PROSPECT – The Maine Tourism Marketing Partnership Program awarded a $55,000 grant to the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory Celebration Committee.

The grant will be used to promote events celebrating the new bridge, starting in the fall and ending with BridgeFest in June 2007.

“This grant will give us the opportunity to highlight the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory as Maine’s newest tourist attraction,” said Cindi Kimball, Bucksport Bay Area Chamber of Commerce executive director.

The new bridge is expected to be completed by the end of 2006, and will support a 420-foot-high observatory deck, the first of its kind in the United States, according to a bridge committee news release. The committee is looking to raise $165,000 for bridge celebrations.