Nationwide GPS Monitoring Survey Reveals Maine House Enchancment Retailer Visits Up 29%

Derek Pray loads wood onto the back of a customer’s truck at Hammond Lumber Co. in Auburn on Tuesday. Daryn Slover / Sun Diary

This week is the buzz of DIY, street food, and Halloween with terrifyingly questionable tastes. How questionable?

Maine supposedly loves sweet corn.

We’ll let that sink in a moment.

First off, Mainers seem to be moving things forward on the home front.

The Hearth Home Improvement Surge Study, published this week, used aggregated GPS data from cell phones to track visits to local and national hardware stores, and found Maine posted a press release from July 18 through September 20, the 2nd.

Louisiana ranks # 1 with a 48% increase attributed to Hurricane Ida. Maine visitor numbers increased 29%.

Steve Pray, who is the company’s vice president of the company’s southern region representing Hammond Lumber Co.’s Auburn and Portland offices overseas, said he is seeing lots of kitchen and bathroom remodeling and new home starts this time of year.

“The wood markets have receded a bit from their peak, so people are starting to get their projects off the ground that may have been put on hold,” he said. “We are still seeing a lot of sidings, a lot of interior work, a lot of kitchens, floors, modernizations of their existing houses.”

Another trend, thanks to more people working from home during the pandemic: “We’re seeing a significant increase in people outside of the state coming in to convert their seasonal homes full-time.”

Pray said it’s hard to tell if more people are doing the job themselves than in previous years.

“It is difficult to find a good quality contractor now,” he said. “Many are fully booked until next spring, some in summer and autumn.”

LOCAL STREET FOOD

Lisbon Street between Ash and Main Streets will be closed for three hours for seven aisles on the street on October 21.

Shanna Cox, president of the Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, said the hope is that this will be the first year of many who come to Taste The Harvest dinner that highlights local food and chefs.

“We hope that this event will provide an opportunity for great food and a good time, while also helping to ensure that our local food economy – farmers, meat processors, cheese makers, brewers and winemakers – is seen and supported,” said Cox. “This event will put money into our local food economy and support our work together to grow the food and agriculture sectors.”

The event also supports the work of the Local Foods, Local Places Action Plan, she said.

Dinner for the evening is bought from over 10 local farms. Chefs from Sonder + Dram, Boba, Orchid, Cowbell Tap and Grill, Mother India, Break Coffee, and The Green Ladle serve dishes at food stations along Lisbon Street with tables on the street for dining.

Lost Valley Brewing, The Vault, Cellardoor Wines and Fiore Olive Oils and Vinegars are also participating.

On Tuesday, Cox said there were about 80 of the 250 tickets left for the night.

REALLY TERRIBLE

Maine’s favorite Halloween candy? Pucker up: It’s Sour Patch Kids. Card from CandyStore.com

CandyStore.com is back with its annual list of the most popular Halloween candies by state, based on 14 years of its bulk sales dates leading up to Halloween.

In Maine, Sour Patch Kids are at the forefront. Starburst is in second place. Candy corn comes third.

Nationwide, South Patch Kids was # 6, Starburst # 4, and Candy Corn # 10.

Ready for more horror?

KillTheCableBill.com used Rotten Tomatoes and Google Trends to find the horror movie that each state was most “obsessed with” compared to other states, and for Maine it was. . .

“The lighthouse.”

Rotten Tomatoes describes the 2019 film as follows: “Two lighthouse keepers are trying to keep their wits about it while they lived on a remote and mysterious island in New England in the 1890s.”

You may remember the one about the very grizzled Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe.

Quick hits about business comings and goings. Do you have a buzzable tip? Contact the author Kathryn Skelton at 689-2844 or [email protected]

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