So far this year the Nylander Museum has had over 700 visitors, including 136 on a recent Tuesday from the Fort Kent school system. Also a children’s program called Exploring Your Own Back Yard started Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to noon.
We have been open this past year 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays during the summer months and Sundays during the winter and we can arrange to be open for individuals and groups most anytime.
The food stand was cleared with the City of Caribou to make sure it was legal and did not interfere with any other food stands in town. Ten percent of proceeds from sales of food from the stand, including when it is set up at other sites, go toward the museum.
The Nylander family reunion at the museum has been going on for over 50 years, the only cost to city or museum is the lights or at certain times of year heat for a few hours. The cost of the food provided and door prizes was donated by the Nylander Board of Trustees. This year’s reunion brought in over 40 people and some of the participants were not family members. They came just to hear some of the stories about Olof Nylander that the family members were telling. It’s a great honor for the trustees to hear firsthand some the things Olof did so that those stories also can be passed along to visitors at the museum.
I would like to say thanks to the City of Caribou public works crews for the great job they did on building the new access ramp from the parking lot into the building, and to the janitor for the outstanding cleaning work he has provided. The board of trustees should be meeting with the City Council soon, (hopefully at the museum) so councilors can see why the museum should stay open for future generations to learn from.
We also already have several teachers already signed up for a teacher workshop we are hosting on Jan. 25, 2018.
So far the city has around $12,000 set aside to operate and maintain the museum. That’s about $1.55 per person in Caribou or only about .0012 of of the city budget.
Nelson Ketch
President, Nylander Board of Trustees
Caribou
