PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Aroostook Shrine Club began a new tradition with their first ever Spring Basket Festival held this weekend.
Fifty-eight local businesses, organizations and families contributed unique prize baskets that featured gifts such as toys, children’s games, camping and hunting gear, homemade items, and a few more traditional Easter goodies. Community members purchased tickets — either in a set of 10 or individually — and entered their name in the baskets of their choice for a chance to win during a raffle drawing.
Aroostook Shrine Club member and event organizer Blair McCartney said he and his wife Debbie were inspired by the St. Apollonia Dental Clinic’s Festival of Trees. Much like that holiday celebration, the Spring Basket Festival aims to give the community a fun seasonal event to attend while supporting the club’s causes. All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Springfield and Boston, Massachusetts.
On Saturday, March 30, hundreds of people had already come through the doors of the Aroostook Shrine Club hall just minutes after the opening time of 10 a.m. The amount of support that businesses and individuals have given the event, McCartney said, is something that no one in the club fully expected.
“Many people have said ‘thank you’ to us for hosting this event. Everybody’s comments have been very positive,” McCartney said.
Some of the participating businesses included SureStay Hotel by Best Western, who contributed a beach-themed package with summer toys, sandals and two stuffed Easter bunnies along with four tickets to the Braden Theater, $25 gift certificates to Riverside Inn Restaurant and Pat’s Pizza, and one free night at SureStay in a Queen Double Room. Life By Design raffled off a girl’s bicycle; Wilder’s Jewelry offered a Vera Bradley bag and jewelry; and the Bradbury family of Bridgewater gave away large barrels full of maple syrup bottles, maple candy, pancake mix and gardening tools.
Gift baskets for children were a big part of the Spring Basket Festival. Students from Caribou Regional Technology Center contributed seven baskets, including one with children’s cooking materials from the culinary arts and food services program, another with gardening tools from the agriculture program, and one with construction-themed toys from the large equipment and commercial drivers license programs.
The huge variety of prizes available meant that many children put tickets in multiple baskets in hopes of winning at least one.
“I like the Legos,” 9-year-old Makenzie Hole of Caribou said after her grandmother Cheryl Corbin, also of Caribou, asked her which basket she most wanted to win.
Corbin attended the Spring Basket Festival along with her husband Dana, daughter Paige Hole, and Paige’s children Makenzie, Londyn, 5, and Cainen, 1.
“We’ll definitely make this a tradition,” Corbin said. “It’s a wonderful thing for the kids and the community.”
Folks still have a chance to check out the Spring Basket Festival until 7 p.m. today and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Aroostook Shrine Club members will hold the raffle drawing at 4:30 p.m. Sunday and livestream the event on their Facebook page. Any winners not present at the drawing will receive a phone call and be allowed to pick up their basket until 7 p.m.
Staff photos/Melissa Lizotte
