Capsule captures contemporary life
What will Presque Isle be like in 2066? That’s difficult to know, but people then will have an idea of what life was like in 2016 thanks to artifacts secured in a time capsule.
Members of the Presque Isle High School Varsity Club gathered in the still-under-construction PI Community Center on the Thursday before Memorial Day to place a time capsule that’s intended to be opened in 50 years.
Members of the club worked with Presque Isle Recreation and Parks Director Chris Beaulieu to curate a range of artifacts representing life in these times.
Packed inside the capsule are a May 25, 2016, edition of The Star-Herald; a postage stamp; receipts from local stores; a Presque Isle High School yearbook; a Nerf gun; a Boston Red Sox carabiner; an iPhone, charger and earbuds; a Dunkin Donuts coffee cup; an empty Red Bull can; an American flag; a Maine Atlas & Gazetteer; baseball trading cards; a clean diaper; and photos of scenes from around Presque Isle.
Beaulieu and the club placed the capsule in a compartment in a wall, marked with a plaque. Beaulieu also wrote a letter that was included for those who will open the container:
“There are many other points of interest in our time, some quite funny and others quite serious: Hoverboards that don’t really hover and catch fire, personal drones, terrorism, anything with zombies, Zika virus. Many states have legalized gay marriage and some marijuana. … Our country’s president is Barack Obama, our first African-American president. His second term ends after this year. Many presidential candidates have bowed out of the election. Most folks are fed up with the whole process and we may have all moved to Canada. We hope you enjoy our time capsule and we wish you, our future, a great future. If you want to know anything else about 2016, look us up in your history books.”
