"The goal of Down East has always been to hold a mirror up to Maine — its storied past and lively present — and to celebrate its flinty, independent character and unhurried way of life. As Maine has changed with the times, however, so has Down East. Today the state has come to embrace its future as well as its past. Accordingly, the magazine now focuses more on contemporary Maine life and what the future might bring and less on historical background and quaint rusticity. Booming circulation and advertising gains demonstrate the wisdom of this editorial shift."
Portland Public Library's collection of Down East is complete, and begins with the first issue, August 1954. The hard copies are available in the Portland Room.
Submissions from 2007
"North by East" piece on a 25 percent drop in the number of people taking whitew
"North by East" piece on a battle in South Portland over hanging yellow ribbons
"North by East" piece on a group of people in Portland who are meeting to discus
"North by East" piece on a Maine law that prohibits releasing EZPass toll collec
"North by East" piece on a month-long catch-and-release season for Atlantic Salm
"North by East" piece on an effort by the Maine Film Office in Augusta to bring
"North by East" piece on a project undertaken by Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., dir
"North by East" piece on a public art installation by local artist Diana Cherbul
"North by East" piece on a Rangeley region camp, Forest Lodge, made famous by Lo
"North by East" piece on a recent shift in the pattern of lobster catches in Mai
"North by East" piece on a survey by the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety that fou
"North by East" piece on Belfast photographer Charles Laurier Dufour, who owns t
"North by East" piece on Camden illustrator and animator Noah Jones, 33, who pos
"North by East" piece on Camden's reliable Santa Claus, in the person of Don Gre
"North by East" piece on Clynk of Scarborough, a company that allows customers t
"North by East" piece on Daryl Hall, of the rock duo Hall & Oates, who has purch
"North by East" piece on Don Crisman of Kennebunk, who is one of only five fans
"North by East" piece on Eric Hayward, president of the Libra [Foundation] Futur
"North by East" piece on evidence uncovered in 2003 on St. Croix Island indicati
"North by East" piece on Harpswell's 81-year-old Cribstone Bridge, the only one
"North by East" piece on how 27 percent of fast-food patrons in the Portland are
"North by East" piece on how a legislative bill was fast-tracked to allow Kelley
"North by East" piece on how Bangor Savings Bank is trying to rejuvenate its ima
"North by East" piece on how chimney fires increase in number as the price of ho
"North by East" piece on how domestic diva Martha Stewart wants to trademark the
"North by East" piece on how Ken Walsh, CEO of the Alfond Youth Center and forme
"North by East" piece on how neighbors and businesses rallied to build a free, h
"North by East" piece on how the distance between southern and northern Maine ma
"North by East" piece on how the Norwegian stove company Jotul is naming its sto
"North by East" piece on Jim Horowitz's Oxford Aviation, which started with one
"North by East" piece on John Hathaway, owner of Shucks Maine Lobster in Richmon
"North by East" piece on librarians at the Bangor Public Library, who are fieldi
"North by East" piece on lobsterman and Bowdoin College carpenter Mark Donovan,
"North by East" piece on Louise Poppema, of Cumberland, who has a business in wh
"North by East" piece on Maine's connection to the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, with
"North by East" piece on Maine towns that are doing away with annual town meetin
"North by East" piece on Mary Jane Perry, a professor at the University of Maine
"North by East" piece on Peter Homer of Southwest Harbor, a former aerospace eng
"North by East" piece on Portland-based Planet Dog, which has brought its offsho
"North by East" piece on research sparked by Wendy Porter of Interface Fabrics i
"North by East" piece on Reverb, a Portland nonprofit founded by Wells native La
"North by East" piece on rumors of a ghost that once haunted the governor's offi
"North by East" piece on Sturdi-Bilt Sheds of Smyrna, one of the major industrie
"North by East" piece on the 40-year-old Brown's Old-Fashioned Ice Cream shop on
"North by East" piece on the Belfast Curling Club, which celebrates its 50th ann
"North by East" piece on the brownish tinge that appears along the horizon in Ma
"North by East" piece on the circa-1931 Waldo-Hancock Bridge, which has been rep
"North by East" piece on the federal Food and Drug Administration's decision to
"North by East" piece on the former Dexter Shoe stores. Several have been turne
"North by East" piece on the Friday Night Jam at the Monson General Store, a pri