One of the amazing things about the State of Maine, and people I'm talking about, not government, is the way they re-use and value discarded and thrown-off items. 50 years ago, everybody here keep their junk in the front yard so others could peruse it as they drove-by. Making a deal was high opera, as two terse forces met over the vaunted item, and still, to this day storytellers here recount the fables of Maine deal-making.
But all that has changed, and most all yard sales are temporary, one or two day events, and junkyards have been relegated to back lots, and businesses like Elmer's Barn, just twenty minutes from the capital in Augusta. A way of life changed as more and more people from away moved into Maine, forcing new zoning laws to clean-up the neighborhoods and keep Mainers from taking everything and anything for profit, as measly as it was.... Formerly Mine was a great vacationland, or hunting lands as men came up from places south, arriving in the night at L.L.Bean's 24/7 hunting store on the way to Moose country or salmon fishing.
Elmer says it best, If you need it, I've got it. And if you think he's joking get down here and check it out. Perhaps more authentic than any art museum in the state, this is it!
