It was a busy weekend in the Shiretown with the annual Southern Aroostook Trade Show drawing an estimated 1,600 people to the Millar Civic Center. This year’s show featured an impressive collection of 46 vendors, ranging from recreational vehicles, tools, ATV’s, lawn mowers, tractors, tires, windows, building trusses, motorcycles, nursery stock, digital marketing, crafts and tourism to name a few.
The Houlton Pioneer Times once again had a booth at the trade show, with each of us manning shifts. It is always enjoyable to visit with members of the public outside of the newspaper office and this year was no different.
The spring weather Saturday was spectacular, but that did not deter people from spending some time inside the Civic Center to check out the latest advancements in technology or to sign up for the many door prizes and give-a-ways.
It was a few weeks later than last year, but the first grill of the season took place at our home Friday evening. There is nothing quite like the first time you fire up a barbecue grill — after all of last year’s leftover pieces of meat and gunk have been cleared out of course. The grill was so popular with the kids we had to do it again the following evening. Spring has finally arrived.
Speaking of spring, April vacation for area schools is next week, which means there are exactly eight weeks of school remaining.
Nothing says spring like attending a baseball or softball game or taking in a tennis match, but local squads will likely see their schedules postponed considering nearly every field is still buried under snow. Hodgdon was originally scheduled to open its season Thursday, followed by Southern Aroostook and Katahdin on Friday. None of those games will take place as local athletic directors and groundskeepers have been unable to get their field in playable condition.
East Grand/GHCA is not slated to play until April 29, while Houlton’s first games are April 30. I’d like to think by then that all of the snow will be gone and some green grass might be a possibility. Covering baseball and softball games is one of the most enjoyable aspects of working for a newspaper. Whether it’s the warmth of the sun on my face after a long, cold winter or the taste of a fresh hot dog or bag of sunflower seeds, the spring sports season is a pure joy.
So once all of the snow has finally gone, get out to a game this spring to cheer on our local athletes on baseball/softball diamonds or tennis players on the court.
Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for the Houlton Pioneer Times. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect that of the newspaper. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com or 532-2281.
