Planning a party since 2007

    Craig Staples was our board president when he mentioned to me in February 2007, wasn’t Caribou’s sesquicentennial pretty soon? Houlton was celebrating their 200 birthday – and shouldn’t we begin thinking about ours in 2009? So we began having meetings with our Historical Society, we met with the Houlton folks a few times, and the planning began. Several ideas which didn’t make it included: buy the old train station on Broadway and renovate it; have a marathon with Presque Isle; log rolling contests on Collins Pond; and a “McCain Day” with twice baked potatoes.     Several ideas did make it: the Ball, the 150 short stories on the radio (thank you Wendy Bossie, they were so nice, and we had a good time recording them), planting 150 trees, a whoopla of a parade (the likes of which we won’t see for another 50 years?), the pageant, an ecumenical service, the house tours, a recipe book, a history book, an open house at the NOAA weather station; and city-wide open houses, just to name a few!
    There was a bit of a period where I think several committee folks were feeling fairly discouraged last summer. Somewhere after the holidays the group really picked up momentum. The early success of the Dash for Cash and the Irish supper were really encouraging! And then the Proclamation went so well in April.
    From our small perspective in our corner of Caribou’s Downtown, we were very energized. So many people coming to the meetings, and pulling off really large, successful events! Huh! The phrase we’ve about worn out this summer has been, “see — we’re so cool … Caribou is so cool!” This is the part of this article where you’ll need to snort with me, we’ve all laughed and had such a good time. It’s true, I’ve gotten Mr. Mockler and John too, to snort with me on at least one occasion!
    And it’s finally here! Whewuha! All we need is clear skies, and have it not be 90-plus degrees on Saturday, and we’ll culminate with one of the best parades The County will have seen in 50 years! (Thank you Andrea!)
    The books have been a tremendous success (Thank you David and Bill Tasker!), and people seem to really enjoy them! All in all it’s been a great deal of fun. We’ve waited all this last week for the “happy burial” with Mr. Mockler, and we’ve waited all summer for the house tours! Lots of people visiting and lots of interruptions! The ladies will tell you, I’m a firm believer in we all need a bit more organized chaos in our lives!
    Thank you everyone who’s visited, everyone who’s helped with the events! I hope everyone had a chance to see Mr. Turner’s play this last weekend, and visit the weather station! Pray for good weather for this weekend, and do come join us at the High School.
    The burning question for most of the committee has been, what are John, Debbie and David going to do after this next week? They’re going to have so much free time, my goodness! Happy Birthday! We’ll see you Saturday!
    Wendy Landes, MPA, is the executive director of the Caribou Chamber of Commerce & Industry. She can be reached in person at 24 Sweden Street, Suite 101; by telephone at 498-6156 or via e-mail at wlandes@cariboumaine.net.