My Hometown(s)

When I tell people I'm from Naples it seems odd to say I only have one hometown. Where I grew up, my high school was made up of four towns: Naples, Casco, Bridgton, and Sebago. In elementary school we all went to separate schools, except Casco and Naples were together. Within our district of Lake Region, not to be confused with Lakes Region or the Lakes Region, each town had its separate elementary sports teams too. Sebago was always awesome at soccer, but the Naples team always kicked butt in basketball! After competing against each other for the first seven years of our schooling we all came together in middle school. Although each town mixed together and formed friendships with students from different towns it was usually always obvious who was from where. The "Sebagans" typically wore their flannel shirts, Carhartts, and work boots. They would also usually be found talking about hunting or as we aged and got into high school, how much drinking they had done at Stickney Hill the night before. (Ironically our hard-ass assistant principal's last name was Stickney). The Sebagans were your stereotypical hicks. Many would often hear of summer escapades in B-Town, biking through the streets of downtown, going to the old fashioned movie theater, or on those nice summer nights catching a movie at the drive-in theater. Then there were those from Naples and Casco who could be seen in their early teen years hanging out down at the Causeway or those from Casco volunteering at Casco days or shooting hoops at the local gym. Lake Region sports events were always prime example of the connection between my four hometowns, especially basketball games. Laker fans young and old would gather all donned in their blue and gold garb ready to cheer their team on to victory. These fans could be seen at all the home games and even more impressively at the tournament games at the Cumberland County Civic Center. Although my address may be in Naples, I really do have four hometowns and they are the four that make up the community Lake Region.