Weekend filled with special events for children

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What a special weekend this is for children in Eastern Maine and throughout the country.

“The Awesome Body” is just one of many highlights of Children’s Miracle Network “Celebration of Children.”

Besides the annual CMN Telethon broadcast from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, June 3, on WABI-TV, special events all weekend long at the Bangor Mall will delight, entertain and educate all who attend.

The “Awesome Body Project” is a pilot project of Eastern Maine Healthcare, in which five classrooms in our area are working with clinical professionals from Eastern Maine Medical Center and Affiliate Labs in Bangor, and Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital in Greenville.

Students from Bangor’s James Doughty School and All Saints School, the Nickerson School in Greenville, Holbrook School in Holden and State Street School in Brewer will present the culmination of a semester-long study during regular mall hours Saturday, June 2, at the Mall.

The word is that most of the projects are being kept under wraps until Saturday, but what you find may “a-maze” you and, the promise is, “The Awesome Body” project will be an exciting interactive event.

More children’s activities begin at 8 a.m. Sunday, June 3, at the mall, where youngsters can see the Maine Professional Drivers Association “big rigs” line up for the annual “Convoy for Kids” that takes them down Interstate 95 to Dysart’s in Hermon.

Drivers from all over Maine come to Bangor for this annual event to benefit CMN of EMH.

The EMH Lifeflight Helicopter and Meridian Star Ground Transport Unit, especially equipped to transport children and infants, will also be there.

Be sure the kids stop by the bicycle helmet-fitting clinic in Parking Lot K outside Porteous, where helmets can be checked or retrofitted for the proper fit.

Sponsored by the Maine Coalition for Safe Kids, Ila Legasse, safety educator for Maine SAFE Kids, and trained volunteers will size and fit the helmets. New ones can be purchased for the discounted price of $12.

At the mall’s Center Court, WABI-TV personalities Don Colson, Lanie Witt and Tim Throckmorton will be joined by EMH vice president Michael Crowley and EMH’s director of CMN, Nancy Dysart.

CMN was founded in 1983 by Marie Osmond and John Schneider.

It now serves more than 170 hospital systems in the U.S. and Canada, and is the largest non-profit children’s fundraising organization in North America.

Best of all, every penny raised locally stays locally to help our children.

Speaking of kids, be sure to secure your spot to watch the Eastern Maine Soap Box Derby when the first heat begins at 8 a.m. on State Street near the Brewer Auditorium Parking lot.

It will be a fun day of races with each racer driving the course twice and swapping lanes and wheels after the first run.

The winner will be determined by the best overall time for both runs and will advance to the next phase of the race, being paired with the winner from another heat.

The finals are scheduled for 4 p.m., and awards will be presented at the end of the day.

In-Tyme Programs of Bangor, a local food pantry, has been given the opportunity to purchase a tractor-trailer truck for $20,000.

However, the truck must be purchased within a 40-day period, so In-Tyme is conducting several fund-raisers.

A Yard Sale is planned for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, Saturday, June 2, at In-Tyme’s facility, 1066 Hammond St. in Bangor.

The sale features antiques, clothes, furniture and household goods.

The truck will be on display and, for $5, you can have a handprint put on the truck with your name on it.

Businesses can have a bronze hand for a $100 donation, a silver hand for a $300 donation or a gold hand for a $500 donation.

For more information about this and other fund-raisers, call Donna Smith at In-Tyme, 262-7277.

Margaret Brown of Orrington invites the public to attend the Altrusa of Bangor Yard Sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 22, at 735 Hammond St. in Bangor.

Browne reports all the money raised at this event will benefit the Altrusa Scholarship Fund.

A most delicious event is the “Fourth Annual Rhubarb Festival” 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 2, at North Main Crossing Store, 22-28 North Main St. in Old Town.

Sponsored by St. James Episcopal Church of Old Town, you can purchase tasty and tangy treats including rhubarb pies, muffins, preserves and other surprises that arrive with the “Return of the Rhubarb!”

Folks in the northern Maine area are gearing up for the Charity Auction for The Edgar (“Guy”) Paradis Cancer Fund beginning with a preview at 9 a.m. and bidding at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 2, at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Fort Kent.

The rain date is the same times on Sunday, June 3.

The auction is a joint effort of the Fort Kent Knights of Columbus and the Paradis Cancer Fund, which is a service of Northern Maine Medial Center in Presque Isle.

The Paradis Fund helps provide financial assistance to cancer patients and their families who must travel outside the St. John Valley for treatment.

Members of the Anah Shrine Temple of Bangor invite the public to “A Report & Slide Presentation” by the Rev. Dr. George Curtis III, pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Brewer, at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 3, at the Shrine facility, 586 Main St. in Bangor.

According to Audrey and Lee Higgins of Bangor, their pastor has just returned from a visit to Jerusalem and the surrounding Biblical sites, and he will present a first-hand report on this experience, which was sponsored by the Commandery.

The event is free, and everyone is invited to attend.

“It’s a fabulous presentation,” Audrey Higgins reports.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.