By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU, Maine — While there’s nothing wrong with putting one’s feet up from time to time, officials with the Caribou Recreation Department prefer to keep feet moving. Keeping with their mission, there were plenty of activities to keep kids busy during spring break, falling this year between April 16 and 20.
Program director at the recreation department Neal Sleeper said that the most popular activity they coordinated was by far the wilderness survival course.
Though the class only had 14 seats, 25 kids signed up; to accommodate the youths’ interest in the outdoors, rec officials borrowed a van to bring as many kids as possible out to the Sportsmen’s Inc. cabin on April 20.
Though Master Guide Kevin Quist has his own outdoor school, Northern Moss, he held the lesson pro-bono.
“The kids were totally ecstatic about it,” Sleeper said. “They loved the opportunity to build fires in non traditional ways, like using batteries and steel wool, flint and steel, magnesium — even cotton balls coated with petroleum jelly.”
As much fun as the day was, Sleeper thinks that the most important thing the kids learned was how to use a compass.
Quist even taught the kids the importance of carrying a survival pack when venturing into the woods; students so eagerly absorbed the lessons that Sleeper anticipates he’ll be seeing more than a few of those emergency bags tucked into kids’ backpacks when the annual Mt. Katahdin hiking trips roll around.
“This was definitely a course that will get kids thinking about being outdoors,” he added.
A close second in sign-up popularity was the archery course, taught by archery safety instructors Bill Roberts and Bill Schofield.
“When these kids started the day, most had never even picked up a bow before and couldn’t hit the target,” Sleeper described. “By the end of the day, the kids were putting all three arrows in the targets they were shooting at.”
Though many of the kids could have happily spent much more time shooting targets from 10 yards, instructors added a bit of extra fun allowing the students to test their skills on balloons.
Other vacation-oriented activities offered to the kids included wiffleball, kickball and dodgeball tournaments — all very popular activities with high participation.
Family Night on April 19 was also a huge hit for the center, as families flooded the gymnasium to enjoy the giant inflatables. The rec even has a new Xbox Kinect, donated by former Caribou resident Christopher Pelletier, who now works for Microsoft.
“[Our activities] are really about encouraging families to be healthy and active,” Sleeper said.
For additional information about the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department, visit www.caribourec.org.
