Winter Recreation
DEXTER — The town of Dexter and the Wassookeag Snowmobile Club will host the 13th annual Dexter Winter Festival Feb. 15-17. This year’s festival theme is “Life in the Wild.”
FINE CRAFTSMANSHIP — Snow sculpture competitions, including those for students at Dexter Regional High School and for the general public, will be a part of the 2013 Dexter Winter Festival. This year’s “Life in the Wild” festival will include events on Friday, Feb. 15 through Sunday, Feb. 17.
The Dexter Winter Festival kicks off on Friday, Feb. 15 with the presentation of snow sculpture awards to Dexter Regional High School students at noon in the school gym. The Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union will host a chili cook-off from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to benefit Ending Hunger In Maine. Contestants must enter crock pots by 10:45 a.m. and provide a list of ingredients. The Abbott Memorial Library will host a Sweetheart Tea Party at 4 p.m.
The Hal Wilkins Memorial Scholarship Fund — which provides scholarships to a pair of seniors every year — ham dinner will be served at the Wassookeag Snowmobile Club from 5-7 p.m., and during the day on Feb. 15 work can begin for the town’s snow sculpture contest by Little Wassookeag
On Saturday, Feb. 16 the Wassookeag Snowmobile Club will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., the clubhouse has a new look inside with a great home-cooked breakfast and lunch. The hill by Dexter Regional High School football field will be the site of a kid’s sledding party, and race with radar, from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2-4 p.m. the town hall will be open for roller skating. The ice skating rink will be open and lit until 8 p.m.
The Moosehead Trail Motor Lodge will host a Wassookeag Snowmobile Club silent auction at 6 p.m., and then a festival adult dance and 50/50 raffle from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
The Wassookeag Snowmobile Club will again be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 17. Horse-drawn sled rides will take place by the clubhouse on the Number Ten Road from noon to 3 p.m.
The antique snowmobile ride in will gather at 8 a.m. by the Little Wassookeag beach area, with the parade along the railroad bed through town taking place later in the morning. Snow sculpture judging will start at 10 a.m.
For more information on the 2013 Dexter Winter Festival, please go to www.dextermaine.org/winterfestival.
By Tim Obrey
Regional Fisheries Biologist
Last week regional staff from the Greenville office met with representatives of Elliotsville Plantation, Inc (EPI) to discuss the fisheries resources on their property in southern Piscataquis County. EPI owns approximately 29,000 acres in several townships just north of Sebec Lake and another 10,500 acres along the Appalachian Trail in Elliotsville.
There are some very significant fisheries resources on these parcels including wild and stocked brook trout, wild salmon, and wild lake trout fisheries. I often think of this area as the southern tip of the North Woods. In this area, anglers will find abundant populations of wild coldwater gamefish that are much more difficult to find to the south and east. Here, the dirt roads are few and far between and they are lined with alders. The beaver bogs and streams are still full of small wild brookies. Just a few miles to the south the old logging roads turn to pavement and are lined with street lights and mailboxes in the organized towns.
The largest pond on these EPI parcels is Big Benson Pond. Big Benson Pond has an abundant lake trout population with a few wild salmon and brook trout. Most anglers fish Big Benson Pond in the winter because of its remoteness. The pond would actually benefit from more anglers keeping lake trout because they are so abundant.
Anglers will be happy to learn they can once again use snowmobiles to access and fish on Big Benson Pond as a result of our meeting. Anglers can access the pond over snowmobile trails north of the town office in Bowerbank or over the Ship Pond Stream trail from Sebec Lake. Anglers can once again travel on the lake with snowmobiles, effective immediately.
The cluster of remote trout ponds just west of the Appalachian Trail in Elliotsville offer a wide range of fishing opportunities that one can only find in the North Woods, but it is very difficult to effectively fish from shore on these ponds. The shorelines are primarily shallow, boggy and often surrounded with alders.
This spring/summer, we will be cooperating with EPI to develop trails, signage, and canoe storage areas on their property near the ponds in Elliotsville. Anglers will be able to hike in and leave a canoe at their favorite trout pond, which is a tradition in the North Woods.
We want to thank EPI representatives for taking the initiative to discuss and work with us to provide access to waters on their property. We encourage anglers to hit the trails and take advantage of this terrific fishing close to home, and remind everyone to treat the woods and waters with respect so they will remain accessible for years to come.
CAMBRIDGE — The Bluegrass Music Association of Maine is sponsoring the Northern Jam at the Cambridge Town Hall on Sunday, Feb. 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event will include a 50/50 raffle, door prizes and refreshments. For more information, contact 277-4331, 277-3365 or dburdin@tds.net.
The Moosehead Riders are also planning events for Saturday, Feb. 16. For updated information, contact the organization or go to the club’s Facebook page.
The ninth annual Chocolate Festival will be held on Sunday, Feb. 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Masonic Temple on Pritham Avenue. The Moosehead Lake Chamber of Commerce will sponsor the event in which attendees can choose from a dozen samples of delectable chocolate delights. The festival will include a hildrens corner with food, games and prizes, and silent and Chinese auctions. For more information, please contact 695-2702 or info@mooseheadlake.org.
The decision to cancel was made with great regret, and the race committee thanks everyone who has worked hard all year to plan and prepare for the 2013 Wilderness Race. In addition to major sponsors Plum Creek and Bangor Savings Bank, host site Leisure Life Resort, and trail supporters Appalachian Mountain Club and Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club, the event is made possible each year by the support of many generous sponsoring businesses and organizations, volunteers in the community, and mushers who travel to Greenville to compete. The race is organized by the Wilderness Sled Dog Racing Association, a Greenville non-profit. For more information, visit the race website www.100milewildernessrace.org.
Even though times are tough, you can sustain your family. The Piscataquis Valley Adult Education Cooperative and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension have put together a series of workshops that will give you the skills to get started in self-sufficiency. You can register through the PVAEC, 48 Morton Avenue Suite M in Dover-Foxcroft, call 564-6525 or register online at http://bit.ly/pyoucan.
Kathy Hopkins is the University of Maine Cooperative extension educator in Somerset County for 20 years. Her area of expertise includes sustainable agriculture, home horticulture and natural resources. She currently serves as a statewide resource for the Maine maple syrup industry. She coordinates maple trainings, workshops and has prepared a fact sheet on maple syrup production for backyard producers as well as a quality control manual for commercial industry.
For more information, or to request a disability accommodation, call 564-3301 or in Maine 1-800-287-1491.
GUILFORD — The PCSS Class of 2013 cordially invites you to a Valentine’s Evening Variety Show. Talented K-12 students and their friends will entertain guests with music, dance and more at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14 at PCSS. Cost is by donation, with proceeds to benefit Project Graduation.
For information about the show, contact Tara Fortier at 876-2985. For information about other Project Graduation fundraisers, call Carrie Fellows at 717-5271.