BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 4, 2021
Maine Running Hall of Famer Gary Allen, who lives on Mount Desert Island and founded the Mount Desert Island Marathon, founded the Millinocket Marathon and Half in 2015 as a way to shore up support for Millinocket and the Katahdin region as the area has shed population following the closure of both its storied paper mills and struggled to regain its economic footing. Saturday’s marathon was as much about the runners who braved cold temperatures to complete the race as it was about the community meant to receive an economic injection from the race that began six years ago. A small economy has sprung up around the marathon, which has pumped almost $2 million into the Katahdin-region economy over the years.