Moxie beyond New England's borders

I just found a writer who lives in Elmira, New York that's written his own ode to the virtues of Moxie.

John P. Cleary, who writes for the Star-Gazette (a Gannett paper), visits Maine each summer and when he and his family do, they make a trip to Frank Anicetti's Kennebec Fruit Co., for Moxie ice cream and to visit with the Moxie Man.

Cleary details the difficulty that Moxie lovers outside of New England struggle with in acquiring their favorite soft drink. Still, they persevere and find ways to score Moxie.

He writes,

"My wife came to love Moxie on her childhood visits to Maine, where it is the official state soft drink. We take our children on annual vacations to Bailey Island, Maine, and, each year, include a pilgrimage to Lisbon Falls, home of the Kennebec Fruit Co., the headquarters of the Moxie Universe. It's there that Frank Anicetti, the high priest of all things Moxie, holds court and sells, along with Moxie T-shirts, bumper stickers, baby clothes, clocks, blankets, and other stuff, his delicious, homemade Moxie ice cream. Lisbon Falls hosts the Moxie Days festival every July.

In New England, you can buy Moxie at almost any grocery store, but it's hard to find elsewhere. Before we leave Maine every summer, I load up our van with Moxie. I'm also lucky enough to have a brother-in-law who lives not far from Catawissa, Pa., where the Catawissa Bottling Co. has been bottling Moxie since the 1940s."

You can read the rest of Cleary's article here.

On the book front, I sent seven chapters of my manuscript to my copy editor, this morning. Things are looking good for our Moxie Festival launch.