"Focus on the Bangor Region" about the Penobscot Tribe's hopes to start a busine

Source

Mainebiz

Date

9-29-2003

Pages

26-28

Abstract

"Focus on the Bangor Region" about the Penobscot Tribe's hopes to start a business incubator in a former plastics manufacturing building on their Indian Island reservation, across the Penobscot from Old Town. In August the tribe received a $120,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to develop the incubator, as well as a $50,000 Rural Business Opportunity Grant from the department for a feasibility study of establishing a tribally owned canoe manufacturing business. Nick Dow, the director of economic development for the Penobscots, hopes the incubator can tap into the current interest in Indian crafts, such as basketmaking, carving, and canoe making. He is considering the possibility of making and marketing birch bark canoes, which take about 400 hours to build and would sell for about $10,000, if there is a market. If birch bark canoes are not feasible, except, perhaps, as specialty items, the tribe might consider also building canoes using modern materials such as fiberglass. The Penobscots are relearning the art of making birch-bark canoes from Steve Caynard, a whiteman and self-taught expert in Penobsot crafts.

Subjects

Baskets, Canoes and canoeing, Business incubators, Penobscot Indians

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