You could put this line earlier on in your script:
exec 3>&1
Then whenever you need to send something to go to stdout:
echo "this goes to stdout" 1>&3
Cleanup:
exec 1>&3
echo "now goes to normal stdout"
exec 3>&- #to remove fd3
How it works is that you define a new file descriptor, 3, and it points to the same place stdout does. You then redirect stdout as needed, but fd3 stays the same as what it was (which is your terminal). When you're done, just remove fd3!
Edit:
###Edit: IfIf you want output to goto both your file and "classic stdout", do this:
echo "goes both places" | tee -a $OUTPUT_FILE 1>&3