CONTACT:
Shelly Angers, Northern Forest Center, 603-229-0679 ext 109; email:

From June 7-9, a new celebration of the Northern Forest is coming to Greenville.

Northern Forest Days are a multi-day, multi-event program being held in communities across the Northern Forest region of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Each local event is coordinated jointly by the Northern Forest Center and community partners to ensure that the celebration reflects local needs, interests and opportunities.

In Greenville, partners include the Greenville School Department, Moosehead Historical Society, Moosehead Lake Region Chamber of Commerce, Natural Resource Education Center and the Town of Greenville.

“It’s very exciting that Greenville was chosen to be part of the first year of Northern Forest Days celebrations,” said Bill Fling, a teacher at Greenville School who helped organize the local event. “Working on this project has shown, once again, that exciting things happen when Greenville’s schools, townspeople, businesses and other organizations come together.”

Greenville’s Northern Forest Days will feel like a street festival, with exhibits, traditional craft demonstrations, music and booths set up by local merchants, organizations and artisans. Visitors are invited to stop by the Greenville School from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday to join in and celebrate our region.

Northern Forest Days’ biggest attraction is Ways of the Woods, the Northern Forest Center’s mobile museum about the changing relationships between people and the land. This “museum on wheels” elicits powerful, emotional responses from attendees as they explore both the history of the region and their personal connections to it. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ways of the Woods combines interactive displays, artifacts that illustrate the region’s history in action, and interviews with people who live, work and play in the Northern Forest.

“Last year’s Ways of the Woods tour confirmed that people have deep connections to the Northern Forest,” said Mike Wilson, senior program director at the Northern Forest Center. “Northern Forest Days creates new opportunities to bring people together to share their hopes for the region’s future.”

The Maine Forest Service, Moosehead Historical Society, Moosehead Maritime Museum, Nickerson School Library and Shaw Public Library have been invited to set up display tables at the Saturday event.

Local traditional artisans have also been invited to demonstrate their work that day, including Beyond the Bend’s Betsy Rockwell (twig sculptures), Joe Bolf (woodcarving) and Janice Kimball (handmade ash baskets).

Students from area schools will tour Ways of the Woods during school hours on Thursday and Friday.

Thursday from 7-9 p.m. there will be an exploration of the Northern Forest region’s past, present and future held at the Moosehead Historical Society’s Community House. Wilson will begin with the presentation “A Hopeful Future for the Northern Forest,” followed by a detailed discussion of the region’s economic future, which is currently being examined by the Center through its Sustainable Economy Initiative (SEI), a program operated in partnership with the North Country Council (NH) and is funded by the federal Economic Development Administration and private contributions. Fiddler Patrick Ross will then perform traditional Northern Forest music later in the evening. There will also be light refreshments.

“We’re very excited to work with communities across the Northern Forest to hear their perspectives on the challenges they face and the opportunities they see for the future,” said Joe Short, SEI program director. “This input—which will come from people across the Northern Forest representing a variety of perspectives on community and economic issues—will impact SEI’s work to create a long-term strategy for the region’s economic future.”

Specific details about Greenville’s Northern Forest Days are available at www.northernforest.org, in the calendar sections of local newspapers and by calling Amy Scott at (207) 824-8263.

Northern Forest Days celebrations have already taken place in Gorham/Berlin and Colebrook, NH; Morrisville, Vermont; Old Forge and Watertown, New York and Farmington, Maine. The final 2007 celebration will be in Ft. Kent, Maine from June 13-16.

Ways of the Woods will begin its 2007 “Fairs and Festival” tour across the Northern Forest region. A complete schedule is available at www.northernforest.org. 

The Northern Forest Center, a nonprofit organization, mobilizes people to build healthy communities, economies and ecosystems by working together across the Northern Forest region. Learn more about the Northern Forest and the Northern Forest Center at www.northernforest.org.

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NOTE TO MEDIA: Photos of the Northern Forest Center’s Ways of the Woods exhibit are available for publication. Please contact Shelly Angers, Marketing/PR Coordinator, at 603-229-0679, ext. 109,