Deirdre Fleming: New event offers lots of promise
Mainers will hear about it a lot in the coming weeks. And someday soon, we may not recall a time we didn’t hear about it.
The first Great Outdoor Maine Weekend is scheduled for March 2 to 4, and organizers expect it to be a widespread success.
The weekend will bring together land trusts, outdoor organizations and adventure outfitters who will work together to teach, guide and inspire Mainers to get outside and get active.
“What we’re shooting for is getting more Mainers to realize Maine is a wonderful state in its geography and places. And it’s very easy and very fun and very cheap to enjoy the outdoor opportunities here. These places are in people’s backyards. We want to make being outside a part of people’s life,” said Bryan Wentzell of the Appalachian Mountain Club.
And unlike other winter events in this strangely tropical-like season, the Great Outdoor Maine Weekend will go off no matter what. “I think most every event except maybe ice fishing will take place. It can go off rain or shine, snow or no snow. The point is to get people outside and having fun,” Wentzell said.
The first Great Maine Weekend has 54 events planned, 48 different organizations involved, and 15 land trusts staging events, said event organizer Lindsay Bourgoine of the Appalachian Mountain Club.
The weekend will feature dozens of nature walks and, if there’s snow, Nordic ski outings and snowshoe treks. It also has on tap a snowmobile golf tournament in the Belgrade region and sled dog rides.
“Probably 80 percent are free. Quite a few are in the $15 range,” Bourgoine said.
The idea for the all-outdoors, all-activities bash occurring across the state on the same weekend was the brainchild of Acadia Superintendent Sheridan Steele, who helped launch Maine’s Take It Outside campaign in 2006. That effort to inspire Mainers to use state parks more spread, and continues today.
The folks at the Appalachian Mountain Club think the statewide outdoor fun weekend will take hold on a grander scale, and they’re already planning another one in September.
This first outdoor weekend covers a huge geography, from Grand Lake Stream to Caribou and Caratunk; and from Jackman to Acadia. And there is a great diversity of organizations, all listed at www.greatmaineoutdoor weekend.org.
“There are a lot of goals and reasons to do this. One of the big (reasons) is an outreach effort to get people to discover Maine’s conservation lands and land trusts,” Wentzell said.
Next time, more outreach will be done to schools and youth groups to make sure hundreds get involved.
The next Great Maine Outdoor Weekend should be bigger, but the first should show promise, Wentzell said.
“I think there is a really good chance. This came together relatively quickly, but it’s really gotten a lot of momentum,” Wentzell said.
Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:
dfleming@pressherald.com
Twitter: Flemingpph
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