Good Bye Chickadee, Hello Pine Tree – New Maine License Plates Revealed

The Maine Secretary of State's office has unveiled the new Maine license plate that will start showing up on vehicles in May of 2025. Since July 1, 1999, Maine's standard issue for its license plates has featured our state bird, the Chickadee. It will be replaced by a tree that is in Maine's nickname: "The Pine Tree State."

The pine tree on the new plates is based on the very short-lived version of the Maine flag, in use from 1901 to 1909. It features a blue star and a pine tree.

There is another design that Mainers embraced, which was created by the Maine Flag Company. It has been on everything from flags to apparel.

The design for the license plates uses yet another version of the tree, this one more like the original and taller, looking much more like the pine trees in Maine we are familiar with.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows called the new Pine Tree Plate design “a fresh approach to a classic design rooted in Maine history, but the ultimate purpose of license plates is for vehicle identification to ensure public safety on our roads and highways."

I was dead set against the Pine Tree being on our license plates until I saw the design. This looks like a pine tree worthy of being on our plates.

Ever since Maine started putting images on their standard license plates in 1987, they haven't been that exceptional. The original lobster license plate looked more like an insect than a lobster.

It was later updated with a new font, but the same bug-looking lobster.

Then the chickadee plate came along, and it looked like the bird was going to fall out of the tree.

The new plate has changed the font once more, if the sample is the actual font that will be used.

If you aren't a fan of the pine tree and star, the state is issuing two standard versions, one with the tree and star and one without. You can get yours when you register your vehicle, beginning May 2025.

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