Elks’ block party a success
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
MERCHANTS ON THE CORNER was among the downtown Presque Isle businesses that participated in last Thursday night’s Street Fair, hosted by the Presque Isle Lodge of Elks 1954. The event, which served as the official kick-off party for the Crown of Maine Balloon Fest, featured a car show, food, music, a dunking booth and more. Merchants on the Corner sold ice cream floats with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Hospice of Aroostook. Pictured enjoying the floats are, from left: Tiffany Martin, Nancy Beloungie, Nancy Saucier, Hospice volunteer; Lydia Patterson, and Cindy Thibodeau, Hospice volunteer
PRESQUE ISLE – From music to magic and mingling to munchies, the Presque Isle Lodge of Elks 1954 – with the support of many downtown merchants – hosted a successful neighborhood block party last Thursday evening to kick off the seventh annual Crown of Maine Balloon Fest.
Main Street – from Blake to Academy streets – was closed to regular traffic from 4-10 p.m. giving people ample room to stroll the street and take part in the various activities the street fair had to offer.
According to Alan Harding, event chair and Elks member, the Presque Isle Area Chamber of Commerce came to the Elks asking if they would be willing to host the kick-off party.
“The Elks already put on three community-wide events – our Fourth of July celebration, our Christmas dinner and Hooked on Fishing – and we have some success with those events, so we know how to do it and understand what it takes which is manpower, organization, a belief in the project and then taking that optimism to the other participants and sharing that with them,” he said. “That’s really what’s going on here.
“The Elks just shared with the various merchants our optimism that, ‘This is a good project, let’s jump on board and try to have some fun,’” said Harding.
The theme for the downtown party was, “Overflight of Festivals of Maine.”
“There are a lot of other festivals in Maine, and Balloon Fest is just but one of them,” said Harding, “and we wanted to try to point out that Maine has a festival tradition. We wanted to include them and show that we’re kind of ‘overflying’ all the other festivals.”
Each participating Main Street merchant used a different Maine festival as a theme to offer unique items or showcase certain products during the night. Among the festivals represented included the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival, Maine Lobster Festival, Yarmouth Clam Festival, Autumnfest and the MDI Garlic Festival.
“We went to the businesses and said, ‘Here’s a list of the various festivals, but there can be more. Make up a festival if you want; make up a town if you want. We don’t care,’” Harding said. “The majority are really a tribute to a Maine festival. For example, Governor’s Restaurant used the Maine Lobster Festival theme and sold lobster rolls. The businesses really got behind the event and supported it.”
Chantel Graves, co-owner of Merchants on the Corner, decided to join in as a way to be “part of the community.”
“I wanted my business to join in the fun and showcase my business,” she said. “A lot of people still haven’t been in here and it was a great opportunity; I knew people were going to be walking up and down Main Street and it was a good time to showcase what I have.”
On a typical Thursday night, Merchants on the Corner is open until 7 p.m. Graves said it wasn’t an issue staying open an additional three hours.
“That’s my ‘break’ from my life to come in and work the shop,” she said, “so it wasn’t a problem at all.”
Merchants on the Corner teamed up with Hospice of Aroostook to sell ice cream floats to the public.
“We are making Made in Maine root beer and blueberry floats with both Made in Maine ice cream and soda,” Graves said. “Half of my proceeds are going to Hospice of Aroostook, which is a very dear group to my family. My mother-in-law, Angie Graves, who founded Merchants on the Corner, passed away from cancer back in May and while people associate Hospice with gloom and doom, we saw it as a win-win situation … it was dying with dignity.
“They [Hospice] did a lot for my children who were very close to my mother-in-law. They made quilts and talked to the kids, and it was a good group to help out. After watching these volunteers come into the house and keep her company, I said that one day after my kids grow up I want to volunteer for Hospice, but right now it’s not possible,” she said, “but doing the ice cream floats was a way to give back.”
Graves said she will definitely participate should the street fair occur again next year.
“I’m excited about being part of the community,” she said. “The firemen’s convention is coming to town in a couple weeks and I’m going to draw a huge fire truck in my windows to draw attention to what’s coming. I’ve got these wonderful windows which can serve as billboards, and I want to help promote the town.”
Organizers were pleased with the overall turnout.
“We had to pray for the absence of rain; it was pretty threatening at the beginning,” Harding said. “I think that had an effect from the start, but once the skies cleared and the sun came out a little, attendance picked up.
“This is something that really has to build momentum. You have to show that you can continue on with this and make each year bigger than the last,” said Harding. “That’s what we’ve seen with each of the other community-wide events that we do. I don’t know if the Elks will host this again next year; it’s not up to me. I can say that the Elks sold more than 25 Big Cheese pizzas and probably 200 drinks with the proceeds going to charity; that’s what we do. When you have an event like that where people can walk away and feel good about yourself, it’s a successful event.”
Recognizing that the Star City “doesn’t have enough community-wide events,” Harding said it was the Elks’ goal to help change that.
“We have the Christmas parade, the events that the Elks put on, but what else do we have?” he asked. “At some point, you lose your sense of community when you don’t have these sort of events and that’s what we’re trying to do – reinstill a sense of community, but particularly a sense of downtown as a community. That’s how I pitched it to the businesses … ‘This is a neighborhood block party, let’s have fun with it.’
“What are the things that you want to have at a party? You want to have music, some good food, a little bit of other entertainment and that’s all we’re doing,” Harding said. “It’s a pretty simple formula.”
The block party also included a car show, musical entertainment, a dunking booth, sidewalk art and a bounce house for children, and Roland Perry’s comedy magic. The Presque Isle Fire Department also had its ladder truck on display, as well as the fire safety trailer, which is a 35-foot mobile classroom in which firefighters are able to offer real world fire prevention training in a safe and controlled environment.
The Crown of Maine Balloon Fest wrapped up Sunday.
Staff photos/Scott Mitchell Johnson
ROLAND PERRY performed comedy magic at last Thursday night’s Street Fair in downtown Presque Isle, which was hosted by the local Elks. Here, Rebecca Collins helps Perry with one of his tricks.
IT WAS A HOPPING GOOD TIME on Main Street last Thursday as people of all ages enjoyed a neighborhood block party that included – among other things – a bounce house for kids.
