On November 30, I happened to driving by the Red Shop and I noticed there was a pickup with something sticking up in the back, and a guy standing outside of it. It looked like the object in the truck was probably the front door to the shop. I stopped and spoke to the gentleman. Sure enough, it was Sterling Brightman who had built a replica of the original door and was delivering it. (That’s Sterling with the rope in the picture at the top.) He had expected to arrive before the Whipple Construction guys had left, but he had driven here from Maine and they were gone by the time he got here.
I didn’t have a phone with me, but I told Sterling that I’d go home and see what I could do about getting some help. I called Historical Commission chair Merrily Sparling at the library. She called the fire department and Alan Ryan. I went back down there, and within a few minutes the group you see in the pictures were there to help, including three or four from the fire department, Alan Ryan, his son Zack and a friend, and Dan and Kyle Sullivan. I had forgotten my camera. The pictures were taken with Merrily’s cell phone.