The Fort Kent RV Park was booked solid throughout the summer of 2021. (Courtesy of Rick Douglas)
Business is booming at Aroostook County (Maine) RV parks, and most are having to expand to meet the demand, including the state’s only town-owned facility, according to Fiddlehead Focus.
Several Aroostook RV parks have increased the number of camping sites they offer in response to a growing number of visitors since the pandemic. One family-owned park in Eagle Lake even sold the business to shareholders to help them keep up with the excess demand from customers.
Birch Haven Campground in Eagle Lake added 40 new RV sites in the past two years due to an increased demand that came mostly from the pandemic.
“A lot of people started camping because of COVID. A lot of people didn’t want to leave the state so they decided to camp and explore the state,” owner Dale Roy said. “We were completely full last year and had to turn people away.”
First opened in 1967, the now 140-site RV park has been in Dale Roy’s family for the past 40 years.
The Roys sold the campground to 38 shareholders this year as a result of the demand in business but remain part owners of the park.
In Grand Isle, George Dionne had no intention of opening an RV park when he purchased land from a friend in that town many years ago. Dionne adapted the land to accommodate RVs so that families would have places to stay during the 2014 World Acadian Congress held in the St. John Valley.
Dionne has kept the park open since, and expanded from 12 to 21 sites in the past two years, largely due to the increase in interest brought on by COVID-19, he said. Many of his season holders are Maine residents.
