HOULTON, Maine —The 55th annual Houlton Rotary Radio and TV Auction is right around the corner.
This year’s auction scheduled for Monday, Nov. 22; Tuesday, Nov. 23; and Wednesday, Nov. 24 from 6-10:30 p.m., will be broadcast on WHOU Radio 100.1 FM, Polaris Cable TV Channel 13 and live online at www.houltonrotary.org. With more than 1,000 items totaling nearly $60,000 to bid on, there are lots of items sure to appeal to everyone — from homemade pies, breads and cookies to gift certificates, furniture and a log cabin package.
“Family and friends will be returning home for Thanksgiving and what a wonderful way to create a family affair during the annual Rotary Auction,” said Scott Dionne, one of the chairmen of this year’s Rotary auction. “Make plans to get family and friends together, have a great time, pick up some super items. Even get an early start on your Christmas shopping, while supporting projects for the benefit of the greater Houlton area.”
Among the many special items that will be featured all three nights are an 18-foot by 24-foot Baskahegan camp package (logs only) with 6×6 cedar logs from Ward Log Homes; chain saws and an ice auger from Houlton Area Bankers and a snow blower in cooperation with Sears; a pellet stove from Aroostook Milling; fencing from Katahdin Forest Products; and a computer workstation and entertainment center from Furniture & Floors North. There will, also, be nightly specials.
One of the more unique items is a playhouse constructed by Houlton High School students, under the direction of teacher Fred Pelletier. S.W. Collins and Louisiana Pacific Corp donated materials for the project.
According to Pelletier, about 11 students — four seniors and seven underclassmen — helped in the construction of the playhouse. The project was several weeks in the making and featured all aspects of the building’s construction.
“This was a great community project and I hope we can do it again,” Pelletier said. “The students learned a lot and it kept them more involved. They really seemed to enjoy it.”
Pelletier said he even had students volunteering after class to work on the project.
“I thought it was a pretty cool project,” said HHS senior Jade Crawford. “We got the chance to build something neat and it will help somebody out. We all had a pretty good time building it.”
Crawford worked on the several aspects of the playhouse, including the construction of the building’s door and interior work.
Ben Ward, also a senior at HHS, said working on the roof of the playhouse was a natural fit.
“I did some roofing with my father over the summer,” he said. “I thought it would be a good idea for us to help out the Rotary by building this. It was more time consuming than it was difficult.”
Also working on the project were students Dan Griffin, Katie Jewell, Sam Dunbar, Ben Corey, Cody Jipson, Joshua Vieria, Hugh Farrar and Ben Lynds.
The Houlton Rotary approached Pelletier and asked if his students would be interested in building the playhouse for the auction. Dionne said he and Pelletier used to work together and did similar projects in the past.
“I came to Fred because we are trying to expand the projects that are offered in the woodworking class to something bigger and pertinent,” Dionne said. “The kids did all the work.”
Funds raised from this year’s auction will go to the Northern Main Soap Box Derby for a building on the derby hill to house equipment; the Cary Library for digital archiving of the Houlton Pioneer Times; and for groups and organizations such as Dollars for Scholars, Salvation Army, Junior Achievement and Student Recognition Day, to name a few.
Rotarians will also be selling tickets for $500 of fuel oil donated by Dead River Company. Tickets are $1 each or a book of six for $5 and can be purchased from any Rotarian or at Watson Hall any time during the auction.
The Rotary Auction bid supplement can be found in this edition of the Houlton Pioneer Times and is also available on the Rotary’s website at www.houltonrotary.org.