People who have followed the story of the National Folk Festival coming Aug. 23-25 to Bangor know this call would be coming soon, and here it is.

NFF director Bob Libbey is seeking between 400 and 500 volunteers to help with all aspects of the three-day event, from its preparation to working on the days of the event, which is expected to attract more than 75,000 people to downtown Bangor and its waterfront.

The NFF is a weekend of entertainment and fun that highlights traditional music, ethnic foods and traditional arts, crafts and demonstrations. The event will return to Bangor in 2003 and 2004.

“We’re looking for people who are enthusiastic” about this event, Libbey explained.

Last year’s festival was held in East Lansing, Mich.

When Bangor organizers visited that festival site, Libbey said, “we found that the volunteers were really having a good time.”

And, of course, volunteers are needed for the long term and not just the short term, but help is help, and everyone who wishes to be part, from near and far, is invited to attend a volunteer information meeting.

The first of those meetings is 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Rangeley Hall on the campus of Eastern Maine Technical College in Bangor.

The one-hour session will give prospective volunteers general information about the festival and exactly what volunteer opportunities are available.

Libbey said the second volunteer information meeting is 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at the same location.

Prospective volunteers need to attend only one of the meetings.

If you have questions about the National Folk Festival, call 947-5205, e-mail info@nationalfolkfestival.com or visit www.nationalfolkfestival.com.

Although this reminder is about as late as it can be, professionals who work with lymphedema patients and those who have the condition are invited to attend a conference on the subject this weekend.

Lymphedema is a painful inflammation of the lymph nodes, frequently caused by breast cancer.

The Maine Lymphedema Conference, presented by the Maine Lymphedema Network and Maine Coast Memorial Hospital of Ellsworth, begins with registration at 7:30 a.m. today and the same time Saturday, Oct. 20, at the Bar Harbor Regency Hotel.

Friday’s symposium includes dinner and runs through 9 p.m. The conference concludes at 12:45 p.m. Saturday.

Members of the conference faculty are Dr. Sumner Slavin, director of Harvard Medical School’s Lymphedema Research laboratory; Gayle Hickock, program coordinator and senior therapist for the Comprehensive Lymphedema Treatment Center of Maine at Mercy Hospital in Portland; and patient advocate Linda Bili of the National Lymphedema Network.

Other conference faculty are Dr. Kathleen Francis, director of Outreach Services at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and director of related services at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in West Orange; Linda Bedell-Logan, president and CEO of Solutions in Integrative Medicine; and Kathy Weatherly, board member of the Lymphology Association of North America.

The cost of the conference is $185 per person and continuing education units are available.

This is the first conference on lymphedema in Maine.

The Maine Lymphedema Network is a new nonprofit organization that works to educate medical professionals and expand treatment options for those affected by the condition.

Garden Club Federation of Maine President Dr. Claire Hunt, of the Boothbay Region Garden Club, invites fellow garden club members and the public to attend the GCFM 70th Fall Conference beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23, at the Augusta Civic Center.

Attending the Maine conference will be National Garden Club Federation President Lois Dupre Shuster and New England director Dee Mozzochil

Featured in the morning session will be Dr. Joanne Sharp, a botanist, and Tom Flood, executive director of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, who will present “A Maine Garden Legacy.”

After a buffet lunch, FTD master designer Michael Spanos will design “Floral Creations” at 1 p.m.

The cost of registration, with lunch, is $23 for members and $26 for non-members.

To preregister, call conference Chairwoman Phyllis Damborg of the Bloomfield Garden Club, 696-8061, or registrar Melda Page of the Waterville Community Garden Club, 465-7862.

The Corinth Historical Society is collecting old family recipes and other favorite recipes for a cookbook it plans as a fund-raiser in the near future.

The cookbook will also include old photos of townsfolk and landmarks of the past.

It is hoped that submitted recipes will also include a short anecdote describing whose recipe it was, and why it was chosen for publication in the cookbook.

Recipes can be sent to the CHS, P.O. Box 541, Corinth 04427 or given to any society member.

In preparation for its 20th year, Maine Handicapped Skiing is seeking volunteers to teach downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing for the 2001-2002 ski season.

More than 300 volunteers teach more than 200 adults and children with physical disabilities at Sunday River Ski Resort and Sunday River Inn and Cross Country Ski Center in Newry and at Sugarloaf/USA in Carrabassett Valley.

Volunteers must be at least 18 years old, an intermediate skier or rider, have their own ski or snowboard equipment and be willing to donate 10 days during the MHS season from Jan. 2 to March 15, 2002.

Three days of training are required during October and November.

Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA give a complimentary ski or trail pass for each day of volunteering.

Other volunteers are needed for photographing, videotaping, transporting and assisting MHS participants.

For more information, call (800) 639-7770, e-mail info@skimhs.org or visit www.skimhs.org.

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