One goal, among many, of the Millinocket Community Action Committee will be to make better use of Peddler’s Hill.
The proposal involves adding vendor booths to the area that are designed to allow vendors to be comfortably out of the elements and have an attractive display area for their goods. From this, a local farmer’s market can grow.
An area for the placement of the lunch cart that operates at that location can also be included. In many towns, farmer's markets are popular spots for the community to visit and socialize as well as to purchase locally grown and produced goods. There are a lot of details that would need to be worked out, but we need to start somewhere.
Off to the side, in a small log cabin similar to the information booth in Medway, public restrooms would be available. The cabin could also offer a large town map with locations of businesses. This can be accompanied by a rack for the town businesses to place brochures or menus with business information.
A bulletin board can offer space for town organizations to post information and meeting dates for their groups, town events, Katahdin Area information, park info, and an area for buildings, apartments or houses for rent, real estate for sale, vehicles for sale, misc. items for sale-things someone passing through town might not see otherwise and a central place for local residents to look for such things.
In the area that is located on the sloping side, shade trees, picnic tables, benches and rock gardens can offer visitors and locals a nice place to sit and enjoy the view of Mt. Katahdin.
The MCAC will explore ways to raise funds to achieve this goal such as fundraisers and grants. As much as possible will be done through citizen efforts and donations. This could be a great asset to the town and could also offer an opportunity for us to work together to do something positive for the town.
The committee also would like to send a survey to every home in town for those who are interested in being able to have their say about what they would like to see happen here for revitalization and for economic development. With all the controversy and fighting, I don’t believe that anyone has ever specifically asked the people of Millinocket what their thoughts and feelings are on all of these issues. I think it is well past time for them to have an opportunity to have their say. The survey we want to distribute would do that.
Councilor McLean offered to let MAGIC assist with this survey. The offer is appreciated, but we are firm on keeping this committee and its projects as a citizen’s effort. We have allowed a small group of people to plan and decide our destiny, now I think the people need to have a chance to weigh in on that too. The entire point of the survey is to specifically ask Millinocket citizens their thoughts and opinions.
One of the reasons for this committee was that several of us have tried signing up for MAGIC-led committees many times and, after leaving our names and phone numbers, we were never called for any of them. We hope to foster unity and bring some life back into the community with inclusion and citizen action.
The committee will also be looking to plan a festival or two for the town and to help with holiday celebrations. All those ideas that citizens come up with over coffee are what we are looking for.
We also hope to participate in encouraging economic development by taking action as citizens to entice new business here and seek out businesses that we see a need for in the town.
High on the list for that is a veterinary clinic. While researching, I learned that the town of Orono filled a need for a pharmacy by acquiring a list of licensed pharmacists in the state and contacting them to see if any of them would be interested in locating a pharmacy in their town. They were successful with their efforts. The same could be done by the citizens here to find an area veterinarian.
We are working on finding a location for our first meeting and hope that all interested citizens will join us.
