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Cory King fully intended to live out his 20s in Boston or New York. Somehow, he ended up in Skowhegan. And to his surprise, he’s perfectly happy.
“I like where I am. I like being a community leader. I like being around honest and true people. [After moving back to Maine] the allure of the city never drew me,” King said.
King is the 28-year-old executive director of the Skowhegan Chamber of Commerce. He lives in Waterville and grew up in Sidney, where he attended Messalonskee High School. Over three cups of coffee and a grilled blueberry muffin at Empire Grill in Skowhegan, King reflected on his return to Maine after college, and how he reconciles his decision to stay in his home state with his previous aspirations to move away.
“I get upset when I hear the phrase ‘brain drain,'” King said, referring to the term used to describe the loss of Maine college graduates to other states. “There are some great people that are still in this state.”
After graduating from Ithaca College in upstate New York in 2001 with a degree in corporate communications, King began looking for jobs in public relations in Boston and Manhattan. When his lease was up in July, he moved home to Sidney to continue his out-of-state job search. A few weeks later, his father, Dale, a local realtor, passed away suddenly from a heart attack.
“I stayed in the area, moved in with Mom and brother and said once I know they’re OK, I’ll go back to the city and get my life back on track,” King said.
King went to work selling beer for Colonial Distributors and then for Pine Street Trading Co. He tended bar and waited tables at a few Waterville restaurants, including The Last Unicorn, and then was hired as a manager of a rental company in Waterville, Are You Ready To Party?
“It was a great experience learning how a small business runs, learning what the needs are of a small-business owner, all the issues that come up that you just don’t know unless you’re on the inside,” King said.
But King said he felt apologetic about having a bachelor’s degree and working jobs with little opportunity for promotion. He was enjoying the pace of life in Maine and had lost his desire to join the “rat race” of city life, he said, but at the same time he wanted to reach out to other young, educated people in his area.
Referring again to the statewide buzz in recent years over brain drain, King said, “I get offended when it’s assumed that people that are here don’t have the skills to make Maine succeed. I think it’s more the fact that we’re not really getting the opportunity to have our voice heard.”
He had a few friends who felt the same way, and they got together and started Kennebec Valley Connect, a volunteer organization of 21- to 40-year-old professionals in Waterville. King now serves as vice chairman of the group.
“We looked at the local organizations and town government and noticed that those leaders, no matter how good-intentioned they are, were making the decisions for the future that they won’t be around to see,” King said. “We decided to join together in hopes of becoming a strong enough entity so that we would have a say in what happens in the Greater Waterville area.”
Through KV Connect, King met Audrey Lovering, the 32-year-old director of Main Street Skowhegan, a nonprofit downtown revitalization organization. When the job of executive director of the Skowhegan Chamber of Commerce arose, Lovering said she encouraged King to apply.
“I was very impressed with his enthusiasm and with his drive to make a difference in the community and his love for the area,” Lovering said. “Cory is full of energy.”
King was appointed to the interim executive director position in February, then hired permanently in May. He said it has been a challenge to convince longtime local residents and leaders to trust his ideas about Skowhegan’s future.
“It’s a very passionate community. They really love this area, and that’s why they want to make sure that whatever changes, whatever progress that we go to, it fits,” King said. “I think it’s very important that we start showing the community what the Chamber does for them. [In the past] people didn’t really know what the Chamber did, how we help bring business to the area, how we bring events and tourists to the area. I want to raise our expectations of what we can be.”
In the coming year, King wants to hold several community events to raise funds to restore the Skowhegan Indian statue, which overlooks downtown Skowhegan. He also envisions paving over a designated pedestrian-only section of Water Street.
When he’s not planning Chamber events, King occasionally waits tables at the Breadbox Cafe and spins records as a disc jockey at Champions in Waterville. He has a lead role in the upcoming Elvis-inspired musical “All Shook Up” at Lakewood Theater in Madison.
King said he really wants his friends and family to understand that he is truly content with his life and work in Maine.
“Staying here wasn’t a compromise; it was a conscious decision.”
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