Lisbon Parks & Recreation Department Assistant Director Kate Madore sits in the gazebo Monday afternoon behind the town’s MTM Center in Lisbon as campers from the Recreation Department’s summer day camp ham it up. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

You’ll see her at the Moxie Festival, you’ll see her at Winter Festival and you might see her out and about in any of Lisbon’s parks and gardens. If you pop into Little River Coffee on Union Street, you might see her there, too, baking or brewing before the day gets started. Kate Madore is the assistant director of the town’s Parks & Recreation Department and co-owner of Little River Coffee.

Madore works behind the scenes on some of the town’s biggest community programs and events when she isn’t warming souls with a cup of coffee and serving locally sourced food.

Who are you and where are you from? “Who are you” is a question I’m answering every day! My name is Kate Madore, and I was born and raised outside of Bangor. I spent most high school summers driving back roads to Bar Harbor and Blue Hill taking notes on the people I’d see there – old Mainers who barely had a word for you but set the world straight when they did; wealthy tourists tumbling out of ocean liners for a new land and a new diversion; people trying really hard in a hundred different ways to make something out of the pine trees, ocean, and snow Down East.

What do you do for a living? I’m lucky enough to have two jobs that I love. I’m the assistant director for the Lisbon Parks & Recreation Department. We run programming year-round to offer our families healthy environments for being active, building skills, and recreating in a way that enhances their quality of life. That’s a big way of saying we try to have as much fun as possible in a safe way. Lisbon has a community that is one of the most open I have ever met, while retaining a really strong identity of who they are and where they come from. It’s my honor to help build opportunities for kids and families to play sports, engage in outdoor activities, have a safe place to have fun after school or in the summer, as well as plan the Moxie Festival, Winter Festival, and other events. My co-worker runs a very large and lively senior program, we have a fitness center, kitchen, gym, and many parks and gardens. Our office is in an old school building that has become our community center. Everyone walks through those doors – old and young, rich and poor – and I get to be part of it.

I’m also the co-owner of Little River Coffee in Lisbon Falls on Union Street. My best friend, Maggie, and I opened that space in June 2022. I open every morning before work at the Rec Department, bake lots of the treats we offer, and work as a barista on the weekends. I love the shop. It’s in a beautiful old building with sloping hardwood floors and tin ceilings, and our coffee is roasted by veteran-owned Black Ink Coffee in Bangor, and is absolutely the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had in my life, every day.

What does your work mean to you? Both of my work environments are about creating space for people to be themselves and discover more about who they are. Engaging in recreation can give you skill and confidence in a sport or activity that you’ll carry your whole life. You might realize a part of you existed that you’d never paid attention to before.

The coffee shop is a place people come for the little moments that make up life. Sometimes they’re at crucial times – before a wedding or funeral; sometimes they’re all by themselves and just have to sit and meditate awhile. And we’re there for it, to make the space, make the cup of comfort and conversation.

Kate Madore, Lisbon Parks & Recreation Department assistant director, sits in the gazebo Monday afternoon behind the town’s MTM Center in Lisbon as campers from the recreation department’s summer day camp play. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Has your path always been clear to you or have there been some surprises along the way? Haha — it has never been clear to me. I initially intended to be a pianist. I studied classical piano intensely through high school. I was part of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music program in Blue Hill. At a young musician’s program at the University of Southern Maine after my junior year, I just realized I didn’t have it in me to die on the hill of music perfection. So, I studied education, but left school when I began having children. I always wanted to finish though. The week before my fourth child was born, I completed my bachelor’s (degree) through the University of Maine. Fast forward a few years and I began work at the recreation department, with my youngest in tow. It’s been an immersive education ever since and I wouldn’t change it.

What are some of your interests and/or hobbies when you’re not working? My passion is jiu-jitsu. I have a purple belt and have been training for almost four years at two amazing local gyms, Brunswick Martial Arts Academy and First Class Fitness & MMA. I’m also a certified women’s self defense instructor through the Replicating Adverse Dynamics program. Self-defense isn’t just about beating a bad guy. It’s about learning yourself and your inner darkness and strengthening yourself to fight it every day.

I’m also a hobbyist writer. I mostly write nonfiction essays, which sounds really boring, but is just a permission slip to write about everything and everything you notice and captivates you. I have had a few things published here and there, but it’s not why I do it. Life is fascinating, connection is everywhere, and story matters.

What is the most important part of your day? The most satisfying? The most important parts of every day are the ones I am spending alongside my children. I am the mother of five, ages 7 to 17. The time I spend with each of them is different as our relationships are different. But they’re all hilarious, intriguing, curious, beautiful. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing them learn and bloom and change.

What or who are your biggest influences in life? My life has been influenced by so many things. My lovely Irish mother. My hardworking father who I lost to cancer too young. The knowledge that suffering and grief are inevitable and joy is a choice. These things I carry with me even when I’m not thinking about them.

What kind of legacy do you want to build? The best legacy I can think of is this, from (poet) Mary Oliver: “Instructions for living a life:/Pay attention./Be astonished./Tell about it.”