This Maine wild blueberry industry pioneer is still growing and promoting at age 91

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 9, 2026

Dell Emerson sat watching a conveyor belt run at Wescogus Wild Blueberry on Thursday. All around him was evidence of a lifetime growing not just blueberries, but the state’s wild blueberry industry. Emerson, 91, designed and built the equipment used here and by other small growers. He spent 53 years working nearby at the University of Maine’s wild blueberry research station, 30 as its manager, during a period that roughly nearly quadrupled yields of Washington County’s iconic crop. With his wife, Marie, he built Wild Blueberry Land, a blueberry-colored geodesic dome with a shop and museum on Route 1 in Columbia Falls that’s become a popular attraction for travelers. “His goal was to save small farms, and he’s done it in many, many ways,” Marie Emerson said.