CARIBOU — For decades, Caribou has been home to elaborate winter carnivals that annually brought hundreds of visitors from far and wide to the heart of downtown Caribou.
Mark Shea, President of the Boreal Outdoor Club notes that on Saturday, February 8 and Sunday, Feb. 9, Caribou will once more bringing people to the heart of the city with the Caribou Downtown Ski Festival.
“ In returning to the roots of historic events of the past, we hope not only to get folks outside and active, but also to bolster a sense of community among our fellow citizens much like this summer’s Thursdays On Sweden St,” Shea explained.
The Caribou Downtown Ski Festival will be a celebration of winter, with fun activities on the snow for kids, ski racing for all ages, concessions and more.
Beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, Sweden St. and the North Mall parking lot will be closed to traffic so they might undergo a snowy transformation; the Northern Mall parking lot will change into a snowy fun-park for kids, and Sweden Street will become a race course.
Festival events get underway at 9 a.m. on Saturday with registration and racing, with the fun-park opening an hour later. The listing of events will include Middle School Sprints, Maine State Sprint Races and the Aroostook Youth Ski Festival. A full listing of events and times can be found on www.goaroostookoutdoors.com
“We are moving our annual citizen’s ski race, now known as the Maine State Ski Sprints to the downtown event to enhance the spirit of the entire festival” said Shea. “One of the underlying tenets of our outing club is to underscore the fact that Caribou is a great place to live, work and play and the Caribou Downtown Ski Festival is the perfect vehicle to promote that ideal” Shea commented.
In addition to the downtown fun, the first day of the festival happens to coincide with the first day of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The planning committee of the Downtown Ski Festival is hoping to pay tribute to local Olympian Russell Currier, a Stockholm resident and Caribou High School graduate who will be representing the United States on the US Biathalon Team in the Sochi Olympic Games.
“Currier got his start at Nordic Skiing by going to events like the Aroostook Youth Ski Festival. This year we have moved our annual event to the North Mall Parking Lot where we will have fun ski games, a challenging terrain park, a small ski hill and more for kids ages 5-13,” Shea said, noting that each skier will be able to ski in the sprints downtown, and they’ll also receive a bag lunch and a souvenir ski hat.
On Sunday, the events move to the Caribou Country Club for the 39th annual Henry Anderson Ski Dag.
This event is also a historic celebration of Henry Anderson, a New Sweden resident that handmade hundreds of pairs of skiis for the local Swedish Colony and surrounding areas. This event is a 5 mile classical ski race for Nordic skiers 12 and over with registration getting underway at 9 a.m. and racing at 10 a.m., followed by lunch and awards.
Superintendent of Parks and Recreation Kathy Mazzuchelli and Shea both have high praise for the Caribou community as they noted during the entire planning process there has been a very supportive collaborative made up of Caribou Rotary Club members, the Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce, Boreal Outdoor Club and several businesses and individuals from throughout the community, as well as and city officials.
Spectators are reminded that there is plenty of parking available around the downtown area, however, there will be no traffic allowed on Sweden Street or in the North Mall parking lot from 5 p.m. Friday evening through late on Saturday. Access will be available to the post office via Record St.
Grange St. will also be closed, along with a portion of Stevens Avenue from Center Street to Sweden Street. All downtown businesses will be open and offering specials to visitors along with local restaurants in the downtown area.
For more information contact the Caribou Parks and Recreation office at 493-4224.
