STOCKHOLM, Maine — An Aroostook County couple has once again frozen a little bit of Aroostook County in time for their annual 2020 calendar, which features the landscapes, waterways, animals and people of the region for people to enjoy throughout next year.
Brenda and Alan Jepson, the owners of Crown of Maine Productions, comb through 6,672 square miles of the region to capture countless images that they later consider for inclusion in their annual limited edition calendar.
The Stockholm-based company, which also produces commercials, training videos and promotional videos for a variety of clients, has adhered to those traditions again to produce the 2020 calendar, which is on sale at stores throughout the region and online. Some of this year’s calendar also features images of photographer Michael Gudreau.
This year, Brenda Jepson said Tuesday, they also realized that photographing the calendar over the years has meant capturing some of the last images of a fading Aroostook.
“As we were riding around The County,” she said, “we noticed that the scenes we photographed for the calendars in years past would be impossible to capture today.”
She noted that an old barn that they filmed by a pond is now gone, as is a potato field where they no longer plant the crop.
As in past years, this year’s calendar showcases Aroostook in all seasons. The year begins with a beautiful barn scene in Township 16 Range 4 surrounded by ice encrusted trees in an image taken by Gudreau, followed in February by an image of snow covered Long Lake taken by Brenda Jepson. Spring features a picture taken by Jepson of cows grazing in a Houlton field in May, followed by a beautiful tree in Presque Isle next to a blossoming field from Gudreau in July. Another Gudreau picture in September features a wharf held down by two old iron wheels in Echo Lake, and December brought a picturesque winter snow storm in front of a giant red barn in St Agatha, captured again by Jepson. The wharf photo is the cover of the calendar.
“I love those old iron wheel wharfs,” she said. “They are getting harder to find now, and that day was so perfect. The water was so calm and the foliage on the trees was just starting to turn.”
She said that she has heard that people who once lived in The County but now live away enjoy seeing the calendars, because it gives them a sense of nostalgia for a time they enjoyed, scenery they love, or a place in time they no longer can experience.
“We get many requests for calendars from people who live out of the area, out of the state and even out of the country,” she said. “We are still getting requests for calendars for our soldiers serving overseas. Hearing as we do from so many folks from out of state who always have to have their calendar, we are reminded that these calendars also provide a taste of home for folks who can’t get home — some are too old to travel or are younger folk who have such busy lives, they find it difficult to get back to The County. Some moms getting the calendars tell us that they hope when their kids get the calendar it will remind them of how beautiful Aroostook is and it will encourage them to come home for a visit.”
The calendar cost $14.95 and can be viewed online at www.crownofmaineproductions.com
