There are lots of things to talk about today. And I think some of them will be a lot of fun for you. So let’s get right to it.
First, February is always a big month around here. What used to be called the Winter Carnival is now a month of activities not only from the Chamber, city and Parks & Rec department, but also from businesses or organizations.
Our first order of business is to compile a schedule for the entire month. Toward that end, if your business, organization or social club would like to add a special event happening during February, please get a form from the Chamber or from the Chamber’s website (under Popular Forms), fill it out and send it to the Chamber along with $30 to help cover our calendar costs. The deadline for the form is January 27 to give us time to print and distribute.
The second thing we need is snow! Our economy is heavily supplemented by snow and the winter activities that occur. Secondly, as we shall see, many of the month’s activities require snow! So here is something fun for you. With today’s cell phones, smart phones and digital cameras, it is simple and easy to create a movie file (or video). The kids do it all the time! We are going to create a Chamber YouTube page and we want you to submit a 60-second or less video of your own personal snow dance. You can just dance or dance to music and sing or rap. Do whatever moves you. Do it by yourself or do it with a group. We want them all.
Create and record your dance and send the file to me at cacc@cariboumaine.net. Make sure your submission is sent with permission to use and parental consent for children under 18. All submissions will be put on the YouTube page. This is going to be a blast!
The deadline for submitting your video is Feb. 3. Once we have all of our videos, we will judge them and pick a winner. The winner will win a $50 gift certificate. Let’s do this!
I also want to remind you about the Service Employee of the Month Award that is co-sponsored by the Chamber and the Aroostook Republican. Have you gotten great service and a cheerful smile recently from an employee of a Caribou area business? Let us know and nominate that person. Send me an email with your experience or go to www.cariboumaine.net and go to the Popular Forms link and use the nomination form. Good service and a great attitude should be rewarded and praised.
The Caribou Downtown Ski Festival is all planned out and ready to go for Saturday, Feb. 8. Of course, we could use more snow, so we need those dances, folks! The downtown is going to be a fun, fun place to be on Feb. 8.
Brent Jepson and Jepson Financial Advisors, PA were a featured article on the Facebook page this past week. Brent is an interesting guy and that post has received lots of hits and likes.
We are shooting for the first Frozen Friday (the winter version of Thursdays on Sweden) and it’s tentatively scheduled for Friday, Feb. 28. The venue for the event will be up at the high school and the timing is good with the World Junior Biathlon taking place during that time in Presque Isle. Many of the teams and coaches will be staying in Caribou and we would love to give them a fun time while they are here. More to come as we pull this event together.
The membership renewal season has gotten off to a great start. We are thrilled with the response from our members. Speaking of membership, when you do business around town, ask that business if they are a member of the Chamber. If they are not, ask them why not and encourage them to join us. Also, if you like what the Chamber is doing and want to support us as we venture out in the world as an independent entity, consider a personal membership. Personal memberships are only $50 for a year and $25 for seniors. We would really appreciate your support.
January is flying by and soon it will be February and February is going to a super month around the area from beginning to end.
Executive Director William Tasker may be reached in the CACC office at 498-6156 or email him at cacc@cariboumaine.net.
