Happy February, everyone! February is a hopeful month no matter how you view the winters around here. If you happen to hate winter, then February is a short month and that much closer to being through the worst of it. If you love winter and winter sports, February is as good as it gets up here.
Speaking of the latter, this weekend is going to be a winter paradise around here. There is the Andy Santerre SNO-RUN, which is always a big event here in the area and we have the Caribou Downtown Ski Festival.
Since we are almost there after much anticipation, let’s talk about what will take place downtown. The city of Caribou and Soderberg Construction will be bringing snow downtown. They need pristine snow, so they will get most of it from up at the airport. They will dump the snow on Friday night and into the wee hours of Saturday morning in the downtown mall parking lot. Then Doug Plourde and a crew of volunteers will groom the snow from the Downtown Mall and all the way up Sweden Street as far as the old ATX building.
Why? Well, the Downtown Mall will be the site of the ski festival as there will be hills and moguls for kids of all ages to ski. The old Rainbow Books store will serve as the registration area and as a place to warm up on occasion. The Caribou Rotary Club will be there with food and Cary Medical Center will deliver bag lunches to the registrants.
While all that is happening from 10 a.m. to 2 p .m., the downtown ski sprints will be taking place on Sweden Street. There will be an actual middle school meet with teams from various school systems that will race from 10 a.m. to noon. Then the children will have their races from noon to two o’clock and at two o’clock, there will be adult races.
As fun as all that sounds, there is the 39th annual Henry Anderson Ski Dag at the Caribou Ski Trails at the Caribou Country Club. Registration is at 9 a.m. and racing starts at 10.
It should be a fantastic weekend. Mother Nature helped out a little with some snow over the past week. It was not a great amount, but it helps. I think the snow dances you can find on our Facebook page have helped. They are a riot and a hoot. Check them out.
Caribou resident and author Phil Turner has written a book entitled “Champlain of Maine.” Mr. Turner was inspired to write a story about French explorer and “Father of New France” Samuel de Champlain in conjunction with the World Acadian Congress which is being held in August of this year. Turner’s book highlights Champlain’s exploration of Maine and its early settlers.
Turner will be doing a book signing at the Caribou Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 22 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The cost for the book is $10. Persons desiring further information are asked to contact the library at 493-4214.
The membership renewal campaign got off to a great start in January as the receipts beat projections. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate each and every member who has shown the commitment to the Chamber with their hard-earned cash. Thank you so very much.
February is full of local events, so stay tuned here each week for details.
There are two different ways I can get to my house from the office. Quite often, I will turn onto Summer Street, right before Reno’s and head down to Washburn Street and go home that way. Each time I do lately, I smile. The smile is caused by the Pond View Apartments’ sign on the old white building at the opposite of the end of Summer Street. The sign is very attractive and looks very artistic.
I know this is one of many old former grand houses in town that have turned into apartment buildings. There are a lot of them. But the owner obviously takes pride in the place and that shows by the sign. That is what makes me smile.
Speaking of smiles, it has been disappointing that my readers have not gotten the vision of what great service looks like when they make daily stops at establishments each week. Great service with a smile and enthusiasm always speaks highly of that business. There are several I come in contact with every week.
We would love to reward those people and between the Aroostook Republican and the Chamber, we would love for you to start sending in to us your experiences when you encounter great service. It can be anything that requires someone to wait on you. That includes car dealers, auto shops, doctors’ offices, retail stores, convenience stores, gas stations, hospital nurses. Who has touched you this week? Let us know.
Our annual members meeting will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 8 a.m. at the Caribou Inn & Convention Center. Hot drinks and pastry will be available. Kathy Mazzuchelli is the guest speaker. The meeting will start promptly at eight and we will do our best to keep it to an hour.
We want to thank three new members in the month of January: Pioneer Broadband, Northern Maine Veterans Cemetery and Caribou Friends for Scouts. Thank you, folks, and may we have a long and successful partnership together.
Executive Director William Tasker may be reached in the CACC office at 498-6156 or email him at cacc@cariboumaine.net.
