Between mid-February and mid-March, residents of the Cranberry Isles experienced some very warm days among the usual wintry ones. When air temperatures hit the high 40s on Feb. 16, nine people decided it was a good day for their February “dip of the month.”
Jane Grover, Lindsey Eysnogle, Cindy Thomas, Gretchen Van Dusen, Richard Ramsey, Eliza Ramsey, Ian Van Dusen, Meg Stevens and Sam Krasnow ran together into the 40-degree water at the Islesford Sand Beach. By the next day, the air temperature was dropping and the afternoon boat was canceled due to high winds. Karin and Phil Whitney, Malcolm Donald and John French came to Islesford from Great Cranberry for the Friday First Responder class. They had to spend both Friday and Saturday night on Islesford when bad weather prohibited the running of an evening boat after class. By Saturday night, the temperatures were in the single numbers and several people experienced frozen pipes.

Three Dip of the Month Club members almost broke their three-and-a-half year run when they waited until the last day of February for their monthly “swim.” On Feb. 28 the air was barely 18 degrees and the southwest wind was a steady 20 mph. Joy Sprague, Stefanie Alley and yours truly knew we had to either get in the water or get out of the club. We kept our hats on and managed to take our dips in less than a minute, successfully avoiding frostbite. Four of us have already been in for March, and the water is 5 degrees warmer than last year at this time.

Quite a few families took advantage of the school vacation to go to mainland hotels for swimming, dining and trips to the movies. Some traveled to snowier areas for skiing, and others enjoyed the quieter pace right at home. On Great Cranberry there was a Beano night at the Community Center with a red theme in honor of Valentine’s Day. Gaile Colby won a 30-pound ham from Skeldale Farm, which she donated to the March 18 community supper. At the end of February the new transfer station on Great Cranberry was up and running. Reports are that the new trash compactor is working well.

The annual meeting of the Town of Cranberry Isles was held at the Islesford Neighborhood House on March 13. The upstairs hall was full as 25 articles were discussed and decided by voters. The meeting started at 8:30 a.m. and concluded at 2:30 p.m. with a one-hour break for lunch. Denise McCormick was elected to the offices of Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, and Collector of Taxes and Excise Taxes for the ensuing year. Ted Spurling, Jr., was elected to return for a three-year term on the school committee. Three people were nominated for the open position of selectman: Hal Newell, Orville E. Blank and Aaron Gray. When the first round of ballots was counted, the votes were divided in such a way that none of the candidates had received a majority. This required a second vote by ballot, which resulted in a second lack of a majority. After two more rounds of balloting, with the same lack of a majority vote, a 10-minute recess was called so that nominees could answer questions from the community. In the fifth round of balloting, Aaron Gray was elected to serve as a selectman for the next three years. All articles for the school budget passed as written. Hugh Smallwood and Jason Pickering were each elected to three-year terms as members of the Municipal Facilities Commission. By the end of the meeting, the town had passed a total budget of $1,441,038. This is down from last year’s budget of $1,536,488.

In any given year, the Annual Report of the Town of Cranberry Isles is a wonderful piece of history. It contains the warrant for Town Meeting and it documents who we are and how we are doing as a town. The most recent report is always available at the Town Office and past copies can be found in the libraries and on most island bookshelves. In the early 1900s the Annual Report was a handy six-by-nine-inch booklet that you could stick in your back pocket. As recently as the year 2000, it was still that size and still only 35 pages long. In 2002 it was 89 pages with very small print. Selectmen wisely chose to make the 2003 report a standard 8 ½ by 11 inches, making all 104 pages easier to read.

This year there was a notable increase in the length of the Annual Report, to 138 pages, representing a year of many transitions for our town. Included with financial information are reports from the selectmen, the deputy town clerk, the facilities maintenance supervisor, the municipal facilities commission, the town constable, the health officer, two animal control officers, the shellfish warden and the shellfish committee, the emergency preparedness liaison officer, the planning board, the board of appeals, the MDI league of towns, the Acadia Disposal District, the Maine Islands Coalition, the Island Institute Fellow, the elementary school, the Ladies Aid Society, the Islesford Neighborhood House Association, the Great Cranberry library, the Islesford library, the Great Cranberry historical society, the Great Cranberry island futures group, the Cranberry Isles Realty Trust and the comprehensive plan steering committee.

If your eyes glazed over while reading the list, then please blink again. It represents the town officials, organizations and committees, most of whom are volunteers, who dedicate large amounts of time to being involved and making a difference in our town. Their unique reports to the town are of varying lengths and all worth reading. Not everyone can find the extra time to do something for the town, but it only takes minutes to appreciate and applaud those who do.

Islesford
-March 16, 2006