Anyone who loves to garden looks forward to January when all the seed catalogs start arriving.

So, if you’re sitting by the fire and leafing through those catalogs, think about this: Would you like your garden to be part of a tour?

Debbie Paton of Carmel is chairwoman of the Zonta Garden Tour, scheduled for Sunday, July 21.

She wrote recently to report that “this year, I’m really looking for gardeners in Bangor who have a special garden that they’d like to share.”

Although she already has several gardens lined up for the tour, she hopes readers “may have a garden to add to my list.”

She wrote that the 2001 tour “was wonderful, with a mix of estate gardens and backyard gardens.”

But, she added, she really would “like to get people who have a little, or big, treasure in their yards who never thought they should be on a garden tour.”

If you’ve taken photographs of your garden in the past, you’re in luck because to be considered for this event, Paton wrote she will “need to see pictures of the gardens in full bloom,” since it is “hard to envision gardens in January and February!”

Zonta donates $1,000 of the proceeds from the tour to the Wheelchair Van Fund at the Bangor Rehabilitation Center, formerly Bangor City Nursing Center.

If you are interested in being a part of the 2002 Zonta Garden Tour, call Paton at 848-3663.

On behalf of Project Atrium, board member Lucy Eaton Hawkins invites you to attend the seventh annual Mardi Gras ball from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Bangor Elks Club on the Odlin Road.

You are asked to come in costume appropriate to this year’s theme of “Wild, Wild West” or come attired in eveningwear.

Tickets are $50 per person or $500 a table and may be ordered by calling 941-2825 or 989-0530.

The popular event benefits Project Atrium, the local nonprofit agency now in its 27th year of serving at-risk youth ages 14 to 18. Proceeds from the Mardi Gras ball will benefit Project Atrium’s educational, cultural and recreational programs.

Prizes for the most original costume for groups, couples and singles will be awarded during Project Atrium’s largest fund-raiser.

This year’s sponsors are the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation and Central City Sheet Metal of Brewer.

Judy Sucec and Friends of the Orono Public Library want to help you “ease the midwinter blahs” by visiting a midwinter used book sale and bake sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at the library on Goodridge Drive in Orono.

“Early birds” will be admitted for $5 each at 9 a.m., but those who arrive at 10 a.m. will be admitted free.

You can expect to find a large assortment of fiction and nonfiction books as well as breads, rolls and other goodies baked by members of the friends group.

You can also partake of the Maine Groundhog Day Special, which consists of pea soup and johnnycake. If you prefer, you can order up baked beans and brown bread.

The fund-raiser benefits library programming and the Orono Public Library fund.

Sucec reports that in “accepting the Orono Women’s Club challenge, the Friends donated $1,001 to the fund” in mid-January. They “hope other Orono organizations will follow our example and step up their own gifts!”

Gaile Killam and all Friends of Maine Hockey members invite the public to join them for a pre-game gathering from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, in the banquet room of the Oriental Jade Restaurant on Bangor Mall Boulevard in Bangor.

The University of Maine Black Bears play the University of New Hampshire that evening at Alfond Arena in Orono.

While the dinner menu will be available from 3 to 6 p.m., a buffet dinner will begin at 4 p.m.

Only Friends of Maine Hockey members will be eligible to win the door prize, but everyone can win other prizes on the bingo board, including tickets to a Boston Bruins ice hockey game, a Deane’s Car Care certificate and movie tickets. A limited number of lottery tickets also will be given out at random.

The event serves as a fund-raiser for Friends of Maine Hockey, which will receive 25 percent of all proceeds from sales at the Oriental Jade Restaurant during the gathering.

Proceeds will benefit University of Maine hockey team scholarships and team equipment.

The town of Hermon is seeking volunteers to help it study emergency medical first-response options for that community.

Town Clerk Carol Davis said that while the committee already has representatives from the Fire Department, the rescue squad and the Town Council, what is needed now is an expression of interest, and expertise from members of the general public.

Volunteer residents may join the committee and work to bring recommendations to the town by early spring.

Anyone interested in serving on this committee should call Davis at 848-3458 as soon as possible to be contacted in time for the first committee meeting, which Davis said would not be scheduled until after the Town Council meets on Wednesday, Feb. 6.

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