Need A Reason To Smile? Go Find An Alpaca To Watch

As far as Anne Gobes is concerned, nothing can brighten a day as much as gazing at a herd of alpacas. “It’s really what pleases and excites me about having alpacas,” Gobes, president of the Maine Alpaca Association, said. “When people come to our farm and take pictures of the alpacas or just stand and look at them, they are just smiling and ecstatic.” One look at the fuzzy, wide-eyed, mop-topped members of the camelid family and it’s easy to see why they can make people happy by their very presence. Gobes and her husband Michael Ciccarelli raise 19 alpacas on their Cape Newagen Alpacas farm just outside Boothbay.