Boardwalk Update – 8 April 2015
Boardwalk Update – April, 2015
We hope to have the Boardwalk open by the end of May, weather/snow/ice depending. We figure that it will take about 15 days to remove the remaining old sections and put in the 96 new sections, 2 wheelchair turnarounds, and 2 interpretive station. When we start we will be working every day. One hold up will be the angle pieces. Last year Great Northern Docks had to build 28 angles. This year we estimate there are 6 or 7 angle pieces to build so this part of construction should go much faster. As soon as we have a start date for this year’s reconstruction/building Phil Locke and I will let everyone know.
Al Larson sent out an e-mail yesterday requesting docents for the 2015 season. If you received it please respond to him if you would like to sign up. If you didn’t receive his e-mail and are interested in signing up please contact him at: oronoal41@gmail.com. As Al noted in his e-mail “All the time slots are important but, as in last year, there is high priority for opening and closing.“
Paul Markson has agreed to be our docent trainer. He will be giving two docent training sessions: Sunday, June 7th at 1pm and Saturday, June 13th at 10am – both at the cabin area. If you would like a refresher or are a new docent just contact Paul at oronopaul@yahoo.com
Kourtney Collum sent out an e-mail yesterday to last year’s guides. If you are interested in being a guide this year please contact Kourtney at kourtney.k.collum@gmail.com. Kourtney and John Maddaus (John.Maddaus@umit.maine.edu) are working on scheduling a guide training session for spring.
Phil Locke is our head of maintenance. If you would like to help reconstruct the Boardwalk and maintain it please contact Phil at philhelenbangor@yahoo.com. There is much work to do this spring.
We are now about $26,000 away from being able to purchase the next set of sections, which will get us halfway to completion. We will be writing 3 grant proposals in the coming days. The campaign committee has been meeting regularly, mapping out a plan for publicity associated with the opening, and working on getting the needed funds. We have an updated Case Statement which we will be using as part of our grant application packets and will also be using for individual “asks”. The members of the campaign committee are: Jim Bird, Donna Dwyer, Jerry Longcore, Judy Round, Jennifer and Cason Snow, and Wendall Tremblay. We are planning a crowdfunding campaign based on the good work of Cason Snow who has researched what needs to be done to have a successful crowdfunding campaign. Both Jennifer Snow and Donna Dwyer have attended Bangor Chamber of Commerce information sessions on the use of social media for businesses and non-profits. They also manage and update the Boardwalk’s Facebook page. Be sure to visit and “Friend” it! (www.facebook.com/OronoBogBoardwalk) In the near future we will be using the Chamber’s extensive e-mail list to help us with our campaign. Judy Round who created the 2-page Case Statement, has worked with us to update it; we will have copies at the cabin when we open. We wrote a small grant proposal ($1,700) to the Bangor Savings Bank Foundation to purchase the double-sided display case for our new campaign kiosk, which Phil Locke and crew are building. We hope to order this display case soon and have the new campaign donors’ kiosk up by the end of June if possible. On April 6th, I (Jim) made a presentation to the Operations Committee of the Bangor City Council about the Boardwalk, its history and our campaign for reconstruction. I asked for $2,000 to sponsor 2 sections. The presentation, which Tracy Willette set up, was well received. We will not know for a while if we will get the money, but all councilors supported the request. Our overall goal is to have all monies needed to complete Boardwalk reconstruction sometime in 2017.
Our Boardwalk website looks really good thanks to Mark Anderson, who drafted the initial layout, Barbara Harrity who set the site up, and Erik Blomberg, our webmaster. Thanks to Erik we now have our “case for support” under the Support icon, Bog fact sheets by former volunteer Sue Priest under the Learn icon, and a great 4 minute video from a drone Boardwalk flyover thanks to Sam Hess and Charles Hess on our top level page. If you haven’t visited our website recently please do.
We hope to have a regular article on the Boardwalk in the Orono Land Trust newsletter. Jerry Longcore and I will alternate writing the articles.
We will be checking with the Town of Orono to see if we can have articles on the Boardwalk appear in the Orono Observer on a regular basis.
As soon as the Boardwalk opens for the season we will be contacting local groups such as the Orono/Old Town Kiwanis and Bangor Lions Club to see if we can make a Boardwalk presentation at an upcoming meeting.
Our annual yard sale is set for July 25th. Boardwalk volunteer Lynn DeGrendier is checking to see if we can again have 2 units at Kelly Road Storage for the months of May, June, and July. We will not be storing items at our house for weeks prior to the sale as in previous years. If you have items for the sale please hang on to them until just before the sale when we will be able to accommodate them.
The Boardwalk does have an information table at the upcoming Hope Festival, April 25th, 11am-3pm at the UM Rec Center. The following will be helping out that day: John Maddaus, Gerry Dwyer, Al Larson (as time permits), and Phil Locke. It would be good to have a couple more people. Just let me know if you’d like to help staff the information table.
The UM Retirees Fair is coming up during the first week in June. If you would like to help staff our information table please let me know. We have a number of Boardwalk volunteers who are UM retirees!