Cabin Fever Reliever to take hiatus for one year

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For two years running, outdoor enthusiasts in the Bangor area got a weekend-long respite from the winter cold in the form of January’s “Cabin Fever Reliever.”

Run by the Penobscot Fly Fishers, in conjunction with Old Town Canoe and the Old Town-Orono YMCA, the show was a spin-off of the PFF’s popular fly-tying symposium.

This year, unfortunately, winter will seem a bit longer: The cozy little Cabin Fever Reliever won’t be held.

“We had a little different idea of the direction of the show [than[ the Old Town-Orono Y [did],” said Don Corey, a past president and current director of the Penobscot Fly Fishers.

Corey said Y officials would have been more comfortable with a one-day show instead of the two-day show that had been held the last two years.

A one-day event wasn’t a realistic option, Corey said, because Old Town Canoe staged an annual canoe sale in conjunction with the show, and many exhibitors for the Cabin Fever Reliever traveled significant distances looking forward to a two-day event.

“Old Town [Canoe] wanted to keep [the show] in the Old Town area,” Corey said. “That didn’t seem to be going to work. We looked at some alternative sites down here [around Bangor] but Old Town canoe, they’re one of the major financial funding [sources] for the show.”

Therefore, the PFF decided to take what it hopes will be a one-year hiatus from the Cabin Fever Reliever.

“We’ve had a lot of interest from [exhibitors],” Corey said. “They want to come back, they want to do it, and people want to attend. We didn’t want to half-do something this year, so we kind of made the decision that unless we could do it the way we wanted to do it, that we needed to hold off for a year.”

The way the PFF did it was a key to the show’s two-year success: Everything was free for participants.

Exhibitors didn’t pay.

Visitors didn’t, either.

And the result was a show that was attractive to outdoors enthusiasts and novices alike.

“It just kind of evolved that our base was broad enough that a family could come and there were things to do for all members,” Corey said. “We had the climbing wall, they had things going on at the pool like testing boats. We had fly-casting so that they could come in and learn how to fly cast. And there was no charge for any of that.”

Assuring that the event is free to exhibitors and visitors is important to the PFF, Corey said, and is a reason they’re looking for a bit of financial backing for a 2008 show.

Last year more than 40 exhibitors participated, with fly-tiers sharing aisle space with decoy carvers, artists and conservation organizations.

“We want this show to grow slowly and grow for the right reasons,” Corey said. “We don’t want to get big just for the sake of getting big. We want to continue to manage and put on a great show that people enjoy and like coming back to.”

It just won’t happen this year.

“The timing is just really bad, because this would have been our third and things were moving in the right direction,” Corey said. I look at this as us just treading water for a little bit, and I think we’ll have all the people come back that have exhibited in the past.”

Coming up …

On Friday I’ll head to Augusta and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine’s 12th annual Sportsman’s Congress and Saturday morning I’ll tell you more about the day’s busy agenda.

SAM bills the invitation-only event as a chance for outdoor leaders from across the state to preview and discuss key issues and projects that will dominate the coming year.

In past years, the Sportsman’s Congress has lived up to that billing, as important issues including Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife funding woes and a pending bear referendum took center stage.

One of this year’s big topics promises to be a lawsuit filed against the state by a California group that wants to stop trapping in certain areas of the state because of concern about putting endangered species at risk.

I look forward Saturday to hitting some of the high points and rehashing the day’s events for you. Stay tuned.

Greenland Point events on tap

If you’re looking for something to do on Saturday, you may want to consider heading to Princeton. The folks at the Greenland Point Center have a pair of events that sound like fun.

First, the center will present its inaugural outdoor recreation seminar, an introduction to fly-tying featuring Bob Upham and Audrey Bailey, along with Mike Tupper and Brett Vose.

That program begins at 3 p.m., and all ages are welcome. The cost is $10, which includes all equipment and materials.

After spending some time tying flies, you’ll surely be hungry … and Greenland Point Center organizers have that covered, too.

A “comfort food” public supper will be held at 5:30 p.m., featuring beef stew, chicken stew biscuits and strawberry shortcake. The cost for the meal is $7 for adults, and $4 for children under 12.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 1-800-310-8600 or 990-8214.