TOWN OF DEXTER
TOWN OF DEXTER
The Heart of Maine
INCORPORATED IN 1816
Dexter Kiwanis Club
Dexter Sunrise Kiwanis
Kiwanis is an organization of community minded men and women who want to improve the lives of children in their area. The club holds fundraisers throughout the year in order to sponsor programs to benefit kids. The bike rodeo held in May and Hooked on Fishing, a program to teach children how to fish, are two events supported by Dexter Sunrise Kiwanis. If you would like to learn more about the club or if you would like an application please contact president Marcy King at 270-1611. Kiwanis meets every Friday morning at 6:45 AM at the Universalist Church on Hall Street. Dexter Sunrise Kiwanis also operates a thrift shop at 74 Grove Street in Dexter. The shop is open Monday – Saturday from 10AM to 3PM. The phone number is 717-6153. The shop offers previously used clothing and household goods at a reasonable price.
CRUISE-IN BEGINNINGS
In the late summer of 2014 the Kiwanis Club of Dexter Sunrise began preparation for its annual fruit sale. The sale had been held every fall for many years and it was one of the major fund raisers for the club. When the packet from the grove arrived it included a price sheet with a substantial increase in the cost of the fruit. It was decided that the club could not pass along the increase to its long-time supporters. An alternative source of revenue would have to found.
There was some brainstorming and one of our members, Bob Fritsch, suggested a cruise-in. Cruise-ins and car shows were very popular. Bob a vintage car buff and member of the local “Dusters” car club, was drafted to be the chairperson of a committee to examine what would be required to organize such an event. He asked for volunteers from the Kiwanis club to serve on the committee and many hands were raised. He also decided to go outside the club to members of the community who had experience in car shows and who owned a classic car. Len Wallace, Mark Robichaud and Buzzy Harding stepped forward to help. The first order of business was to assign areas of responsibility such as Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Communications and Sponsorships. Businesses were also contacted for sponsorships and the first to step forward was Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union which offered to sponsor an Elvis tribute singer as well as assist and design in printing a sponsorship booklet replete with photos intermixed with sponsors. The booklet would be provided free of charge to all those attending. Additionally, a date had to be set that didn’t conflict with similar events in the central state area. The First annual Kiwanis Cruise-In was held August 8, 2015, in the community’s Municipal Parking Lot. The rain date would be August 22nd. “CruiseMaine” magazine was also contacted and the Cruise-In date listed.
In order to create a data base to be used in the planning of future cruise-ins, names, addresses and vehicle information were requested of and provided by, participating car owners.
Nine “Cool Ride” awards were presented to those owners whose cars received the most votes by their peers. In addition there were three select awards presented by Kiwanis, the DJ and kids attending. These were quality acknowledgements of car owners’ contributions to what would be a memorable experience. Stainless engraved tags compliments of Metals Manufacturing Technology students and Instructor, Robert Mosca and Hardwood for plaques donated by John Guay, Instructor, Building Trades completed the handcrafted car awards.
We also acknowledged the 100 Anniversary of Kiwanis International and the 40th Anniversary of the Dusters Antique Auto club, our local car club which had a presence at the Cruise-In and will continue at future Cruise-Ins.
