Get ready for Build Maine 2026, at the site of the Spinning Mill, now fully redeveloped into a hotel!
2026 Schedule of Events
Tuesday | JUne 2
11:30 Am - 2:00 pm
Registration Open
Lobby, The Skowhegan, 7 Island Avenue
11:00 Am - 2:00 pm
TOURS
Tour: Inflatable Kayak River
Tour departs at 11:00 am from 65 Water Street, downtown Skowhegan.
This guided inflatable kayak trip offers a relaxed and immersive way to explore Skowhegan while enjoying time on the water with experienced Skowhegan Outdoors Registered Maine Guides. The group will travel together to the put-in, where guides will provide a brief orientation covering paddling basics, river awareness, and safety. From there, participants will paddle downstream at an easy pace, taking time to explore the river corridor, enjoy the scenery, and connect with the river. The trip includes lunch on the riverbank, offering time to relax, refuel, and take in the surroundings before continuing downstream. This experience is less about technical instruction and more about exploration, comfort on the water, and shared time outside. No prior paddling experience is required. Max of 15 participants.
Bites & Sites Tour
Tour departs at 11:00 am from Joe’s Flat Iron Cafe. Please arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your tour time for check-in.
Join Main Street Skowhegan on a guided downtown food tour to celebrate the incredible flavors of local businesses. You’ll visit 7 amazing spots—Joe’s Flat Iron Café, The Miller’s Table at Maine Grains, Crooked Face Creamery, The Maine Meal, The Bankery, Unwined, and The Biergarten—sampling delicious bites and hearing the stories behind each business. Plus, enjoy a scenic stroll through the downtown, with a chance to enjoy vibrant public murals and downtown architecture. Tours will leave from Joe’s Flat Iron Café. All ages are welcome. Alcoholic samples offered by Unwined will be served to guests 21+ only with valid ID (mocktail options available). Max of 15 participants.
Spinning Mill Tour
Tour departs at 12:30 pm from the side lobby entrance of The Skowhegan, 7 Island Avenue.
Join us for a tour of the Spinning Mill, which was the vacant undeveloped site of the 2022 Build Maine conference. Work is almost completed to transform the mill into apartments and lodging. Learn about the financing assembled to pull off this project and generate significant value for downtown Skowhegan.
2:00 Pm - 4:00 pm
Afternoon Concurrent Workshops (more sessions coming soon!)
4:00 Pm - 6:00 pm
Beer Garden & Networking
Riverside patio behind the Spinning Mill, 7 Island Avenue
6:00 Pm - 8:00 pm
Dinner on Your Own
Wednesday, JUNE 3
8:00 am - 4:30 pm
8:00 am
Registration + Exhibit Hall Open
Lobby, The Skowhegan, 7 Island Avenue
Locally made + locally source breakfast provided by Maine Grains.
8:45 Am - 4:00 pm
All day keynotes (more keynotes being announced soon!)
Life With Less Driving
Sarah Goodyear | Journalist, Author, and Podcast Host
New York, New York
Maine is one of the most car dependent states in the country. The costs of a car dependent society are piling up with massive, unforeseen consequences for our health, environment, budgets and society. Are conversations about alternative forms of transportation relevant to Maine, the most rural state in the country? Given our aging population, rising fuel and energy prices, and our ecotourism-based economy, should Maine consider other ways to structure our transportation system? Sarah Goodyear, podcast co-host for ‘The War on Cars’ and co-author of Life After Cars, will start the conversation.
Creating Affordable Housing Across the Rural to Urban Transect
Jeremy Lake | Union Studio
Providence, Rhode Island
As the affordable housing crisis intensifies, communities nationwide struggle to create solutions that honor local context and foster connections, and that provide better alternatives to placeless, expensive subdivisions and apartment complexes. With over 140 affordable communities designed across the rural-to-urban transect, Jeremy Lake will share how affordable housing can both integrate seamlessly with surrounding communities and create high value high-density places. Drawing from a number of diverse built projects, Jeremy will reveal how thoughtful design choices - from building typology to community amenity placement - can produce affordable neighborhoods. While these neighborhoods share fundamental design principles, each demonstrates how fine-tuned adjustments can respond to unique local contexts, offering practical strategies drawn from extensive experience.
Re-Regulating for QUALITY Housing Abundance
Eric Kronberg | Architect + Urban Designer
Atlanta, Georgia
Eric will share an expansive compendium of strategies for increasing the supply of housing. His presentation will cover how to identify, break down, and solve problems that are holding back communities from being socially vibrant and economically productive. Those problems take many forms, including underutilized buildings, poor urban design, outdated, restrictive zoning codes, or a lack of variety as it relates to residential and commercial building types. He will speed walk the audience through best practice policies that cover zoning and subdivision ordinances, building codes, and and financial systems that can provide more attainable and flourishing communities. He will touch on policies at both the local and state level, recognizing that it often takes both to achieve better outcomes, as well as implementation strategies like pilot projects and pre-approved plans as tools to facilitate better outcomes.
