Skowhegan, ME Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Skowhegan has no stand-alone massage licensing chapter in this ordinance set. Massage establishments appear in the Obscenity and Adult Entertainment Ordinance, adopted at Town Meeting on June 10, 2019. Section XI defines "Adult Entertainment Business" and lists four categories: an adult book store, an adult motion picture theater, an adult motion picture arcade, and item d), the Massage Establishment.

The definition covers a place of business where any person, firm, association, or corporation engages in, carries on, or permits to be engaged in or carried on any method of pressure on or friction against or stroking, kneading, rubbing, tapping, pounding, vibrating, or stimulating of the external soft parts of the human body. It reaches work done with the hands or with the aid of any mechanical or electrical apparatus or device, with or without supplementary aids such as rubbing alcohol, liniments, antiseptics, oils, powders, creams, lotions, ointments, or similar preparations.

The ordinance carves out three kinds of operators: the term does not apply to hospitals, nursing homes, or medical clinics, or to persons possessing a license to practice massage therapy under the laws of the State of Maine.

Section II is the permit trigger. Persons or entities wishing to establish an Adult Entertainment Business within the Town of Skowhegan must first obtain a permit from the town and are subject to the ordinance. Read together with the definition list, a massage establishment outside the exclusions goes through the same steps as the other listed businesses. Section 4.1 bars any Adult Entertainment Business, as defined, within 750 feet of a church, public or private school, library, or a public park, athletic field or recreational facility where children are the primary users. Section 4.2 sends applicants to the Town Clerk's Office, requires a public hearing before the Board of Selectmen with notice published no earlier than twenty days and no later than ten days beforehand, caps the license term at one year, and leaves the fee to the Board of Selectmen.