Where would Sea Bags go? Wiscasset lays out options

Where in Wiscasset will Sea Bags set up to sell its well-known bags made of sails? Selectmen and Town Manager Dennis Simmons were not sure June 15, when the board approved Sea Bags’ latest business license request. Selectman Terry Heller said the town should do what it can to bring the business there.

Post-meeting, the waterfront committee’s Susan Robson wrote Sea Bags’ emergency contact on the application, Kathryn Flynn. “We are very excited to have Sea Bags in Wiscasset. It looks like the original preferred placement will not work,” Robson’s email states. 

According to the committee’s draft recommendation included in the email, the business could ask to put a shed on one of two spots left on Main Street Pier; or ask to put Sea Bags’ truck on the pier, an idea the committee is “not a fan of,” the document noted. Committee member David Gagnon told selectmen the concern was the pier “isn’t beefed up enough to hold that truck all season long”; or Sea Bags could park on the grass near the recreational pier, where bridge and boat traffic would see it; on Railroad Avenue; or in Main Street Pier’s lot, parallel to the railroad fence. The document states Sea Bags prefers that spot; the committee does not recommend it.

While there should be enough room if the truck hugs the fence and opens onto the parking area, “parking is too precious,” the spot is not striped and “apparently it interferes with a deeded right of way ...,” the document states.

Gagnon said he thinks the “grassy knoll” next to the recreational pier would be “perfect. You can see it from the bridge, those big letters on the side of (the) truck.”

Selectman Terry Heller said there is a “great deal of interest” in the business. “I’m not the only one who thinks a lot of Sea Bags. So I’m willing to try to help this. I think we all need to let (Sea Bags) know that we’re interested ...” 

Simmons said a business license the board approved May 4 with the spot still to be determined was good for 90 days; the new license, a year, and the business would still need to be in a spot the town accepts, he said. Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield asked Robson to let the board know what she hears back.

Wiscasset Newspaper did not immediately hear back on messages left June 16 at contact numbers listed on Sea Bags’ application. Seabags.com states Maine craftspeople design, sew and finish each bag, made of used sails.

Also June 15, the board approved a temporary business license for Brother Shucker at 4 Railroad Ave. The application states the business plans to sell oysters, beer and snacks out of a food trailer. The trailer is because the building the business will rent there is still under construction, Brother Shucker’s Zach Kuras told the board. The business still needs the state’s OK to sell the canned beer, he noted. Picnic tables will be set up in a roped off area, he said.