Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — The Greater Limestone Chamber of Commerce held their annual meeting and dinner on Oct. 22 during which State Rep. Bernard Ayotte presented a Legislative Sentiment to Robbie and Scott Caldwell on behalf of Caldwell’s Auto Parts and Towing.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
State Representative Bernard Ayotte presented Robbie and Scott Caldwell of Caldwell’s Auto Parts and Towing with a Legislative Sentiment acknowledging their service to the Limestone community.
Ayotte discussed briefly how coincidental it was that he present the sentiment to the brothers considering Ayotte lived next door to the Caldwells — Paul, Gayle, Robbie, Scott and Holly — when Paul and Gayle first started Caldwell’s Auto.
“I want to mention the extreme hard work that Paul and Gayle put into the start of this business and I know for a fact that they worked six days a week,” Ayotte said during the chamber dinner, “I could hear them working and their two boys, Robbie and Scott, were out there working with their father before they started kindergarten.”
During the presentation, Ayotte also discussed various contributions Caldwell’s has made to the community before he read the sentiment to those attending the annual chamber dinner, which was held at the Limestone Community School (LCS).
Former president of the Greater Limestone Chamber of Commerce Jane Griffeth also gave a presentation during dinner thanking numerous community members who contributed to the success of Limestone’s Fourth of July festivities.
After dinner, chamber members adjourned to a separate meeting room to proceed with the agenda.
Board member Danielle Michaud gave a brief synopsis of chamber activities from 2008-09.
“Our first event from 2008-09 was the Holiday Light Parade sponsored by Hometown Fuels, One Stop and Caldwell’s Auto Parts and Towing,” Michaud said. “Thanks to their effort, it was the most successful parade we’ve ever had with 26 floats. They did an awesome job,” she added.
In February, the chamber presented their Citizen of the Year Award to a very surprised and appreciative Gary Cleaves, who was crucial to the inception and success of the Maine Military Authority.
Raising $3,000 for the Limestone Fourth of July events, an Italian dinner offered at LCS followed with the highly entertaining and magical styling of Marko the Magician made April a successful fund-raising month for the chamber, which led for a successful end of June and beginning of July for the town.
“Our Fourth of July went off without a hitch even though the weather didn’t want to cooperate most of the time,” Michaud said, mentioning the Teddy Bear Picnic, Street Dance, Customer Appreciation Days, Strawberry Shortcake, and Limestone Rotary Golf Tournament among many other events.
“The weather held out for our parade, which was followed by music, games and, of course, the fireworks which were by anyone’s standards were outstanding this year,” she added. “This was a Fourth of July celebration that our community can be proud of.”
Michaud also reported on three new businesses opening in Limestone — Blvd. Graphix, Jo Jo’s Resturant and the Crop Circle Corn Maze.
“We’d like to wish them continued success in the years to come,” Michaud said.
Members of the Greater Limestone Chamber of Commerce are conducting their annual membership drive in November and community members are welcome to attend the meetings which are on the last Monday of every month to share ideas and thoughts, and chamber member Geri Martin reminded individuals that “you don’t need to be a business owner to join the Chamber.”
President of the Limestone Rotary Club Dottie Martin also gave a presentation at the annual meeting to update chamber members about the work the 14 members of the Limestone Rotary Club have done.
“Our Rotary Club really appreciates the partnership that we have with the Greater Limestone Chamber of Commerce,” Martin said.
According to Martin, Limestone Rotarians have been involved with the Library expansion project, volunteering to pay for the kitchenette being built. The club raised funds for the project through their annual Rotary Golf Tournament held in conjunction with Limestone’s Fourth of July events. The club also gives approximately $3,000 in scholarships to students from the LCS, the Maine School of Science and Mathematics and the Loring Job Corps Center (LJCC).
“Members of the Limestone Rotary Club are actively involved with the Fourth of July Parade and this year we had a float that featured a large tent,” Martin described, “That tent can sleep 10 people and is kept in a green plastic box with 10 sleeping bags, water purification tablets, a multi-fuel stove, pots, tools, blankets, ground sheets, rope, survival items and children’s school supplies.”
That green plastic box, distributed in emergencies to disaster victims, is called a shelter box. The club is in the process of raising $1,000 in order to purchase one of the shelter boxes, which would be distributed internationally.
One way that the club is raising funds is through the auctioning of a shed donated to the club by carpentry students of the LJCC.
“On Main Street, you’ve probably seen the two buildings that are on display,” she said. “The larger building we’re selling raffle tickets for to raise funds to purchase a shelter box.” The other building, a large, decorative lighthouse, is one of many items that will be available during the annual Rotary Auction on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Limestone Community School.
Throughout the year, the Limestone Rotary Club has also made donations to the Maine Veterans Cemetery in Caribou, the Ryan’s Heart organization, The Cause, local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts chapters as well as the Pine Tree Chapter of the American Red Cross. They also host their annual Senior Citizens Dinner, which is always a very popular event.
The club is currently collecting backpacks for their backpack project, which is aimed at providing new or gently used book bags to students in need.
At the conclusion of the meeting, it was announced that Scott Caldwell was the new president of the Greater Limestone Chamber of Commerce.
It was also announced that James and Judy Bell won the Fall Decorating Contest in the residential category while Limestone Grocery won the contest in the business category.
