Aroostook County to be Featured on HGTV’s House Hunters

Aroostook County  -  A production crew from the HGTV (Home and Garden Television) series House Hunters will be in northern Maine over the coming Columbus Day Holiday Weekend to tape an episode of the network’s most watched program.

The House Hunters series spin-off Lakefront Bargain Hunt will follow central Aroostook resident Greg Doak as he looks at three different lakefront properties in the area with local realtor Jane Towle of RE/MAX Central.  Doak, who has worked with Towle in recent months in his search to find a property on a local body of water, was recommended by his realtor who was recently contacted by HGTV about coming to The County.

“The producers called me out of the blue three weeks ago about the idea of doing a House Hunters - Lakefront Bargain Hunt episode in our area.  They had already vetted the region and chose central Aroostook,” said Towle.  “They are very interested in our area and what we have to offer.  In addition to the three properties we will visit with the production crew, they indicated they will be highlighting some of the local points of interest and capturing the beauty of our area at the height of the fall foliage season.  They indicated this will bring tremendous exposure to The County and can really provide a boost to the region, as it has for other areas across the country featured on the show.”

In fact, at Towle’s suggestion, the show’s producers arranged to have a helicopter crew in The County this past Friday to take aerial video throughout the region to ensure they would capture the fall foliage at its peak in advance of the rainy and windy weekend weather.

House Hunters is HGTV’s highest rated program, averaging over 40 million viewers each week.

Over several conversations with the producers, Towle has learned that they intend to tape footage in downtown Presque Isle and other area points of interest including the University of Maine at Presque Isle and Northern Maine Community College.  As she does with her clients who are new to The County, Towle also sold many of the region’s gems to the production team, including the Nordic Heritage Center (and the events it hosts), Aroostook State Park, and other things unique to the area like the site of the first Transatlantic balloon crossing, and the Aroostook Valley Country Club, which straddles the U.S./Canada border.

According to Towle, HGTV producers wanted to target lakefront properties in the region under $175,000.  She was asked to provide three comparable properties that met Doak’s wants and needs.

The producers, camera and staging crew will arrive in The County on October 9 and wrap up taping on October 14.  They will stay in a local hotel, dine in local restaurants and spend money in the area while producing the episode of the reality television series that will air in the coming weeks.

“We are very excited!  This is a tremendous opportunity to showcase, to a national television audience, the many great things The County has to offer,” said Towle.  “People in other parts of the country would be required to pay a great deal more for properties similar to those we will showcase on the upcoming episode.  The combination of the region’s beauty and friendliness of the people, coupled with the relatively affordable housing market, will be attractive to viewers.”