Matthew Alley has tried almost every way there is to make a living Down East. The Jonesboro man mowed lawns, worked for a blueberry processor, landscaped and fished commercially until chance brought him the hustle that stuck: selling Maine potatoes in parking lots across the state.
A bad trip to sell seafood in Aroostook County brought him here by chance, Alley said Tuesday in his heavy-duty trailer parked in an empty lot along Route 1 in Bucksport. That day in 2020, a potato farm in Caribou gave him 20 bags to take home in exchange for his remaining lobsters.
He posted about it on Facebook and had sold them all by the time he got home.
“It just snowballed from there,” said Alley, who now also makes regular trips to sell potatoes in parking lots from Sanford to Calais. “It went from 20-30 bags to, ‘How much can I stuff in this vehicle?’”
His business is an example of an ongoing Maine tradition of selling local food along roadsides. He believes it’s also an important way to bring people more affordable local food as grocery prices continue rising.
It’s hard to say how many traveling or temporary farmstand operations like Alley’s exist in Maine. Many are seasonal — offering fiddleheads, wild blueberries, seafood and wreaths in season — and informal.
Such stands commonly sell products from other farms or producers, in contrast to organized farmers markets, according to Kelsey Kobik, communications coordinator for the Maine Federation of Farmers Markets. State law requires farmers market vendors to grow at least 75% of what they sell.
But, Kobik noted, organized farmers markets typically originate where people gather to sell their extra produce. Sales directly to customers, outside of large retailers, are also a key for small farmers to survive and stay producing, she said.
The traditional trucks are a more offline and community-based piece of the supply chain somewhat comparable to the newer trend of “pop up” markets and shops, she said.
Kobik lives in southern Waldo county, where she sees people selling blueberries by the roadside during the summer. She also vends at the Waterville farmers market, where an independent seller will occasionally set up with a cooler of fiddleheads across the street.
Alley drives to his Caribou supplier, which he declined to name, at least once a week to pick up 10,000 pounds at a time between late September and March. He and his wife, Dayna, and their three young sons sold 100,000 pounds — mostly Caribou Russets — their first year, and sales have gone up every season since, clearing a quarter of a million pounds in 2025.
Just 10% of Maine-grown potatoes head to the fresh market, which includes homes, restaurants and institutions, according to Aroostook County’s tourism agency.
Alley posts about upcoming visits on Facebook, where people also reach out to recommend parking lots where others sell from trucks in their area. He checks local regulations first, though most Maine towns don’t require permits for his style of sales, he said.
The Potato Man sells 50 pound bags for $20, or 40 cents per pound, almost 10 cents less than the cheapest Russet potatoes available at Bangor-area Walmart and Hannaford stores, according to their websites. Alley also said the product is fresher coming from the farm and spends less time in storage than grocery store offerings.
He’s concerned about rising grocery prices and corporate control of the supply chain, saying he prefers working with and for small businesses. Food costs have risen 3.7% in the northeast since last February, according to the Consumer Price Index, and 1% in the last two months alone.
Until a few months ago, Alley wanted to expand potato sales across New England, but with fuel costs rising and no end in sight, he’s not sure. Fuel costs could also hurt his existing business, he said.
In the coming years, Alley hopes to add corn, sweet potatoes, onions and other produce to his offerings.
“I want it to be affordable for people, because I see what our economy is here in Maine, and I see our government doesn’t care,” he said, referring to both the state and federal level.
Kobik, of the farmer’s market federation, said roadside stands are typically thought of as a place to find food at lower costs. Though some may think food is more expensive at organized markets than grocery stores, she said, there are plenty of places in Maine where local produce can be found fresher and cheaper than big retailers.
She also thinks about where she wants her money to go when buying food, she said, and would rather put it all toward the people who took the risks and did the work to produce it rather than paying for the bureaucracy of a longer supply chain.
To Alley, buying food locally is more affordable across the board.
“It’s coming to the point where farm stands could be your future,” he said. “They could be your saving grace.”
