Main Street Skowhegan broke ground on Phase 1 of the New Balance Foundation Boardwalk on June 29, 2026, on the downtown riverfront in Skowhegan, Maine. Crews started the week of June 22 and expect to finish by December 2026.
The boardwalk is the first built piece of Skowhegan River Park, a plan first imagined in 1999 to reconnect downtown Skowhegan to the Kennebec River through public access, recreation, and gathering space. Main Street Skowhegan has carried it for nearly three decades. This is the part that comes out of the drawings and into the ground.
Days before the groundbreaking, Main Street Skowhegan announced a $1 million gift from the New Balance Foundation, one of the largest private commitments the River Park has received. The gift carries naming support for the boardwalk and for the New Balance Foundation Basecamp Gear Library, a lending library of outdoor gear.
Phase 1 is a $2.3 million project: 4,187 square feet of ADA-accessible decking in northern white cedar along the downtown riverfront. It is funded by a $2 million federal Community Project Funding grant championed by Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, and a $334,000 contribution from the Expedia Trail Fund, stewarded through Main Street Skowhegan’s partnership with The Conservation Fund.
“This vision is becoming reality,” said Kristina Cannon, President and CEO of Main Street Skowhegan. “After nearly three decades of planning and community engagement, we’re about to see the first physical pieces of the project take shape.”
We have worked with Main Street Skowhegan since April 2022. Principle master planned and designed the boardwalk, produced the construction documents for Phase 1, and is providing construction administration now that the work is in the ground. VHB leads civil and infrastructure engineering. Buro Happold leads structural engineering, and Blane Casey Building Contractors is building it.
More is already funded. Phase 2 adds 7,235 square feet of boardwalk and promenade beginning in spring 2027, including a river viewing deck at 181 Water Street, backed by a $2.5 million Timber for Transit grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission. Senator King has championed a $5.6 million Community Project Funding request for the first phase of the whitewater park, including the adjustable surf and kayak wave. That request is moving through the Fiscal Year 2027 federal appropriations process.
A 2025 study by Fourth Economy projects the completed River Park will generate $16.6 million in annual economic impact and support 137 permanent jobs across the region.