Barn dance planned at Littleton museum

LITTLETON – As volunteers put the finishing touches on a new barn at the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum, officials with the organization are readying for a bash that will celebrate the gallery’s newest addition.

Volunteers with the museum, which showcases the area’s agricultural heritage, are planning a dance inside the barn Saturday evening.

The museum is housed within the former Littleton Elementary School, which closed under the strain of budget cuts in 2000. The building was unoccupied until 2002, when residents voted to turn it into a museum.

Gallery artifacts, ranging from items as small as perfume bottles to as large as antique horse-drawn plows, now spread farther than the eye can see.

With its inventory growing, the interior of the building soon became too small to hold all of the museum’s wares. Several antique items had to be put in storage, and officials decided nearly two years ago to begin constructing a barn to house the additional farm equipment.

Officials surmised that it would cost about $80,000 to build the structure, and volunteers launched a fundraising campaign to finance the project.

In concert with numerous fundraisers, the museum also has benefited from several grants and donations. Last fall it received a $29,100 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development project.

A few months later, the Houlton Rotary Club donated $11,000 toward the project from its 50th annual radio and TV auction.

The dance will feature entertainment by Ted Bither and the Boys, and all proceeds will benefit the museum’s new barn.

The cost of the dance is $10 a person, $15 a couple. Participants must be 21 years old to attend. The doors open at 8 p.m.