Why We’re Working To Bring Our Sauna To The Beach
A lot of our closest friendships started on a court, a field, or in a park — which probably explains a lot about us. As adults, our year-round basketball, volleyball, Gaelic football teams have been one of the most reliable ways for us to stay active, meet people, and have something to look forward to each week. They’re a low-stakes social structure that keeps us connected to a community outside of work.
We didn't always have that, and we noticed pretty quickly how much harder it is to build friendships as an adult without it. When you're not in school anymore, the environments that naturally put you around people with shared interests don't just appear. You have to seek them out, or build them yourself.
That's a big part of why we started Village Sauna — and why we wanted to create something that offered that same low-lift, good-for-you social outlet for people who don't necessarily want it to come in the form of a sport. The waterfront sauna tradition — which is deeply established throughout New England, in the Great Lakes, the Pacific Northwest, and of course Scandinavia and beyond — is built around exactly this: doing something physically challenging that benefits your body, together with other people, and in a natural space as a plus.
What we're working toward now is bringing that experience to the most beautiful spaces Maine has to offer. We're actively in conversations to operate at waterfront locations across the area — beaches that sit mostly empty during the colder months, even though they're stunning year-round. Maine's coastline shouldn't just be a summer amenity. We want to give people a reason to get outside, enjoy the water, and take care of themselves even when the October-April season feels cold and dark.
Getting permission to operate in public spaces takes time. Municipal approvals, park management relationships, partnership agreements, liability questions — bringing a new amenity to a public beach isn't a quick ask, and we're putting in the work to make it happen. We're pitching multiple waterfront locations right now, and we're not in a rush to settle for a spot that isn't right. What we do know is that there's real demand for this in the Portland area: people want a reason to get outside in the off-season, and a warm sauna on a cold beach is a pretty good one. If that sounds like something you'd show up for, sign up for our newsletter. We'll let you know as soon as we have a home on the water.
Thanks for following,
Kylie
