The volunteer-run corporation decided in February 2020 to buy the property and lease it to the Purdys, and were able to raise $1.4 million from island residents for this and future projects. “To our rescue came the Islesboro Economic Sustainability Corporation,” Marianne Purdy said. “The income from the store wouldn’t have paid for the mortgage on both the business and the property.” “We couldn’t get financing without a lease, and we couldn’t afford to buy the property,” Sky Purdy said. But they just couldn’t make the numbers work. They spoke to town officials and decided to pursue purchasing it. In February 2019, when they first saw in the Islesboro Island News that the store was for sale, they grew interested. Credit: Courtesy of Marianne PurdyĮnter the Purdys. Sky and Marianne Purdy, who have years of hospitality experience and deep island ties, now own the store. The Island Market, owned by Dave “Shake” Mahan and Linda “Looney” Mahan for 25 years, has new owners. “Unlike other islands, which have established much more robust year-round services, on Islesboro we’ve always gone to the mainland for many things.” “The town realized how vulnerable we were, and how dependent we were on the mainland,” Tom Tutor, the vice chair of the Islesboro Economic Sustainability Corporation, said. Lots of islanders work and shop on the mainland, something that seemed jeopardized by the rate hike. Ultimately, the state backtracked from its original decision to impose a flat-rate ticket for ferries, and moved in October 2019 to a fluctuating system based on destination and season.īut the original increase was shocking for Islesboro residents, whose 3-mile ferry trip was the shortest of all routes to the islands and the most heavily used. Islesboro voters established that quasi-municipal, nonprofit corporation in November 2019, largely in response to the state’s 2018 decision to more than double the price of a ferry ticket. “I’m looking forward to starting to give some of that back.”īut the family’s purchase of the store couldn’t have happened, he said, without the intervention of the Islesboro Economic Sustainability Corporation. “I feel that this community invested a lot in me as a kid,” he said. Sky Purdy, who grew up on Islesboro and whose mother, Maggy Willcox, is the editor and publisher of the Islesboro Island News, is delighted to be back home. Sky and Marianne Purdy, the new owners of the Island Market on Islesboro, with their two children Eleanor and Arlo. They also have 2-year-old daughter Eleanor and baby Arlo. “And she took up a lot of space, but she was exciting and fun and beautiful.Thanks to them, the Island Market, which was listed for sale two years ago, finally has new owners: Sky and Marianne Purdy, both 35, who have deep ties to the island and lots of hospitality experience. “She would come in like a hurricane,” Mahan said. And everyone on Islesboro will miss Alley’s presence and friendship, Hall said. Hall and Mahan will miss Alley and her spontaneity, adventurousness, humor, generosity and sincerity. “She really loved it here because she was able to have privacy and be in a beautiful place, make a lot of friends,” Mahan said. Mahan said that is perhaps why Alley felt so comfortable on Islesboro and was able to connect with the community. “People tried to respect her privacy, and people weren’t so star struck by her.” “The island people treated her just like one of us, and they protected her,” Hall said. When people often asked where Alley’s house was, Hall said residents would lie and say she didn’t live on the island. Hall and Mahan were both fans of Alley’s work, from the television series “Cheers” to the 1994 movie “David’s Mother.”īut despite her fame, locals really respected her privacy, Mahan said. “She was just fun to be around … and real” she said.
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