ROCKLAND — Paul Benjamin, president of Rockland Main Street, introduced incoming executive director Gordon Page, Sr., to a small crowd during an informal reception hosted by the RMS board to welcome Page held at the Time Out Pub in Rockland. Page replaces long time Executive Director Lorain Francis, who left the position in December to serve as senior program director for the Maine Downtown Center in Augusta. The announcement of Page's appointment was made March 4.

Following his introduction, Page thanked Francis, who has been leading the organization for the past five years and noted that the organization was left in good shape. Page then thanked the board of directors, who take the extra step to help promote not only the businesses, but the residential community that's adjacent to the downtown area.

Francis joined Page onstage and expressed her excitement in having Page on-board.

"The Main Street program is important in the state of Maine," she said. "Rockland is lucky to have a program and I was honored and privileged to be part of that. What we're all doing is making our communities thrive. It helps all the businesses and helps everyone who is here. I look forward to welcoming you to the bigger picture of Main Street Maine in the state."

Francis explained that Main Street Maine is part of a program that is used in 45 states and 2,200 communities across the country. Francis is now senior program director and state coordinator for the National Main Street Center. The center is in Chicago and is a subsidiary for the National Trust for Historical Preservation. They are the organization who started the Main Street program.

"As the program director, my job is to handle 30 Main Streets in the state of Maine," she said. "We do it at two levels. We have our Main Street Maine, which Rockland is part of because they have staff. And then we have another 20 that do what we call Main Street Lite and they are networks that are all over the state. We're in every county with a community that's working to do this revitalization work, so it's pretty exciting."

Francis said one of her favorite things was the lobster trap tree that was part of the city's Festival of Lights. The tree gained recognition for the last three years and was picked up by the New York Times, magazines and two national TV networks. Francis attributed that to Rockland Main Street's efforts to raise awareness.

Francis said her confidence level in Page as the new executive director is high.

"I'm comfortable and my confidence level is very, very high in Gordon," she said. "He's a great guy, he's a community guy, he's involved with Kiwanis and he's going to do great. He'll also be a great addition to our team at the state level. All our Main Street managers work together, they share ideas and learn from each other."

Page commented that he would not be able to fill Francis' shoes, but he would bring a new pair to the game.

"The Main Street Program is highly regarded in the state." he said. "I would like to be able to step in and take over from where Loraine left off. There are a lot of opportunities here in Midcoast Maine and a lot of opportunities here in Rockland. What we want to do is create more relevance to the downtown area, give people more of a reason to come to downtown. There are a lot of people who come to downtown Rockland and visit and decide a couple of years later that they want to buy a house in Rockland."

Rockland's city council supports and encourages Rockland Main Street.

"The council has been supportive since the inception of Rockland Main Street," he said. "They support it financially, but more important then the money is the moral support they provide. They are 100 percent behind the effort, they see the value and the economic development opportunities just as a result of being able to network with other communities and businesses outside the area."

Page arrived in the area in 1982 from Massachusetts and resides in Owls Head with his wife, Janet.

He is a past president and member of the Rockland Kiwanis Club, and a past president of the local Chamber of Commerce. He served 13 years on the chamber board, stepping down at the end of 2013. Most recently, he served as vice president of Maine Eastern Railroad and also runs his own small business, Gordon Page Marketing and Public Relations.