100 Years Ago: 1924

Hiram B. Perkins, the well known barber of Spring Street, Skowhegan, got the surprise of his life a few mornings ago when on opening the kitchen door he found a skunk sitting on his doorstep. Presumably his foot hit the animal, at any rate Mr. Perkins changed right away to another suit of clothes.

50 Years Ago: 1974

Snowshoers of the Acme Club of Lewiston were greatly disappointed Sunday when they had to hold their snowshoe race on foot due to the lack of cooperation on the part of Mother Nature.

This was the second weekend in a row that the local snowshoe units in cooperation with the state union and individual snowshoe clubs were involved in a congress of snowshoers of this area.

The series of events began with a parade from the Acme Club to Lisbon Street, then to Chestnut Street and back to the Acme Club. A trophy was awarded to the Cavalier Club of Lewiston for being the most dressed up in the parade, and the Rochambeau Club of Biddeford captured the trophy for having the most in the parade.

25 Years Ago: 1999

With a flick of her wrist and pale baton, Jennifer Christiansen awoke an instrumental band that’s been in slumber for seven years.

The Telstar High School High/Middle School band is back. It performed for a crowd of 300 a week ago.

“It went fantastic,” Christiansen said, seated in her portable classroom outside the school. “I was so proud of them.”

The public performance showcased the resurrection of the band and showed off the school’s instrumental music teacher. Christiansen’s position was added last summer when SAD 44 directors voted to fund the program for the first time in seven years. The board budgeted $36,1500 to pay for it, including salary and supplies.

“It was hard to say what it was, but I do know like a lot of school systems during the late 80s and early 90s for some reason the band programs stopped,” said High School Principal Ted Davis of the band’s disappearance earlier this decade. During that time, students have had instrumental music exposure in elementary school bands, but none once they got to high school.

“When times are tough, sometimes the arts are the first to go,” he said. He doesn’t know that times are better now, but the community sentiment was certainly in place.

For Christiansen, the dormant band was part of the appeal. It gave her the opportunity to start a music program from scratch.

“This was a huge challenge for me, being able to start from ground one and work it up all the way,” she said.

The material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared although misspellings and errors may be corrected.

 

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