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Crocuses in the snow! |
Greetings from the Harraseeket Inn! In order to protect the health of our employees and guests, we've paused operations for the time being, with the hopes of reopening in May. We hope you and your loved ones are safe and well as we navigate these uncharted waters. With the coronavirus still overshadowing our daily routines, it's especially comforting to see the crocuses and daffodils emerging and our migratory birds returning. These long awaited and always welcome signs of spring are much appreciated every year, but even moreso now. The health and economic fall out from this crisis is just beginning and we don't know how severe the impacts will be on our lives and our businesses. These are uncertain times. But when those tough yet beautiful spring bulbs come up right through the March snow and open their faces to the sun, they remind us that these hard times will pass. We'll get through this together, one day at a time.
Although we won't be open for lodging until May, we're offering a limited take-out menu between 3 and 7 pm in our Broad Arrow Tavern, with daily specials and curbside pick up.
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| Chef Bo hard at work on the Broad Arrow Tavern Take Out menu |
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Celeste delivers take out with her cheerful smile!
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Click
here
to view the most recent menu, and
here
to see our beverage take-out menu. We have a kids menu, too! Place your order anytime after noon (1-207-865-9377) and have your credit card ready when you call. Your order will be delivered to your vehicle when you arrive. As always, service with a smile!
We're even offering take-out on Easter Sunday! It won't be our usual Grand Buffet, of course, but more of a family style "Easter-Grand-Buffet-To-Go" with the option of ordering an entire pie or cake for dessert, as well as your favorite beverages. You'll need to call us before April 8th to reserve your meal in advance. Credit cards will be charged at the time of your reservation. Price is per person ($45.) but orders will be packed family style based on the number of people reserved. Everything will be cooked ahead, with basic reheating instructions provided by Chef Bo. Curbside pick up will be available between 1 and 4 pm on the 11th and we'll deliver right to you vehicle!
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Robyn having loads of fun washing the windows |
UPDATES:
We'll be sure to keep you informed with timely updates as to when we'll be reopening, and we appreciate your patience and understanding as reservations have had to be cancelled and rescheduled. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call. You'll get a friendly Maine voice with the most recent update!
In the meantime, we're taking advantage of the extremely rare (and hopefully never repeated) phenomenon of having the entire inn shut down. We're working hard at spring cleaning. Normally this is quite a challenge because when rooms are being rented, business meetings are ongoing and the tavern is bustling with activity, it's very difficult to tear things apart and really deep clean.
To date we've intensively spring cleaned and sanitized the public areas including steam cleaning the carpets and adding new furniture, we've torn apart the upstairs kitchen for new wall board and paint, and we're in the process of power washing the outside of the building in preparation for a coat of fresh paint. In the guest rooms we're removing the quarter canopies, deep cleaning and sanitizing, and painting, painting, painting.
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| Go, Joe! |
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The Broad Arrow Tavern has new flooring and carpeting, and the walls and ceilings have been repainted. Lots is getting done, and with an inn as big as ours, social distancing between staff members is easy to maintain. We're about to rebuild and refinish our front entry doors, and there are a million other things left to do, but the Harraseeket is really starting to shine! Even our boiler room looks fantastic. Our employees have really stepped up to the challenge and we tip our hats to them. We have the best crew on the planet, and we hope ALL of them will be able to return very soon.
Our staff is what makes the Harraseeket Inn so special, together with our incredible guests. We truly miss seeing everyone and being together as the "Harraseeket family". Speaking of which, after a sobering two weeks of endless cancellations due to the Covid social distancing quarantines, Penny Baker recently took a reservation. Her response was priceless!
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| The incomparable Penny B. scores a reservation! |
Making summer travel plans is a tough thing to do when we're all practicing social distancing and sheltering at home during this Covid scare. How about purchasing a
Harraseeket Inn Gift Cerificate for food or lodging here at the inn?
There's no expiration date, and they make great gifts. Easter and Mother's Day are coming right up! If you know someone who's been working extra hard during this crisis, which would include anyone in the health field, or maybe those UPS and FEDEX drivers, your postal delivery person, police and firemen, those valiant cashiers at the grocery stores and other essential businesses who've been such stalwart soldiers during these trying times, why not give them a gift certificate in appreciation? You could even purchase one as a gift to yourself for successfully homeschooling the kids! We issue them in any amount and they never expire!
If you're able to get outside where you live, nothing lifts the spirits and dispells cabin fever like a good brisk walk in the fresh air. We're so lucky here in Maine to have the great outdoors right outside our homes. Never has that been so appreciated!
Special Offers and Upcoming Events:
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*The BEST Cabin Fever Reliever when we Reopen**
You deserve a little pampering. Come snuggle by the fireplace and rediscover what it means to "decompress"! Enjoy the enchanting beauty and starry night skies of Maine.
This two night package is offered in standard or deluxe lodging and includes:
*Dinner for Two in the Broad Arrow Tavern
*Lunch Buffet for Two in the Broad Arrow Tavern
*$50. Gift Certificate to L.L.Bean
*Buffet Breakfast each morning
*Afternoon tea daily
Cabin Fever Standard/2 nights: $475. + tax
Cabin Fever Deluxe/2 nights: $525. + tax
Available Sunday through Thursday nights only May 1
through June 13, 2019 based on availability.
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Habitat for Humanity!
*This year marks the 17
th
Annual Hospitality for Habitat: May 1
through May 21, 2020, we're offering a variety of rooms at half our regular rate, in exchange for a $35. check each night, made payable to Habitat for Humanity. These funds will be distributed among the local chapters of Habitat for Humanity
www.habitat.org
, a Christian ministry dedicated to eliminating poverty housing. Reservations must be made in advance, and the contribution to Habit for Humanity must be in the form of a check. Come visit Maine and pay it forward!
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Visit Freeport A calendar of all the creative happenings in town during this social distancing challenge. Everything "Freeport" in one handy website. Your virtual shopping connection!
Enjoy a great selection of family oriented and educational outdoor events planned at the park, just a short drive from the inn. Beautiful wooded walking, snowshoeing and skiing trails along the rugged shoreline of Casco Bay. A perfect place to escape the chaos of our modern world. Stop by Wolfe's Neck Farm while you're out there, say hello to all the animals!
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This month's trivia question: Back in the mid-1800's, wealthy members of the New York Fish and Game Club built a wonderful set of cabins and a main lodge on an island deep in the Maine woods, accessible only by train, boat, and float plane. They
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Innkeeper Nancy Dyer Gray as a young girl at her parent's lodge with her father's float plane and his English Setter, Danny
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brought their families out of the city and spent their entire summers there. The innkeeper, Nancy (Dyer) Gray, grew up there with her sister Joyce after her parents bought the island in 1945. Her father's float plane was used to fly in supplies and guests. What was the name of the lodge, and where was it located? All correct answers win a voucher worth $5. toward food or lodging on your next visit. You may redeem up to 12 vouchers at one time, a total of $60. One voucher per family, please, and only one set of vouchers can be redeemed per guest room. Please be patient with my replies, it takes a long time to answer hundreds of responses!
Be well, keep you and your loved ones safe, and w
e very much look forward to seeing you again!
Warmest regards,
Penny Gray
The Gray family
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Can you hear the surf crashing on the rocks, smell the fresh salt air and hear the lonely cries of the herring gulls?
Maine, Maine, Maine! |
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