MADAWASKA – It took more than six months, but the Madawaska Elementary School launched a full week of activities Friday to celebrate its designation last May as one of 264 schools nationwide to be named Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education.

While the award was announced May 23, Principal Mary Lunney actually received the award and banner in ceremonies on Oct. 24, just six weeks ago, in Washington, D.C.

It all started with sirens, a band and a motorcade just before 1 p.m. Friday that traveled from the St. David Catholic Church along Route 1 to the business district. All 354 pupils and the staff of 53 adults, dressed in blue and carrying blue streamers, took part in the foot parade from the Rite Aid drugstore, down Main Street and up 11th Avenue to Madawaska’s Bicentennial Park.

After a short bus ride back to their school a mile up the street, the pupils and staff tied a gigantic blue ribbon around the entire school building.

The first day of their eight-day celebration was expected to end with a spaghetti supper at the school, a math-science night at the school and a glowing, 10-minute-long blue fireworks display in the evening.

“The weather held up for us, although it would have been nicer to have the temperatures of last weekend,” Lunney said Friday. “It took all of this time since school started this fall to plan this celebration.

“We wanted to do this right, and it involves a lot of people doing many things,” she said of the time lag between the announcement last May and this week’s celebration. “Some of the other schools across the country are holding their celebrations in January.”

Last year was the first year the school was eligible to be selected for the award. One of the prerequisites is that the school must be in operation for five years. The Madawaska Elementary School, a replacement for two elementary schools, each more than 50 years old, opened in 1995.

It is the second St. John Valley School in two years to attain the national award of excellence in education. The Dr. Levesque Elementary School in Frenchville received it in 1999, the only other school in northern Maine to have received the designation.

The award represents excellence in education, strong leadership, clear vision, a sense of mission and high quality of instruction. The road to the award is a yearlong process that includes a self-assessment overseen by the Maine Department of Education, review by federal officials and a two-day site visit by an out-of-state educator.

Business, industry and municipal agencies joined in the celebration. The town installed blue ribbons on streetlight poles, some businesses had blue hangings in store windows, along with congratulatory messages, and still others participated in the parade.

Blue is a special color in Madawaska. It is the school color of Madawaska High School, and the color is worn by all athletic teams when they compete throughout the state.

On Monday, Dec. 3, the school will unveil its Blue Ribbon school map, which shows the location of the other 263 schools that received the award, and mementos received from those schools will be displayed.

Pupils from Madawaska wrote to the other schools, enclosed a memento from Madawaska, and asked for a memento in return.

An art display will open at the school at 10:30 a.m. Monday. Rolls of paper on display will bear a blue handprint from each pupil in the school. During the day, pupils also will participate in an essay contest.

On Tuesday, Dec. 4, the school will open its Blue Ribbon art gallery. The display, called “Looking through Blue-Colored Glasses,” will feature artwork from pupils in the school.

A blue-theme brunch will follow in the cafeteria, including a menu of blueberry pancakes, blue scrambled eggs and other blue dishes.

At 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, the pupils will be joined by pupils from the Dr. Levesque Elementary School.

On Wednesday, Dec. 5, a Parade of the States will feature an afternoon of games involving geography and other educational aspects.

On Thursday, Dec. 6, the school will announce the winners of the school essay contest, and a blue concert and play will be performed at 6:30 p.m.

The closing day of the celebration, Friday, Dec. 7, will start with an 8:45 a.m. repeat of Thursday night’s concert and play. A Blue Day pep rally, sponsored by the Madawaska Elementary School Parent Teachers Association, also will be held.

Maine’s commissioner of education, J. Duke Albanese, will visit the school Friday afternoon.