To the editor:
I would like to thank the communities of Mt. Chase, Patten, Sherman and Crystal for their support for this year’s Fiddlers and Fiddlehead Fest at the Patten Lumbermen’s Museum. The crowds were way above expectations for the event’s second year.
The musicians traveled from as far away as Belfast and Canada! They entertained us well and we want to thank each and every group that made the trek north or south.
A group of local volunteers, along with myself and Rhonda Brophy, planned, recruited and worked hard to make this a resounding success.
Caroline Skinner of Crystal coordinated all of the musical acts for the main stage, and included a clogging teacher to boot!
Candy McKeller of Sherman lined up over more than 20 crafters and vendors for a terrific shopping opportunity for people who attended the festival.
Vicki Richardson and Lou Ellis of Mt. Chase found more than a dozen non-profit groups to offer a great variety of food options for the crowds, while “fun”raising for their organization.
All of these people spent the many hours making this event a success. We cannot thank them enough.
In addition to her volunteer efforts, I would also like to thank Rhonda Brophy for hosting this year’s festival and working countless long days to make it happen.
We are very grateful to Terry and Craig Hill for the loan of their event tent and the extra muscle to set it up and take it down!
Thanks to Ellis Market and Presque Isle Pepsi Distributors for our banners, and Richardson’s Hardware for the loan of some of their best employees on one of their busiest days of the year!
A huge thank you to Kelly Brophy for this year’s poster design and Mark Picard for other graphic help.
We are grateful for the second year in a row for Katahdin High School’s art teacher Jessica Howes and her talented art students designs for this year’s volunteer T-shirts!
Thank you to all the entrants in this years’ Cast Iron Chef Cookoff and the two finalists, Judy MacArthur and Dorothy Grandinetti, for being such great sports during the cookoff in high winds!
And a special thank you to all our volunteers who worked the entire day setting up, helping others and then taking it all back down again. From Island Falls to Hermon to Portland, you were all very much appreciated! We also are thankful for our Fiddlehead Fairy Princesses who ran our donation buckets this year.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank Katahdin Woods and Waters Recreation Area for their promotion and sponsorship for the second year in a row. Thank you for the T-shirts, the posters and the volunteer thank you barbeque!
Susan Adams
T3,R7
