CARIBOU, Maine — With nearly 40 years at the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department and close to 35 of them spent as superintendent, Kathy Mazzuchelli’s retirement marks the end of an era — but she certainly wouldn’t call it that.
It’s hard to tell whether Mazzuchelli is better known for her modesty or the snowmobile trail reports she does every winter, but it’s certain that she’d rather be dressed up as Shrek during a kids event than the center of attention receiving an award.
In February of 1979, for instance, the Aroostook Republican ran an article describing how Mazzuchelli noticed a fire had broken out dangerously close to propane tanks and was creeping up a Sweden Street building; Mazzuchelli ran into the building to evacuate its occupants and, after helping one tenant get to safety, she returned into the smoke-filled building to make sure everyone was out — she even tried to save one of the distressed tenant’s life savings. With all persons safely accounted for, the story goes on to say that Mazzuchelli continued on to work, as she had a basketball game to coach.
In 2009, a reporter from the paper stumbled across that article while researching the city’s sesquicentennial anniversary and asked Mazzuchelli about the ordeal; she dismissed with an “Oh that — it was no big deal.”
Mazzuchelli’s influence on Aroostook County can be seen on different levels, whether it’s 500 school kids learning Nordic skiing as part of their curriculum or a single family taking an autumn stroll down some of the city’s recreational trails. Even up at the Eureka Hall in Stockholm, they have a pizza named “The Mazzuchelli” in honor of the longtime Parks and Recreation Superintendent. (It’s topped with house garlic white sauce, spinach, feta, mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes.)
Well before she knew of the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department, Mazzuchelli had fallen in love with Aroostook County. Teaching physical education in New Hampshire at the time, Mazzuchelli found the job to be a bit restrictive and decided to visiting a former classmate from New Hampshire’s Plymouth State College (now Plymouth State University) who’d moved to the area to teach school.
“I came up here and just fell in love with The County,” Mazzuchelli said.
She loaded up an old mail truck that she’d converted into a camper, a few friends followed her with the car, and Mazzuchelli moved into an apartment in Mapleton to work for the Northeast District of the YMCA.
Except the northern office of the YMCA closed up shop before she could start.
Heading to the job center in Presque Isle, Mazzuchelli remembers the friendly folks who helped her find a teaching spot at the University of Maine at Presque Isle; she took a job as an ed tech/teacher’s aide at Washburn Elementary School before she wound up coaching UMPI’s bowling and downhill ski team.
“I was fortunate to find out that Caribou had some jobs open for the summer, and so I came in to do some tennis lessons, and some softball and I guess they liked me because they asked if I’d consider working for them,” Mazzuchelli remembered.
As a recreation programmer in the late ‘70s, Mazzuchelli brought about some sports programs for girls and even taught an evening exercise class that was always packed with close to 100 ladies keeping fit and incorporating the new dance crazes into their workouts.
The rec department was a good fit for Mazzuchelli, who’d graduated with a degree in health, physical education, recreation and dance — some might remember how she used those dance skills to place second a few years ago during the Dancing Like a Star event at the Caribou High School.
A few years later, a 30-year-old Mazzuchelli put in her application and became the superintendent of parks and rec for Caribou, and “the rest is history,” she said, but she did admit that the new job placed her in a male-oriented world back in 1980.
Adding to the issue was a new program for the department to oversee — the snowmobile trail grant project.
Mazzuchelli was quick to point out that there were some wonderful guys volunteering with the snowmobile clubs at the time — like the late Marvin Hedstrom and Dwight Stickles, who’s still volunteering.
But the experience did help her quickly learn — and she always has — that no task is gender specific. She spent a lot of time understanding snowmobile equipment, learning what makes a good trail, researching the business and what it takes to make it grow and in time, mutual respect developed.
“It was a little tentative at first with a few of them, and I know it was because I was a woman and that’s OK, but we grew to have mutual respect … and then when it was the end of the year and we still had money left in the till — that got ‘em,” she recalled with a good smile. Mazzuchelli was fine with all the hard work that came with the job, and her innovative ways to stretch a dollar helped bring around the opinions of those questioning a woman superintendent of parks and recreation.
In one instance that Mazzuchelli remembers, a farmer came up to her in the parking lot of the city office and told her that he didn’t always agree with everything she had to say … but she was a tough son-of-a-(expletive).
With a smile, Mazzuchelli remembers telling him that she would take it as a compliment.
Some of Mazzuchelli’s favorite memories about her career are wrapped around maintaining and expanding Caribou’s pristine snowmobile trails, and the ways they’ve stretched the budget to do so.
“Department heads, like me, are asset managers. Some people shorten that term a little bit, but for the most part, that’s what we are: asset managers,” she explained, describing how most department managers hate spending money — herself included.
“As far as being respectful of taxpayer dollars and trying to get them the best bang for their buck while trying to be efficient and economical, we’ve really made a concerted effort to do that over the years,” she said. When she first started, for instance, there were five full-time employees at the department — the same number as today.
“Despite people who think city government is fat and we have all these extra people — we’ve had five people for 39 years and yet we’ve gained facilities, parks, programs and still been able to make it work and deliver, I think, some pretty good services.”
One instance of cost savings that she’s pretty proud of involved her and new Superintendent of the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department, Gary Marquis, working together to continue the city’s trail grooming services at a fraction of the estimated cost.
Around five years ago, it was time for the city to replace a 2003-snowmobile trail groomer, and a new one had a $200,000 price tag.
Instead, Mazzuchelli and Marquis worked with a local dealership and replaced the tractor that ran the groomer. They were told that doing so simply wasn’t an option, but they found a way to make it work. The actual process of taking out one tractor and replacing it with another, however, was a bit nerve wracking.
“We lifted the old tractor off the groomer, set it on blocks and put the wheels from the new tractor on it — so we could sell that as a tractor — and then very tentatively, with a lot of anxiety, we set that new tractor down on the frame and it fit beautifully,” Mazzuchelli said. “We had a lot of tweaks to do, but between our labor and parts, I think we spent $54,000.”
Aside from creative solutions, the rec department has been able to collaborate with a lot of groups and service organizations — like Cary Medical Center and the Rotary Club.
There have been a lot of unexpected adventures throughout her career — like that time she dressed up as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, or that other time she performed philanthropy rap.
Yes, philanthropy rap.
Mazzuchelli has always believed it’s very important to work with middle school-aged kids and make sure they’re engaged, which is why the rec frequently works with the Caribou Middle School on different projects. That’s why then-principal at CMS Susan White, now RSU 39 Superintendent, asked Mazzuchelli to teach a program on philanthropy; the longtime rec superintendent put together a PowerPoint presentation about the Carnegie Library, the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center (which was largely funded through community donations) but to make the message stick, Mazzuchelli got in touch with her inner rapper. She had the baseball hat, and the rap beat, and the funky rhymes — and a message on philanthropy that actually resonated with middle-schoolers.
“I never thought I would be doing a rap about philanthropy in front of a whole audience of middle school kids. But if that’s what it takes to get them — you get them,” she said, and that educational rap does make the theoretical highlight reel of Mazzuchelli’s fun rec moments.
The rec is filled with fantastic memories of past accomplishments and wonderful celebrations, but some of the most meaningful memories aren’t happy.
In 2005, Mazzuchelli will never forget a parent that she’d known forever coming to her office in tears because they’d found out their child had succumbed to substance abuse.
“That really touched my heart,” she said somberly.
Being proactive, Mazzuchelli went to speak with Caribou Police Chief Michael Gahagan and together, they orchestrated an opportunity for the community to have a dialogue on the matter.
“I was just taken aback when I walked in the room and the parents started coming in — some of the parents I’d known since they were kids, or their kids I’d known since they were little,” she said. “It really hits home when something like this happens and you understand the depth and breadth of the issue.”
From that meeting was born a county-wide initiative and through another collaboration with Cary Medical Center, “We got the first Drug-Free Community Grant way back when and made, I think, tremendous strides in improving the county’s awareness of substance abuse,” Mazzuchelli said. “And apparently it was good because we were contacted multiple times to go do workshops across New England for the United States Attorney’s Office to demonstrate the collaborative.”
Mazzuchelli’s accomplishments at the recreation department are too numerous for any one story — she was involved with the historic ballooning flights of Col. Joe Kittinger and Jonathan Trappe, brought national television to Caribou through outhouse racing and even utilized grant funding to make sure Caribou has the greatest number of land and water conservation projects in any Maine community.
“Most all of our parks, our tennis courts, our boat launch and our rail bed trails, which extend way outside of Caribou, have all been done with public (grant) funds,” Mazzuchelli added.
At the rec facilities or beyond, some of Mazzuchelli’s greatest memories stem from community collaborations — like last year’s downtown ski festival.
“Just seeing the volunteers put the time in because they really wanted it to be successful — that’s what we do. So if (the rec) can be a catalyst or a facilitator to help those volunteers activate their goals, we do that too,” she said with pride, adding how much fun it’s been to work with such fantastic community-minded folks — like during the sesquicentennial activities and, most recently, watching the community come back together with Thursdays on Sweden.
“It isn’t about anything except the people being there and talking, maybe have something to eat, meet some of the vendors — that’s community again,” she added.
Mazzuchelli’s biggest joy overall hasn’t just been working with the community — it’s also working alongside her fellow department heads, like Fire Chief Scott Susi, Police Chief Gahagan and Public Works Director David Ouellette along with new Parks and Rec Superintendent Marquis, to name a few.
“We work a lot, 60-70 hours a week, but we laugh a lot,” she said.
Since she was young, Mazzuchelli understood the importance of working well with others and communicating effectively.
“Honesty and integrity are critical to being able to interact and work with people … and having a little bit of integrity and understanding what character is all about,” she said. “I think that’s what allowed us to build this facility in a time that people said wasn’t a good time.”
Adding that it’s never a good time to spend money, Mazzuchelli gave a quick reiteration of the new Wellness Center’s creation.
“I tell my peers that in a community of 8,000 people, we raised $1 million, we got a million in grants, and we bonded about $1 million — and the only reason we did that was because people had pledged money they had to pay off,” she outlined. “When it was all said and done, it was all built by local contractors for the most part, we finished three weeks early, $485,000 under-budget, we only did not take in $316.49 in pledges and we paid it off in five years,” Mazzuchelli concluded.
“I think that speaks volumes for the people in the community and what we can do.”
In her retirement, which began on Aug. 16, there’s only one thing she definitely won’t do — and that’s sit around.
“When I was a kid growing up, the old people used to dress in black dresses, black stockings, black shoes, sit in the chair and just rock after 50 — that was it,” she described, and none of that stuff is on her list of things to do.
“I don’t even say bucket list, because that has a finality. I like YOLO — you only live once,” she said. Though Mazzuchelli has mixed feelings about retiring, there are plenty of things she’s ready to go out and do. “Now, after 39 years I think I’m going to say ‘OK, time to recreate.’”
