Our Mission

Consistent with most Maine small towns, Moosehead Lake residents hold their breath from April to middle of May in an attempt to survive what is widely known as “Mud Season.” Most businesses close to conserve resources due to the lack of tourists that our town so heavily depend on. Simply put – there’s nothing to do here between April and May. If we’re coming off a rough winter with little snow, the small businesses feel the hit of mud season even harder.

In April of 2024, our town was in the path of totality for the solar eclipse. We saw this town come to life in a time when we’ve come accustom to hibernation and “closed for mud season” signs in local business windows. Businesses opened their doors and AirBnB’s fluffed the dust off their pillow shams earlier than normal to offer a place to rest the thousands of heads that swarmed our small town. The entire workforce was also in full force a whole month earlier than normal. What I noticed to my surprise, the town didn’t go back to sleep until our tourist season, but stayed open for business right through May.

I began wondering what we can do to keep this momentum up, as it was such an impactful awakening in an otherwise dull season here.

I’m new to running, but I’ve joined a handful of ½ marathons across the state over the last year. I’ve seen small sleepy towns come to life in their off season with an influx of runners from all over the world. I started to pay more attention to the logistics of the races I’ve entered, from parking, shuttling, porta potties, volunteer efforts – and the list goes on. The vision of a Moosehead Marathon came to life in my mind, and I was ready to take the first step. I started conversations with members of town and fellow runners and we’ve made the dream a reality. We’re bringing a marathon to the Moosehead Lake Region to breathe life into our community during a season we need it most.

-Holland Rockwell, Race Director