PARK(ing) Day  is a annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform parking spaces into "PARK(ing)" spaces: temporary public places.

Even small towns can participate in this global event! What if every town in the Midcoast decided to join in for PARK(ing) day? Imagine the fervor that would create, the buzz, the attention that would bring the midcoast. Can you imagine a "PARK" in the 22 downtown or village centers of Brunswick, Bath, West Bath, Woolwich, Wiscasset, Damariscotta, Newcastle, Edgecomb, Nobleboro, Waldoboro, Warren, Thomaston, Rockland, Rockport, Camden, Lincolnville, Northport, Belfast, Searsport, Stockton Springs, Verona, and Bucksport?

Young people in your town may be especially good at creating a "PARK" in your community. Start the conversation today and let Friends of Midcoast Maine know (info@friendsmidcoast.org) so we can keep you posted on the momentum. Visit PARKING DAY for more information and to add your location to the global map.

The mission of PARK(ing) Day is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat ... at least until the meter runs out!

WORKSHOP: SAVE THE DATES!  

"Place-making and Creating Community"

October 11 and 12 in Lincolnville and Belfast

Save the dates for this free two day workshop focusing on placemaking, streets as places, and using codes and a robust public process to build community.

Using the small village of Lincolnville Center on Day One and the City of Belfast on Day Two as the laboratory, workshop leaders from the Project for Public Spaces, Dreher Design of Vermont, and Friends of Midcoast Maine will conduct a hands-on set of field exercises and interactive discussions to help communities evaluate places and spaces and learn how places shape behaviors.

A form based code is one tool that can help a community enhance their existing assets to create the "bones" for a walkable, healthy community and set the table for livability and sustainability.   Placemaking can help put the "meat" on the bones, activating well framed spaces and turning them into places of social and economic exchange. By adding the notion of "upside down planning" and building "the community as the expert", this workshop will begin the discussions so communities can figure out what behaviors they want to encourage, promote and facilitate and allow for that to happen.

This workshop is open to everyone, from all midcoast communities...young and older, planners, code enforcement officers, town managers, selectmen, comprehensive plan committee members, conservation commission members, developers, business owners, downtown organizations, regional planners, designers, and community members who care about the future of their communities and the midcoast and want to create vibrant, great places.

Save the dates: October 11 in Lincolnville and October 12 in Belfast.  Attend both to learn the most! More details soon...

Ed McMahon was the keynote speaker at the Friends of Midcoast Maine Annual Meeting in Damariscotta in mid-June.  His informative, provacative and inspiring talk "The Dollars and Sense of Preserving Community Character!" is now available on line. Visit Ed McMahon's FMM Keynote Address 

We will also have a limited number of DVD's available for purchase. For your own copy, e-mail

info@friendsmidcoast.org. There is a $10 charge for shipping and handling.