BY WALTER GRIFFIN
FOR THE BEACON

BELFAST — Travelers looking for inside information about Maine should be able to find all they need at the Maine Coast Welcome Center.

Located two miles from downtown on US Route 1, the welcome center provides an ideal spot for visitors to stop for Maine information, make reservations, use the restroom, grab a snack or drink, check e-mail or let the kids and pets out for a walk on the broad lawn overlooking Penobscot Bay.
Owned by Jim and Pat LeClair, Maine Coast Welcome Center is similar to state-run tourist information centers, only privately owned.

The difference is that the LeClairs work directly with the businesses and services they will be recommending to visitors. Having direct knowledge of a specific product or business gives them and their clients a marketing advantage, they said.

“Our whole concept here is that we know the people of the places and businesses that we will be recommending,” Jim said. “Nothing in here is going to be from outside the state of Maine. People who come in here want things from Maine. I want things from Maine.”

The LeClairs have produced advertising publications and directories for businesses throughout the state.

Jim LeClair is from Limestone and Pat was raised in Brunswick.

The couple has accumulated a wealth of knowledge about Maine through their various business ventures. They said the idea for a welcome center was born by necessity. Through their travels, the couple said, they were struck by the absence of a facility on Route 1 in the midcoast.

The welcome center will promote attractions from Boothbay Harbor to Mount Desert. It will offer locally made products and gift items.

“We have a lot to offer,” Pat said. “We’re not your regular information center, that’s for sure. Our goal is to publicize Maine products.”

One of those products is Rockland lobster fisherman Ryan Post’s “Maine Buggin.” Post has produced a 30-minute DVD depicting the life of a lobster fisherman and his daily routine at sea. Post said the welcome center provided an ideal place to market his film.

“This is an iconic industry,” Post said. “Everybody knows the Maine lobster brand, but they don’t know what we do. They don’t know that we are conservationists and environmentalists — that we do it right as far as conservation and maintaining a sustainable resource.”

A fourth generation lobsterman, Post said he got the idea while vacationing in the Virgin Islands.

He was sitting around with other tourists, and one kept questioning him about lobstering.

He spent half the night talking about fishing and left convinced that an informational film was just what the industry needed. The film takes the viewer from building lobster traps and filling bait bags to measuring the catch and releasing egg-bearing females to fishing strategy. “Maine Buggin’” is already in 25 stores, Post said.

The LeClairs said there were many other businesses that could take advantage of the Route 1 location. They view the welcome center more as an educational center than a store.

Although they will focus solely on Maine products, the idea behind the welcome center was to inform visitors of what the area has to offer.
“We’re just a tank of gas away from Boston,” Jim said. “There are a lot of Maine businesses that just don’t get the fact of how much traffic goes through Belfast. We get 25,000 cars a day in summer.

“What makes us different is we’re not going to be standing around waiting for somebody to ask us a question. We’re going to be asking them the questions. Maine is an iconic brand. You don’t have to mention Maine lobster — people love the state for what it is, anyway.”