Maine Strippers News from PartyDancersUSA, ME.

ME Stripper News will be adding any number of newspaper articles written over the years about PartyDancersUSA, 1st Amendment Rights and the right of people to choose.

__________________________________________________

ME STRIPPER NEWS – ARTICLE #1

Some adding adult shows to boost their business

By Tom Bell tbell@mainetoday.com Staff Writer

CARRABASSETT VALLEY — As the last families at the Carrabassett Inn & Grill finish their fried haddock and prime rib, two men in leather jackets haul away the empty tables.

They roll in portable platforms and install dancing poles, strobe lights and a disco ball. One of the men drapes black fabric over the windows.

It takes only 30 minutes to transform the family restaurant into a strip club.

A crowd of men, mostly snowmobilers, pours inside as the pounding dance music signals the start of the show. Unlike in clubs in some Maine cities, though, the dancers here are naked.

The place is packed. Just 14 miles up Route 27 in a hotel in Eustis, a similar crowd is watching topless women perform lap dances. The same scene is playing out in taverns in Rangeley and Greenville Junction.

In the mountains of Western Maine, sex is a business model that works.

“I call it my economic stimulus package,” says Jeff Jacques, owner of the Carrabasett Inn & Grill. “I had to do something to keep my doors open.”

There are not many ways to make a living up here, so communities put up with the shows as long as it’s not apparent to the public what’s going on inside the establishments. Except for one or two nights a week, the businesses operate as ordinary hotels and taverns.

Advertising is limited to the Internet. In Greenville Junction, posters are put up on snowmobile trails.

The shows begin in September with the bear season, followed by moose season, deer season, the ski and snowmobile season and then fishing season.

The business thrives because there’s a market.

The patrons — most of whom hail from cities and suburbs to the south — are spending the weekends with their buddies and have left their wives and girlfriends at home. The lack of regulations and the region’s live-and-let-live ethos also play a role.

Communities in other parts of the state, including Portland and its suburbs, use zoning rules to regulate adult businesses. In Portland, for example, physical contact is prohibited and dancers must cover their genitals.

Nude dancing is not tolerated everywhere in rural Maine. Residents of Solon in Somerset County last week adopted an ordinance that removes the profit motive by banning the operators of erotic dance shows from selling alcohol.

In response to the opening a year ago of the Grand View Coffee Shop in Vassalboro, several towns in central Maine have recently adopted similar ordinances.

The coffee shop, which featured topless waitresses, burned to the ground last June in a late-night fire that investigators say was intentionally set. The fire occurred just hours after the owner presented a proposal to town officials to make the topless coffee shop more like a strip club.

Carrabassett Valley, Eustis and Rangeley don’t have ordinances regulating sex-orientated businesses. Greenville Junction is located in an unorganized territory. In all those places, state law allows full nudity as well as physical contact.

The communities are also more tolerant.

In the mountains of Western Maine, churches have less influence than in other parts of the state, and residents here are generally reluctant to interfere in other people’s lives, explains Pam Morse, pastor of the Sugarloaf Area Christian Ministry, the only church in Carrabassett Valley.

People who move to the region value their privacy, she says. “Most people come up this way to be left alone.”

In Stratton, the main village of Eustis, the Stratton Plaza Inn has hosted erotic dance shows since the mid-1990s.

Shortly after the shows began, an attempt was made to establish a sex-oriented business ordinance, but it was voted down at town meeting.

Today, the town’s assistant fire chief and a fire lieutenant work as the bouncer and doorman.

The owner, Jeff Brickley, says money from the shows has helped him restore the hotel, which is one of the oldest and largest buildings in town. He says the shows are accepted by the community.

“Most people up here are pretty forgiving,” he says.

Alicia Fortenbacker, co-owner of the Stratton Diner, says many customers who attend the show come to her place for breakfast the following morning.

“It helps everybody. It brings people to town,” she says.

Tammy Beach, an unemployed waitress, says she never goes to the show. But it’s a matter of personal choice.

“Nobody forces anybody to go in,” she says.

Down the highway in Carrabassett Valley, attitudes are the same. Several owners over the years have struggled to make a success of the Carrabassett Inn, which was formerly known as the Carrabassett Valley Yacht Club. Located six miles from Sugarloaf, the 12-room hotel is too far away for the high-end, apres-ski night life.

Jeff and Mary Jacques bought the business six years ago. It faced closure once the recession hit, Jeff Jacques says. Now, he says, it’s thriving.

Besides the influx of cash from alcohol sales during the shows on Friday nights, he says, his food business during the rest of the week has doubled because of the attention the shows have given his business.

Many local residents say they want to see the business succeed. The locals don’t come for the show. They come for food and make sure they leave before 9:30 p.m. on Fridays.

Because the dancing shows have rescued the place, residents can have access to a modestly priced restaurant, says Jan Kremin of Carrabassett Valley.

Last fall, Kremin held her husband’s 70th birthday party at the restaurant.

“We want them to do well,” she says of Jeff and Mary Jacques. “We want to have a place to go.”

Jeff Jacques brought in dancers during the depths of the recession in the fall of 2008. He told town officials at the time that he would do the shows only until the economy picks up. The selectmen said they didn’t want to take a moral stance on nudity, but they also told Jacques they didn’t want to see any flashing signs outside the business.

He held to his end of the bargain. His only advertisement is the letter-board sign out front that says, “FRIDAY WELCOME PARTYDANCERSUSA 9 P.M.”

His customers know what that means. PartyDancersUSA is the name of the Augusta-based business that provides the dancers, bouncers and equipment for a $450 fee. Jacques makes his money selling drinks.

Party Dancers also provides shows for Woody’s Bar & Grill in Greenville Junction and the Club House Restaurant & Lounge in Rangeley.

To prevent any problems, two bouncers accompany the dancers at all times, and they drive them out of town as soon as the show is over at 1 a.m.

Police Chief Scott Nichols says he hasn’t received any complaints about unlawful behavior at the Carrabassett Inn and has never visited it.

“I’m not wasting officers’ time doing checks on the place,” he says.

PartyDancersUSA is one of two dance companies in the state competing for this business. The other, Bodies In Motion, has shows at the Stratton Plaza Hotel on Main Street in Stratton.

The women at Bodies in Motion don’t spin on poles. And unlike the dancers in the other show, they are not naked. They wear short skirts and G-strings. The hotel’s owner, Brickley, said he puts on a “classier” show than the one down the road.

PartyDancersUSA, which runs a louder, raunchier and more energetic all-nude show, appears to be gaining in market share. Party Dancers last year replaced Bodies in Motion at Woody’s Bar & Grill in Greenville Junction, and it is now taking customers away from the Stratton Plaza Hotel.

The dancers for both companies come from Maine. They make their money from tips.

Hank and Irene Gargan, owner of Bodies In Motion, says his dancers used to earn up to $700 a night. But business is down. Since the economic downturn, customers have less money to spend. Dancers now earn from $100 to $300 a night, he said.

The show at the Stratton Plaza Hotel ends after midnight. In the back room, the man who operated the sound system counts the cash that was collected at the door. Customers pay $10 admission.

One by one, the women enter the back room. After more than three-hours of dancing, they look tired. They undress and put on their street clothes. Deidra Donnell, 27, of Lewiston, a single mother of an 8-year-old girl, says her parents are proud of her because the money she earns allows her to be independent and support her daughter. She says her dancing is a form of art.

Jessica Hall, 22, of Lewiston, says she she’s trying to save enough money to run her own hair salon, and that it’s hard to find any work now. She says the stigma of being a dancer makes it difficult to have relationships, because men leave when they find out. She says her work is unpredictable.

“It can be anything from exciting to degrading,” she says.

The dancers face some opposition in the community.

Florence Caldwell, a member of the Calvary Bible Church, a small church in Stratton, was part of an effort in the 1990s to shut down the dance shows at the hotel. She says the nudity is tearing down the morals of young people in Eustis.

Her congregation, she says, is outnumbered and has given up on politics. Rather, the church is employing other means. Members are now praying for the hotel’s owner to bring in a different form of entertainment.

When informed that the dancers at the Stratton Plaza Hotel are now facing tough competition from a high-energy show in the Carrabassett Inn, she smiles.

“Maybe our prayers are starting to work,” she says.

__________________________________________________

ME STRIPPER NEWS – ARTICLE #2

Milbridge may add nudity ordinance after local bar hosts strippers

MILBRIDGE, Maine — Strippers in Milbridge?

Barbara Seymour thinks not.

“They’re asking for trouble,” the Milbridge resident said of The Pines restaurant bar recently booking a total nudity strip show at the venue on Kennedy Highway — Route 1A — some two miles from the town center.

“This is a quiet little fishing village,” Seymour said Monday. “I just don’t feel comfortable with Milbridge having a stripping bar. As far as The Pines, you can’t be a family restaurant and have strippers. I know it’s hard to make a living up here, especially in the winter, but you have to make a choice. Are you going to be a family restaurant or are you a stripper bar?”

Concern about public nudity in Milbridge on Dec. 7 has spilled over to the board of selectmen and the town’s planning board.

“The planning board is looking into ordinances,” Town Manager Lewis Pinkham said Monday. The board members “are looking at the ordinances in place in Ellsworth and Bar Harbor.”

No date has been set for that agenda item.

Steven Teegarden, who owns The Pines, said Monday that the Dec. 7 strip show was an “exception” to the acts he books for the venue, saying that it was requested by his patrons. No one under age 21 was allowed into the bar during the performance, and the windows were covered, he said.

“You listen to your customers,” he said. “They kept telling me to bring in strippers. This same company I hired had performed shows in private homes within two miles from here.”

Teegarden said the performance attracted 160 people, with a cover charge of $10 a head. Into the last half-hour of the performance, it included total nudity, he said.

“My security people said it was an easy night, no fights,” he said. “I was not surprised nor am I offended by the community reaction.

“Would I do it again? No,” Teeggarden said. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime event. I would think that the town has bigger fish to fry.”

___________________________________________________________

ME STRIPPER NEWS – ARTICLE #3

Skowhegan selectmen strip language from ordinance banning tips for exotic dancers

Ordinance aimed at easing restrictions on all-male exotic dance troupe performances at T&B’s Celebration Center to go before voters at Town Meeting June 10.

SKOWHEGAN  — Tipping strippers during exotic dance shows in Skowhegan got the OK from selectmen last week, but with a caveat — gratuities couldn’t be solicited by a dancer or paid by a patron while the dancer is performing.

That was among the amendments proposed for the town’s Special Amusement Ordinance after some hot discussion by members of the public and business owners alike.

The proposed amendments, along with a proposed Obscenity and Adult Entertainment Ordinance, will go to the voters at Town Meeting beginning at 7 p.m. June 10 at the Skowhegan Opera House.

If voters approve the proposal, the changes, including the required height of the dance platform, hours of entertainment shows and proximity to schools and parks, now will allow dancers to leave the stage after a performance to collect tips from patrons. During performances, the dancers are not allowed to be closer than 10 feet from attendees.

Discussion last week came after eight months of deliberation by the Skowhegan Planning Board, an adviser from Kennebec Valley Council of Governments and appeals by a business owner to make new rules that would be less restrictive for a venue that serves alcohol and presents exotic dancing. Residents said they wanted it to be easier to conduct performances, which generate income for the promoters, along with other businesses that offer lodging and dining services.

Debate centered on shows produced at T&B’s Celebration Center with all-male revues similar to the “Magic Mike” and “Magic Men” shows, in which muscular men dance for a mostly female audience.

Jason Gayne, executive director of the Skowhegan Chamber of Commerce, said he supports less restrictive language in Skowhegan’s Special Amusement Ordinance. Morning Sentinel file photo by Doug Harlow

Jason Gayne, executive director of the Skowhegan Area Chamber of Commerce, said he supports the less restrictive language because of the financial effect patrons of the show who want more direct contact with exotic dancers have on the local economy.

“If we did not change this, one of the concerns is that we could not have these once-a-year events, which the business would not make money on,” Gayne said. “Locally with this event, we benefit by them staying in the local motels and eating in local restaurants. It is usually in the tune of about 3,500 people for that weekend, so not just one business loses but many.”

The existing ordinance, first enacted in March 1999 and amended in 2004 and again last year, also forbids “fondling, mingling or caressing in the establishment between any patron and any dancer with the intent to sexually arouse or excite a person’s sexual desire.”

Skowhegan Town Manager Christine Almand said selectmen felt it was appropriate to remove the tipping prohibition for exotic dancing. Staff file photo

The tipping portion of the ordinance has always been a part of the rule, Town Manager Christine Almand said. Terry Washburn, owner of T&B’s, requested that section be removed so that he could get back to the business of promoting shows.

“With this, person-to-person direct tipping — the patron could tip a dancer,” Almand said of the proposed amendment. “They can’t be dancing any closer than 10 feet of a patron. The ordinance makes it less restrictive.”

Once the dancer stops dancing, he can go into the audience and receive gratuities, she said.

“The selectmen felt that it was appropriate to remove it, based on Terry Washburn’s request,” she said. “From what I understand, he’s been holding a couple of these per year for several years. I think he said 10 years. Exotic dancing. As far as I’m aware, he’s only had male exotic dancers. However, this ordinance is not gender specific.”

Almand said she hasn’t been to any of the shows but has been told that there has been physical contact between dancers and patrons in the audience, which is not allowed under the ordinance.

“I don’t believe that they get naked,” she said, adding that there have been violations of the existing ordinance, and each time the venue has been asked to stop the violations and they have complied.

On the gratuities issue, Washburn told selectmen last week that he would like to see that portion of the ordinance removed. With that in place, he said, he can’t make money because people won’t attend the shows.

“If I can’t do that, the show won’t come here,” he said.

Ordinances elsewhere in Maine offer similar restrictions about location, and some continue to ban tipping exotic dancers. Much of the language of the rules target mostly female dancers, but Almand said Skowhegan’s ordinance is not gender specific.

Terry Washburn, owner of T&B’s Celebration Center and bowling alley in Skowhegan, asked that the tipping provision for exotic dancers in the town’s Special Amusement Ordinance be amended so that he could get back to the business of promoting shows at his establishment. Somerset Community TV 11 image

In the towns of Gray and Gorham, for example, tipping dancers is prohibited: “No patron shall directly pay or give any gratuity to any dancer and no dancer shall solicit any pay or gratuity from any patron.”

Other Maine towns allow nudity or alcoholic beverages but not both.

Maine law does not prevent nude dancing. It limits such performances by requiring that they occur in a place where they cannot be observed from a location outside the performance location.

Joel Greenwood, community planner at the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments who has assisted Skowhegan in finding middle ground on the Special Amusement Ordinance, said there are varying ordinances around the state aimed at regulating “adult entertainment.”

Greenwood said most of the local ordinances are based on a State Planning Office model published in 2005.

“They don’t really usually mention male or female dancers specifically, but more general anatomical areas that are prohibited from display,” he said.

In Waterville, City Manager Mike Roy said no exotic dancing currently is happening in the city, but if there were, tipping dancers would not be a problem.

“No dancing in Waterville to the best of my knowledge and I did check with the police,” Roy said in an email. “IF there were dancing, and if said dancing was in a place with alcohol but said dancing did not expose any forbidden areas, there is no prohibition against tipping.”

T&B’s Celebration Center in Skowhegan. Morning Sentinel file photo by David Leaming

As the ordinance stood in Skowhegan last week before selectmen voted 4-0 to remove the tipping restriction, no tipping was allowed at all, at any time. The idea of possibly having a “tip jar” somewhere on the premises was rejected.

During discussion last week, one woman, April Foss, stood to tell selectmen that the whole point of attending exotic dance shows is the fun of the interaction with the dancers.

“The whole point of a Magic Mike show coming to Skowhegan is the point of tips,” she said. “It is the point of the dancers coming down and the interaction of it; and to stop that, and you don’t make that possible, the only one losing out is the business.”

She said people would not go to the shows and would go to another town to enjoy the shows, and Skowhegan would miss out on the business.

Noting that town officials don’t want to hurt businesses in Skowhegan, board Chairman Paul York took motions to eliminate the tipping portion of the ordinance. The rest of the board agreed with a unanimous vote to allow tipping, but not during the dance itself.

Voters will get the final say June 10.

______________________________________________________

ME STRIPPER NEWS – ARTICLE #4