I will start this week with a riddle: What has over 200 hands, thousands of treasures and a great willingness to get those treasures into your hands? The answer should be obvious to most of you. The artists and crafters for this coming weekend’s 41st annual Caribou Fall Arts and Crafts Festival have the most creative hands, make thousands of treasures and would love to see them become a part of your households.
The Caribou Fall Arts and Crafts Festival is the longest running in The County and will take place October 25 and 26 at the Caribou High School from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days. The Caribou Rotary Club will, as usual, make available hot dogs and other treats and is bringing an iron lung for demonstration and the baked potato bar will again be featured.
But the main attraction is, as always, the artists, crafters, artisans and home cooks that provide home-spun value everywhere you look. I have always been proud that this show is one that all the vendors crave to get in and every year we have a waiting list a couple of pages long because of the reputation of the show and the great turnouts that come from the area and beyond. Last year, the high school parking lot was full all the way down to Ouellette’s!
We do have one change this year that hopefully will not diminish your enthusiasm for coming. Costs go up every year and we have raised the cost to attend to the vendors for three years running. For many of them, this show is their biggest money-maker of the year and I hate cutting into that more and more every year. So what we are going to do is to charge a one dollar admission fee for each adult. Each paid admission will receive a ticket that will be entered for the door prizes that will be drawn every half hour of the show. You do not have to still be present to win the door prize and a paid admission will allow you to enter the show for both Saturday and Sunday.
We did a survey on our Facebook page and very few objected to this inexpensive admission fee. Many of us spend more than a dollar buying a coffee or a soda each day. We hope you understand and still take in this great show and tradition.
The candidate meet and greet went off without a hitch last Saturday and all of the local candidates were in attendance and were interviewed on camera by Natalie De La Garza. Natalie was fantastic and we are always glad to partner with the Aroostook Republican for this and other events. The interviews will be televised (and should be by the time this goes to print) for two weeks right up until the election.
Much thanks goes to Tony Mazzucco and Jayne Farrin, who volunteered for the event and were very helpful and to Bob Sowers of Oak Leaf Systems who helped with the video portion of the event.
I wish I had my camera with me last week as I was driving up North Main Street. I went past the airport and noted that hundreds of seagulls were on the entrance to the newly refurbished runway. I had the funny thought that they were all ready for takeoff.
I drove past there again this morning and saw no seagulls which gave me a real view of how beautiful the runway is now that the work is completed. The Caribou Airport might be one of the most misunderstood places in our area. People who actually study the budget will only see perhaps $100 of revenue listed in the budget for the airport and think that the costs are not worth having or supporting it.
One of my conversations at the meet and greet on Saturday revolved around the airport and I asked about the small revenue. The candidate educated me that airport generates a great deal of revenue that ends up on other revenue lines of the budget and certainly pays for itself. The airport is an asset to the community both now and even more so in the growth plans to the future. I wish more people knew about the revenue it generates!
Paradis’ Shop ‘n Save will make its official transformation to Hannaford by Nov. 4. Our website listing for the store has changed to reflect the transition. But I do not see any changes that will take away from how great a place it is to shop. Dana will still be managing the store and no bigger heart exists in The County! And his staff reflects his values and going to the store is always a pleasure. I’m sure the products, the selection and the prices will change little and as long as the people are the heart of the business, the change will be nothing but good.
I would personally like to thank the Paradis family for their support over the years. They have been great friends to the Chamber and we have appreciated them very much and wish them well in the future.
Executive Director William Tasker may be reached in the CACC office at 498-6156 or email him at cacc@cariboumaine.net.
