Since the first show on the Bangor waterfront in July 2010, Waterfront Concerts has hosted about 245 concerts and drawn roughly 1.6 million people. A new study by Todd Gabe, director of the University of Maine School of Economics, puts a dollar figure on what those shows have meant to the region: $601 million in economic output for Penobscot County through the 2025 season, including $158 million in labor income. Gabe prepared the update for the City of Bangor at no charge, continuing an analysis he began when the concerts started.
Congratulations to Waterfront Concerts
Ervin Architecture congratulates Alex Gray and the entire Waterfront Concerts organization. The numbers in this study belong to the people who book the artists, sell the tickets, run the shows and bring hundreds of thousands of fans to Bangor every summer. Sixteen seasons of national tours in a city the size of Bangor is a real achievement, and the study shows what that achievement has returned to the region.
What the Study Found
Gabe’s analysis uses the IMPLAN input-output model, which counts the direct spending generated by the concerts along with the indirect effects that follow, such as purchases from local suppliers and the household spending of the people the shows employ. The inputs include ticket revenue after the artists’ share, other local spending by concertgoers, Waterfront Concerts’ revenue, employment and payroll records, and taxable retail sales reported to Maine Revenue Services.
The recent seasons show how much the venue now carries. The 2025 season alone produced about $67 million in economic output and $15 million in labor income, roughly in line with the two seasons before it.
The venue’s reach extends well beyond Bangor. About one-third of 2025 ticket sales came from counties at least 200 miles away, and in some summer months the concerts account for 10 percent or more of local restaurant and hotel sales.
The Maine Architects Behind Every Phase
Ervin Architecture has designed every phase of the Maine Savings Amphitheater since 2017. The venue now holds 16,289 people on a seven-acre crescent of waterfront between Main Street and the CSX rail line, forty feet below street level, with five buildings and more than 100,000 square feet of floor area. Each phase was delivered while the venue kept operating through its concert seasons.
The final phase added 19 rooftop suites with 498 premium seats on the structures flanking the main bowl. The Maine Savings Amphitheater Rooftop Suites project page shows that work in detail.
What Comes Next for Bangor
Gray told the Bangor Daily News that the venue’s original plans included an additional building that is still in the works, and that Bangor’s lodging market is “missing that premium component.” The City of Bangor’s economic development team is now reviewing city-owned properties for possible hotel development.
Ervin Architecture works with owners and developers across the state on live entertainment, hospitality and commercial buildings, with offices in Bangor and Portland. Owners looking for architects in Maine with built experience at this scale can learn more about Ervin Architecture’s Maine architect services.
Source: Todd Gabe, University of Maine School of Economics, economic contribution study of Waterfront Concerts prepared for the City of Bangor, as reported by the Bangor Daily News on October 16, 2026.
