NORWAY — A local group of volunteers is hoping to establish a Christian coffeehouse called He-brews Coffeehouse to service local area residents in need of help or simply someone to talk to.
The coffeehouse will be located in the former Snocraft building at 10 Tannery St. in the downtown area and is expected to be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. initially.
“We want to help the hurting in the area,” Randy Olson said. He, along with Hope Verrill of Norway and other “Christian-minded” area residents, came up with the idea about eight months ago to provide a place where people in need of assistance and others could come and have a free cup of coffee and some conversation.
Olson said the need is there. “I absolutely think so. You go out on the street lots of people walking out there with needs,” he said.
After working out of various places, including Tim Hortons on Route 26, the downtown common and the Advent Church in Oxford, the group recently secured and are renovating the Snocraft building on a lease basis to provide a permanent home that Olson says he hopes will someday be open “24/7.”
“Our goal is to make it a sanctuary. We want to help those people who are down and need a place to go. Help the hurting in the area. Lots of couples need a place too. It’s a totally diverse population who will use it,” he said.
The coffeehouse will not provide direct counseling but will have volunteers available with resources for those in need. Beyond that, Olson said, the coffeehouse will be available to anyone who just seeks a quiet place to meet people and converse. About four times a year, Olson said they hope to draw in a larger crowd of people with live music.
“This is a work in progress,” Olson said.
“We’re really excited about this facility,” Olson said. “It’s an awesome room with lots of character.”
Abutters will be notified prior to the meeting.
For more information call Randy Olson at 207-739-0804 or Hope Verrill at 207-393-7959.
Snocraft once known worldwide
NORWAY — Remnants of the old Snocraft business can still be found in the building at 10 Tannery St., said Randy Olson, one of the founders of the Christian coffeehouse that he and others hope to open in the building.
“Seriously, we found one snowshoe buried about eight inches down in pigeon poop. It was a perfectly maintained snowshoe,” Olson said.
The attic, which has yet to be renovated, has lots of old snowshoe metal frames and weavings, he said.
Names such as Snocraft, HH Hosmer, Mellie Dunham, Nat Noble and Tubbs earned Norway the title “Snowshoe Capital of the World” for many years.
Snocraft, started in 1938, was one of the largest snowshoe producers in the world, with more than 100 employees sometimes putting out 35,000 to 50,000 snowshoes at a time for the U.S. government.
When that contract ended in the early 1940s, the company laid off most of its workforce, according to a story in the Lewiston Daily Sun.
In 1950, Garland Manufacturing Co. of Saco acquired the Snocraft Co. At the time, only one employee remained at Snocroft to repair snowshoes manufactured for troops during the first few years of World War II.
Over the course of the following 24 years, employment at Snocraft increased to 50 and the product line expanded to include wooden toboggans, snowshoes and packaged wooden ski sets for children. This division was sold in 1974, according to Garland’s website.
The snowshoes can still be found for sale and in private hands. Snocraft snowshoes are auctioned off at a number of online sites with prices ranging from $30 to $400 a pair. A pair was recently advertised at the Goodwill online store in Colorado Springs for $39.99.
A 56-inch-long vintage pair of Snocraft snowshoes was found advertised online with a description that said the pair was discovered in original packaging in a government warehouse in 1994, stored for 51 years. The description says similar shoes were used by the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division for winter training in central Wisconsin in preparation for winter combat in Europe. The pair is marked with Army serial numbers and carries the date of 1943.
“If this building could talk, can you imagine the stories?”, Olson said, noting he hopes to hang up some of the Snocraft shoes he has found in the coffeehouse.
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