Plans are well under way for the May Festival: A Celebration of Generations, which runs from Wednesday, May 1, to Saturday, May 4, in downtown Bangor and across the river in Brewer.

An event intended to introduce the public to the University of Maine Center on Aging, it is an opportunity to promote intergenerational learning and recreation for people of all ages throughout the state.

Planning committee co-chairmen Stanley Freeman and Cynthia Cavanaugh have been working with other volunteers to prepare for this event and many have come forward with offers of help.

However, student intern Katrina Sherman reports, many more volunteers are needed to help out at the festival sites during the event.

Volunteers will be needed to help oversee such events as the kickoff luncheon on May 1 at the Holiday Inn Downtown. It features music by Six Basin Street, an all-women Dixieland Band and Maine humorist and storyteller Clyde Folsom.

Others can volunteer to assist at the Gilead String Quartet’s concert later that afternoon at the Bangor Theological Seminary.

Senior Spectacular from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, May 2, at Spectacular Events Center on Griffin Road will include resources, activities and presentations about aging, and volunteers are needed there, where informational booths will be staffed by local services and agencies.

The film “A Woman’s Tale,” which illustrates changes many women experience as they age, is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. that afternoon in Peakes Auditorium at Bangor High School. Or you can help a volunteer from the Bangor Historical Society who will lead a tour of downtown Bangor.

Workshops and recreational sessions hosted by local merchants and nonprofit agencies throughout downtown Bangor will be featured 9-11 a.m. and at 1 p.m. Friday, May 3. There will be a need for many volunteers at this time, as well as a need for people to assist organizations and facilities for seniors that will be opening their doors to the public that day.

Helping out at the Swing Dance Friday night at the Brewer Auditorium could be fun, along with the final day of the festival, Saturday, May 4, which will include a narrated walking tour of Mount Hope Cemetery from 8 to 10 a.m., a May Pole in Pickering Square at 10 a.m., wagon rides with Tim Higgins from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Grandparents Day at the Maine Discovery Museum.

Throughout the festival, students in grades four through nine will display essays they’ve written about older people and, on Saturday, some of them will be read at the Bangor Public Library.

The festival concludes with a reception 4-6 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at Freese’s Assisted Living Atrium in downtown Bangor.

With all of these events, and more, taking place during the festival, you can easily understand why Sherman is urging as many people as possible to volunteer for this special celebration.

Two volunteer orientations are planned.

The first is 3-4 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, and the other is 6-7 p.m. Monday, March 25. Both orientations will be conducted in Room 107 of the Donald P. Corbett Business Building at the University of Maine in Orono.

If you have questions about becoming a volunteer, or about the festival, call 581-3444.

Congratulations are extended to Doris Grover of Brewer, who will be honored by Riverside Grange No. 273.

During its meeting, which begins with supper at 6 p.m. Friday, March 8, at the Grange on Outer North Main Street in Brewer, Grover will receive the Grange’s Community Service Award.

According to Grange membership committee member Thelma Andrews of Brewer, this award is presented to a non-Grange member in recognition of that individual’s contribution to the community.

A former nurse who was active in school activities when her sons were in the Brewer system, Grover offers a taxi service to any elderly person who does not wish to drive.

Active in all its programs, for 35 years Grover has served as financial secretary for the North Brewer-Eddington United Methodist Church.

A member of the Veazie Senior Citizens, she is also a volunteer at the Shoe String Thrift Shop, the Brewer Food Cupboard and the BMHI Birthday Cake Baker’s Program.

An outstanding cook, Grover often delivers a home-cooked meal to shut-ins.

Riverside Grange meets the second and fourth Friday evenings of the month at the Grange Hall on the Brewer-Eddington town line, and new members are welcome to join.

For membership applications, call Andrews at 989-2170.

Members of the public are invited to attend the final meeting of the Penobscot Valley Ski Club, which is its annual banquet beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, at the Maine Audubon Society, 26 Fields Pond Road in Holden.

A presentation about white-water rafting by members of the Maine Riverdrivers follows dinner.

If you plan to attend, you are asked to make your reservation by Friday, March 8, with Pat Cammack of Brewer at 989-5671.

Individuals who are not members of the PVSC will be asked to pay a small fee to cover the cost of their meals.

For your information, the club meets monthly during the fall and winter.

In October, the PVSC sponsors an annual ski sale at the Bangor Armory, sponsors day ski trips to Squaw Mountain in Greenville and Sugarloaf/USA in Carrabassett Valley, and the annual Caribou Bog Race in Bangor.

The club also offers beginner lessons for people of all ages, cross country lessons and Alpine and downhill racing programs.

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