Looking to our past in order to celebrate our
Sesquicentennial was a wonderful challenge. Sarah Ulman and
I (Co-Chairs of the Fort Fairfield Sesquicentennial Committee)
found lots of things to celebrate. Our theme, “It’s Time…”
made all things possible, and gave us the potential to stretch in
all directions.
Getting our diverse community involved in a variety
of activities seemed to just fall into place. We dreamed it –
it happened. That’s because Fort Fairfield is truly a unique
community.
The final Sesquicentennial project: It’s
Time…To Tell Our Stories, Fort Fairfield 18582008, is a snapshot of our town. We know the
stories shared by so many people in our community
will trigger others’ memories, and hope the readers
will concur that the community of Fort Fairfield has
offered a delightful mosaic of our town over time. We
realize it is not a highly academic work – rather one
would characterize it as a popular history – a peek into
everyday experiences of everyday people.
Those of us who worked on the many
projects “in community” over the past two years, have
discovered the joy that comes with success. Those
successes came after recognizing and conquering
challenges, and everyone is richer for it. Yes, collective success
is the richest of all, for working in community adds a dimension
not possible to obtain by any individual.
It was that success, which Town Manager, Dan Foster,
hoped to spring from, as he strove to continue to “build
community” within Fort Fairfield. At the December 4th
Community Pot Luck Dinner Celebration of: It’s Time…
To Tell Our Stories, Dan invited those present to join him in
dropping a longtime model of economic development, and to
become part of creating a new model – one which emphasizes
a community effort. He encouraged people to work “in
community,” so that they might discover what people want
collectively. He envisioned that Fort Fairfield citizens would
work together to make dreams come to life.
Dan assured the citizens, “By focusing on the
commonalities which bring us together, and addressing
differences which could separate us, we will become more aware
and appreciative of the whole community.”
He continued, “For those who have experienced
collective success…you know that the product is always richer
than you individually could have ever imagined. Collective
52 Our Communities WINTER 2010
success breeds a Passion for Community.”
Many of us present that night, have witnessed a
Passion for Community in Fort Fairfield over the years, and
Dan banke