WILLOW CREEK — On clear Saturday nights this summer, the Farr Family Farm has become a gathering place for stargazers who come for skies dark enough to reveal the Milky Way in full detail — a view increasingly rare across the Eastern Seaboard.
Henry Farr hosted six monthly stargazing events between May and October, each drawing between 80 and 150 visitors who brought blankets, lawn chairs and telescopes to a designated paddock a half-mile from the nearest artificial light. The farm’s location in a valley shielded from town glow makes it one of the darkest accessible sites in Aroostook County.
“There’s no place like this between Bangor and the Canadian border,” said Dr. Margaret Choi, an astronomer from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, who attended three events and provided a portable telescope for public use.
Farr said he was initially reluctant to turn his hayfields into a tourist attraction. But the $10 parking fee and maple-syrup sales generated $4,400 in extra revenue, which he used to repair a barn roof.
“I’ve been watching these stars my whole life and never thought people would pay to see them here,” Farr said. “But they come from Portland, Boston, even New York.”
The town is exploring International Dark Sky Park certification for the farm property, a designation that could raise Willow Creek’s profile among astronomy enthusiasts globally.