There’s so much to love about Maine the people the places the food and we’re here to share it all with you each week our team brings you the very best of vacation land this is main life I’ll see you there waiting in theow with your Autumn all I’ll see you there after many
Months Westbrook’s what makes this country great it’s gone through its es and flows of what it did it was a miltown in textiles it was a miltown in paper and now it’s changing and there’s small businesses in Tech and software and and there’s great food it’s a religion to a
Lot of people be the roast beef sandwich when you’re roller skating it feels like you’re flying and the camaraderie of the league it just keeps you coming back this inner Beast is Unleashed when you go and play Roller Derby and hit your friends welcome to Westbrook Maine continues to surprise
And inspire me after living and working in this beautiful state my entire life I continue to discover new places and meet a lot of hardworking and interesting people just one of the reasons I love supporting main life each week it takes us all somewhere new and exciting hi I’m
Andrew Silsby president and CEO of Kennebec Savings Bank come into any of our locations and experience the difference but until then we hope you enjoy this episode of main life thanks for watching Westbrook Maine a city that celebrates its history while investing in growth and opportunity on this
Episode we will explore some of the delicious dining options share a success story coming out of the Dana wart Mill and have some fun with main roller derby who play and practice here in order to prepare for my first ever bout we begin with a very large cup of local coffee
And some breakfast treats hi I’m faay Wilson the owner of Roots Cafe right here in Westbrook at 20 School Street we’re a gluten-free bakery that offers both morning and lunch options come on in when we created Roots we wanted it to be like a modern day well where people could gather and
Everyone knows your name the gluten-free comes from my mother-in-law who has Celiac and my daughter who has Hashimoto and just going out and eating in the public we had a really hard time finding places that were safe or that they could even eat anything we are also
Preservative free and die free uh that too is from my background in child care and the kiddos having special diets that um really affected the way they acted so we really felt strongly about being preservative and die free so I am from Westbrook born and raised I graduated raath the high school
And I really never thought of anywhere else it’s a vibrant growing Community there’s things to do for families there’s things to to do for single people there’s so many different businesses eateries we just love the community so much for we come in about once a week cuz my wife and daughter
Both are gluten-free and uh you say gluten-free and you think but the food here is phenomenal so we’re happy with everything they serve here good morning Sarah good morning ladies so it’s good to be back she has actually never been I can’t wait to dive into the case here
Yeah so we could order everything but you tell tell us what some of your faves I have our pumpkin Maple Whoopi pie cuz those are just like my absolute favorite and they always sell out whenever we make it the coffee cake here is another favorite of mine and believe it or not
The banana Walnut muffin we’ll try it all awesome thank you yeah you’re welcome you got it all right my friend another great start to the day I’m a sucker for whoopy muffins so a lot of the uh places we’re going to today is your your first
Timer all of the you’re in my neck of the woods everyone always says Vanessa is there any place in Maine you haven’t gone to eat I have not been to any of these places in Westbrook which is part of the reason why I’m so excited to be
Here this is research for me awesome well our next stop is to meet our friends Whitney and Ben Waxman they’re incredible people really Paving the way and continue to commit to creating jobs and keeping Manufacturing in America it’s going to be a great day cheers today cheers everybody located on the presumpscot
River the historic Dana wart Mill has been brought back to life converted into a beautiful space for many creators and entrepreneurs I’m excited to introduce you to one of Westbrook’s success stories American Roots my mom Dory Waxman owned a textile company for decades um so I grew grew up in the
Industry uh went away for a long time left Maine always wanted to come back came back to Maine met the love of my life and we wanted to find a way to create jobs in the state of Maine and I wanted to make something that was authentic that was 100% americanmade
That created good union jobs that paid people well provided benefits and Whitney and I had this moment and looked at each other and said oh my gosh let’s build a factory surprisingly I was in and it may have something to do with the fact that several months before that he
Came home and said I know what I want to do I want to build ships absolutely crazy abely true um so this was a much better idea we started with four stitchers we trained them my mom Dory started a training program and we grown from 900
Ft to 4,000 ft to 25,000 ft and right now we’re at about 72 employees ballpark right now and it was a no-brainer to be able to move into an Old Mill building like this where they originally produced textiles Westbrook’s what makes this country great it’s gone through its es
And flows of what it did it was a miltown in textiles it was a miltown in paper and now it’s changing and there’s small businesses in Tech and software and there’s a lot of things to offer and the beauty of Westbrook that I see is that the people here are embracing new
People coming from all walks of life and I think that’s really important right now in our community so this is our main production facility where all of the cutting and sewing happens um right now we’re making hoodies this is for one of our larger clients okay and they’ve ordered about
6,000 of these are heavyweight zipper hoodies obviously your current clients care that it’s made in America but when you’re calling folks to try to get new business what is the reaction the big um big seller is 100% americanmade that we use all domestically sourced materials as well
And that it’s unionmade so a lot of our clientele our unions that are looking for unionmade products um so that’s a big seller but it’s really even extended beyond that where socially conscious businesses are looking for ethically sourced products so we’re expanding into that as well and you continue to train
Yep at some point we would love to have an apprenticeship program in place on site but yeah right now we do in production training I interviewed you I think my first year of main life three boys later one for me in an awesome thriving company congratulations thank
You now let’s go find my hoodie I want to see what Ben has for us we would love to gift you your very own 100% American made unade customized main life hoodie so great every get one one every I can hear it in happening in the
Bag thank you you get a sweatshirt all right if any of you need customized beer please contact us thank you so much thank you guys nice to see you all right thank you for the tour and the Cozy sweatshirts Ben and Whitney looking Shar all right our next stop for lunch
George and Leons to go get some of those amazing roast beef sandwiches and our friend Jo richio from food coma is joining us yes let’s Go at verland City we give drivers a worry-free guarantee on service that means no surprises when your vehicle needs maintenance and with our complete vehicle care every Tire purchased is expertly installed by our ASC Certified technicians and includes free tire rotations for the life of the tire and
With 2 years of complimentary road hazard coverage you’ll have peace of mind for miles down the road that’s our worry-free guarantee Berlin City I’m still full from breakfast but I’m ready for lunch you ready for the roast beast the roast beast oh my gosh hey Rich everybody the best hugs there are we at George and Leon in Westbrook where I mean to be honest in my opin opinion the best thing about
Massachusetts is basically the roast beef as far as I’m concerned they could change their state flag to like a super beef because that’s my favorite thing about it and until they opened here you couldn’t get a proper roast beef sandwich and I think everybody else agrees with me because this place has
Been pretty much packed since they opened you know I’ve lived in Portland about 15 years I moved up here from Massachusetts um I’ve always had an infactuation with these sandwiches and you know worked in the industry in Maine worked in the beer industry in Maine and
You know about close to 5 years ago um you know I was talking with my wife and I was like you know I just want to get out of the beer industry and I want to start a food truck and I want to be the first person to bring the NorthShore
Beef to Maine and uh you know we started with popups and restaurants we actually did our first popup out of our house and you know Flash Forward four plus years in July of last year we opened our brick and mortar we cook them every morning fresh and sliced paper thin it’s a
Special kind of Tangy barbecue sauce that only goes on Northshore beefs mayonnaise and cheese and very griddled rooll it’s just its own unique kind of sandwich and uh it’s hyper region so it’s really only about like 40 m that encompasses this sandwich in Massachusetts but you know people are
Die hard about it it’s a really big cult following and I just want to bring that to Maine because it Maine needs it we actually live about a block from here I have a child Leon he’s 14 months now and we’re raising our family here so yeah definitely happy George is my recently
Deceased dog who uh he passed away right before Thanksgiving he’s the heart and soul of this place he’s on the t-shirts back here he’s on the logos he was our Chihuahua pug my best friend and uh his memory will live on forever in this place this is our winter special it’s
Traditional beef chili we use our beef to make it American cheese James River Barbecue Sauce sour cream scallions and our housemade croutons and then I got our world famous onion rings with some housemade Sriracha ran and a super fourway which means there’s an onion ring on top that’s American
Cheese at the bottom rare roast beef in the middle James R Barbecue Sauce onion rings mayo and an onion roll there a whole site devoted to this right to like yep Northshore beefs it’s a Facebook group that this guy Andy Ferg started and it’s got 40,000 Plus members
Now and all it is is reviews of this sandwich so there’s a whole language there’s like a million different things you have to follow when you write aw sandwiches like fresh warm pink um cheese on bottom like it’s all but you have to like rate everything there’s very specific things that make it
They’re rules it’s a religion wow come in for lunch or dinner we have a full bar uh bunch of natural wine bunch of lcal beer lots of special events and we look forward to seeing you cheers cheers WooHoo for over 153 years kbec Savings Bank has been a community bank for everyone whether it’s providing convenient account access quick and easy loan process or supporting the community our goal is to create lasting relationships rooted in trust and respect it’s always been about integrity and doing what’s right for the customer
And our communities I’m Andrew Silsby and I invite you to come into a kbec Savings Bank location and experience the difference fresh snow christm there energizing invigorating time together chearing laughter Joy plan your trip at visitmaine.com every time you shop at Hanford you do more than just buy grocer groceries you
Support our mission to keep 65 million PB of food waste each year out of landfills and put it to much greater use the good food goes to community pantries and food banks what isn’t used there goes to feed these guys the rest is made into renewable clean energy all of it
Helps reduce harmful greenhouse gases and help sustain our planet for future Generations Hanford supermarkets greater than groceries at Poland Spring we’ve called Maine hes since 1845 and are proud to be part of the community over the past two decades investing more than $12 million in the place that we call
Home colon spring 100% natural spring water at Honda Hybrid is more than fuel efficiency it means sporty and fun to drive and making car and drivers 10 best list for the 37th time the Accord Hybrid get lower Bend those knees get some speed Vanessa get some speed hi everyone I’m Derek I’m the owner of Happy Wheels and I welcome you to our brand new location here in Westbrook so I grew up skating at Happy Wheels in multiple locations and then
Ended up working there when I turned 16 and literally have been there ever since it’s the only thing I know you know I mean I’ve I’ve uh I grew I literally grew up in the rink um as a little kid if I got tired I crawled underneath the
Rental skate counter and took a nap and then got back up and went back out and skated obviously we offer roller skating we do private birthday parties School functions fundraisers we have corporate outings that are here and then on top of that uh we have a very large Roller Derby
Community roller derby is a full contact sport it’s made up of two teams that compete against each other there are five people from each team out on the floor at a time these five players come together to form the pack this is my finger puppets version here two of the
Players will be wearing a helmet cover with a star on it they’re called the Jammers and they are how you score points if I’m on this team over here I am trying to get this person over here my Jammer through all of these blockers at the same time I’m also trying to keep
This Jammer from scoring any points because for each set of tips that the Jammer passes that’s Point scoring in a roll of Derby bout so we have 15 League members that is from skaters from volunteers officials we are our 501c3 nonprofit um so the ticket sales help us run the
League it helps us with practice space and whatnot if we want to travel we can host fundraisers we can hopefully connect with sponsors and yeah otherwise we we put the bill we we love it there’s no professional roller derby players out there it’s all we’re all getting we’re
All paying to play I’m your blonde Bruiser I’m your pain conier and we’re ready to roll you’re doing great the thing she makes me do my God are you good okay I think those handrails are outside of the uh gameplay area learning a new sport as an adult
It’s something that I feel like we don’t really get to do a lot so it was like this foreign thing that I knew nothing about and I was like you know what I’m just going to try this and see if it clicks all right hold your squat as soon
As I was on skates like it feels like you’re flying you can do cool things and the crowd is here they’re like cheering for you when you get knocked down super hard you’re like w like everyone yells just become this like Freer version of yourselves this inner Beast that is
Unleashed when you go and play Roller Derby and hit your friends no get away from me get away from me no I think they’re ready to hit each other she’s crazy let’s do it 5 Seconds Go go go Go you’re all right mhm I think I feed my pants I really love roller derby I’ve got to admit I’ve been roller skating since I was 5 years old I worked at a roller rink as my first job and never did I dream that there was going to be
An opportunity to do something as a sport with roller skating and so when I heard this was a thing I had to check it out and the camaraderie of the league it just keeps you coming back so once you’ve gotten started in it once you’ve come and seen the community that’s built
Around roller derby you’re going to want to keep coming we are strong we play together we are mddd that’s Co while Westbrook offers a variety of dining options tonight I’m excited to bring you to one of the tried andrue restaurants frog and turtle one person who is a loyal Patron and advocate for all of Westbrook is Mayor Mike Foley who’s joining us for a beer and bite the
Food scene has really expanded over the last number of years years as the city has grown and become a destination um and many people are are continuing to make Westbrook uh a home for their business and new businesses are opening you went to George and Leons that’s a
New business in the city of Westbrook and we like to say it’s a good place to live work and play I love it yes yes you can do everything you need to do right here in the city cheers to that yes we make everything in house allam
Minut style so it’s made to order this chter here is made with cream local muscles we’ll have shrimp fresh hattic and then a little bit of potato lots of onion of course but this is right here probably our specialty at the frock and turtle one of my personal favorites and
We’ve done a mixed green salad seasonal with red onion blue cheese crumbles and green apples with a homemade vinegarette and then we have a fresh homemade pael pasta there’s pumpkin in there a really light mushroom cream sauce and then homemade made garlic christinis on the side and a flatbread with roasted bread
Peppers mushrooms spinach and some monzarella over the top with a homemade pesto base it looks great thank you so much of course enjoy thank you okay well so are you here a lot you guys come a lot yes yeah we come here quite a bit my favorite dish is the shepherd’s pie
Crepe it’s a really incredible restaurant to have here in downtown Westbrook have you been here for a night of music yeah live show that they have in here is incredible and have some downstairs and even sometimes they’ll have a smaller group upstairs um on different days it’s uh really brings the
Crowd in and a lot of people like to hang out and would you consider Westbrook like a community of the Arts yeah Westbrook’s very supportive of the Arts there’s a deep roots in the music world with Rudy Valley uh being from Westbrook and uh the growth of the Westbrook marching band and music
Program in our schools and continuing to to host uh events here it’s it seems like it’s becoming a Music City one of our big things is free live music so every Thursday and Friday there’s live music and we have really top U players all over New England are coming
And play and I love music it’s uh really uh it’s in my heart and soul I find um cool parallels between cooking and music I watched my mom cook as a child and uh you know the um quintessential housewife who has six boys so we never
Went out to eat so it’s odd that I would be in a restaurant but she just cooked so well and every meal was just awesome and you know I just wanted to cook and I worked on my way up you know like everyone starts out at McDonald’s and
You work the beach circuit in your teens and uh not many people are on the cust of 50 and still work in the line five uh days a week but um I just love it I I just that chaos and control this at 7:30 on a Saturday night and just the tickets
Are coming and you’re just a guy who’s there organiz it coordina it all and getting these young chefs focused it’s um it just doesn’t Tire me out if anything I think it energizes hey Che very thank you we met James 14 years ago at cafea we went there one
Night we loved the food and then when we heard he was moving out to Westbrook we started learning more about how he impacts the community uh his involvement with the teen center with veteran groups for me it was a no-brainer when I went home I told J that’s what I said it’s a
No-brainer yeah that we we want to be partners with James I just really have fallen in love with this city it really has that small town feel to it but you know it’s a growing city and um I bought a house here and you know I’m all in for
Westbrook good night Westbrook thank you so much for having us and we cannot wait to come back Cheers thank you everybody for watching this episode of main lifee to follow all of our Amazing Adventures you can check out our Instagram mainl TV or at Aro Valley our Facebook page main lifee media you can get all of our shows for free on YouTube and the News Center main
App and become a main lifee member sign up by going to our website mlif media.com for exclusive content some great deals and so much more happy adventuring everybody we’ll see you next week thank you Westbrook for having us good night no okay sorry go ahead you cut it you’re so good she’s actually
She’s a pro at at sharing surprisingly come stop by and try welcome maybe you can cut it I you stop as the head of new recruits for main worlder Derby I officially Grant you the title of main roller derby skaters you made [Applause] it
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