Is It Cool for Mainers to Wear Things Featuring the Word ‘Maine’?
My favorite hoodie when I was a kid was my Bar Harbor hoodie.
But I swear back then, things were different. It's almost like back in the 80's, Bar Harbor was almost a tourist attraction for Mainers. You definitely saw tourists, but not like these days. With the amount of cruise ships coming into Maine the last couple decades, it's completely changed our landscape.
As I got older, I became more in tune with the concept of, "you never wear the concert t-shirt of the band your going to see". Like, you wouldn't wear a Rolling Stones shirt to see the stones. Way too fanboy. But what about wearing Maine "gear" when you're a Mainer? Does that still hold true? Look at this example from Amazon...
It likely depends on who you ask.
At this point in my life, I'm not as inclined to do so. Mostly because I don't fellow Mainers rolling their eyes when they see me coming. Wearing a Bar Harbor sweatshirt could easily set them off. But other Mainers see it as a matter of pride. When I saw this same question posed on Reddit, I had to dive into the comments and look for a theme.
As you'd imagine, the point was debated back and forth ridiculously. Some people get waaaaay too heated over a simple exchange on Reddit over clothing. But near as I could tell, most folks were inclined to live and let live. There were the instigators who seemed to love bagging on the people who supported it. I mean, there always are.
But at the end of the day, we live in a state that thrives on tourism. Even if that means buying gear with Maine logos on them. Why not wear that stuff? After all, on a basic level you're supporting Maine's economy by doing so. So maybe we should all stop being a stick-in-the-mud and slap on a Maine hat. Because, Maine.