Courtesy / Legacy Ranch & Event Center
Interior work at the facility is expected to be complete within the next few weeks, but it’s already receiving queries.
June 21, 2021
New wedding barn bets couples will say ‘I do’ to Aroostook County
Courtesy / Legacy Ranch & Event Center
Miranda Bragan, a Presque Isle native, bought a 92-acre parcel in Mars Hill and built the Legacy Ranch & Event Center as a year-round wedding and events venue.
Even before a new wedding barn was built in Aroostook County, the venue was receiving queries from couples near and far.
Miranda Bragan, a Presque Isle native, bought a 92-acre parcel in Mars Hill and built the Legacy Ranch & Event Center there as a year-round wedding and events venue. Also offered are six seasonal “glamping” sites.
The barn still wasn’t quite ready when the first wedding as held on the property two Saturdays ago. But the bride was eager.
“She wanted to get married last year but canceled because of COVID,” Bragan told Mainebiz. “So they rented the property itself. We put out our church pews in one of our little meadows, and they rented a tent and used our tables and hired a decorator to set it up for the reception.”
Legacy offers itself as having plenty of room for the rehearsal, ceremony and reception in a spot with country charm, without the hassle of traveling between venues. A newly constructed 5,000-square-foot Monitor-style barn features a raised center aisle, bridal and groom suites, a prep kitchen, bathrooms, and heat and air conditioning. Amenities include two portable bars, tables, chairs and linens for 200 people. Also offered are the six glamping sites.
Future ranch
Bragan came to the venture from a surprising angle. She graduated a month ago from the University of New England with a bachelor's degree in animal behavior. Her goal is to pursue a master's in equine assisted therapy and ultimately to start an equine assisted therapy ranch. Equine assisted therapy is a form of mental and physical health treatment that involves activities with horses.
“I’ve been riding since I was 3,” she said. “Horseback riding has always been a great stress reliever. I know the impacts that horseback riding or just being around them can have on kids. Horses almost have this sixth sense where they can mirror the emotions of someone around them.”
A year ago she started looking at properties that would be suitable for a future ranch and for her own home. After a couple of months, she found the 92 acres of undulating fields.
“I looked at pretty close to every property available in Aroostook County and found this lot in Mars Hill,” she said. “This one was perfect because it’s nice and big and close to home.”
Her mother, Tricia Bragan, came up with the idea of building a wedding-and-events barn as an initial income stream.
Courtesy / Legacy Ranch & Event Center
Owner Miranda Bragan looks over a spool that will be used as an outside bar table.
“She slowly talked me into it,” said Miranda.
“This has been something that’s been missing from Aroostook County,” said Tricia.
Family and bank financing
Miranda closed on the property last August, then hired contractors to perform site and architectural work for a total cost of $200,000, financed by her father and uncle. Machias Savings Bank provided a construction loan of $235,000 to build the barn. An additional $50,000 went for furnishings and materials, including church pews.
Key assistance has come from her father, a building trades teacher and contractor, and her mother, a former interior decorator and an entrepreneur who owns a local mental health agency called A New Start. Both also have built local relationships for years.
At the same time, Bragan been developing a network of events providers and consulted with florists, caterers, DJs and decorators to ensure the design of the barn was optimal.
“We started last year doing mock wedding set-ups to post on Facebook,” she said.
Next year the plan is to build a 40-foot by 70-foot pavilion outside, so weddings and receptions can be held in separate areas.
The goal is to attract events, too.
Bragan started marketing the barn on Facebook shortly after she bought the property. Word gets around the County quickly, she said, and by the first week of January, she already had one wedding booked.
Courtesy / Legacy Ranch & Event Center
The center hosted its first wedding outside earlier this month, with features such as this “photo booth” set-up.
“That couple had gotten engaged at Christmas and they wanted to set up a time to meet,” she said. “It was a big deal for us because these people had a lot of faith that we would get this built.”
For this year, so far, Bragan has about a dozen bookings. For 2022, June and half of July are booked and a couple of weddings are scheduled for September.
Most queries are coming from within an hour of travel. One local couple had scheduled their wedding party in Bangor, but when they heard about Legacy, they switched, she said.
“As we grow, we’d like to become a wedding destination to attract people from out-of-state,” she said.
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