AVON – The Fly Rod Crosby Trail, a new proposed trail stretching 35 miles from Strong to Oquossoc and based on the life and times of Maine’s first registered guide, has a new video created by local volunteers on the internet site Youtube.
“We created the video as part of our application for funding from Pepsi’s Refresh the World Project,” said Ben Godsoe recently. Godsoe is the Maine Conservation Corps member working with the High Peaks Alliance and Sandy River Land Trust on developing the trail. Pepsi’s Refresh the World Project is a grant program by which individuals submit ideas to help refresh their community in some way. People view videos posted on the site, then vote online for the idea they like best. Last year, Pepsi gave away approximately $1,000,000 every month to fund fresh ideas across the country.
Born and raised in Phillips, Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby was Maine’s first Registered Guide. She is buried in Strong, the southern terminus of the trail. Fly Rod helped promote the Rangeley Lakes and Sandy River Railroad as a means of getting early tourists, called “sports”, into the back country to hunt and fish. She guided in the Rangeley area and even helped raise money to build Our Lady of the Lakes Chapel in Oquossoc.
The video was shot at Mt. Blue Pond in Avon, rumored to be near where Fly Rod caught her first fish, and stars local middle school teacher Paula Roy as Cornelia Crosby and two of her former students, Nathan Wilkins and Ben Godsoe as sports 1 and 2. It was shot by college students Ross Donahue and Kate Nadeau and edited by Susan Mathias, a local artist. The soundtrack, The Ballad of Fly Rod Crosby, is a bluegrass song written by the Sandy River Ramblers specifically for this video.
The High Peaks Alliance and Sandy River Land Trust want to thank all the volunteers who made the video possible. It was a lot of fun!
Generous donations from individuals and foundations help pay to build this new 35 mile long community trail. To see the video, go to www.youtube.com and search for The Ballad of Fly Rod Crosby. Trail organizers urge people not to forget to log onto Pepsi’s www.refresheverything.com to vote this April.
This is not your usual trail. This homegrown, homemade heritage trail bridges all manner of communities in Northern Franklin County. Great idea. Great work. Great music. Thank you High Peaks Alliance. You’ve got my vote.
Jo Josephson, Temple
Kudos to all involved!
Love this! Excellent music, pictures and video.
What a history lesson I will indeed share with my kids..
Best of luck with the grant.
Thank you so much.
Who posted that picture? That’s NOT Fly Rod Crosby. Not even close!