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The Maine Bound Adventure Center at the University of Maine will celebrate the one-year anniversary of its new home Friday.
The move last year allowed Maine Bound to move from its previous location, the basement of Memorial Union, to the renovated barn across from the Maine Center for the Arts. The move allowed Maine Bound to expand on the outdoor recreation program, allowing it to feature more activities, including its centerpiece, a 32-foot tall climbing wall.
Coca-Cola provided $350,000 to make the move possible. The total cost of the renovation was $700,000.
“It’s a celebration of the facility and it’s a chance for our staff and the UMaine community as a whole to show off an exceptional facility and a program,” Paul Stern, UMaine Outdoor Program manager, said. “Size is always good, but it’s the facility to meet everyone’s needs.”
As part of Maine Bound’s first anniversary of its move, everyone on campus will be allowed to climb for free, saving UMaine students $3 and the public $10, the usual fees. Refreshments will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Ticket prices will be $1 for students and $3 for all others at the door.
The Sawtooth Film Festival will be held at 101 Neville Hall at 7 p.m. The festival showcases footage from some of the most extreme sports of the year. This year’s festival will include clips from kayaking, mountain biking, snowboarding, skiing and unicycling.
The center continues to rent out items including canoes, kayaks and backpacking gear. Mountain bikes were recently added and now Maine Bound, with its additional space, can offer indoor educational programs that range from fly-fishing and trip preparation that continue year-round.
“We’re like the porthole, and you walk through into this cave and you see all these really fascinating new pieces to discover, and they say things like, ‘I had no clue I could do this,’” Stern said. “The goal is to place as many people in an outdoor recreation environment as possible and when they realize that, they get hooked on Maine Bound.”
Maine Bound offers more than 200 programs and trips a year. Students recently returned from trips that included climbing in California and paddling in North Carolina. Maine Bound provides local trips nearly every weekend, including canoeing and day-time hikes, which are open to students, faculty, staff and members of the community.
Bangor Daily News