In Scarborough Since: [Scott] 1996. I like to say, “I wasn’t born here but I got here as fast as I could.” My family started coming to Scarborough in the 1920s and I came every summer as a kid. In 1983, my grandmother bought a house at Higgins Beach. I moved here after I graduated from college. Sunny joined me one year later. (We met while studying abroad.)
Where did you grow up? [Sunny] The Poconos, in Pennsylvania. [Scott] Grafton, Massachusetts.
Why Scarborough? It’s the perfect balance of beaches, rocky coast, businesses, trails… it’s almost like several towns in one. It’s close to Portland but there’s so much more space. There’s a great community of dog owners, which we love. We walk the beach and trails with our dogs and meet so many great people.
It’s also the memories and the history. It’s friends who see each other every summer and neighbors who care about each other. Scott’s grandmother lived in her cottage until she was 95. She could only have done that with a very social, caring community. There were always friends and neighbors stopping by.
What’s your ideal fall day in Scarborough? Walking the dogs on the beach is a daily joy. Playing pickleball with friends. Enjoying a fall sunset on the beach (they’re the best because the sun sets over the water). Then cocktails and dinner at Black Point Inn or a fish fry at Ken’s.
What do you remember fondly about “old” Scarborough? Walking to the old Len Libby’s for ice cream after dinner. We’d say the calories didn’t count because we walked there.
What’s something you like about “new” Scarborough? There’s more variety for dining – you don’t have to go all the way into Portland. We love how the town is embracing pickleball and adding more courts. There are also more sidewalks and bike lanes along Spurwink. That’s a nice improvement.
What’s your greatest hope for Scarborough? We’d love to see Scarborough Land Trust’s 30X30 initiative come to fruition (the goal of conserving 30% of Scarborough’s land by 2030.) We totally support that. We really hope the town continues to balance the various user groups in a way that gives everyone opportunities to use the trails, parks, and beaches, even if no one gets all they want.
What have you learned about Scarborough through your work?
We’ve learned that places like Higgins and Pine Point are great for people in transition. We do a lot of work with winter rentals and we see this all the time – people relocating, changing jobs, going through divorce. They’re welcoming communities. You go for a walk on the beach and you can meet people. People have a strong connection to these places. Guests often tell us they or their family have been coming here for decades. It’s special to them.
What’s something no one in town knows about you? Well, some people know that we love to play pickleball and sometimes play in tournaments. Our team is called the Grateful Dinks.
We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in September and next year we’ll celebrate the 25th anniversary of our business. We’re planning some really exciting community-oriented things for that based around the theme of “25”. Stay tuned!
What’s it like working with Meghan McDonald? We call her “Meg-star”! She was our first full-time team member for real estate sales and she has been absolutely instrumental in our growth. She also has local knowledge that only comes from someone who grew up here. When she took her first vacation Scott joked to Sunny, “I love you, but I can’t live without Meghan.”
