Josh Johnson, of Biddeford, had a front row seat to the start of Instagram. It begins, as it probably should, with a phone call from the two Instagram founders who were still figuring out what they had built. Josh Johnson had been posting every day—quietly, methodically—on an app that had barely introduced itself to the world. Three days after it launched, he downloaded it because someone on a podcast said it made photos look better. There were no hashtags yet, no search, no

Frank Coletti, owner of Coletti's Pizza in Biddeford, Maine, owns one of the most popular pizza shops in the state of Maine. At five years old, Frank lived through the 1980 earthquake in Naples, Italy. His family spent the next five years in temporary housing. I’ve been gone a long time. Twenty-five years. Most of that time was in Orlando, where the pizza restaurants tend to feel interchangeable after a while—Ferrara's, Nona Street, Flame, Blaze—different names, same menus,

Tori and Abby opened Bird Bones Tattoo Studio on Elm Street in Biddeford in 2024. The Entrance Tori, left, and Abby in the lobby of Bird Bones Tattoo Studio. The door opens into something that doesn’t feel like a waiting room. A desk sits just inside, but it’s surrounded—framed, stacked, layered. A mounted muskrat looks out from the wall to the left. Above it, turkey wings. Behind the desk, shelves hold objects that feel collected over time, not ordered all at once. The wall

Michael Macomber and Katie Pinard outside Elements on a cold March morning in Biddeford. Inside, the shop has been a gathering place on Main Street for 13 years. On the second day of March, winter in Biddeford feels less certain. The cold is still sharp enough to stiffen your fingers, but the light has changed. It comes in clearer now, a brighter blue stretched over Main Street. Snowbanks along the curb have thinned and grayed at the edges. Meltwater runs in narrow ribbons to

Randy Forcier, left and Chris Bedard, right, at their office above Social House Kitchen in Saco, Maine. The CMG Home Loans office on Beach Street is quiet in the way a busy place gets when it’s between waves. A couple chairs are pushed in like someone tried to be tidy before the next appointment. A conference room sits ready—four walls, a table, a few pens that don’t belong to anyone in particular. Downstairs, there’s coffee and movement at Social House Kitchen, the kind of p

Driving through Biddeford, you can tell something about a house by how close it sits to the road. The older the house, the less it seems to care about being polite. Steve’s house sits so near the intersection it feels like the road had to adjust its plans. Not the other way around. Steve's house was constructed when the 8th US President was serving, Martin Van Buren. Subscribe to BrickTides.com. The workshop is not where you expect it. To reach it, you have to step outside a

Sarah Hoover, program director at Apex Youth Connection in Biddeford, Maine. From the outside, Apex Youth Connection doesn’t try to impress you. The building on Granite Street isn’t pretty. It’s scrappy. It looks like a place built for use, not for show. The kind of place that gets the job done and doesn’t apologize for it. Inside, the order reveals itself. Bikes and bike parts are everywhere, but nothing is careless. Handlebars hang in clean rows. Cranks, chains, gears — al

The foundation was only a few feet out of the frozen Scarborough ground, a neat geometry of concrete catching the winter sun. Ten degrees, bright and wind-bitten. Snow from last week still rimmed the perimeter, crisp and untouched. An excavator growled to life, a skid steer answered, and the Atlantic glinted coldly just beyond the lot. This is where something long imagined begins to become real. After a year of planning, Christi stands inside the early shape of a home she onc

Heather Paquette, President of Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine. Photo by Cy Cyr Outside the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, the morning felt unmistakably like Maine. The sun was bright, the air was cold, the wind was sharp, and snow clung to the edges of the parking lot. It was the kind of day that makes you hurry from your car to the door. Inside, the world felt entirely different. The warehouse moved with purpose. Volunteers sorted boxes beneath lights that cast winte

Denis Garriepy, Chief Operating Officer of Landry / French Construction, at a job site in Alfred, Maine on Wednesday, November, 26, 2025. On a recent morning in Alfred, Denis Garriepy checked the time before stepping into the unfinished York County First Responders Training Center. He had already visited one project earlier that day and had two more scheduled before heading back to the office. Landry / French Construction currently has fifteen active projects across the regio

When Cheryl and Dale Wilkinson first stepped inside the centuries-old barn on Dennett Road, they didn’t just see decay — they saw history worth saving. The beams were hand-hewn, the floors uneven, the air thick with memory. Years of renovation later, This Old Barn stands again in all its rustic glory: a 202-year-old structure now alive with weddings, laughter, and the steady pulse of family effort. How an Old Farm Became a Barn Venue Rebuilding This Old Barn in Dayton, Maine

David Stover, of Southern Maine, is the owner of Saint Nick's Chimney Service. Saco, Maine — With a brush rod in one hand and a grin in the rain, David Stover climbs the ladder like he’s done it a thousand times before. Below him, his mother Sherrell runs the vacuum inside the house, her steady rhythm matching his scraping above. Together they form the heart of Saint Nick’s Chimney Service , a Southern Maine company that has been keeping hearths clean and safe for more than

Kathleen "Pidge" Pigeon, owner of Lucky Pigeon Brewing in Biddeford, Maine. Biddeford, Maine — The hum of a canning line cuts through the stillness of an afternoon brew day. Inside a restored brick building off Laconia Street, sunlight pools across the floor, the air rich with the earthy sweetness of fermenting grain. A group of regulars trade stories at the bar while a brewer wipes condensation from a stainless-steel tank. Behind the counter, greeting everyone by name, stand

Brad McCourt, owner of Brew England in Biddeford, Maine on September 26, 2025. Photo by Cy Cyr. If you stroll down Main Street in...

A boat tour around Wood Island Lighthouse in Biddeford, Maine