What Off Season?
MIDCOAST VILLAGER
Camp Is Still in Session During the Winter at Camp DeForest
For newer hospitality business owners, a first winter is a bit of an unknown — especially when it was a seasonal operation under prior ownership. Camp DeForest, which opened in the old Ducktrap Motel on Route 1 in Lincolnville last June, is committed not only to staying open year-round, but also to bringing in locals to its very freshly opened restaurant and bar, which only began service around Thanksgiving (or for a staycation in a room for that matter).
Owners Brady and Jessica Brim-DeForest bought the motel in 2022 and ended up rebuilding much of it from the ground up due to decades of deferred maintenance. The old motel was not winterized, so after putting waterlines below the frostline and thoroughly insulating the rebuilt cabins, it was always part of the plan to stay open year-round. “We have front-of-house staff all day long, seven days a week,” Brady Brim-DeForest said. “If we already have folks on site, and we have a local community that frankly has limited options for food in the winter, we thought it would be nice for the community” to have food and beverage options, too. The two spaces in the main lodge with food and drink service, Lantern Bar and Happy Trails, have quickly become hits with locals, including some nearby neighbors who have taken to regularly walking down the shoulder of Route 1 to come by for a drink.