A real positive week, our first full week as a new entity, ended in sadness as one of our member businesses, Phil’s Florist & Greenhouses, experienced a devastating fire at their facility. My heart goes out to the Corriveau family and their employees.
From what I could see the worst of the damage was where Patty had collected so many beautiful things from around the state that were so unique and beautiful. Those pieces told stories of our past and that loss along with the damage to a business that has been such a part of Caribou’s past and present is a painful one. I wish them all mercies as they decide what to do from here.
The weekend of February 8 and 9 is going to be a busy around here. Not only are the tenth annual Andy Santerre SNO-RUN activities taking place on Saturday the 8th, but it will also be the day of the Caribou Downtown Ski Festival. So you have a multiple of reasons to come out to Caribou and downtown but also to Griffeth Ford and Lincoln Mercury where the festivities for the SNO-RUN begin.
The downtown events will be a lot of fun as the city of Caribou and Soderberg Construction will be actually bringing snow to the Downtown Mall parking lot and to “snow pave” all of downtown Sweden Street for ski sprints. The downtown mall parking lot will be converted to a winter wonderland with hills and jumps and venders and all kinds of fun.
Mark your calendar, ready your ear muffs, mittens, gloves and scarves and come have a good time downtown or ride for a good cause supporting AMHC Sexual Assault Services. You cannot go wrong with either pick or maybe find a way to participate in both.
And then on Sunday, Feb. 9, the 39th annual Henry Anderson Ski Dag will take place at the Caribou Ski Trails at the Caribou Country Club. Registration is at 9 a.m. and racing begins at 10 a.m. There are 10 different age divisions and registration is just $10 or $25 for a family.
Another exciting event happening in Caribou will occur from February 26 to March 8. Why those dates? Every year Plourde Furniture runs their fantastically successful basement sale, once in the winter and again later in the year. Their sale will run during those dates mentioned. That prompted an idea to make that a Caribou-wide clearance sale and many of the area’s retail establishments will join in what we are calling, “Grand Ménage.”
Why call it “Grand Ménage?” The French saying loosely translates to “cleaning” and is often associated with spring cleaning. Caribou retailers will be doing some cleaning of clearance merchandise and customers can clean up on some sweet deals.
More information coming in future weeks’ columns.
Executive Director William Tasker may be reached in the CACC office at 498-6156 or e-mail him at cacc@cariboumaine.net.
