100 Years ago: 1918

WANTED: 50 patriotic women or girls for stitching army shirts. The government must have shirts for our boys. Good pay and steady work. Experienced and inexperienced. Apply at Bates Street Shirt Company.

50 Years Ago: 1968

John and Meredith Zerillo called the police at 2:30 p.m. and said they would be conducting a survey in the city for the next three weeks. Capt. Laurier Morin said it is a good idea for those conducting interviews or surveys of any sort to contact the police department before beginning their work.

25 Years Ago: 1993

AUBURN — What does the first Great Falls Balloon Festival mean to organizer Rachel Desgrosseilliers? Family fun, fantasy — and finance. Desgrosseilliers, president of the festival’s board of directors, says the local economy should soar right along with the hot air balloons Aug. 20-22, when the long-planned event draws thousands of people to the banks of the Androscoggin River. “Tourism is the second largest industry in the state, so why can’t Lewiston-Auburn do something to participate?” Desgrosseilliers asked rhetorically during an interview Tuesday at her Gooseberry Barn office. “Lewiston-Auburn isn’t what it used to be 10 years ago … Manufacturing is gone, and those jobs aren’t coming back We need something to boost the economy,” she observed. “If little Union (west of Camden) can do a blueberry festival and be successful, and little Yarmouth can do a clam festival and be successful, why not Lewiston and Auburn?” And why not a festival celebrating the graceful flight of gloriously rainbow-hued hot air balloons? The sight “is magic … it’s fantasy. Everyone dreams of going on a hot air balloon ride,” Desgrosseilliers enthused.

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors made at that time may be corrected.

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