Interior of Fossa General Store expected to begin next month

This story is in the Bangor Daily News and written by Diana Bowley, BDN Staff:  DEXTER, Maine — Work will soon begin on the interior of the Fossa General Store in Dexter, where local produce will be showcased and sold.

The Dexter Regional Development Corp., which received a $140,000 Community Development Block Grant for the interior work, will act as its own general contractor and will

solicit bids for the materials, as well as the electrical and plumbing jobs, by July.

The store will sell farm produce and products produced in the Dexter region in an effort to promote local purchases and help local farmers. The store also will have a commercial kitchen. The latter will be funded through a $40,000 USDA grant.

The exterior work on the building and the installation of a deck has been completed and was funded through another CDBG grant.

The latest grant will cover only the first floor of the building, so corporation members are sponsoring a raffle of two sides of locally grown, certified organic grass-fed beef donated by Sherburne Farms in Dexter and a chicken coop donated and built by Dan and Moira McGarry of Abbot,  to help fund the renovation to the second floor, which will serve as an office and conference room. The drawing will be held at 3 p.m. July 24 on the new deck.

For more information, call Judy Craig, coordinator of the Dexter Community Farm Project, at 924-3067.