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The first of the expected 100 ten-foot tall lighthouses for Hannaford’s Lighthouses on Parade arrived in Portland, Maine on Thursday, Sept. 26.
Led by a cherry red Hummer, a flat-bed truck loaded with lighthouses surprised motorists and pedestrians along its initial route to Hannaford’s corporate offices in Scarborough, Maine where they were viewed by nearly 200 Hannaford employees who took break in their morning work to gather in the parking lot.
They were not alone. Three TV stations and numerous other media showed up to witness the delivery of the first lighthouses that will eventually be painted and auctioned off for charity.
The project now begins with local companies, organizations, and individuals sponsoring unpainted lighthouses. Then, Maine artists design them to create true works of art. Embellished lighthouses will then be displayed throughout Portland and southern Maine for community enjoyment. There will be maps available so the public can drive to and locate each location where a lighthouse will be displayed. At the end of the project, the lighthouses will be auctioned off to benefit local charities.
The program was developed by Out Front Productions a New York based company which has developed similar programs, but never before using lighthouses. “We wanted to bring a program to Maine that would be larger than life and at the same time support local charities,” said Howie Jacobson, managing partner of Out Front Productions. “Preserving the local lighthouse heritage through a project like this helps promote community-wide charitable giving. The sense of community spirit will be unlike anything ever seen in southern Maine”.
The primary sponsor behind the project is Hannaford, a Scarborough, Maine based business which is the areas largest employer operating 116 supermarkets and food and drug combination stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Massachusetts and they employee approximately 23,000 associates.
Other cities across the nation have had similar programs such as Chicago’s cows with “Suite Home Chicago’, Cincinnati with “Big Pig Gig” and Rochester, NY with Horses on Parade.”
One of the lighthouses is being purchased by Lighthouse Depot and will eventually be displayed at The World’s Largest Lighthouse Gift Store in Wells, Maine. Another one will be a joint project of the American Lighthouse Foundation and Shipyard Brewing Co. Shipyard Brewing is a corporate sponsor of the American Lighthouse Foundation and will use one of the lighthouses to not only promote its products but the efforts of the American Lighthouse Foundation in saving our nations lighthouses and their history.
This story appeared in the November 2002 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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