05/12/2008
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Morning Sentinel staff photofrom the Kennebec Journal
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from the Morning Sentinel
A Buy a Brick plan is in the works to turn the building blocks into keepsakes for $10 each, or $25 for an engraved one to support a proposed whitewater park called Run of River.
The fundraising campaign will begin at a 7:30 a.m. May 16 breakfast at the American Legion hall on Waterville Road, according to planners who stood in the midst of a one-acre sea of bricks Thursday morning.
"The theme is to buy a piece of history to support the future," said Karen Hart, a spokesman for the Run of River Committee that wants to build the whitewater park in the Kennebec River gorge that runs through the downtown.
It is hoped that graduates of the school -- a high school until 1970 -- as well as people interested in the town's history, will take advantage of the opportunity, according Gregory Dore, who devised the plan for the water park five years ago.
All that is left of the school -- built in 1929 -- is a pile of bricks and rubble from the abandoned school that was razed after the roof collapsed from heavy snow Feb. 17. Plans by developer Joe Kruse to retrofit the school as a hotel had to be scrapped after he found no way to salvage the building.
However, good often evolves from bad, Kruse and Dore pointed out Thursday, as they stood surrounded by mountains of bricks at the site of the former school that overlooks the downtown. With them was Hart and Andrew Russakoff, who has offered free engraving to show his support for the fundraising effort.
The two-story school was built to withstand the test of time, Kruse said, pointing to pieces of brick wall three layers deep that made for tough going when he had to tear it down.
"It's like eating an elephant one bite at a time," Kruse said.
Kruse said he approached Dore with his plan because of his interest in the Run of River plan.
It was, in fact, the initial reason he and his family became interested in building the hotel there in the first place.
They saw the white water park as a bright light in Skowhegan's future.
"It's very dear to my heart. It is a very important project for the town; it is key," said Kruse, who also is working with his architect to provide a rendering of the project to help with the fundraising plan.
Russakoff, an owner of Russakoff Jewelers, a landmark in Skowhegan since 1907, said he, too, was donating the plaques because of his belief in the Run of River project.
"We want to be part of the project," Russakoff said.
Dore said a plan already has been designed to have workers, including five or six inmates from the Somerset County Jail, spend a week at the site to collect bricks, clean them and put them on pallets to start the project off.
Dore estimates between 200 to 300 bricks can be cleaned each day, preparing as many as 1,000 bricks for sale by the end of that week.
Retrieval will continue if interest continues.
The bricks initially will go on sale at the Blueberry Cupboard gift shop downtown, Dore said.
"They are really a piece of Skowhegan history," Dore said.
Darla L. Pickett -- 474-9534, Ext. 341
dpickett@centralmaine.com
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