Special to the Aroostook Republican
A few days ago I was speaking to a young man about what folks did for fun in the early years of Caribou. The young man very matter-of-factly stated: “They probably just stood around and threw rocks.” “No”, I said, “did you know that Caribou had a baseball league in the 1880’s?” Without skipping a beat the young man responded, “What’d they play with, rocks?”
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott
Local residents lined up (some as early as 11:30 a.m.) last Wednesday at the Caribou Wellness Center to sign their kids up for summer recreation programs. Due to the extremely organized Rec staff, under the direction of Kathy Mazzuchelli, within sixty minutes, a total of 882 summer program registrations had been completed. Mazzuchelli said with registrations in some programs continuing to be accepted through last Friday, she expected the total number to be over a 1,000 in all.
Contrary to this young man’s beliefs, Caribou has always been an active town even long before the establishment of a Parks and Recreation Department. In the early years of Caribou, town folk took it upon themselves to organize sporting activities and maintain the town’s public areas. Some of the more noteworthy citizen’s and groups were: C.A.O. Smith, who managed the local baseball club over several years; Charles Brown, the bicycling “Champion of Aroostook”, whose exploits helped make cycling popular; C.E. Oak, who helped organize the Caribou Fish and Game Association and fish hatchery; William Barnum, who organized a boys club similar to today’s Boy Scouts, the many ladies of the Entre Nous Club and Garden Club who voluntarily cared for Caribou’s parks and gardens, and the Rotary and Lions clubs who willingly maintained the local pool and sponsored an array of town events.
From the town’s founding to the early 1940s, Caribou came to have several recreational and youth services and public properties. The trouble is that they were each dependant on the willingness or ability of private citizens to continue. According to the town budget request for 1939 only $100 was allotted for public parks.
Even when one accounts for inflation, $100 would not cover the cost of labor and materials to maintain Caribou’s parks, much less sport and recreational events, without the availability of volunteers. Soon after, in 1944, Caribou established the first Youth Recreation Center in the county. It was called the Teen Age Canteen, commonly known as the TAC, and was located in the Nylander building. It was equipped with a ping-pong, pool table and juke box; an annual budget of $2,000 was approved.
Throughout the years the Youth Recreation Center, via the leadership of its different directors, grew into what it is today. The TAC grew from a humble place for the local youth to hangout into a true Caribou Parks & Recreation Department and Wellness Center. Some of the directors and their accomplishments are as follows:
Lloyd Pound, 1948–1951: Much of the credit that can be given for modernizing the recreation center should be given to former Caribou Police Officer Lloyd Pound. One of the first things Pound did was organize a youth baseball league. He began with clinics for boys between ages 10 and 15, then organized league play and later expanded the program to boys ages 6 to 15. A volleyball league was also started for girls aged 8 to 15. Under Pound the Recreation Center offered activities which included: arts and crafts, softball, basketball, football, tennis, track and field, dance, hockey, film, wood working, leather craft, croquet, ping-pong tournaments, and skating. The Rec Center was relocated to former High St. Elementary School.
Barry Short, 1953–1956: The town’s interest in the Rec centers activities continued to grow. The town hired Barry Short, an experienced recreation director from Illinois. The center had recently been moved to the upper floor of the Glenn St. Armory and was soon overwhelmed in space requirements with 300 to 500 youths utilizing the center weekly during the winter season. To better serve the community Short included summer programs run at Teague Park and Sincock playground. Short also oversaw the construction and implementation of a new ski tow built on York St. and organized a successful girls gym and charm course. He hoped to include events such as archery, judo, and marksmanship classes into the array of activities offered. To cover the recreational growth under Short, the Rec Commission proposed an unprecedented budget of over $12,000 with an additional $55,000 to build a new pool.
Allan Cousins, 1961–1980: High School graduation night was one usually marked with rather unfortunate occurrences due to partying teens. Cousins, in his first year as Rec director, remedied this problem stating: “If there was something for all of them, some place to get them all together, we might get through one graduation night without trouble and possible tragedy.” To this end he organized the first graduate party at the Hotel Caribou for the Class of 1962. This party went on from dinner to dancing and games, to the next morning’s breakfast. Most importantly, the next day came without incident. Cousins also saw the Rec’s movement into the General Carter Armory and a new lighting system for Teague Park. With approximately 350 youths visiting the new center daily Cousins called to parent volunteers to assist with supervision. A full lineup of youth sport programs and crafts were still offered.
Contributed photo
1967: Four years of planning and hard work appear to have ended in fruitful reality for the Caribou Recreation Department, as the three men pictured here display the blueprints of a lighting system to be installed this spring at the Teague Park playground. From left are: Allan Cousins, director of recreation; Phil Miller, chairman of the Lights-For-Teague-Park Committee and Quentin Warren, president of the Caribou Jaycees, who were also participating in the project.
Kathy Mazzuchelli, 1980–Present: Not much research is required to see the work done under the direction of Mazzuchelli. One but needs to step outside to witness the baseball, soccer, tennis, softball, basketball, swimming, skating and skiing programs offered for youth. Adult programs consist of volleyball, basketball, and softball. Hosted at the Wellness Center are senior bingo, bridge, a Pokémon league, dance, and a variety of exercise programs. Mazzuchelli also oversaw the addition of an indoor track and basketball court to the armory. New to Mazzuchelli’s regimen of activities is the Take it Outside Seniors Program, Caribou Recreation Xtreme, and Hersey Track and Field.
In 65 years, the Caribou Parks & Recreation Department grew from a small borrowed building with a ping-pong table to an organization with over 20,000 people taking advantage of the variety of services yearly. That may even be a conservative number as it would be difficult to monitor the usage of playgrounds and ATV trails. If one was to look forward, they would see the full battery of sporting events continue, with the addition of the proposed indoor pool and fitness rooms built on to the Wellness Center. We can only hope to see it soon, but if the past 150 years proves anything, it’s that Caribou wants Rec.
