Blue Hill’s pub issue is a cautionary tale for Penobscot

Proposed pub would be a ‘radical change to our quiet village and to the town itself’ says abutter

Oct. 28, 2026

By John Zeaman

Should Penobscot allow a bar on the grounds of Northern Bay Market? Voters in Penobscot will have a chance to decide this question on Nov. 20, following a town hearing on the issue Nov. 10. 

I urge them to vote no. 

My wife and I live at 183 Southern Bay Road. We are next door to Northern Bay Market on the south side. As such, our property would be, of all our South Penobscot neighbors, one of the most affected. Jamie MacNair, the owner, has described this “indoor-outdoor” operation as having “events.” To me, that translates into live entertainment, bands and other amplified performances.

Having something like this just on the other side of our fence would probably be a deal breaker for us, ending 12 happy years of residence. But we would not be the only ones affected. Make no mistake, this would be a radical change to our quiet village and to the town itself. To be clear, this will not be an establishment serving only beer with pizza as the owner has on one occasion suggested. The State of Maine does have such licenses, but that’s not the one the owner has applied for. She is asking for licenses to serve all kinds of alcohol. 

This proposal is remarkable in its lack of firm details. Perhaps, as the owner has said, it will close at 7 p.m. But perhaps not. The problem—perhaps the central problem—is that once liquor licenses are granted, the owner can do just about anything she wants. She could have rock bands every night. She could keep it open till 1 a.m. Penobscot has no regulations in place to handle a commercial establishment like this–or of any kind.

That’s why some people are asking not just to vote this down, but to put a six-month moratorium on any new commercial development until the town has a chance to put some rules in place. Places change. Perhaps Penobscot is ready for a bar or a restaurant. But this is not the way to go about it – to let someone open a bar seven days a week, with no rules, and just see what happens.  

Penobscot, unlike nearby towns such as Blue Hill or Castine, has no commercial district for such a business. Even Blue Hill, with its bustling downtown, had well-publicized trouble this summer regulating a pub that unlawfully expanded into outdoor seating and loud music. The pub became a major nuisance to its residential neighbors. This should be a cautionary tale for Penobscot. 

For all the talk of this being a friendly space for Penobscot residents to gather, it would not even be open in the off season. It would be primarily designed to draw in the summer trade, cars festooned with bicycles and kayaks slowing down to get a better look, perhaps pulling over to the east side of the road and crossing with children, or jockeying for a space with limited parking. 

This is a bad stretch of road to put an additional business, especially one serving liquor. As it is now, drivers leaving the market must speed off (often with engines roaring and tires screeching) to avoid collisions with southbound drivers coming around the sharp bend or northbound drivers coming up over the rise. Cars on that road rarely go less than 50 mph despite a posted speed limit of 20 mph. Drivers rounding that bend don’t even see the store until they’re right on top of it. It’s a bad corner. 

The parking lot can be a busy place. Tractor trailers making deliveries or drivers taking coffee breaks compete with cars and pickups getting gas, people buying lobsters, pizza, coffee or a six-pack. Does it make sense to add more motorists to this situation?  Those who have had more than a few drinks? 

Northern Bay Market is a valued business here. It provides a service to the community. And the community has paid it back with a license to sell packaged liquor. Granting the store this revenue stream, however, has undeniably altered its character. Food had to be taken off the shelves to make room for all the liquor bottles. There is no longer a meat counter. No produce. It is not so much a market now as a liquor-and-convenience store with pizza. 

All this would be so much easier if Penobscot, like neighboring towns, had some kind of  commercial district. That’s where a pub might make sense.  Either that or on some flat stretch of road with unlimited parking, and no neighbors who must coexist with it. The village of South Penobscot has too many houses too close together for it to accommodate the expanded commercial activity that Northern Bay Market envisions for it.  

-Zeaman divides his time between Penobscot and Leonia, New Jersey.

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