October 2025

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Features

Rapid Animals  

Getting in the flow with the whitewater fanatics who run Maine’s wildest rivers.

By Greg M. Peters | Photographed by Andy Gagne

Fall in the Forest City

Autumn heralds trips through rural, wooded regions for many a leaf peeper. But fall comes to cities and towns too — nowhere more dramatically than Portland. Staff photographer Dave Waddell set out to see the seasonal splendor.

Lighting the Way

Have five years of legal retail operations charted a clear course for the future of recreational cannabis in Maine?

By Jesse Ellison | Photographed by Hannah Hoggatt 

North by East

Never Far from the Tree

One man’s mission to revive Maine’s heritage apples is bearing fruit.

Novel Approach

A bar-bookshop takes a page from a compilation of local businesses.

Here in Spirit

Haunting scenes pervade a pair of photography exhibits.

Horror Stories

A Mainer’s true-crime podcast is scaring up a fanbase.

Currying Favor

The Indian dishes at Taj have won a loyal following.  

It’s a Colorful Life

In a Whitefield home, cheerful tableware sets the tone.

Beacon of Hope

Can a Bangor vintage shop save a neglected lighthouse? 

Room With a View

A famous painter, a forgotten book, and a lesson in living in the present.


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Where in Maine

Dooryard

My Favorite Place

Ghost-tour guide Jennifer Pictou, on Bar Harbor’s Village Burying Ground.


On the Cover: Windsurfing in the city, by Dave Waddell.

Additional Photos: Nicole Wolf, Benjamin Williamson, and Andy Gagne.

Down East Magazine, September 2025

Maine stories written by Maine people. Subscribe to Down East and support local journalism.