Spruce Moose Photo Winner

A former Millinocket woman, Gail Nicholson, now of Patten, is the winner of the “Spruce Moose” wild life photograph raffled off by the Friends of Millinocket Memorial Library as part of the Friends’ on-going fund raising efforts.

The framed  20” x 27” wild life photograph was donated by Mark Picard of Millinocket, a well known wild life photographer.

The drawing was held at Millinocket Memorial Library during an open house held on St. Patrick’s Day, an open house that drew a steady stream of visitors who browsed the book shelves and enjoyed the St. Patrick Day themed refreshments. Some even made small donations to the Friends’ fund raising efforts.

The next Friends’ raffle will offer as its prize a hand crafted jewelry box made from virgin timber lost during the height of the logging gold rush of the 1800s, timber that lay submerged in water for more than 100 years. This resulted in timber with unique hues and patina. The date of the drawing is to be announced.

The box was hand crafted by Robert Pelletier of Millinocket from wood donated by West Branch Heritage Timber, the firm that has salvage rights to retrieve this wood. Wood working hobbyist Pelletier, a former superintendent of schools in Millinocket, spent eight hours in carefully fashioning the attractive jewelry box. He has made similar donations to the Friends in the past.

Wood working is a hobby Pelletier enjoys, he says, and confides that he “…gives away all he makes.” The Friends members are working on a number of other fund raising efforts so that the library may continue to be an important part of the community and the area.

On the very same day as the open house, volunteers from the Friends organization were busily painting the Children’s Room to give it a fresh new look.