Yesterday, I grabbed all my photo gear and audio recording equipment and hit the road to document these times in our corner of the world. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking for so I started in familiar territory (Yarmouth, where our office is) with the plan to head north on Route 1. I should note, all safety precautions were taken. I always wore a mask when outside of my vehicle, never got closer than 20 feet to another human, packed food for the day and my trusty hand sanitizer (which I got at Hannaford’s by local Batson River Brewing & Distillery ).
First stop was Yarmouth. I started by photographing all the closed signs… then I quickly realized that could take a while and is not exactly the most uplifting of content.
Then I saw the door of Gingham with a heartfelt “We Miss You.” It stirred something inside me. It was a signal of care. It felt genuine. I quickly redirected my focus and goal of the day towards finding those nuggets of care. For me, it’s a reminder that we are all in this together and despite whatever differences we may have, we still care about each other and support one another. That gives me hope and restores my faith in our collective humanity. The good news is, there were far too many for me to document them all.
As I continued my drive up RT 1 through midcoast Maine, the lack of traffic and out of state plates was definitely disorienting. For those of you familiar with the area, this is the time of year when snowbirds and tourists begin flocking to Maine’s Midcoast and Downeast regions, backing up Route 1 for miles. So I thought I’d also share some of the landmark spots up Route 1 for you all to check out without having to hop in your car and make the drive yourself. What follows, are some of my favorite signs of hope and caring mixed in with some classic Route 1 landmarks from Freeport to Rockland. Check out all the photos below and if you’ve snapped photos of your favorite community signs of hope send them to us at content@dirigocollective.com and we’ll update this post with your contributions.
Also, if you haven’t yet, be sure to check out StayHomeMaine.com, it’s one of the ways we are giving back to our local community. You can search for different ways to spend locally or even find some really great resources for while you’re sheltering in place. Stay tuned for more projects we’re cooking up to help out.
Wishing you all safety and good health,
Benn
