FORT KENT, Maine – The Mooseshack restaurant, known in the St. John Valley for its pizza, subs and wings, will relocate to East Millinocket this summer. The Fort Kent restaurant will close on June 22 and the East Millinocket spot will open on July 1.
The restaurant announced the decision via Facebook on April 1.
Becky Lawn, who owns the restaurant, said it would be difficult to manage both restaurants simultaneously, as she always covers for workers when they take time off. The Fort Kent restaurant has a crew of five, including Lawn. They are open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with three workers on each shift.
The Mooseshack’s aesthetic is heavily influenced by the region’s logging and potato farming industries. Logs are used for beams and potato barrels are used for lights. The barrel lights are held up by the grapple arms that were used by farmers to grab potato barrels and load them onto flatbed trucks.
The Mooseshack first opened in St. Francis in late 2008. After six years, Lawn opened a second location in Fort Kent. The Fort Kent location was much busier, which led to the closure of the St. Francis location after running both for five months.
The East Millinocket location will also be closer to Lawn’s primary home in Medway. She said she has grandchildren living with her, but has to travel to Fort Kent from Thursday to Saturday each week to manage the restaurant.
“I just can’t say enough good things about Fort Kent,” she said. “We have our regulars every night; it’s the same crew. People come in and they know my staff. It’s so friendly, and we’re just going to miss that. We’re going to really miss it.”
Obey