BREWER, Maine — Teams from sister cities Bangor and Brewer strapped on safety gear Saturday morning and challenged each other and their teammates to the new ropes course at Xtreme Adventures in Brewer for what they dubbed the “Councilor’s Challenge.”

“Bangor? Is that a suburb of Brewer,” Brewer Mayor Jerry Goss joked before the challenge, while sporting an orange T-shirt featuring the profile of Joshua Chamberlain wearing a headband on the front and “Team Brewer” on the back.

Bangor team members wore blue T-shirts that read, “Brewer? I hardly knew her!”

“This is the Brewer City Council, Bangor City Council, firefighters, police officers … coming together to have a little friendly competition,” Bangor City Councilor Josh Plourde said. “We’ve crossed the river.”

Just before the challenge started, Plourde told Nicole Gogan, Brewer’s economic development specialist, “You’re going down.”

The teams also included public works, city engineering and economic development personnel from each community.

The two teams were broken into smaller groups to take on the lower and higher tiers of the ropes course, as well as the zip line and giant swing that included an extra balloon-toss challenge for points.

The Councilor’s Challenge is part of the annual Brewer Days, “A Hometown Celebration,” which includes events that run Friday through Sunday.

“This was fun,” sweat-soaked Brewer Councilor Kevin O’Connell said after he finished the lower tier of the course with fellow Councilor Bev Uhlenhake, who nearly fell twice.

“You should get style points,” Goss told Uhlenhake after she finished.

Plourde and fellow Bangor Councilor Gibran Graham went through the course opposite the Brewer team, egging them on with friendly banter.

The top tier was designated for firefighters and police officers, with Brewer’s team represented by Jason Gross, a firefighter, and police Officer Zack Caron and Bangor’s team represented by Andrew Emery, a firefighter, and police Officer Brandon Vafiades.

There is nothing like a challenging outdoor ropes course to develop camaraderie and team-building, which is why the Councilor’s Challenge will return next year, according to D’arcy Main-Boyington, Brewer’s economic development director.

“We’ve decided we’re going to make it an annual event,” she said.

The teams earned points by completing the course and by the balloon-toss challenge. In the end, Brewer came out on top, defeating Bangor 69-56.

The prize? The losing team will wear the winning team’s T-shirts at their next council meeting.

“We’ve already given them their shirts,” Main-Boyington said.

By Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN Staff