Corinna to celebrate ‘Old Home Days’

CORINNA – Since Corinna was first declared a Superfund site a half-dozen years ago, the town has consistently shown a can-do spirit and an unbeatable “glass-is-half-full” attitude.

The town’s entire downtown was removed – every building and tons of soil – the Sebasticook River was moved, Route 7 was rerouted and the town lost its largest employer with the closure of Eastland Woolen Mill, the business responsible for the massive contamination of soil and water.

Amid of all that, the people of Corinna rallied and rather than let it destroy their community spirit, they are getting ready to celebrate a new beginning.

“Old Home Days” are set around the weekend of July 1, four days of events and pageantry aimed at letting the rest of Maine see what a heart this town has.

“We have so much to celebrate,” Kay Gray, Corinna’s Economic Development Committee chairwoman, said Wednesday. “Our town looks better than it ever did before.”

Not only has the removal of the looming mill, the construction of a senior citizen complex on a hill overlooking the former downtown and extensive landscaping brought an attractiveness previously missing to Corinna, it also is now luring new families.

In one of the town’s oldest buildings, a mercantile built in 1860, Cheryl Osborne is operating an antiques shop called Traditions. She has just sold her home in St. Albans and is preparing to move her family to Corinna.

“This is going to be the place to be,” Osborne said Wednesday. “This town is ripe for exciting development. Even here, we have a waiting list of dealers.”

Gray said that Osborne is just the type of resident that Corinna has been hoping to attract: young, bright, ready to raise a family in town and willing to become productive members of the community.

Creating Old Home Days is the first step in letting people know that Corinna is open for business, she said.

“This is exactly the type of community families want to live in,” Gray said. “We are close-knit. We have an excellent school. It is a traditional town founded on traditional values.”

Old Home Days will begin Thursday, June 29, and will run through Sunday, July 2.

Events will include: a parade, craft fair, kayak race, daily concerts and jam sessions, a blood drive, card parties and board games at the senior center, an adult dance at the fire station, all day basketball tournaments, beano at the American Legion, an agricultural fair and petting area and special public breakfasts and dinners.

“Now that the Superfund project is nearing completion, we were looking at a way for people to walk around and say hi to each other,” Gray said. “As our retail builds us, we need the social connection.”

Gray said that the amount of talent and spirit in Corinna is hidden.

“We need to celebrate ourselves,” she said. “We need to show the world what we can do and how well we can do it.”

Gray said that as the date for the celebration draws near, a complete schedule of events, times and places will be available.

Anyone seeking information about any of the Old Home Days events, particularly those wanting to participate in the music jam, the craft fair or the parade, should call Michelle at the Corinna town office at 278-4183.