The first time Kristen Saint-Don Campbell ever "experienced" Marion, she was holding her weeks-old son at the bygone Town Party.

"We immediately fell in love, and we wanted to be here," she said. "We were always in the area anyway for Halloween Strolls and other events. It's like Hallmark for kids here."

Campbell and her husband moved into the area from New Bedford when the funds permitted it, and plan to stay. Now, the Conservation Commission member, Boy Scout organizer and new Planning Board candidate is always looking for ways to be involved in the town.

Saint-Don Campbell is the kind of person, she says, who either does something at 100 percent or zero percent, and nothing in between.

"I created a master plan for myself a few years ago," the sole candidate for Marion's Planning Board said. "One day my kids are going to be out of the house, and I'm going to need something to do."

"Part of my master plan for myself is—in ten years or so, if the stars align—to possibly be a selectman," she explained. "Whether or not I decide to do that, I'd like to know as much as possible about how the town works."

She didn't have a lot of experience in conservation when she started as an associate member of the Conservation Commission, she said, but learned as she went, and eventually became a full-fledged member of the board.

"It's the same thing with the Planning Board," she said. "I don't know a lot. But I'd like to learn more, and there's no better way to learn."

One of her biggest goals is to bring a more varied economic base into Marion.

"Our tax base is almost entirely residential," she said. "That's crazy. We need to get businesses in here."

The perfect spot, she says, is along Route 6.

"It's not exactly pretty the way the village is, and it's a connecting highway. I can't see why we shouldn't put businesses there."

And those businesses? They could include a marijuana dispensary, which Saint-Don Campbell is in favor of.

"If we don't have one here, people will just spend their money in the next town over. The town has already voted yes, and if we're going to have marijuana sales here, they should be reputable and legal and safe, rather than buying from a dealer," she explained.

Marion's annual Town Election is May 18. Votes can be cast at the Benjamin D. Cushing Community Center from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.