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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet The fact that snow is only in the foreground of this photo is no coincidence — it was put there by the dedicated hard work of community members who wanted to make sure Limestone had their annual Fun Day. The man-made snow track was enough for two mushers and their teams to take community members on sled dog rides. Shown here, Madawaska musher Sara Levesque takes Todd and 4-year-old Parker Ouellette on a sled ride. |
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — If a lack of snow couldn’t stop Limestone from having a Fun Day, then there’s no way a little cold and wind could put a dent in the happy smiles that scurried about the Limestone Community School/Maine School of Science and Mathematics campus on Saturday.
Despite temperatures that flirted with sub-zero degrees, over 175 people turned out to celebrate the winter — with multiple reasons to step inside for a quick thaw.
Many agreed that the highlight of the day was once more the sled dog teams that took participants on short rides down a patchwork track — but Limestone Recreation Department Director Sara Martin thinks that the patchwork track itself drew a couple of people to the event due to the astounding nature of its existence.
As it stood following the January thaw this past week, rains had washed away much of the season’s snow and brought Winter Fun Day activities, like sled dog rides, into question.
But there was no question in the community’s mind that the event would happen.
A team of dedicated volunteers from the Limestone Community School maintenance staff, the Limestone Snow Hawks snowmobile club and the Limestone Public Works Department teamed up to gather remaining snow piles and re-distribute the wintry mix.
“Basically, they took all the snow that we had and moved it to where it needed to be,” Martin said. “I’ve never seen that many people pull together to make an event happen under that awful of conditions — it was really great.”
The process wasn’t easy — first the school’s maintenance staff took a bucket loader and load by load, re-placed the snow in a track.
The Snow Hawks followed with the trail groomer to spread the snow out, and finishing up the task were Limestone Public Works employees, who transported snow from the front of the building to the back to make sure there was plenty of the white stuff for a successful Fun Day.
“We had a great turnout,” Martin said. “I think some of the people just showed up to see what we’d done with the snow!”
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet Twelve-year-old Noah Hixon, from Westmanland, made his way a bit farther down the hill than his friend, Aaron Macek of Caribou on this particular sledding run during Fun Day in Limestone. |
The duplicity of the situation — Martin explained that some people didn’t attend the event because they didn’t think Fun Day was going to be held.
Those who did attend found plenty of activities and plenty of warmth through community spirit and the heat pouring out of the bonfire in the back field of the school.
“It’s really exciting to see a community come together to make [a successful] Winter Fun Day,” said MSSM Dean of Students/Director of Residential Life Matt Grillo.
Youths from the magnet school mingled with other kids from Caribou, Presque Isle, Mars Hill and even Westmanland as they played laser tag, roasted hotdogs and introduced themselves to the sled dog teams of Jessica Holmes of Ashland and Sara Levesque of Madawaska.
Homes, Levesque and a team of helpers led the happy dogs up and down the man-made snow track, seemingly to the delight of participants and pups alike.
Though Mother Nature was throwing curve-balls at event organizers even the day of the event, it didn’t show.
Laser tag, for instance, was slated to be held outside; the event was moved indoors the morning of the event due to the extreme cold of a typical Aroostook January.
Twelve-year-olds Noah Hixon and Aaron Macek, from Westmanland and Caribou respectively, made sure to partake in a game of laser tag before they hustled outside for a sled dog ride.
“It was awesome,” Hixon said of the laser tag.
While Winter Fun Day has certainly changed in its four years, it maintains much of the same fun, family atmosphere that the Limestone Rotary Club had hoped for when they first organized the founding event.
“I think any time you get the community to get together in a pleasant atmosphere where they can interact, smile and be happy with each other, your morale of the entire community is going to be reflected in that,” said Limestone Rotary Club member Fred Edgecomb.
Director of MSSM and a Rotarian himself, Luke Shorty was pleased with the community camradarie brought out through Winter Fun Day.
“This has been a great day,” he said, joking that the smiles were frozen on the faces of Fun Day participants.
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| Aroostook Republican photo/ Natalie Bazinet Little Trevor LaPlante, 2, was all suited up to brave the elements during Winter Fun Day in Limestone on Feb. 2. |
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet Krista Williams, 9, gets ready for a Fun Day game of laser tag. |
