A F R E E B i W ee k l y N ew s p A p er NONPROFIT TowN of U.S. POSTAGE PAID olume umber arch V 17 N 6 m 18, 2011 GORHAM, ME Gorham, Maine PERMIT NO. 10 —fouNded 1736— Town to Celebrate Sidewalk Improvement 275th Anniversary Plan Closer to Reality Bill Ambrose Sponsors and Non-Profit Vendors Needed at Gorham Founders Festival sarah Gavett-Nielsen he Town of Gorham will cel- telephone at 839-3079, or via e-mail at ebrate the 275th anniversary of [email protected]. Tits founding in an event entitled As LeVasseur states, “It’s a tough year the Gorham Founder’s Festival. The for raising money and every little bit event, which will begin on the evening counts.” of Friday, May 27, and conclude on There will also be vendors at the Monday, May 30, will take place on event including the Gorham Football the Chick Property near Narragansett and Baseball Boosters, and other non- Engineer les Berry reviews the School. Dan LeVasseur, treasurer of the profit organizations. Any non-profit plans for the sidewalk improve- Festival, estimates the event will have vendors wishing to contribute to the ment project, where he brick a large turnout. Residents and visitors Founder’s Festival should contact Vice pavers along the side of Amato’s can look forward to carnival rides, Chair of the festival, Darryl Wright, via will be replaced. courtesy of D&L Amusements, a head- e-mail at vendors@gorhamfoundersfes- line performance on Saturday night by tival.com. Wright will act as the point Photo credit Bill Ambrose the band Motor Booty Affair, and the person throughout the duration of the he plan to improve the appear- Development Block Grant to renovate Memorial Day parade. The opening cer- festival and will coordinate all vendors ance of the center of Gorham the sidewalks and curbs in the cen- emonies will feature a speaker—Matt and amusements. Wright has experi- Village is a step closer to fruition ter of Gorham Village. The council Zidle, a weather reporter for WMTW. ence coordinating festivals, having T with the development of documents appropriated $51,150 for the match- Sponsors are needed in order to coordinated Westbrook Days for the needed to put the project out to bid. ing amount for the grant, and an addi- make the festival a success. Key spon- past few years. He is a Gorham resi- Encompassing the reconstruction of tional $91,140 for improvements to sors will be featured in all publications dent, and his expertise will be invalu- the sidewalks, curbs, and crosswalks, the southwest corner of the intersec- generated about the event. Anyone able as he works to provide Gorham the project came about as a result of tion, which would not be covered by who would like to help sponsor the with a successful event. festival should contact LeVasseur by a Community Block Grant that the the grant. Town received in 2010. Les Berry of the local engineering At present, the concrete brick side- firm BH2M and Bob Burns, Gorham’s walks at the intersection have deterio- public works director, worked togeth- Gorham Times 275th Commemorative Issue rated, the curbs are broken down or er to determine the scope of the proj- Be a part of history. in conjunction with the Gorham Founder’s Festival, The Gorham Times missing, and the concrete crosswalks ect within the funds available. In total, are bumpy and uneven. As a result of 862 feet of poured concrete sidewalks is planning a commemorative issue to celebrate Gorham’s 275th anniversary. We are looking these conditions, the downtown area of varying widths will be provided, for pictures, articles and information pertinent to Gorham’s history. please contact us at has a run-down appearance. along with the same quantity of gran- [email protected] if you have something to share. At the January 5, 2010 meeting, the ite curbing. Curb cuts will bring the Town Council authorized the Town intersection into compliance with the Manager to apply for a Community Americans with Disabilities Act. Continued on Page 9 Goodbye to Barrows’ Greenhouses sherrie Fontaine Paul and Donna or the past 50 years, Paul Allen has gone to by the Hannaford family. A daughter married Allen will soon work each day doing what he loves – grow- Roland (Cuke) Barrows, a baseball player for the stop to smell Fing flowers. Paul and his wife, Donna, own Chicago White Sox and Maine Baseball Hall of the prover- Barrows Greenhouse located on Main Street. Fame inductee. By 1905, Barrows Greenhouse bial roses, Last in line of their 100-year-old family tradition, began operations. At 44,000 square feet, it is one Allen will close the greenhouse this June as of the last of the glass greenhouse structures. even ones not they are the last members of the family avail- The greenhouse has provided wholesale cut- grown by their able to run the business. crops to local florist shops, contract sales to the family busi- It can be unusual to find a business retaining City of Portland and the Turnpike Authority of ness, Barrows its original name, much less one with continued Maine and its cash crops of poinsettias, gera- Greenhouse. operations throughout its long history in the niums and Easter lilies are well known. Their same location. The business began in the late 1890’s as a vegetable seedling enterprise owned Continued on Page 12 Photo credit Martha T. Harris Gorham Sightings Do you know where this photo insidetheTimes was taken? Become part of the new visual trivia 18 Blotter 5 Living discussion on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ 17 Calendar 4 Municipal GorhamTimes). The location of the sighting from the 18 Classified 6 school 3/4 issue was correctly identified as the auditorium 14 Community 10 sports seats in the performing Arts Center (GpAC) at Gorham High school. log on to Facebook to enter your best Photo credit Martha T. Harris guess for this picture. www.gorhamtimes.com 2 | Gorham Times | March 18, 2011 letters to theEditor around town letters to the editor must be signed with a first and last name, typed or e-mailed and include a phone number. submissions should be less than 300 words. letters are solely the opinion of the writer and not that of the Gorham Times. They are published at the discretion of the Gorham Times Jon Smith of Great Falls Builders and are subject to editing. purchased the building that formerly housed Bella Donna. Dear Gorham Times, needed. State law requires the superinten- How wonderful to live in such a Fran Thurston Doucette, Director, dent to report on the need for flags supportive community. Last Friday Gorham Food Pantry each year to the School Committee, Narragansett School delivered a col- yet some rooms still lack flags. lection of goods for the pantry. The Dear Gorham Times, State law also requires teachers to children were so excited about the A story from San Francisco made promote respect for the flag among Times process of collecting. They made me national news recently. A member students. What are the odds that ­­Bringing­the News­to­All­of GorhAm proud of the way we are teaching of the Board of Supervisors there every student in a classroom has a PO Box 401, 77 South Street our young people. The week before is refusing to recite the Pledge of conscientious objection to standing Gorham, Maine 04038 a Girl Scout troop from in town did a Allegiance at the start of regular and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance? Phone and Fax: 839-8390 food drive at Hannaford and brought meetings. But Jane Kim does stand I’d say slim to none. Yet I’ve seen E-mail: [email protected] in about the same amount of goods. during the Pledge, which is more classroom after classroom continue www.gorhamtimes.com Over the last three months, we than the majority of students at in this way. Seniors, juniors, sopho- The Gorham Times is a free volunteer-run have been blessed with help from Gorham High School do. mores and freshmen for more than community newspaper distributed every other several community and private sourc- The Pledge was restored at GHS, two years. And while all students Friday to more than 100 pick-up sites es. You are all great supporters of after illegally absent American flags were advised of their constitutional throughout Gorham. our neighbors who are unable to put were replaced two years ago. Since right not to say the Pledge, I’ve also —— adequate food on their tables. then, students by the hundreds have seen teachers suddenly rush to com- how To reach us We also are trying to improve our remained seated and silent during the pel their students to stand and recite News [email protected] lines of communication. Our website Pledge. I have been the only person when a visitor is present. Sports [email protected] is www.gorhamfoodpantry.org. We standing and reciting the Pledge in I have asked School Committee Features [email protected] also have a Facebook page on which a room full of two dozen students members to consider ways to meet Of Interest [email protected] we keep a flow of information. We many times. the requirements of state law and Calendar item [email protected] can be found at Gorham Food Pantry I do not believe this is what the expectations of the citizens who Advertising [email protected] Friends. Gorham parents and taxpayers elected them. Now let’s talk to our or 839-8390 We at the Pantry are grateful for intended when they demanded a kids to ensure a school culture that School News [email protected] the help and honored by your trust greater respect for the American flag better reflects our community.