An effort to build a patriotic theme park in Washington County centered around the world’s largest flagpole is on the ropes.
Along with it should be the idea that the problems of one of Maine’s poorest areas can be solved with One Big Thing.
The fixation on One Big Thing didn’t start with Flagpole of Freedom Park. It’s been a staple of Maine economic development at least since I picked up a notebook and pen, right around the time the state’s paper mills and other large manufacturers were shutting down.
The closures were a signal that the economy was changing, and that Maine had to change with it. But a lot of times, local and state leaders didn’t see it that way — rather than figure out what the new economy held for communities that lost their largest employer, they instead tried to resurrect the old one by going after another large employer to take their place.
It hasn’t worked out well. Raising productivity and automation means that most formerly labor-intensive industries don’t need the number of employees they used to, and the ones that do have largely moved overseas.
Meanwhile, the communities that moved on the quickest are doing better. In many cases, Maine’s traditional industries are still involved, taking advantage of new products and technology, but they employ fewer people, and they are increasingly part of a broader economy.
Take Millinocket, for instance. In the early 20th century, Millinocket was called the “Magic City” because it was built out of thin air in the middle of the North Woods, where the region’s endless forests could support what became the world’s largest paper mill.
For decades, the paper industry defined the Millinocket and the larger Katahdin region. So things were grim there when Great Northern Paper cut back and ultimately closed. People didn’t want to let go of their prosperous past, and many held up hope for years that papermaking would return.
But eventually, they moved on. Local leaders took a hard look at what they had to offer and what they needed to do to make it more attractive. They built off their human and natural resources, and the region is now experiencing a resurgence based on green energy and outdoor recreation.
Now the Worcester family has dreams of another Magic City, a little more than 100 miles southeast of the first one.
Last year, the family unveiled plans for Flagpole of Freedom Park, a 2,500-acre, $1 billion theme park built in the woods in and around Columbia Falls. Over the park would fly an American flag about the size of one-and-a-half football fields, waving from on top of a 1,461-foot flagpole and observation deck — that’s 1,776 feet above sea level.
Morrill Worcester (center) and his sons Mike (left) and Rob. Photo courtesy Flagpole of Freedom Park/Break the Ice Media
In the view of the Worcesters, it would be “part national monument, art historical adventure, immersive tech-driven museum and architectural wonder.” It would, they say, support 5,000 year-round jobs and bring in 6 million annual visitors, single-handedly reversing the fortunes of an entire depressed region.
I have no reason to doubt the Worcesters’ patriotism or their commitment to their hometown.
And the family, which operates the nonprofit Wreaths Across America as well as the very for-profit Worcester Wreath Co., which supplies most of the charity’s wreaths, certainly knows how to build a business around people’s love and respect for veterans.
But there are plenty of reasons to believe Flagpole of Freedom Park wouldn’t conjure up a prosperous future for Washington County so easily.
First off, the estimates for visitors seem high; Acadia National Park got 4 million visitors last year and that broke a record, while only about 2 million people a year visit Mount Rushmore.
But the problems with the proposal start well before that.
Even if the project can raise the $1 billion in donations needed for construction, where would the 5,000 workers come from, when area businesses can’t fill positions as it is? If the workers came, where would they live, when residents of the region already cannot find suitable, affordable housing? Where would their electricity come from? Where would their waste go?
A place like Washington County just isn’t equipped to deal with so much so fast, not without harming the things that make it attractive, and adding more of the things that do not.
Some in Columbia Falls are worried about what would happen to the region if Flagpole of Freedom Park became a reality. That’s why residents last week voted overwhelmingly to put a halt on the project for at least six months.
But much more likely is that the theme park is never built, or that it fails to live up to its expectations as a savior of the Downeast economy.
It’s easy to see why, after years of economic struggle during which they’ve often felt ignored, some people in Washington County see salvation in Flagpole of Freedom Park.
But why take a long shot at One Big Thing when you can build a strong local economy on a hundred little things you already do well?
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