Photo by Mike McVey
Skowhegan was the site of the 2018 IF&W Maine Moose Permit Lottery.
To celebrate the lottery and Skowhegan’s heritage of hunting, fishing, and other rural traditions, Main Street organized the three-day Skowhegan Moose Festival.
The festival took place June 8-10, 2018, at the Skowhegan Fairgrounds. During the festival, the Town of Skowhegan and Main Street Skowhegan set the Guinness World Record for most people moose calling simultaneously!
See below for our announcement that Skowhegan was selected for the lottery.
We’re thrilled that the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (IF&W) selected Skowhegan to host the 2018 Moose Permit Lottery!
On June 9, the lottery will come to the historic Skowhegan Fairgrounds—a fitting tribute to the fair’s 200th anniversary and a fantastic kickoff to the summer tourism season.
To celebrate and ensure that the lottery has maximum economic impact, Main Street is coordinating the Skowhegan Moose Festival. The festival will include exhibits, demonstrations, kids’ activities, local food, live music, and much more. The ultimate goal is to draw several thousand people from all over the Northeast and inspire them to return to Skowhegan in the future.
The lottery has enormous potential to increase future tourism in Skowhegan and the Kennebec Valley and to impact the region’s economy. Bethel hosted the lottery in 2015, and according to the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, the event drew 5,000 people who would not have visited otherwise. That type of scale will bring not only immediate economic impact during the event but lasting impact as some of the people drawn to Skowhegan for the moose lottery will return again and again.
Visit the Skowhegan Moose Festival website for more info.
