are well suited to provide valuable guidance to travelers regardless of their destinations within the State of Maine.
The VIC is the “northern gateway” to the rest of Maine for travelers headed south; largely from Canada, and the staff pride themselves on providing good information in their roles as ambassadors to the entire state.
A Northbound traveler’s first official impression of The County very well may be the VIC and its staff – and first impressions mean everything. I am proud to be on the Board of Directors of the MTA, which provides the necessary knowledge and training to all the VIC’s staff in Maine. I am especially proud of the Houlton staff as they take great pride in where they live and what this area has to offer visitors in so many ways.
Many of the 250,000-plus travelers who have checked in with the staff at the Houlton VIC over the last 10 years have received valuable guidance and information, and then have proceeded to book lodging, make restaurant reservations and purchase goods and products at local businesses located throughout the Houlton region. These are the tangible benefits of the VIC being located in Houlton.
The intangible effect of the VIC is that the staff has the ability to impress upon the traveler that there are many places to see and numerous things to do right here in northern Maine. In promoting not only the immediate Houlton area but the entire region, the staff acts like a “traveler-by-traveler” branding process. And as with most branding processes, tracking the positive effects as it related directly to revenue is challenging at best, but I would venture to say that the benefits far outweigh the overall costs of operating the VIC.
The decision was made by the Maine Department of Transportation to no longer fund and support this center. The town of Houlton stepped up, took charge and became owners of the VIC and thus has an economic responsibility to maintain the building and grounds. That funding comes directly out of the town’s annual budget. It is no secret that there are those in Houlton who wrestle with the continued funding of the VIC from a purely bottom line standpoint, but, in my view, opposing the continuation of the funding of the Houlton VIC is comparable to opposing economic development and tourism in general within The County.
What is realistically at stake here if funding were to cease is the prospect of the closure of the VIC, which would result in all MTA-funded staff being added to the roles of the unemployed in The County. Both of these prospects would not be good for tourism or the general economy in our area. What are the possible solutions?
• The town of Houlton continuing to fund the operating deficit, thereby keeping the VIC open for the foreseeable future. To the extent this is 100 percent attained, that would be good news for the VIC, its staff and The County in general. If not — and the Town determines it cannot justify funding or only elects to fund a portion of the VIC, then:
• The town of Houlton may want to consider soliciting, from various sources (public and/or private) funding to offset the annual operating deficit. After all, there are municipalities and businesses located north, south and west of Houlton that benefit from the information provided by the VIC staff. While difficult to quantify, the financial extent of those benefits, must be considerable. Therefore, why wouldn’t other municipalities contribute funds to help the Town of Houlton maintain the VIC? The town needs to put forth a concerted effort to solicit financial assistance, be sincere about the benefits, and promote this point of view in person by attending meetings and open discussions throughout The County.
I agreed to become a board member of the MTA because I, as owner of a County-based business and a vocal supporter of “all things Aroostook,” was excited to become an outlet and resource to County-owned businesses and chambers of commerce at the state level in Hallowell, the MTA’s headquarters. I am the northern-most MTA board member and am honored to be in this position. That said, I am also an MTA member who benefits from the association and all the VICs in Maine, most importantly, though, the VIC in Houlton.
The VIC is an important component, both tangible and intangible, of my day-to-day business operations and to the economic well-being of The County. The committed MTA staff in Houlton does a great job directing travelers in any direction and I think that is an economic boost for our area. If there is even the remotest chance that funding will not be approved by the Town of Houlton and/or there is no supplemental assistance from others to assist the Town, there is the prospect that the VIC could close – a highly unfortunate circumstance for many businesses throughout the region.
There needs to be a focused commitment toward exploring finding a viable solution to supplementing the operations of the VIC for the greater good of The County and northern Maine, as well as all points south of Houlton. The prospect of a closed VIC is not the image we as one of the Top 10 travel destinations in America (per The Lonely Planet magazine in 2013) want to project, in my personal opinion.
I implore anyone reading this to talk with your own town officials and local businesses of all stripes to forcefully bring that collective message of the Houlton VIC remaining open directly to the Houlton Town Council.
Jim Brown and his wife Kim have owned Rideout’s Lakeside Lodge & Cottages on East Grand Lake in Weston since 2012. His background is in real estate and finance.
