Pats’ Vrabel to attend lumber store opening

PORTLAND – Hammond Lumber Co. will open its eighth building supply store – this one in Portland – on Saturday with a boost from New England Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel, who will be on hand to sign autographs. Doors will be open from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the new store, located at the corner of Riverside Street and Warren Ave.

The family-owned business was started in 1953 as a three-man sawmill in Belgrade by Clifton “Skip” Hammond. In addition to the Portland and Belgrade locations, there are also Hammond Lumber stores in Bangor, Greenville, Auburn, Fairfield, Farmington and Skowhegan.

In the late 1980s, Hammond began producing Maine Pine Log Home building packages from logs produced at its mill, which still operates at the original site in Belgrade.