Fort Kent World Cup Biathlon

I'm amazed and impressed that the folks from the Maine Winter Sports Center
could pull off a major event in Fort Kent and get 5,000 spectators there. As
others have noted, Fort Kent is located at the end of the world.

My only experience with Fort Kent is on a bicycle trip I did across the state
of Maine a couple of years ago. This was the brainstorm of my friend Roger,
who is from Maine, but whom I met while skiing on the Catamount Trail in
Vermont. Roger is intent on skiing the entire length of Vermont (I think he's
got over 2/3 of it now), and, likewise, came up with the idea of bicycling
across the state of Maine. Fort Kent figured prominently in this scheme, as it
is the starting point for U.S. route 1, the somewhat-fabled, eclectic road that
meanders excruciatingly along the eastern seaboard of the United States until
it eventually drops dead in Key West, Florida. But Fort Kent is a long, long
way from Key West. If you have ever been to Key West, you could not help but
notice the endpoint of Route 1, because there is a fairly conspicuous road sign
marking "Mile 0". Moreover, as you drive through the Florida Keys on Route 1,
locally known as the Overseas Highway, the only through route, the mile markers
descend through the double digits and are ubiquitous as navigational aids on
billboards. Lest Maine be confused with Florida, however, its 525-or-so miles
of Route 1 (oddly, about the same distance as Florida's) have neither
billboards (as Vermont goes, so goes Maine, apparently) nor mile markers
(vindicating my decision to weigh down my bicycle with a GPS receiver and a
Palm Pilot equipped with compulsively pre-prepared navigational data). So Fort
Kent has no mile marker or, for that matter, any sign indicating where Route 1
starts or ends. (As you drive on U.S. 1 north, at some point you just stop
seeing signs for U.S. 1 and start seeing signs for state route 161.)

I can't imagine 5,000 spectators coming to Fort Kent, more than doubling the
resident population, unless the overwhelming majority were "locals", but, even
then. Where would you put 5,000 people in Fort Kent? There really isn't a lot
there, other than the state university (UMFK, which, I am assured, is not
pronounced phonetically) and some kind of processing center for MBNA credit
cards. I'm glad to hear that they had food service at UMFK; otherwise, it
would have been a long wait at McDonald's (during which you could practice
ordering in French). The definitive, encyclopedic tourist reference "Maine: An
Explorer's Guide" (10th edition, 2001) lists three restaurants (not including
McDonald's) for Fort Kent, out of eighteen for all of the County ("The County"
is the typically understated way that Maineiacs refer to 74,000-population
Aroostook County). Unless the organizers arranged makeshift accommodations at
the university, many guests would probably need to stay in the Caribou-Presque
Isle metroplex, some 50 miles away.

When and if you travel to Fort Kent, it's worth a little detouring to visit
some local attractions, such as the museum at the New Sweden Historical Society
(which, unfortunately, is not open in the winter). Even more unfortunately, by
the way, the town of New Sweden, population 621, is more recently known for a
notorious coffee poisoning incident last year at the Lutheran Church (er, make
that: population 619?). On a more pleasant, and year-round, sightseeing note,
the County is home to what is claimed to be the largest scale model of the
solar system in the world. (See http://www.umpi.maine.edu/info/nmms/solar/ for
the official Web site and
http://www.picturecd.com/system/logi...er&album=12892 for my
photos.) The solar system is displayed along a 40-mile stretch of U.S. 1 from
Presque Isle to Houlton. Except for Pluto, which is a 1-inch wooden ball
mounted on a wall inside the tourist office in Houlton (near the end of
Interstate 95), and the Sun, which is represented by an arc extending through
three floors of the science building at the University of Maine at Presque Isle
(which is, by the way, pronounced phonetically, rhyming with "bumpy"), the
planets are all visible from the road. Jupiter was impressive to see in the
summer and some day I'd love to see it covered in snow. The solar system
project, like the Maine Winter Sports Center, illustrates what can be
accomplished with a lot of community volunteer effort.

Lew Lasher
Cambridge, Massachusetts and Stowe, Vermont

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 11:40:32 GMT, Lew Lasher
wrote:

Where would you put 5,000 people in Fort Kent? There really
isn't a lot
there, other than the state university (UMFK, which, I am assured, is not
pronounced phonetically) and some kind of processing center for MBNA
credit
cards.

Though I didn't make it up there in the end, I spoke to someone from the
FK biathlon spectator accommodation office on Weds. before the weekend &
she referred me to the "Christian Life Center" which had dorm beds and 3
meals for $40 / night. She also said we'd be sharing the dorm with three
of the European teams...could have been interesting.

I'm glad to hear that they had food service at UMFK; otherwise,
it
would have been a long wait at McDonald's (during which you could
practice
ordering in French).

(Can't help thinking of _Pulp Fiction_...)

In other Maine ski news, the sale at LL Bean's Freeport store is down to
60% off. Fischer SCS for under $100.
Derick