HOULTON, Maine — Karen Mitchell has already eaten at Bastion’s Tavern, the newest restaurant in Market Square, and is making plans to visit Shiretown Blast From The Past, a restaurant that opened downtown this summer.
She gathered several of her friends to try the food and beverages, she said Thursday, and all of them enjoyed spending their money locally and enjoying each other’s company.
“We all had a great time,” she said. “The food was good, and it was great to just sit in the square and eat like we used to do when we were teenagers and young adults. It brought back memories of the past, when Market Square would be full of stores and cars and most of the businesses were located there.”
Several local residents said the same thing this week, as the resurgence of business in the area has rekindled memories of the past.
Bastion’s Tavern is located inside the Rice Building at 43 Market Square, which is owned by Travis and Kim Coker. James and Emily Harvey of Houlton operate the business with the couple, which opened earlier this month. The sports bar has a casual atmosphere and sells both food and alcohol. It has eight brews on tap, with more in bottles and cans.
Shiretown Blast From The Past opened in July as an old fashioned diner at 66 Main St. It sells items such as pizza, burgers, french fries and ice cream. An old-fashioned juke box and Coca-Cola cooler sits in a corner. It is owned by Barbara Ganem.
Mark Hill of Houlton said that he has visited both of the new restaurants, and said that his mother “especially loved” Shiretown Blast From The Past.
“Going down in the square now on a Friday night is wonderful,” he said. “It is almost like it was in the 1960s,” he said. “You can picture the old cars and trucks back there riding around. I mean, Market Square was the place that everybody went to hang out. It was where you went to see a movie and get something to eat and see your friends. I am glad there is now a hope of getting that back.”
Hill said that he feels that the composition of the downtown changed in the early 1990s, with the appearance of big box stores on North Street.
“After that, the little stores disappeared and the online and big box stores began appearing everywhere,” he said. “I think that is sad, because the downtown used to be full of those little mom and pop stores.”
Both Hill and Mitchell said that they would like to see the downtown continue to grow.
“I think that it would be great to have an upscale clothing store in Market Square,” Mitchell said Thursday. “The nearest place to buy upscale clothes for work is in Presque Isle. Unless you want to travel 40 miles, you need to look online.”
