Despite the cold, wet weather, summer is officially here and there is so much to do in the Lakes Region. There are summer festivals, blues festivals, road races, parades, fireworks and so many other activities to keep you entertained all summer. You can find all the information you will need each week here in the Lakes Region Weekly. Unlike our surrounding towns, Raymond does not host such events or even have much of an offering of clubs and restaurants, but we certainly have a community filled with incredible people. I love sharing news of extraordinary people doing some really great things, and here are a few.

Cutten wins contest

Madison Cutten, a sixth-grade student at Jordan Small Middle School and daughter of Dave and Deb Cutten, recently won third place in a statewide art contest for Clean Water Week. The contest, sponsored by the Maine Wastewater Control Association, is an annual event where middle school students are challenged to create a poster showing what clean water means to them.

Several posters from our school were submitted to the contest. Madison’s poster was chosen from more than 75 entries that were considered this year. She was awarded a cash prize at a formal presentation with Gov. John Baldacci at the State House last week. She planned to use some of the prize money to buy ice cream for her science class. Congratulations to Maddie for doing such an outstanding job!

Grade A

Keegan Brown of Raymond was named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at the University of Vermont. Brown, a 2007 graduate of Windham High School, is majoring in biomedical engineering.

Whoops, I goofed!

Last week, I excitedly shared the news that three men from Raymond completed the inaugural Pirate Triathlon, a challenging adventure that had 275 people swimming a third of a mile in Sebago Lake, pedaling 15 hilly miles throughout Casco and running 3 miles to the finish line at Point Sebago, all to raise money for Camp Sunshine. The event was a huge success and according to Mike Smith, director of special events at Camp Sunshine, it netted nearly $10,000.

Unfortunately, I goofed and failed to mention a fourth athlete from Raymond. Shep Stults also competed that day and finished his first triathlon with a smile. A long-time employee of Raymond Public Works, he took his job seriously, reviewed the course in advance and made sure potholes were filled to assure racers’ safety. Having close ties with Camp Sunshine, Shep got the idea to try this event and began training a few months ago. I loved listening to him talk about his adventure, and although he said it was difficult, I was happy to hear he would do it again.

He went on to mention having an interest in the Goofy Challenge. Apparently, Walt Disney World in Florida hosts the Goofy Challenge each January; it’s a half marathon on Saturday and then a full marathon on Sunday – an astonishing 40 miles of running in one exhausting weekend. He told me he had a timeshare on the Disney property and the event intrigued him.

Sure, I have been known to do a lot of crazy things when bit by the competitive bug. I admit to riding thousands of miles on my bike in all types of weather, climbing up steep mountains and getting up at the crack of dawn nearly every weekend to race. But running a half marathon on one day and a full marathon the next? Well, Shep, that’s just plain old … goofy!

Raymond voices in Chamber Singers

Raymond may be famous for our landlocked salmon (is that really the best we can do?) but Windham’s claim to fame is without a doubt the Windham Chamber Singers. Under the direction of Richard Nickerson, this group of amazingly talented vocalists have sung all over the world and for audiences which have included two of our presidents.

Auditions were held last week and the positions have been named. Of the 42 singers, nine are from Raymond.

Congratulation to the following Raymond students who are now members of the Chamber Singers: freshmen Olivia Latham, Marybeth Noonan and Alison Rand; sophomores Casey Hutchinson and Georgia Noonan; junior Molly Keane-Dreyer, and seniors Haley Desjardins, Jenna Eastman and Peter Sepulvada. I will keep you posted with details of their upcoming concerts.

We all screamed for ice cream

This town is incredible; announce a fundraiser, bean supper, book sale or flea market and people show up in droves. Last week, The Ice Cream Dugout in Windham presented a different kind of baseball challenge by sponsoring its first annual “Take Me Out to the Dugout” contest. This was an effort in which each of our surrounding towns were offered a 10 percent kickback on our ice cream purchases for one specific night. In addition, whichever town had the highest sales would receive an additional 10 percent of the proceeds of all four nights. Windham, Standish, Gray and Raymond were offered the challenge, and Raymond won the contest.

We either love baseball or love ice cream, but regardless, Raymond Baseball and Softball will be accepting a check for $671.50 from the Dugout and wishes to thank everyone who supported our young athletes.

Trekking in the rain

Congratulations are in order to the Stevenson family, who completed the 25th annual Trek Across Maine this weekend. This three-day, 180-mile bike trek is a fun adventure where 2,500 cyclists pedal from Sunday River to the sea to raise money for the American Lung Association.

While Brenda volunteered, Jeff and their two daughters, Megan and Liz, pedaled from one end of the state to the other.

Their adventure began Friday morning in Bethel in torrential downpours, and ended Sunday afternoon in Belfast with similar weather. This is not the first year the Stevensons have made this journey, but I think it may be the wettest. I admire their sense of adventure and congratulate them on being part of an odyssey that raised more than $1.5 million, which will be used for research, education and advocacy.

Sixth-grade student Madison Cutten receives an award from Gov. Baldacci for the state’s Clean Water contest.