Maine's economic future was discussed by more than 150 small business owners, entrepreneurs, dreamers and doers on Chebeague Islandlast Saturday. They all were brought together by the Island Institute and many concerned people living on the island.

The talks will continue at a Summit on Maine's Next Economy starting on September 26. The summit will be organized by Envision Maine and several other organizations and sponsors.

It seems that Maine residents do not want to wait for the government or Wall Street to help them, instead they are willing to do something on their own to build a future that celebrates both the beauty of Maine and the spirit of Maine's people. The zeal to make things happen among Maine residents is similar to what brought them there in the first place.

Many experts believe that it is very important for Maine people to remember who they are to build a more innovative and entrepreneurial economy. It was just 200 years ago when everyone in Maine was an entrepreneur, an innovator or a small business person, running farms, cutting and shipping wood, catching fish and operating sawmills, shipyards and many other businesses. Not only their communities sought benefits from the robust economy that time, but rest of the country.

Maine residents have witnessed a long series of stages of grief and denial, anger and recrimination, but now they are making efforts to improve and bring their past position back. They are looking forward to work on the future so as to ensure that a long-overdue economic renewal finally happens in Maine.