Despite an initially wet and windy forecast, the sun shone at the 2026 Common Ground Fair this weekend, delighting fairgoers, many of whom stopped by The Maine Monitor booth to voice their support for local independent journalism and share their thoughts on the important issues facing the state.
Several candidates stopped by The Monitor booth, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate Hannah Pingree and independent gubernatorial candidate Rick Bennett, plus Matt Dunlap, a Democrat who is running to represent Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House.
When asked for their thoughts about what the next governor of Maine should prioritize, fairgoers identified a wide range of issues, which they wrote down on sticky notes displayed at The Monitor booth.
Affordable housing remained a concern, as it has in previous years. But other issues also rose to the surface: Many said they wanted regulation around artificial intelligence and data center development, and the expulsion of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from the state. Health care costs and access were also prominent concerns, with several voicing support for universal health care. “Protecting democracy and protecting the environment,” as Sunny from Searsport put it, were also on the minds of fairgoers.
Doug from Winter Harbor asked that the next governor “take care of investments that have been made” and balance the state budget.
On Friday, The Monitor’s editor Kate Cough gave a talk in the Social Political Action Tent about local news and the Maine news landscape. Several listeners lamented the loss of print media and local news organizations in their communities. Cough discussed The Monitor’s hyperlocal civic news initiative, Monitor Local, which began publishing in 2025, as an effort to stem the loss of local news in towns in the western and far eastern areas of the state.
The Monitor was joined on Friday and Saturday by students from Torchlight Media, a community-based multimedia arts and production studio in Belfast. Torchlight students took photos and video footage of The Monitor team engaging with fairgoers at the booth, and produced several videos posted to The Monitor’s social media channels.
The Monitor team also distributed free totes and stickers designed by local Maine artist Ashley Megquier.
