Farmington area? (Bangor, Augusta, Waterville: home, theatres, middle school)

[kodieson]

I am in my twenties, was born and raised in Maine and have lived there my whole life. Obviously I love it. So much so my wife gets sick of hearing, "Maine this," and "Maine that," ALL the time. I have been traveling the last few years a lot and have only spent a couple months a year at home (northern central maine). I am currently teaching overseas and am looking for a place to build what my new wife and I like to call our "base camp" for our world travels. We are thinking about the Farmington area. I have only passed through Farmington on my trips west on Rt. 2 when going to NH, VT or anywhere else west. Never really spent anytime there.

Things we like about it are the fact that it has a University (we are life long learners), it's size, it is under an hour to Augusta, Waterville, Rangeley and Sugarloaf.

So, some questions I have would be, what is the atmosphere like? What are neighboring towns like (within half an hour)? i.e. Livermore falls? Any cultural events? How is the movie theatre? Unique/foreign Restaurants? Coffee shops/Cafes? Night life? We do enjoy going to a local pub and having a drink or two, talking to some interesting people. Don't tell my wife I asked but, how is the hunting? I am not a Southern Mainer. Does Farmington still have the "real" Maine feel that you get in the Bangor area??? I hope that comment does not offend anyone but there truly is a difference. Any comments about the schools?

I am just a small town Maine guy looking for a place in the woods with some culture? What do you think? Thank you!

[umograd83]

I would think that with the University there, you will have built-in culture. Concerts, art, etc. Also, there's bound to be a pub or two because of the university (I remember my college days at UMO - students like to drink!). I haven't been through Farmington in awhile, though. DH and I passed through on our way to Sugarloaf. The downtown area is very quaint and New England-ish. Sounds like it might be a place you would like.

[kodieson]

Just wanted to give my post one last kick before it slipped into the pages of this forum. Nobody from around Farmington out there????

[tye207]

Well I've lived in Farmington all of my life and I would say it's a pretty cool place. It's big for a town, small for a city. The university makes up most of the downtown area. There are pubs such as the popular "The Granary" In case you didn't know, it has all of the modern convienences i.e. Wal-mart. The outskirts of town sound like they would suit you. there are a lot of woods and it's pretty quiet. The movie theatre is the old train station from the sandy river railroad. it has 7 theatres. all of the neighboring towns are very small, so everyone goes to Farmington for shopping, etc. There are many cafes, it being a collage town and all. At the moment I can only think of Soup for you, corner cafe, and Joe's cafe. they're all great. Hunting is good in the surrounding towns, a lot of people around here do it. I've never been to Bangor so I don't know if it resembles it or not. The downtown area is definitly New England style. It's made up of the old brick buildings filled with small shops and businesses. The schools are nice, not too populated. There are 2 elementary schools, a middle or Jr. high school, and a high school. The middle school and high school also serve the surrounding towns. There are 2 chinese resturants and an old classic resturant called the Farmington diner. All in all, it's a nice, easy going place to live. Hope this info helps! good luck, wherever you go.