Media Contacts:
Mike Wilson, Senior Program Director, Northern Forest Center: o: 207-767-9952; c: 603-731-0558; mwilson@northernforest.org
Matt Polstein, Owner of New England Outdoor Center (member of Maine Woods Discovery): o: 207-723-5438 c: 207-723-3559; matt.polstein@gmail.com
Kate Hathaway Weeks, Director of Brand Marketing, Yankee Magazine: c: 617.413.3875; KateW@Yankeepub.com; @yankeemagazine
Jennifer Geiger, PR/Communications, Maine Office of Tourism: o: 207-624-7454; jennifer.geiger@maine.gov
Download photos via Dropbox
For Immediate Release: Feb. 23, 2015
Yankee Magazine and State of Maine Capture Grand Adventure in Maine Woods
Portland, Maine — Just in time for people planning spring and summer vacations, a suite of multi-media coverage is showing off some of what the Maine Woods has to offer. Yankee magazine and the Maine Office of Tourism are both featuring extensive coverage of the 150th Anniversary Thoreau-Wabanaki Tour that explored 250 miles of Maine lakes and rivers in May 2014.
Yankee is rolling out its spring issue featuring “Thoreau’s Maine” on the cover and a 14-page photo essay of the Thoreau-Wabanki tour inside the March/April issue, which will be on newsstands by the end of February. Photos from the journey through the rugged Maine Woods are online at www.YankeeMagazine.com/Thoreau.
The Maine Office of Tourism has just released its online magazine, The Maine Thing Quarterly (www.mainequarterly.com/thoreau), with video clips and interviews from the tour as well as resources for visitors.
Both Yankee and The Maine Thing showcase stunning photography of Maine’s remote woodlands, wild water and guided backcountry adventure opportunities. Jarrod McCabe and Dominic Casserly of Little Outdoor Giants captured Yankee’s images as two of the eight people who paddled the entire trip. Yankee Editor-in Chief Mel Allen penned the article based on interviews and the journals of the photographers.
Maine Woods Discovery, a cooperative marketing initiative coordinated by the Northern Forest Center, organized the epic canoe journey to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Henry David Thoreau’s The Maine Woods, and call national and regional attention to the one-of-a-kind adventure tourism opportunities available in the Maine Woods.
“This is Yankee’s 80th anniversary year of telling New England stories,” said Allen. “Over the years, we have done many stories that touch on Maine’s north woods. Our collaboration with Maine Woods Discovery and the Northern Forest Center around the Thoreau’s Maine feature is truly the centerpiece of these efforts. It is one of the most ambitious photo stories we’ve ever undertaken in our publication’s history, involving 16 days’ worth of photography.”
Eight people—including Thoreau scholars, Maine Guides, advocates of Maine Woods tourism, and members of Penobscot Nation, whose ancestors had guided Thoreau into the wilderness — made the entire journey, while more than 40 other journalists and others cycled in and out of the trip.
“Yankee was the only media outlet to cover this adventure from start to finish 16 days later, and the Maine Office of Tourism was a partner from the earliest stages of planning,” said Mike Wilson, lead organizer of the expedition and senior program director for the Northern Forest Center. “Their combined commitment has resulted in two features that truly capture the spirit of this trip and of the Maine Woods as spectacular destination for outdoor recreation.”
Maine Woods Discovery is a standards-based, cooperative marketing initiative whose members promote high quality vacation experiences and advancement of best practices within the region’s tourism industry. Maine Woods Discovery is a project of the Maine Woods Consortium, coordinated by the Northern Forest Center.
“A 16-day wilderness trip may not be right for everyone, but the resorts and guides in Maine Woods Discovery have trips to fit every skill level,” said Matt Polstein, founder of the New England Outdoor Center, which is a member of Maine Woods Discovery. “We can help families have their first successful outdoor adventures, or take seasoned adventurers to new places, or introduce them to new outdoor skills.”
Tourism is one of the fastest growing segments of the Maine economy, and the Northern Forest Center’s tourism program aims to improve job opportunities in the industry by helping the industry provide the highest quality experiences to visitors. The Center, a nonprofit organization, helps create economic opportunity and community vitality from healthy working forests in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
“This event spoke to the rich heritage of the region, and the serenity and the adventure offered by Maine’s north woods, a truly unique part of the Northeast,” said Carolann Ouellette, director of the Maine Office of Tourism. “It is the opportunity to have authentic experiences like this that sets Maine apart from other destinations.”
Travelers will find detailed information about lodging and outdoor activities at www.mainewoodsdiscovery.com.
The Spring 2015 issue of The Maine Quarterly featuring the Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail can be directly accessed from the home page of the Maine Office of Tourism website, www.visitmaine.com.
The spring issue of Yankee will be on the newsstand by the end of February, while the magazine’s Facebook page features the cover. Starting March 1, readers will get an additional window into the trip through the free Yankee Connect app (available in the iTunes or Google Play stores). The app allows readers to see four exclusive slideshows by McCabe and Casserly covering Moosehead Lake, Camping Life, Mud Pond Carry, and Final Days.
Yankee Magazine is the only magazine devoted to New England through its coverage of travel, home, food, and feature stories. Yankee (circulation of 330,000 and a total audience of 1.9 million readers) is published by Yankee Publishing Incorporated (YPI), a family-owned, independent magazine publisher.
The Northern Forest Center, a nonprofit organization, creates economic opportunity and community vitality from health working forests in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
Maralyn D. Hill, M.Ed., The Epicurean Explorer
Executive Editor, LuxeBeatMag.com
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