Michael Rancourt

Michael Rancourt is a local of Lewiston, Maine. In this interview, he begins by discussing what it was like to grow up in Lewiston. Looking back on his roots, he shares family history including Catholic and European traditions. He discusses his mother and father’s jobs in the shoemaking business and the family background being from Lewiston and Canada. Michael then tells how his father’s interest in shoes made him interested in the shoe business and led him to management in a shoe factory. The crafting of shoes is discussed including a memory Michael has of seeing workers in his father’s factory hand sewing shoes. He discusses his own business, Maine Shoe, and how he sold it to a larger company and the judgment the business causes because of low wages and political opinions. He ends the interview with an optimistic view of wanting more people to become interested in the shoe making business in the near future.