Main-E-Acts Baton Twirling Team to perform April 11

The Main-E-Acts Baton Twirling Team has been selected to perform in the 2015 National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade on Saturday, April 11 in Washington, D.C.

The Main-E-Acts Baton Twirling Team, front, from left, are Alanna Thomas, Paige Blackwell, Ingrid Plant, Cassidy Fish, Morgan Mayhew, Makenzie Sayers, Megan McCormick, Jessica Hymas and Helen Rebar. Back, from left, are Amanda Cameron, Carley Scanlon, Taylor Hickey, Alexandra Clowes, Jenna Cross, Lindsay Pitts and Mollie Berglund. Contributed photo

This will be the second performance by the Main-E-Acts in the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade. The last time the team made the trip (2009), the team’s now eldest members were the youngest to participate. Now seniors, these three ladies will pass along their experience and share in this opportunity with the next generation of twirlers.

The 2015 Main-E-Acts include the following 16 young women, ages 10-22: Mollie Berglund, of West Gardiner; Paige Blackwell, of Bangor; Amanda Cameron, of West Gardiner; Alexandra Clowes, of Brewer; Jenna Cross, of Bangor; Taylor Hickey, of Whitefield; Morgan Mayhew, of South Paris; Megan McCormick, of South Paris; Cassidy Fish, of Hampden; Jessica Hymas, of Brewer; Lindsay Pitts, of Bucksport; Ingrid Plant, of Hampden; Helen Rebar, of Bangor; Makenzie Sayers, of Brewer; Carley Scanlon, of Bucksport; and Alanna Thomas, of Hampden. The Main-E-Acts are directed and coached by Andrea Fletcher, of Portland, and co-coached by Meagan Sawyer, of Brewer.

The team was chosen to participate in the 2015 National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade through a competitive application process. Selection criteria included state, regional and national competitive achievements and recognitions, performance history and an audition video. The twirlers themselves helped prepare the application. The Main-E-Acts Baton Twirling Team was created in 2004 and is the travel component of the Central Maine Twirling Corps, a larger baton twirling program offered by the Augusta Recreation Department and Bangor Parks and Recreation Department, according to the release. Team members are selected each year by the director of the Central Maine Twirling Corps for their twirling abilities, as well as their teamwork, enthusiasm, commitment, dedication and passion for the sport of baton twirling. The Main-E-Acts are the 2014 Northeast Regional Dance Twirl and Halftime Show Team Champions, placed in the Grand National Top 10 at the 2014 National Baton Twirling Association’s National Championships, and were most recently recognized as the 2015 (and first) recipients of the Linda A. Lanni Memorial Outstanding Team Sportsmanship Award — a regional award presented to a team that “helps build a strong twirling community by demonstrating attitudes and behaviors that promote teamwork, friendship, character, integrity, respect, courage, confidence, perseverance and hope toward one another” according to the release.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival annually commemorates the 1912 gift to the city of Washington of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to enhance and celebrate the growing friendship between the U.S. and Japan, according to a news release from twirling team. The 2015 festival, March 20 through April 12, feature daily cultural performances, sporting events, arts and crafts, demonstrations, and other special events including the nationally-televised National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade April 11. More than 100,000 people traditionally attend the parade, and 1.5 million people will visit Washington throughout the three weeks to admire the blossoming cherry trees and participate in the festival that marks the beginning of spring in the nation’s capital.

For more information the Main-E-Acts Baton Twirling Team, visit centralmainetwirling.com

For more information about the Cherry Blossom Festival, visit nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.

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