After Caribou Cares About Kids, I wore the ladies in the office out trying to come up with a great idea for our last newsletter, and time together! We wish to finish our era of the CCC&I with something positive, memorable, personal for our businesses, members, and most especially loan clients. Something noteworthy. I am skeptical our newsletter will do justice to what we’d wanted to convey to all of you, our gratitude and our regard for you, but our hearts are in it, and I hope we haven’t left anyone out (inevitably, it happens, my apologies in advance).
If you follow us on Facebook you know we’ve been keeping up a robust dialog about our local farmers, bumper stickers spotted around town, and who is doing what when with much sharing of really awesome farming pictures. If you don’t follow us, you should. We want to be your friend too.
The latest bumper sticker we saw and had to tweet about was a very modest green one on an older well worn pickup (farming is hard work) which said “no farms no food.” And then there were the MOFGA T-shirts from last week: “Who’s your farmer?”
Really though, besides being able to keep up with the farming community, the best part of Facebook I’ve decided recently is all the great photos people take and post on their pages. We’ve seen Spuddy Buddys, all varieties of tractors on Northern Maine Photos “Tractor Tuesdays” and we’ve been able to find out who is most recently had what to sell for fresh produce in the area. We receive e-mails pretty regularly asking questions about who has the corn maze, how can we book a group, and who is doing what with Aroostook Kids!
I am still positive without the chamber I haven’t any idea why I’d ever have a Facebook page, but as a way to spread the word and keep up with the general community, it is too funny.
As I mentioned earlier this summer, I have found Twitter to be funnier and more interesting than Facebook (especially if you’re as inept at posting photos as I am). I have begun following some really good SBA and business entrepreneur sites which have recently had different programs related to why a business could and should be using both Facebook and Twitter to solicit customers. Restaurants especially seem to have it all going on: they tweet the daily specials, new offerings, special events, and large programs they’re involved with as a function of their civic-mindedness. It’s a utility I think many of the locals might find beneficial, and it only takes as long as you want it to!
I found The Great Lost Bear (Portland) on Twitter last week, and felt like I was home. I may not get there any time in the next few years, but I get to see the specials, and remember a time of life when it was a regular event. Too many quesadillas later, my parents still haven’t gotten over the waiter’s outfit the time I brought them. I never liked touching the electrical ball thing, but now I could bring my hand sanitizer, and light up the entry way! I digress.
Harvest being what it is, it seems as if the tops are all well on their way to being hard and crunchy, and I am already missing the green. But what can you do. I hope everyone keeps posting their photos on Facebook, make sure you check out Tractor Tuesdays, and that everyone samples the local produce! Have a safe fast harvest, we’re thinking of you!
Wendy Landes, MPA, is the executive director of the Caribou Chamber of Commerce & Industry. She can be reached in person at 24 Sweden Street, Suite 101; by telephone at 498-6156 or via e-mail at wlandes@cariboumaine.net.
