Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Hilltop Harvest Hoedown was packed with students and community members enjoying season with games, food and rides; students were learning all the while but having too much fun to realize it. The scent of baked potatoes mixed in the air with the gentle mist of precipitation like an aromatic baked-potato spray seemed to go unnoticed by over stimulated students running about firing questions off to one another too quickly to hear each other’s responses
Aroostook Republican photos/Natalie Bazinet
Kindergarten student Elliott Brown and second-grade student Emma Soucier take a break in a tube of the obsticle course, created by the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department. It was a favorite ‘hiding’ spot of many students during Hoedown.
Pairs and small groups of students sprinted from one activity across the yard to another, only to veer off suddenly to a completely different event that somehow found a way to be more exciting than the first.
It was wet, but few people seemingly noticed; it was chilly, though people seemed to be kept snug by contentment; the event was a few hours long, but it was over in an instant — each of these characteristics of a tremendously successful afternoon.
There were tractor rides and fresh cider, baked potatoes and face painting, a hula-hoop and hay barrel obstacle course with potato sack races and a pumpkin ring toss — enough for each student to yell at least half-a-dozen times for their friends or parent to “watch me, watch me!”
The event was made possible through a grant from Perloff Family Foundation; Dave and Sandy Perloff were able to attend the hoedown, arranging their schedule around the event so that they could see how it worked out.
“It’s better than what I had hoped for,” Sandy said, “ Who would have though that pumpkin painting would be so exciting?” she said with a chuckle, gesturing to one hilltop students a few yards away painstakingly laboring over his pumpkin with such careful, thoughtful brush-strokes that he seemed oblivious to the noise and excitement rushing about around him.
Sandy’s favorite Hoedown event was the pumpkin painting, while Dave liked the fresh apple cider, “I think because the superintendent was giving his personal time do make it.”
Hard work and diligence resulted favorably in a professional environment for the couple. “My husband and I are both products of public education and we wanted to give something back,” Sandy explained.
They’ve been giving back to schools in Aroostook County for the past three years, this year awarding grants to schools in Caribou, Connor, Madawaska, Fort Kent, New Sweden and Woodland, to name a few.
“We loved the Hoedown application because it’s what ought to be celebrated in a town is the heritages,” Sandy said. “There has been curriculum to go along with [the Harvest Hoedown theme] but this is the culminating event and clearly there’s a lot of community involvement here.”
According to first-grade teacher Tina Sleeper, the event received community involvement from the FFA, the Caribou Recreation Center, the Caribou girl’s varsity soccer team, local farmers who donated the potatoes, and parents who donated all the apples, napkins and cups for the event.
“The students are loving it,” Tina said, “they’re going back and fourth and doing things over and over again.”
First-grade teacher Marty Belanger agreed.
“The turnout was great,” she said, “I’m very happy with it.”
According to Belanger, the harvest has been an educational topic for first grade students.
“We’ve been talking about the potato harvest and things that are harvested from the local area, like apples and broccoli, and letting students know that it just don’t come from the grocery store,” she said. “It comes from farmers and we want them to appreciate the farming heritage that is in this area. I think so many of our children think that milk comes from the grocery store, not the cow.”
Students have been taking field trips to various farms and using fun activities, like making potato people, to learn more about the farming heritage of the community.
“We love these kinds of activities because there’s no failure,” Sandy Perloff explained. “No body’s going to flunk pumpkin painting or potato sack jumping or riding on a hay ride; it’s an even playing field that’s a really good time but, at the same time, they’ve learned something going into it,” she added. “In our opinion, Learning should be fun, and if learning something without realizing that you’re learning something is even better.”
Gary Marquis, Director of Parks and Maintenance for the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center drove in circles during the Hilltop Harvest Hoedown.
CHS sophomore and varsity soccer player Tia McHatten potato sack raced against Hilltop students; the girl’s varsity soccer team volunteered at the event, working at various station to ensure that the hoedown ran smoothly.
Ethan Holmquist, grade 2, sprung into the Pumpkin Ring Toss, being sure to stay behind the line to make sure that the game was played fairly.
Freshman Hannah Hebert assists Superintendent of Schools Frank McElwain and freshman Meredith Sleeper in making home-made-hand-cranked cider for the event. Many faculty members wore seasonal-inspired clothing to make the day more festive.
Julia Lopez and Cassie Westman, both in first grade, painted pumpkins together.
An unidentified Caribou High School varsity soccer player helped paint a red crab on the face of Micah Rodriguez, a Hilltop first-grader.
Enjoying Hoedown at Hilltop School are, clockwise from left, Griffen McNeal in pre-K, Johnny Cimino, age 2 and not in school, and first-grader Cody Martin. FFA members were on hand with barrels of potatoes donated by local farmers so that the Hilltop students and community members could test their picking skills. 
