July
• Members of the Loring Development Authority Board of Trustees were presented with a detailed scenario proposal by a representative of Iberdrola Renewables, regarding 100 or more 2-megawatt inflatable wind turbines tethered at the Commerce Centre could create 50 full-time direct jobs and 500 construction jobs.
• Douglas Hunter was installed as president of the Caribou Rotary Club.
• Sen. Susan Collins was the recipient of the Bruce F. Vento Public Service Award presented by the National Park Trust.
• Alison Brown opened Caribou’s newest business, Sweden Street Hot Spot, in the location of the former Mighty Mike’s IGA/ Roy’s IGA/ Sirois’ Market.
• Talk of the Town Farm, operated by Candy and Michael Shewsberry, introduced organic goat’s milk to the area. The 44-acre farm located in Connor, is home to five cows, one horse and two dozen goats of the Nubian and LaMancha breeds.
• Members of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs encouraged guests to visit their new farmers market on the Caribou/Presque Isle town line on U.S. Route 1, and share in Micmac culture, hospitality and to celebrate the new growing season.
• Caribou native Steve Gagnon, KeyBank senior vice president, was named Aroostook County market leader. In his new role Gagnon will oversee the eight KeyBank branches in Aroostook County, while also managing the core business banking activity in the area.
• Teamsters Local 340 through its Women’s Committee collected 30,000 pounds of food and $1,600 in monetary donations all to benefit the Catholic Charities Feed The County project based in Caribou.
• Christine Smith, physical therapist joined the County Physical Therapy team at the Caribou clinic.
• USDA Rural Development State Director Virginia Manuel presented the Northern Aroostook Wells and Septics Program (NAWSP) with a Homeownership Partner of the Year Award at the Northern Maine Development Commission’s office in Caribou.
• Guerrette Sales of Caribou donated fifty 50-pound bags of potatoes to food pantry groups in Washington County.
August
• Dr. Dorothy Martin of Fort Fairfield, who most recently served as career development director at the Loring Job Corps Center in Limestone, was appointed as academic dean at the Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle.
• The transition move for the Caribou Chamber of Commerce office is under way as renovations at the new location, the Nylander Museum are in process. Chamber officials speculated that the move will increase foot traffic to the Nylander Museum of Natural History, which showcases the work of Olof Nylander and the natural history of the Northeast as well as be cost saving in regard to the day-to-day functions of the Chamber of Commerce.
• Lea Stedt, a County native joined the S.W. Collins Co. at the Home Design Center in Caribou.
• Canterbury Royale in Fort Fairfield was honored with the distinction of being named among the “Best 50 Restaurants in the state” chosen by Maine Plate.
• An estimated 120 dance students from southern Aroostook to the St. John Valley convened in Caribou for The Maine Dance Academy’s Summer Camp.
• State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin took time out from a busy schedule to speak with Aroostook Republican staff writer Natalie Bazinet about ways the current administration was working to assist northern Maine along with the rest of the state.
• The staff at the Aroostook Republican, assisted by editor Mark Putnam, Fay York and Pam Lynch, served up approximately 500 free hotdogs, complimented by bags of chips, soda and water, during their annual Customer Appreciation Day. A gift of $115 (monies donated by residents who stopped by to enjoy the free lunch) was presented to Shirley Fortin, manager of the Bread of Life Soup Kitchen.
• Officials with the S.W. Collins Co. announced that they received their Forest Stewardship Council Chain of Custody Certification through Scientific Certification Systems, which in lay terms means that their certified materials are tracked throughout the production process, from the forest to the consumer, including all stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.
• Phil and Jackie Doak of Caribou, who in their own words said they “flunked retirement,” began a new endeavor at their Sunrise Farm in Woodland, raising hormone – antibiotic – and growth stimulant-free Belted Galloway cattle and Katahdin Hair sheep.
• Travis Cyr, Arootstakoostik concert organizer donated funds from the annual event held at Thomas Park in New Sweden to local organizations including $500 to the Caribou Children’s Discovery Museum. The event also saw the New Sweden Food Pantry benefit from a canned-food drive.
• Walt Elish, executive administrator for LEAD (Leaders Encouraging Aroostook Development) left The County heading to Colorado where he would become president and CEO of Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation.
• Cara Miller, Cary Medical Center wellness coordinator and community health coordinator helps clients through her own small practice, Tree of Life Natural Health, where she assists a small but dedicated clientele utilize natural methods to beneficially compliment their current medical treatments.
• The University of Maine at Fort Kent was ranked as a Best Northeastern College by The Princeton Review for the seventh consecutive year.
• Talk of the Town Salon in Limestone held a ribbon-cutting ceremony sponsored by the Limestone Chamber of Commerce in observance of the business reopening under owner and stylist Val O’Neal.
• Officials with Northeast Publishing Co., looking for ways to help their advertising clients reach potential Canadian customers, announced that an additional 21,000 copies of County Crossroads, a free monthly publication, will be sent into New Brunswick via the Canadian Postal Service.
• Dave Nadeau of Nadeau’s Dog Training has been successfully helping central Aroostook’s pet owners maximize the “good dog” potential in their pets.
• U.S. Congressman Michael Michaud visited at the Maine Veterans’ Home in Caribou, touring the facility and speaking with several residents and staff.
• The Gallagher Insurance Agency announced the promotion of Brittany Collins to the position of personal lines insurance production.
• Under the new proprietorship/management of Gary St. Peter, Napoli’s Restaurant underwent a variety of changes including an extended Italian menu and enhanced lounge atmosphere.
• A crowd of more than 350 gathered at the Loring Job Corps Center to celebrate the first ever National Job Corps Commencement Day.
• Reorganization efforts were nearing completion for the city’s new chamber and recently created economic development facet.
• Members of the Caribou High School National Honor Society began work on the organization’s annual Viking Card project for the 2011-12 school year.
October
• Buzzells Clothing Store, which for nearly 40 years occupied a space on what was once considered the “downtown” or “main street” part of Caribou, was relocated further up on Sweden Street to the location formerly occupied by the Caribou Dry-Cleaners.
• Officials with the Aroostook Partnership for Progress (APP) announced a new effort to assist Aroostook’s businesses through an ongoing countywide survey to assess the needs of northern Maine’s business community.
• A pilot program that aims to connect local investors with entrepreneur’s eager to start up- community benefiting businesses has received integral funding from two separate government sources.
• Katahdin Trust Company President and CEO Jon Prescott announced that Aaron Kouhoupt, a Caribou native, had been promoted to general counsel and compliance officer.
• The town of Van Buren was awarded $200,000 through a Northern Border Regional Commission grant to create an agricultural building able to support a vegetable processing plant.
• Matt Bell, owner and president of Northeast Pellets, LLC in Ashland was elected as vice president of the Maine Pellet Fuels Association.
• Martin’s Point Health Care which offers the U.S. Family Health Plan, a TRICARE Prime option to active duty family members and to military retirees and their family members throughout Maine for the first time in the company’s history, offered in-person customer service through its office located at 25 Sweden Street, Suite B, managed by Lori Theriault, Martin’s Point health benefits specialist.
• Guest speakers at the Caribou Rotary Club included Maine State Secretary of Agriculture Walter Whitcomb and Judy Ballard, agricultural promotion coordinator for the Maine Department of Agriculture.
• Four Aroostook County credit unions tied in the Top 30 in asset size including two in the Top 10 in the Maine Credit Union League’s mid-year statistics for the period.
• Thousands of shoppers attended the annual Arts and Crafts Festival weekend in Caribou.
• Officials with the Maine Primary Care Association selected Carl Flynn, M.D. to receive the 2011 Physician Excellence Award. A family practitioner at Pines Health Services since 1995, Flynn received the award during MPCA’s annual conference.
• The Maine Veterans’ Home in Caribou completed its second year of continuous customer satisfaction surveys and in every six-month comparison the facility received numerous Best In Class awards from Pinnacle Quality Insight, a nationally recognized firm, that provides phone-based interviews to measure long-term care customer satisfaction to over 1,100 health care providers.
November
• A ribbon-cutting ceremony for American Leathers of Maine was held celebrating the new shop in Caribou that featured fine leather items, hand-made jewelry and western jackets among many other items.
• Members of the Lister/Knowlton VFW Post 9389 Ladies Auxiliary presented a $500 donation to Shirley Fortin, manager of the Bread of Life Soup Kitchen.
• Officials with the Northern Maine Development Commission and the Northern Maine Solid Waste Management Committee teamed up to offer a free backyard composting class.
• The County Federal Credit Union in Caribou welcomed Brenda Davis, executive director of Cross Roads Ministries, an Old Town-based hunger agency that serves thousands in eastern Maine with a donation for the 10th annual Maine Credit Unions’ Ending Hunger Walking Tour.
• A new Web page for the town of Limestone was discussed when individuals attended a meeting at which Larry Hamilton of Amity Designs spoke with Limestone officials/residents hoping to be the design firm to create the new pages for the chamber, the municipality and its departments and tentatively the Limestone Rotary Club.
• The University of Maine at Fort Kent and SAD 27 were awarded a $2.6 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to construct a biomass heating system to heat 11 buildings on the UMFK and Fort Kent Community High School campuses.
• Lancaster Morgan Funeral Home was honored with the 2011 Pursuit of Excellence Award by the National Funeral Directors Association during its International Convention and Expo in Chicago.
• NMDC board of directors gave their approval to a five-year tourism plan with hopes of enticing more people to the region.
• Local Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shops geared up for the sixth annual food drive in support of Catholic Charities of Maine.
• Officials with the National Weather Service Office in Caribou announced their foray into social networking aiming not to replace the Caribou NWS Website, rather to compliment work done by the National Weather Service with a Facebook page.
• Officials with the County Federal Credit Union announced the appointment of Kendall Roy to the position of branch manager in the Presque isle office. Roy will replace Dan Bagley who has been promoted to vice president of lending and is now based out of the Caribou office.
December
• The firm of Chester M. Kearney, certified public accountants, announced that Barbara McGuire and Timothy Poitras recently accepted a position of ownership in the company.
• ACAP and Hogan Tire employees were honored for their positive influence toward students at the Loring Job Corps Center.
• Gallagher Insurance Agency was presented with the “Best Use of Cooperative Advertising” award by the Concord Group Insurance Companies.
• Greg Disy, CEO Aroostook Mental Health Center, announced that Michael Williams, CPA, was the new chief financial officer for the group.
