Biddeford, Maine, United States

🇺🇸 Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial centre of York County. Twin city of Saco, Biddeford includes the resort community of Biddeford Pool, Fortunes Rocks, and Granite Point. The town is the site of the University of New England and the annual La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival. Abenaki Indians, whose main village was upriver at Pequawket (now Fryeburg), once hunted and fished in the area. First visited by Europeans in 1616, it is the site of one of the earliest European settlements in the United States. Biddeford is a principal population centre of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan statistical area.

Biddeford is one of Maine's fastest-growing commercial centres, due to its close proximity to the Seacoast Region of New Hampshire and to northern Massachusetts. In recent years, strip malls have developed along the State Route 111 corridor. In late 2006, a 500,000-square-foot (46,000 m²) shopping centre known as The Shops at Biddeford Crossing opened, with 20 stores and five restaurants.

Recent interest in revitalising the downtown area has brought new life to the old mills. The North Dam Mill is one example of this movement offering retail stores, art studios, cultural events, and upscale housing.

Biddeford is home to large institutions including Southern Maine Health Care and the University of New England, a fast-growing school located along the coast which includes Maine's only medical school, the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. Telecommunications company GWI.net is headquartered in the city. The city also possesses a wide array of community facilities including public beaches, an ice arena, a full-service YMCA, and one school which has been recently recognised as a National School of Excellence.