Comments on: Fire on the mountain, thanks to Outing Club sky lantern launch

By: Sean Cranmer

Sean Cranmer — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 01:57:03 +0000

Hmm, I seem to recall the “Children of Midnight” was coined by one Todd P. Bailey. The idea was born from our annual Katahdin trips with a departure at midnight, we drove through the night, hiked all day, had a a bbq before returning to Bates that same day. Then was the “suffer-fest” (Mark Synott) of a bike trip up the auto road on Mt. Washington that Todd led at night. Ever after, sketchy, ill planned excursions that departed Bates late at night with no plan for sleep coupled with long miles or great exertion were referred to as “Children of Midnight” missions. This lantern launch seems like a rather watered down example of the “Children of Midnight”, Todd Bailey is probably rolling over in his stinky polypro.

By: Jack Murphy

Jack Murphy — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 06:29:42 +0000

It’s so nice to hear that Children of Midnight continues!

One night in 2006 we organized a Children of Midnight critical mass bike rider.

The email went out around 10pm (“The air is crisp, and the Moon is bright, Meet at Hathorn Hall when clock strikes midnight . . . a bring any human powered vehicle that roles).

Around 30 Batesies on bikes, skateboards, scooters, etc. rolled through the street of Lewiston in the early morning hours with no leader. Whoever was in front at the time would make a turn and the adventure would continue.

It was a good day to be a Bobcat!

By: Jay Burns

Jay Burns — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:07:36 +0000

Hi Joan. Sky lanterns are basically small hot-air balloons. In this case, the source of the heat is a burning square of paper that’s suspended by wires at the bottom of the lantern. – HJB

By: Joan

Joan — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:47:14 +0000

It does look very beautiful, what are the lanterns made out of and how do you get them to fly up into the sky??