With Jordan Pond and the mountains of Acadia in the backdrop, NPS representatives Kevin Schneider (far left) and Michael Reynolds (far right) stand with FOA board chair Ed Samek, Centennial Task Force co-chairs Jack Russell and Cookie Horner, and FOA president and CEO David MacDonald (left to right) during the presentation of the NPS Director’s Partnership Award on Saturday/Julia Walker Thomas.

As part of the centennial celebration at Acadia’s Jordan Pond House last weekend, Friends of Acadia and the Acadia Centennial Task Force were honored with a national award recognizing their outstanding contributions to Acadia National Park.

The National Park Service Director’s Partnership Award was presented by NPS Deputy Director Michael Reynolds to FOA board chair Ed Samek and president David MacDonald, as well as Cookie Horner and Jack Russell, FOA board members and co-chairs of the Acadia Centennial Task Force.

Reynolds praised the recipients for “empowering and orchestrating broad community and state-wide participation in the 100th anniversary of Acadia National Park” and described the Acadia Centennial celebration as a national model for the second century of the Park Service.

In accepting the award, MacDonald made it clear that he was doing so “on behalf of the eighteen hard-working individuals who had served for nearly three years on the Task Force and the hundreds of Acadia Centennial partners throughout the communities who are the heart and soul of this celebration.”

As part of the 100th anniversary of Acadia’s founding, FOA and the Acadia Centennial Task Force have facilitated a year-long, community-based celebration, which has inspired more than 450 businesses, organizations, and individuals—the Acadia Centennial Partners—to contribute to the celebration by putting on centennial-themed events, creating and marketing centennial products, or making a financial contribution to the celebration. To date, more than 240 events, including performances, exhibits, workshops, lectures, and much more, have taken place; with more than 60 still to come this year. More than 100 official centennial products, some featuring the iconic Acadia Centennial logo, are available, the sales of which benefit Acadia National Park. Event and product listings, plus more information about the Acadia Centennial celebration, can be found online at www.acadiacentennial2016.org.

Along with co-chairs Horner and Russell, the Acadia Centennial Task Force is comprised of:

David MacDonald; Alf Anderson, Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce; Gail Clark, FOA Board of Directors; Stephanie Clement, Friends of Acadia; Dennis Damon, a former member of the Maine Legislature; Jill Goldthwait, FOA Board of Directors and a former member of the Maine Legislature; Anne Green, FOA Board of Directors; Linda Lewis, FOA Honorary Trustee; Cynthia Livingston, Schoodic Institute Board of Directors, W. Kent Olson, former president and CEO of Friends of Acadia; Lili Pew, FOA Board of Directors; Sherry Streeter, a former member of the FOA Board of Directors; Julie Veilleux, FOA Board of Directors and former president of the Bar Harbor Merchants Association; and three ex-officio members from Acadia National Park: Chief of Interpretation Lynne Dominy,  Deputy Superintendent Mike Madell, and Superintendent Kevin Schneider.

Superintendent Schneider, who helped to make the presentation, said about the award, “Acadia National Park would not be the same without the support and contributions of our partners.  We have such an engaged and supportive set of communities here, and the 2016 celebration that the Acadia Centennial Task Force and Friends of Acadia have orchestrated serves to both recognize and increase that engagement—to better position our park to thrive in its second century. This national recognition from Director Jarvis is so well-deserved.”

Co-chairs Horner and Russell hope that the broad participation bodes well for Acadia’s future:  “FOA will continue its thirty-year history of working closely with both the park and the surrounding communities, and we will serve this mission even more effectively with so many new partners entering Acadia’s next century.”