BELFAST (NEWS CENTER) —Belfast has gone through some major changes over the past few decades.
Those changes and the place it’s become are some of the things that brought Nordic Aquafarms to that coastal community. City leaders say the company views it as an attractive place for their employees to live and work.
Belfast has a vibrant downtown and active waterfront. But it wasn’t always this way. Back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, it fell on hard times.
“Belfast was suffering high unemployment, low wage employment, what there was. Not a lot of real opportunity,” said Michael Hurley, former mayor, and current city councilor.
First came the loss of its primary employer, the chicken industry, and with it went the processing plants, the family farms and grain producers. That was soon followed by the loss of the city’s other big employers.
“We lost the shoes, then we lost Stinson Sardines. It was really tough times. Really something to come back from”, Hurley said.
The comeback began with a piece of simple advice. Make your city look nice and good things will happen. A young and forward-thinking city council took the advice and ran with it.
"They did the downtown revitalization, tore down an old grain mill, got new sidewalks, put up streetlights. That was the beginning”, Hurley said.
“Those have started to pay off, and also we were prepared for the opportunities that have come to us,” said Economic Development Director Thomas Kittredge.
The first big opportunity came in the mid-1990’s when credit card giant MBNA moved in bringing 3,000 jobs. The city has attracted a few other big employers, but it’s small businesses that are helping this community thrive, bringing people to live and play here.
“Those are the vast majority of the businesses, the ones that are five or six employees, that are filling the downtown spaces and adding the vibrancy and having the services that are a draw for people,” Kittredge said.