News Notes: September 29, 2022

Members of the Southern Maine Sno-Goers snowmobile club worked hard last Sunday on the Springvale Farm Trail. Jim Roux, Stephen Givens, Daniel Thayer, and Chris Letourneau cleared a wet section of the trail that had become very over grown and where groomers have gotten stuck in the past. The group has more work planned for the trail, including installing landscape fabric and topping off stump grindings, before their winter season begins.

Do you have a question you would like to ask the candidates for City Council, School Committee or State Legislature? There’s still time to submit your question suggestions for Candidates Night on October 12. Email them to Shawn Sullivan at ssullivan@seacoastonline.com.

Business News

VIP Tires & Service has opened its new location in the former Bonanza Steak House Restaurant located at 1285 Main St. They have a brand-new showroom, customer waiting area, employee lounge, employee locker room, three new bathrooms, a manager’s office and interior storage for over 2,000 tires. The new location, which has 9,750 square feet, is diagonally across from the old VIP location, which only had 2,320 square feet. This doubles the number of bays for vehicles with eight newly constructed service bays. 

Sanford-based VALT Enterprizes, Inc. is building a $4.5 million aerospace research center at the Presque Isle International Airport. The center will construct hypersonic rockets used for space exploration, which will be tested at remote locations in the north woods. The new facility is being funded through a grant from the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development. Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring.

Community Events

The Sanford Alumni Association is seeking craft vendors and tree sponsors for its 4^th Annual Spree of Trees, which will take place at Veterans Memorial Gym December 1-4. Their goal is to have 100 trees to raffle off this year and they need your help! Tree sponsors provide the tree and decorations, and come up with a creative theme. Retail value of the tree must be provided. Craft vendors can rent space for an 8-foot table for $100. For more information, contact Theresa Salls at gsalls@comcast.net or 207-651-4969.

The American Legion TW Cole Post #19  at 656 Main St. is hosting a Classic Car Show on October 16 to raise funds for an elevator to help disabled veterans take part in Post activities. There will be raffles, music and more. The registration fee for show vehicles is $25 – cars, trucks and bikes welcome.

Who loved the Friends of Downtown’s inaugural Selfies with Sanford Scarecrows event last year? Over 40 participating businesses and organizations put up Scarecrows and the Friends are hoping for even more this year! If your business or organization wants to participate – sign up via this link https://forms.gle/QfYEoEjhSQtH7TfE6 by October 15. Scarecrows should be up October 21-31! A scarecrow map will be shared with the community, there will be a people’s choice award, judged awards, and lots of social media marketing of everyone’s scarecrows!

Kid Stuff

Engineering Mania is an 8-week program by Mad Science for kids in grades K-4. Classes will be held in the multipurpose room over the Veterans Memorial Gym on Wednesday afternoons beginning October 12. The cost is $124 for Sanford residents. Register here: https://sanfordme.myrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=29760#145633.

The Sanford-Springvale YMCA has rescheduled its next Safe Sitter class to October 28. There are still a few openings. Safe Sitter provides life and safety skills, and child care training to students in grades 6-8. The cost is $55 and is open to non-members. Call 207-324-4942 to sign up.

Drop-in basketball for youth in grades 7-12 will start October 18 and run until April 11, on Tuesday nights from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Gym. No need to register, just show up. The cost is $2 per night, no coins please, pay the gym supervisor.

Wellness

Southern Maine Health Care is offering free mammogram appointments for uninsured people age 40+, without active breast problems. They will be held in Sanford on October 27. For more information, or to schedule an appointment, call 207-283-7824.

Looking for the Moderna bivalent booster? The York County Vaccination Center had a very special guest, Dr. Nirav Shah, Director of Maine CDC, stop by to receive his! The center at 1364 Main St. is open Tuesdays and Thursdays 1-6pm and Saturdays 10-3:30pm and offers both the new Moderna and Pfizer bivalent boosters, primary series vaccines, children’s doses and boosters, Novavax, and J&J for eligible individuals. York County EMA is also offering monkeypox vaccinations a few doors down at Suite 7 in the same plaza for eligible individuals.

Crime Watch

Thomas McGinn of Sanford pleaded guilty to arson in court this week, in the case of a May 2021 blaze at 38 Spruce St., where he was living. No one was hurt in the fire, but the building was extensively damaged and several tenants were displaced. He faces between 5 and 20 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.

McDougal Orchards is offering a $200 cash reward for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for throwing their pump into the pond. A police report has been filed.

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