Misty Coolidge, the owner of Coolidge Family Farm, a wedding barn in New Gloucester, says she’s worked every kind of wedding job there is, starting from childhood when her mom owned a bridal shop in Waterville. She worked her way up in the business, and now the 43-year-old is celebrating her sixth year of owning Coolidge Family Farms.
Having planned, facilitated and officiated so many weddings, how is each unique? Every bride has her very own vision on how she wants their day to look like and flow, so every wedding is unique in its own way. It’s so exciting to work with my couples to help them plan their day. I love hearing unique ideas they have. I get so excited when its something super cool or different. For example, I have a couple doing a sunrise wedding coming up and I couldn’t be more excited for her 6:30 a.m. ceremony! How fun! I look forward to seeing my couples arrive on Thursday (greeting them with big hugs) and then I get giddy for the rehearsal on Friday when I can see all the work they put into decorating the barn all day and I get to see their vision come to life!
Can you tell me a bit about the farm’s history, including its link to Calvin Coolidge? The farm was built in 1860 and was run for many years under the name Echo ‘O The Morn, which was its name when I purchased the property six years ago. The previous owners used it to raise chickens, grow vegetables in their many gardens and sell eggs and produce out of their farm stand that is now our converted bathrooms. I wanted to keep the structure intact on the property, so I restored it, buried a septic and leach field, and its now two real beautiful bathrooms. The house doesn’t have any actual ties to the 30th president. . . . I’m actually related to Cool Cal and wanted to honor him and my family name by renaming the farm using our last name. I’ve been collecting his presidential memorabilia for many years and have it proudly displayed on the wall of the living room for all to enjoy (including his wedding photo, which seemed fitting). My daughter Grace was named after his wife.
Where does the “Cool Cal” moniker come from? “Cool Cal” was a popular nickname for President Coolidge, which he got from his campaign slogan.
Can you tell me a little bit about your other endeavors? Love to! My second (but longer operating) business is Maine Mixologists, which has 25 amazing bartenders who work an average of 75 to 90 weddings and events per year. We are a “service only” company that’s been in operation for about nine years and serve the alcohol that our guests provide. Going this route often saves couples money instead of having a caterer haul it in and bill you per person or per cocktail. I work with my couples on cocktail selection, the flow of their bar service, and run calculations on everything they need to shop for making it super easy and stress free.
I also took on an addition to the barn two years ago with the acquisition of a one-room chapel in Gray that I’ve been restoring since then. In 2018 we had our first three ceremonies there. . . . We’re hosting our first Victorian-themed dinner there on June 1!
On the personal side, I’ve got an amazing husband, Peter, who’s my biggest fan, three little ones (twins Eva and Caden, age 4, and Grace, age 2,) and take on lots of endeavors that make my heart happy. I’ve always believed that you shouldn’t turn down any opportunity to grow, challenge yourself and be better than you were yesterday. I want to inspire my children to be overachievers and love life as much as I do! I’m a huge advocate for giving back to my community and volunteer at the Good Shepherd Food Bank on Mondays. I also offer my barn to nonprofits so they can raise money for their causes.
Due to my 25 years of service to my communities, I competed in and won the title of Mrs. Maine International 2018 last year (a community-service based pageant) that brought me to Charleston, South Carolina, to meet 75 other amazing women from our country and 16 others. My platform of fighting hunger in our state has always been near and dear to my heart, so I do whatever I can to combat such a critical issue and fight food insecurities. Once that reign was over I decided to compete again (so that I could continue my journey of helping others) and am now International Ms. Northeast and look forward to competing in New York City in August (for the title of Ms. USA) and meeting even more incredible women!
I also ran for office last year in hopes to serve my neighbors at the state level in the Maine House of Representative for District 65. Even though I lost by only a few hundred votes (out of 4,500 cast) . . . I met a ton of great people, got many folks out to vote who had never voted before, and made an optimistic impact on my little town.
I also belong to the Victoria Mansion’s Gaslight League and am on the Steering Committee, which helps to plan their events (Peter and I were wed at the mansion in 2013). I’m the president of my sorority’s alumni association and thoroughly enjoy mentoring our undergrads. I’m on the Board of Visitors at Husson University (where I graduated from). And I’m currently running for the SAD 15 School Board since my little ones will be entering the school system this year. I’m sure I’m missing something! 🙂
What does the future hold? The future is full of possibilities! I look forward to continuing to celebrate LOVE every weekend at Coolidge Family Farm, growing my Maine Mixologists business to serve even more couples, marketing the chapel so that it can see lots of beautiful events, serving my community in bigger ways, hopefully taking home the Ms. USA title in August, and perhaps running for office again in 2020! I’m sure there is lots of adventure ahead for me and my family!
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