AUGUSTA, Maine — A cluster of children stood, looking up, as a metal cylinder was carefully locked inside a large, gold star. The star was made from high-tech material on a 3D printer at the University of Maine's Advanced Composites Laboratory.
It's the centerpiece of Maine's 2020 Bicentennial time capsule, which was officially filled and locked on Tuesday.
That was all supposed to happen in 2020, but the celebration, 200 years in the making, had to be delayed because of COVID. Some events never happened, while others finally occurred last year.
Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Cumberland, the chair of the Bicentennial Committee, said keeping the celebration going, despite all the delays and problems, was a reflection of how Mainers dealt with COVID.
"We've run the gauntlet, believe me, and that's a bigger reward," Diamond said. "We might have been blessed by that at the end, though. I wouldn't have thought it along the way."
The delays gave added time to conceive of the time capsule itself. Instead of a container in the ground or set in a wall, this capsule stands about 7 feet tall, topped by the star. The star symbolizes the one on the state flag and includes a red "Dirigo" banner, fabricated from steel, on the front.
The star sits on a piece of granite from a quarry in Jay, and that is mounted atop a steel structure with four drawers, all covered with pine boards made from old logs salvaged from the Penobscot River.
It's a capsule structure meant to be seen, and it will be. The capsule will be on permanent display in the Maine State Library.
On Tuesday, the 2020 drawer was filled with selected items representing Maine in the Bicentennial year, including a small Maine flag carried to the International Space Station by astronaut Jessica Meir in 2020. There is a shoulder patch from the Maine National Guard uniform of General Diane Dunn, the first woman to serve as a general of the Maine Guard.
There are antique buttons from an 18th-century archaeological site in Kennebunk, the first town incorporated by the Legislature in 1820 after Maine became a state. There is also a Bicentennial flag, signed by Gov. Janet Mills.
The time capsule also contains what former state archivist Dave Cheever called "poignant" items — to signify the battle against COVID that dominated the state's 200th birthday year.
One is a COVID test kit made by Abbot Labs in Scarborough. The other is a COVID nasal swab made by Pilgrim Medical Products in Guilford.
"These are big things, small towns maybe, but big things," Cheever said, "And in 2120, they (will be) looking back and will reflect on something that showed Maine leading the way."
All those items will have special overseers for the future. As part of the ceremony, Bicentennial leaders introduced the Time Capsule Keepers, a group of about a dozen people, many teenage or younger, who all share March 15 as a birthday. They were sworn in by the governor, with instructions to "ensure additional items will be added to the state of Maine bicentennial time capsule on statehood anniversaries in 2045, 2070, and 2095."
Given that some of the keepers are older, Mills said they can, at some future point, designate others to take their place.
Ethan Levesque of Auburn, who turned 16 on Tuesday, said his mother and father signed him up to become a keeper but agreed it is incredible.
"I get to bring along pieces of history as I get older and time goes on. I get to cherish this, and I think it will be pretty cool."
His mother, Tracy Levesque, was all smiles.
"I thought it was pretty amazing. What an opportunity really to leave a mark in Maine," she said.
Young Hailey Rollins from Jefferson is also a keeper, and her mother, Kara Rollins, called her daughter "a lucky girl."
"I hope in time she can look back and say, 'Wow, I was part of this. We are lucky to live here. We have a really great state."
Mills and the Bicentennial planners said they hope all the keepers will share that feeling in the years ahead.
However, one thing the keepers will not know is the contents of the metal canister locked inside the time capsule's star.
They watched as it was carried from the display table and inserted in one of the points, then sealed shut.
Only the Bicentennial leaders know what's in it.
All the other items specifically mentioned, along with letters from members of Congress and the governor — and a DeLorme Maine Atlas and Gazeteer — will be locked in the 2020 drawer. The canister will remain inside the star, not revealed for a hundred years.
Cheever was pressed to give it up but stood firm.
"And spoil the mystery? No, we can't do that," he said. "The fun of that would be to come back in 2120 — but some of these keepers may be young enough to come back."
He said those capsule contents would only be revealed by time, like the future itself.