CARIBOU, Maine — The City of Caribou held their annual New Year’s Eve festivities at noon Saturday, as opposed to going until midnight as was the usual practice.
Lydia Kieffer-Till, Caribou’s marketing and events coordinator, says this decision was the result of a Facebook poll.
“We asked parents if they would like to have the event at noon instead of midnight, and it was a landslide,” said Kieffer-Till. “They all said it would be so much better to take their kids to an event that isn’t past their bedtime, and that it would allow them to do something in the evening as well.”
Looking ahead, Kieffer-Till says Caribou department heads will compare the results of 2016’s NYE event with 2015’s and determine a good plan for the next celebration.
Aside from an earlier schedule, this event was similar to the last in that the City of Caribou offered guests a variety of free entertainment. Upbeat music played through loudspeakers as volunteers cooked hot dogs, parents and children played on the inflatable slide and bounce castle, and the ball (a sphere of bright, white lights suspended above guests in the Rec Center gym) was lowered at noon after a collective countdown.
Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess was among the guests, and said he is optimistic about the city’s future.
“We had a lot of good things happen last year, and are looking forward to more in 2017,” Bleess said. “The Birds Eye building is getting cleaned up, and we’re in the process of obtaining more grants for that.”
Both the city manager and events coordinator are looking forward to another successful Marathon in 2017, and said they hope to see Caribou continue to progress into the new year.
