Maybe it was a concert, or a convention, or a trade show – for a lot of us it’s a sports event (especially tournament time for basketball) – but for a lot of us who live in Maine, the Augusta Civic Center has been the site of a lot of memories.

The thing is, and I say this with love … it shows.

Midcoast resident Heather D. Martin wants to know what’s on your mind; email her at heather@heatherdmartin.com.

I was in the Civic Center recently for a multi-day event, and I have some notes.

Let’s start by saying the staff was lovely. They were kind, helpful, courteous and willing to lend a hand whenever needed. The lighting was decent and the sound quality was pretty sharp.

Also, the food was good. Surprisingly good. I am a seasoned survivor of a lot of convention food experiences, and what I was fed by the Civic Center was genuinely, legitimately tasty stuff. They kept the all-day offerings freshened and looking appealing, and lunch time was both ample and well made.

I realize I am rambling on about the food a bit. Partly it is because I am still sort of amazed at how yummy it was, and partly I am stalling because I prefer to talk about what went well, and I know I am about out of time for that. Because it is time to touch upon the, shall we say, aesthetics of the place?

Now, given that I am even older than the building, I’m a little trepidatious about commenting on its looks. When you live fully, you’re bound to have a few wrinkles here and there. It is a mark of stability and longevity. It makes us look distinguished right? Right.

However. Honey. We need to talk. There are the marks of time, and then there’s letting yourself go.

I started to list out the things I saw that were needing attention, but it felt icky and unkind. So I deleted the list. Let’s just say, overall, it was pretty depressing.

Now, the event itself was great, largely because the staff, mentioned earlier, really did make up for all of the other stuff. Plus, if you look at it one way, there is a sort of charm to it all. Kind of a “Northern Exposure” vibe that meshes with our brand.

However, might it be time for a little bit of a makeover?

I would like to suggest that it is time, past time, to invest a little love, and more than a little funding, into it. The 1973 origin story is very much in vogue right now. There is a retro nostalgia that is gathering speed. Look around. Fashions are referencing the ’70s, Polaroid is hot again; the architecture of the time has a straightforward simplicity to it that remains striking. So it’s not as if it needs to get knocked down or anything (unless there are things I don’t know about). It just needs a glow up.

We can do that, right?

I know that everywhere you look there are needs. It can seem sort of frivolous to spend money on a makeover for a city building in the face of some dire stuff. But I would argue that it actually matters quite a lot. How we present ourselves becomes how we understand ourselves.

Maine is such a cool state. History, art, literature and cutting-edge science – all here. Who we are and what we do should be accurately represented through our capital city’s public buildings, putting our state properly on view to the world when they visit.

In the meantime, thanks to all the people who go out of their way every day, regardless of all that I mentioned, to make sure events run on time and without a glitch. You are truly the greatest representation of why our state is so special.