BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 26, 2021
When the Verso paper mill closed seven years ago, Bucksport lost 40 percent of its tax base and hundreds of jobs. But in the time since the mill closed, Bucksport has worked to make itself a destination with a burgeoning downtown. An exclamation point was put on that fact recently when the town was named the best small coastal town in America in a contest run by USA Today. The award may only offer bragging rights, but it highlighted the efforts that town officials, residents and businesses have made to revive the town, no matter what happens at the sprawling site of the former paper mill. Bucksport now boasts more filled storefronts in its downtown and new seafood processing businesses. Taxable sales in the town were $5 million higher last year than in 2014. And that’s all before the primary occupant of the former paper mill site even breaks ground on its long-expected salmon aquaculture facility.