enlarge Doug Jones/Staff Photographer

Bruce Swan mushes his team of six dogs at the start of this year’s Mushers Bowl in Bridgton last month.

Western Maine is not necessarily off the beaten path, but it sometimes seems overlooked to those who work to promote it.

"Our challenge is always getting the word out," said Mike McClellan, executive director of the Maine Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce. "We don't always end up on the state report; they don't often mention us, they more often mention lobsters and lighthouses and the coast."

Some of the more rural parts of western Maine aren't necessarily well known, said Tanya Swain, executive director of the nonprofit economic development organization Western Mountains Alliance. "People feel there is a huge amount of potential in terms of those areas' attractiveness to tourists," she said.

To this end, the Western Mountains Alliance has worked with Mountain Counties Heritage, a tourism task force based in Franklin County, to examine "how the region looks at itself as a marketplace."

McClellan and the Maine Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce also have actively marketed the region; they even have a catchphrase: "Imagine us in any season, visit us in all of them."

"We work hard to get people out here," said McClellan. The chamber hosts several large events throughout the year, including a brewer's festival and a Mushers Bowl Winter Carnival. It recently took over operation of the Maine Blues Festival as well. Not long ago, the chamber started advertising beyond the Lakes Region, buying ads in Portland and even out of state.

"We've started to get in the habit of collecting data from people that come to our events," McClellan said. "We now have a database of people and we can let them know (an event) is coming up again so they can plan for it."

Tourism is the Lakes Region's "bread and butter," said McClellan. "But we also have businesses that are just regular businesses."

The chamber has lately been working to provide those businesses with professional-development opportunities, including hosting "eggs and issues" forums.

Swain sees some potential for new businesses. "There seems to be activity here around developing renewable energy," she said.

A wind farm project by the Canadian firm TransCanada Maine Wind Development is now under way in northern Franklin County. Although Swain doesn't see the farm having an immediate economic impact -- all 44 turbines aren't expected to be up and running until 2010 -- "it is representative of an interest in different types of renewable energy," she said.

Another local business has started producing wood pellets, Swain said, of the type that are used for heat.

And home heating is on the mind of a lot of western Mainers, Swain said.

"I would say in the coming year, obviously, everyone is concerned about oil prices," she said. The region's combination of low-income families and long-distance commuters could make for a tough year, said Swain.

McClellan said he's also heard "rumblings out there that people are concerned" about the economy, but he added that the picture in the Lakes Region is mixed.

"It's funny," he said. "There are definitely businesses here that feel we're in a recession, and there are other businesses that are setting records."

News Assistant Isaac Kestenbaum can be contacted at 791-6308 or at:

ikestenbaum@pressherald.com