CARIBOU, Maine — The recent Caribou Winter Carnival hosted a number of unique competitions that tested the contestants’ abilities in unique ways. The broomball contest tested athletic prowess, the whoopie pie baking contest put participants’ culinary abilities to the test, but the snow sculpture contest let people show off their artistic talents.
The winners of this year’s snow sculpture contest created a sculpture that was both aesthetically impressive and relevant to Aroostook County history: a replica of Fort Fairfield’s Maple Grove Friends Church, the last stop on the Underground Railroad.
“The Friends Church was the last stop to freedom,” said Mark Kalata as he shaped the sculpture with a shovel. “They used to hide the slaves underneath a platform with a trap door until they were able to be released to go north.”
The Underground Railroad was a system of secluded routes and safe houses that allowed African American slaves to escape captivity in the mid-1800s. Across the United States, abolitionists and allies provided assistance and safe housing for numerous runaway slaves. According to author and educator James A. Banks, approximately 100,000 slaves escaped via the Underground Railroad.
“The one thing we don’t want to hear about is the KKK, which was also very prevalent up here,” added Kalata. “This church acted as a counterpart to that, by trying to get the black slaves to freedom.”
To Kalata, the sculpture has a double meaning, as it not only provided freedom to the slaves but freedom in the form of salvation through Christ.
“This was the last stop to freedom, but when you’re talking about church, Jesus Christ is the last stop. For that reason, we chose to build the church. It’s a part of our heritage up here in the county.”
Kalata was joined by Gregory, Jon, Rebeccah, Timothy and Annette McEndarfer. Together they went above and beyond the task of shaping snow into a church by putting candles behind panes of ice to simulate an active building.
The city of Caribou uploaded photos of all three snow sculptures to their Facebook page and allowed the public to vote by liking their favorite photo. The church replica won the contest with 155 people “liking” the snow sculpture as of presstime.
