The town of Cranberry Isles is celebrating its 180th anniversary this year and postmasters Joy Sprague and Eileen Richards are putting their mark on the town-literally. The Great Cranberry and Islesford post offices are holding a design competition for a Cranberries-inspired pictorial postmark. “We thought this would be a great way to bring attention to the post offices,” explains Great Cranberry postmaster Richards.
The postmasters invited the public to submit a design, which must meet United States Postal service criteria, into the competition. Given the limitations of the medium, designs must be simple black and white with strong, clean lines. Local judges will select a winner to be produced for both the Great Cranberry and Islesford zip codes and the winning design will then be sent to the statewide office for approval and manufacture. The winning postmark will be then be kept “under lock and key,” says Richards, until it is made available at each island’s Harvest Dinner on October 9th. There the postmasters will be happy to cancel stamped mail upon request. They will also offer USPS postcards and envelopes for purchase onsite should attendees forget to bring their own.
This is a limited-time only opportunity, however. “We can’t use it to cancel all the time,” says Richards. “We can only do it at the event or by request for 30 days following October 9th.” After that the stamp must be defaced and put out of commission. Both post offices intend to donate their respective stamp to their island’s historical society.
A pictorial postmark is a specially created postmark stamp with a unique design prepared by the host post office. Offered free of charge by the postal service, the special postmarks are appealing both to local history enthusiasts and a subset of stamp collectors. There have been other pictorial postmarks done in the region, including one for Sullivan Daze in 1993.
Currently, there are no other town plans to celebrate the 180th anniversary, but Sprague and Richards have found the town to be supportive. The Islesford School is interested in using the anniversary and postmark as a way to launch into their curriculum on island history and Sprague will be sharing the anniversary plans with the selectmen. “We just wanted to do something to bring all the islands together and bring our history together,” says Sprague. Of course, the competition will also help boost interest in the post offices. “It’s exciting,” says Richards. “We always want to make sure that we stay in the public eye.”