The purpose is to get residents to explore and enjoy what their county has to offer.

PARIS – The Oxford County League of Historical Societies is sponsoring a meeting to plan events and activities for 2005, the year of the county bicentennial.

Individuals or representatives of libraries, schools, businesses, clubs or civic organizations from throughout the county are being urged to attend. The meeting will be Saturday, April 19, at 2 p.m. at the West Paris Historical Society, Main Street, West Paris.

There are two goals: to capitalize on the bicentennial theme to publicize and coordinate activities already on the agenda and to plan new activities, which are low in cost but high in public value.

The overall purpose is to get residents out and about, to explore and enjoy what their county has to offer. In addition, the bicentennial events should give folks “from away” even more good reasons to make Oxford County a destination in 2005.

A number of ideas have already been suggested. They include:

• Creation of a bicentennial quilt with a square from each town.

• Publication of an Oxford County reader, featuring fiction, nonfiction and poetry, either about the area or written by Oxford County writers.

• An antique car, truck or tractor event – perhaps in conjunction with Oxford Plains Speedway.

• A year-long Oxford County explorer experience: A booklet would list sites such as the county’s mountains, lakes, libraries, museums, scenic views, historic sites and craft works. Participants would check off those they have visited, and awards would be given to folks who had hiked 10 trails or fished 10 lakes, for example.

• An Oxford County links event might recognize golfers who had played a round at each of the county’s five golf courses.

• Creation of a Molly Ockett trail, a self-guiding brochure/tour highlighting many of the important events and individuals of the native people who lived here long before Oxford County existed as such.

• A drive-about challenge for teams of young drivers to circumnavigate the county, checking in at designated locations in each of the 34 towns. The team that accomplished the task with the fewest miles elapsed might win a donation to their school’s activity fund.

• A middle school snowshoe event in the county in which America’s commercial snowshoe business was born.

• A series of short newspaper articles highlighting important persons and events associated with Oxford County.

• A “So You Think You Know Oxford County” competition.

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