Event Planner's Guide 2017

NEIGHBORHOODS.

Many neighborhoods with distinctly different characters exist on the hub of Portland’s downtown, the Portland Peninsula, only three miles long and one-and-one-half miles wide. Because of its compact size, your group is likely to meet and spend time in several of the following districts. At home in Maine. EAST END The panoramic harbor views from the Eastern Prom cannot be matched elsewhere in the city. Once a neglected neighborhood, the East End is on the rise and has become the hip area to live in Portland. The Observatory, situated among a bevy of restau- rants and small shops, crowns Commercial Street.

ARTS DISTRICT The cultural epicenter of Maine, Portland’s Arts District encompasses an art school, world-renowned art museum, numerous galleries, professional theatre, and live performance venues. OLD PORT/WATERFRONT Portland’s working waterfront is an attraction in and of itself. Renovated brick warehouses and tour boats line Commer- cial Street. Cruise ships dock daily in the fall. The Old Port is the heart of Portland’s shopping, dining, and nightlife scene. EAST BAYSIDE This former Industrial area Is now exploding with coffeeshops, breweries, distilleries, and other innovative businesses. East Bayside is definitely Portland’s new hot zone. WEST END Industrial age mansions and Victorian era architecture line the quiet streets of the city’s most elegant quarter. Enjoy a stroll along the Western Prom and dine in great restaurants favored by locals. PARKSIDE Taking its name from 55-acre Deering Oaks Park, this district is also home to the Portland Exposition Building; University of Southern Maine; the Portland Ice Arena; and Hadlock Stadium, home of the Portland Sea Dogs baseball team. THOMPSON’S POINT Imaginative and dynamic, this newly developed waterfront district combines entertainment and conference facilities; an outdoor skating rink; quirky museums, a distillery; a brewery; and the training and performance company, Circus Maine.

Photo: – VisitPortland.com/Emily Dudek

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