In The News!
An education in cranberries
On Saturday, Mac Lebeau was scheduled to stand in a wooden crate full of water and 120 pounds of cranberries for 12 hours. Lebeau - the "bog master" at the Ocean Spray display - educated festival goers on growing and processing cranberries into juices and other foods.
He also handed out packets of dried cranberries.
"Enjoy, from Ocean Spray," he said while passing out goodies.
At a nearby booth, a team of other workers poured small cups of juice that were quickly snapped up. They could see children scooping berries from the makeshift bog.
Lebeau encouraged children to squeeze the berries, which are discarded every night.
"They float because there are four tiny pockets of air in each berry," he said.
Mike Gomez, one of the workers, said they try to donate the fruit to someone who will compost it. Eating directly from the bog is not encouraged, he said.
"But some people will try to eat them," Gomez said.
Fayetteville Observer April 25, 2010.
Lebeau an All-Around Champion
Mac Lebeau was having trouble with his horses over the years.
It's not that he didn't like them or that they weren't learning quickly enough. No, Lebeau simply outgrew them every couple of years.
First he got too tall for Jake, the first horse he rode seven years ago when he started out in the sport.
So he moved on to Inky. But again, Inky soon became too small for the 6-foot-2 rider who friend Connie Seekins playfully call "a long stringbean."
So Lebeau set out last year to find a horse that would finally match his long legs and found Easy At Midnight. The horse, known around the bar as Dillion, was the perfect fit in more ways than one.
"When I went out to ride him the first time, I decided I wanted him right now," Lebeau said. "We just clicked."
In the world of equestrian events, riders spend years with their horses. The two form a bond. The rider trains the horse and at the same time trains himself to react to the horse. For Lebeau and Dillion, the transformation was quicker than anyone could've believed.
"Any (new) horse, no matter what level you're at, and it's a whole new ballgame as far as the horse is concerned," said Seekins, a fellow rider and self-described fan of Lebeau's. "You really have to put time in. So it would be a challenge for anyone, let alone someone who has had to change horses three times because he's outgrowing them."
But Lebeau and Dillion were up to the challenge. The duo bonded so quickly that Lebeau easily won the Alaska State Quarter Horse Association's All-Around Youth tittle this year.
Competing in the Interior Quarter Horse Circuit of shows over the summer, Lebeau accrued so many points that he won an astounding eight events. He competed in five different categories (jumping, halter, English, Western and games) and showed that hard work does indeed have its rewards.
"I didn't expect to win all eight," Lebeau said. "I was just going for the saddle, which is the All-Around Trophy."
The 18 year-old North Pole High graduate sandwiches his horse training sessions at his aunt edie Sands' Flat Mountain Ranch in between a full-time job and his University of Alaska Fairbanks classes three days a week. On Tuesday, he started his day at 6 a.m. and was still at the University studying at 11 p.m.
"That's a pretty good struggle," Lebeau said. "I manage to fit it in on the weekends and when I don't have classes."
It is this work ethic that caught the Seekins' attention. The family thinks so much of him that when they recently went out of town, Lebeau was the first person they thought of when looking for someone to take care of their horses.
"He's a kid you can trust," Seekins said. "He's a fine young man."
In fact, he's so well thought of on the equestrian circuit that he was given the sportsmanship awards last year by his peers.
"That's worth far more than any championship," Seekins said.
Like all sportsmanship award winners, Lebeau doesn't take credit for his string of victories this year. As far as he's concerned his aunt deserves the credit for his success.
"She's really taught me everything I know," he said.
Fairbanks Daily New-Miner October 20,1999 Chris Talbott
Down on the farm in Two Rivers
May 23, 1999
Mac Lebeau made the cover of the Heartland Magazine in an article spotlighting the local home grown agriculture in the community of Two Rivers, Alaska.
Shelter for Students
November 18, 1998
Sam Harrel
North Pole senior Mac Lebeau, above left, works with Donny McKee III, right, Cameron Carter and Donny McKee II, both behind the shed, as they put together a bus shed Tuesday afternoon at thecorner of Little Chena Drive and Chena Hot Springs Road. The Two Rivers Grange asked for ideas on how to spend money accumulated in a charity fund. Lebeau, a member of the Two Rivers Grange, submitted the idea for the bus sheds, "I didn't like standing in the wind," Lebeau said. "I'm in my last year (of school) but it will help those who come after me." Three of the sheds have been built along Chena Hot Springs Road, at Grange Road, Valley Center and Little Chena Drive. At Right Donny McKee II lines up a piece of plexiglass over the Grange's Logo on the front of the bus shed at the corner of Little Chena Drive and Chena Hot Springs Road. Cameron Carter, a member of the Two Rivers Grange, said there are plans to build three more next year. "We are looking for stops with large amounts of kids," Carter said.
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
