Editor’s note: 5 Things is a new feature in which locals give our readers suggestions for exploring the state of Maine, town by town. Have a city or town you think we should explore in future? Send an email to news and culture editor Katherine Lee at [email protected].

Kyle Walton’s job is all about giving people things to do in Belfast. He’s program director for the Colonial Theatre, a vintage movie house that first opened downtown in 1912. The venue had been closed for about a year before a nonprofit group formed to revive and reopen it in 2023.
Walton, 40, grew up in Belfast and nearby Searsmont.  He had worked in concessions at the theater as a teen, and later left town for a while to work in TV news and public relations. Here are some of his best bets for things to do in his hometown, located on the Midcoast north of Camden.

WHERE TO EAT 

Darby’s has a bar that’s been preserved since the late 1800s, with an Irish pub theme. It’s been a downtown anchor since it was a lunch counter cafe in the ’50s. I’ve been going there since I was a child and besides adding additional square footage, it hasn’t changed.

WHERE TO DRINK

Dos Gatos has a basement speakeasy feel, with small plate tacos and high-end margaritas. It feels like something you wouldn’t expect to find in Belfast. It has two bars, including a heavenly outdoor space. It’s got sort of a jungle theme with lots of vegetation and roots wrapping around timbers.

CONNECT WITH NATURE 

As a child I loved to travel on the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad. Those tracks (in Belfast) have been ripped up, but now we have the Belfast Rail Trail. It starts at the pier and goes (along the Passagassawaukeag River) all the way to City Point. You walk past commercial boatbuilding, under the Route 1 bridge and through lots of untouched nature. Lots of trees, birds and other animals.

SHOP LOCALLY

Opera House Video in the historic Hayford Block, where the Belfast Opera House is being restored. They have some 25,000 copies of movies on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. It’s like a time capsule from 1996. Something that Belfast and greater Waldo County has tried to do is keep some if its enterprises in a bit of a time capsule.

HIDDEN GEM 

This place is barely on the map and very new (it opened in March). It’s called Pulling Corks Wine Bar & Shop. A lot of people don’t know it’s there yet. It’s on a side street, but it’s a great little spot. Ten years ago you would not have thought a wine bar would open here, so it’s great that they have. It’s (possibly) Waldo County’s first ever wine bar.