Moosehead Lake region set to kickoff public Wi-Fi

GREENVILLE — Community members, business owners and public officials will gather to celebrate the launch of a first for the Moosehead Lake region: free public Wi-Fi service in downtown Greenville. The launch also represents Maine’s first public Wi-Fi installation utilizing high-speed Internet connection from a public library.

The Downtown Wi-Fi HotSpot will allow residents and visitors easy access to information about activities and businesses in the Moosehead Lake region. It will be an important tool for marketing the region, and helping local businesses grow.

The kickoff/ribbon cutting will be held at the Shaw Public Library, 9 Lily Bay Road, on Thursday, May 26 at 1 p.m. Following the ribbon cutting, organizers invite the public to a reception with light refreshments at the library.

The Downtown Wi-Fi system, which first went live on April 8, was created as a pilot project by the Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation, in partnership with the Town of Greenville, the Shaw Public Library, the Maine State Library, Networkmaine and the project’s contractor Axiom Technologies.

“Downtown Wi-Fi will provide a public internet connection in Downtown Greenville for the benefit of local residents and visitors to the region,” said Luke Muzzy, president of the Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation. “The ability to connect to a public Wi-Fi system will be an important component supporting economic and community development in the Moosehead Lake region.”

Axiom Technologies, in collaboration with the Maine State Library and Networkmaine, is working on a first in the nation initiative to install Wireless Access Point (Wi-Fi) on the roofs of 230 libraries in Maine as more funding becomes available.

Maine is a nationwide leader of connectivity to schools and libraries. The Maine School and Library Network (MLSN) is a program overseen and operated by Networkmaine that receives funding support from the federal E-rate program, State MTEAF, and local schools and libraries. It is MSLN, and the libraries that support it that provides the enabling foundation for this project.