Staff Columnist
OGUNQUIT & SANFORD -
Ogunquit and Sanford have landed a exciting opportunity to
be part of an effort that assists in the recovery of missing children. Fireball
Run, has assisted in the recovery of thirty-eight missing children since the
road rally started in 2007. Ogunquit will house the eighty participants and
additional cast and crew members on Friday, September 28. Sanford is the
location of a secret mission earlier in the day.
Karen Arel, president of the Ogunquit Chamber of Commerce,
and Suzanne McKechnie, economic development specialist for the Sanford Growth
Council, were the two main players in landing the adventure rally, called “2012
Fireball Run Northern Exposure".
“This is a great way for our regions to collaborate,”
McKechnie said. “It’s a great way to show people what our towns have to offer.”
McKechnie got a phone call from the Sanford Downtown Legacy
group, saying the show was interested in Sanford’s Pumpkin Regatta. The annual
race features 800 to 1,000 pound pumpkins, carved out, painted, and raced on No.
1 pond in Sanford. Contestants in the race are clad in outlandish costumes and
compete furiously to come in first, or at least not sink their pumpkins. The
race, part of Sanford’s Harvest Daze, was featured on the National Geographic
Channel, and drew the attention of Fireball Run. This September, the forty
teams made up of business leaders, industry celebrities and elected leaders
will test their own gourd-racing talents as one of the show’s many missions.
McKechnie called the Ogunquit Chamber and talked with Arel
about the two towns combining efforts. The teams will stay in Ogunquit, at the
Meadowmere Resort, and they will dine at Jonathan’s.
“We’re very fortunate they selected two businesses who were
able to work with Fireball Run’s strict guidelines that are set for being the
host hotel and host restaurant,” Arel said.
Part of the competition involves trading cards of the
participants. Local fans of the show are encouraged to try to collect these
trading cards as an avenue for possible future business. “If people can make it
to the dinner, there will be some great business connections to make,” she
said.
They are still looking for contestants to join the race. “If
some local business wants to be the hometown team, they can contact me,” Arel
said. “This is exciting. The country is the game board; the participants are
the pieces.”
There will be two Maine celebrity teams in the race. Timber
Tina Scheer, world champion lumberjill, and Carolann Ouelette, director of the
Maine Office of Tourism, will be raising awareness for the search for Ayla
Reynolds, of Waterville. Bill and Valerie Sowles, of Yarmouth, will be trying
to increase awareness for the search for Aydriana Tetu, of Lewiston, according
to David Hickman, executive vice-president of marketing for Fireball Run. Bill
Sowles owns Morong Brunswick and Morong Falmouth with his brother, Peter.
There are forty two-person celebrity teams. “We used to have
more teams but we’ve pared it down, restricting it to forty,” said Hickman. The
teams will begin in Independence, Ohio, and travel more than 2,000 miles in
eight days, through fourteen cities. The trip ends in Bangor. They will
complete hundreds of missions, locating items of local, historic nature or
something from pop culture. “It will be roadside, whimsy fun,” Hickman said.
The teams race to collect points for achieving a mission, and then find out
what the next mission is.
“It’s a nod to ‘The Cannonball Run’ movies with Burt
Reynolds, but also a nod to Fireball Roberts, a Nascar driver from central Florida,”
Hickman said. Fireball Run is produced at Orlando Studios in Florida. Jay
Sanchez, the show’s director, said the Fireball Run is a celebration of the
America less-travelled. “We have forty influential teams who are going to
discover your communities.” This year’s run celebrates women in professional
sports.
Sanchez said the show will pull in more than $40 million
worth of news media this year, up from $13 million their inaugural year. News
media coverage is a statistic determined by what the coverage of the event
would be worth in advertising dollars. In other words, the road rally is so
popular, good for local businesses, and benefitting a worthy cause that makes
it such an interesting, newsworthy event.
Sanchez, who said he didn’t know how to pronounce Ogunquit
when he first heard of the town, came to love the area quickly. The crew was in
town last week to announce the show at a press conference held at Perkins Cove.
They met with local authorities to hash out the myriad details for a show of this
large scale, and were whisked around town by Maine Limousine to scout possible
filming locations. (photo by Tim Gillis)
