With continuously devastating news arriving, daily, from the crisis in the Mideast, and the fact that our military personnel are putting their lives in harm’s way in America’s war on terrorism in Afghanistan, Ilze Petersons, program coordinator for the HOPE Festival, writes that organizers are really looking forward to this year’s event “to celebrate our connections to the earth and each other.”

She adds that “more groups than ever” have reserved space at the event, “and we are especially excited about the children’s programs and activities” being coordinated by Anne Hayes Grillo and Katie Greenman.

The HOPE Festival, which stands for “Help Organize Peace Earthwide,” is sponsored by the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor.

The festival, which is free, will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 20, at the Brewer Auditorium between State and Wilson streets.

In addition to the children’s programs, it includes a 5-K Fun Run at 11 a.m., an organization fair with 60 nonprofit groups represented, live entertainment, and healthy, organic food.

Among the entertainers sure to delight the children will be Jennifer Armstrong with stories and songs from her Celtic-American heritage, and nationally recognized Maine singer and songwriter Dave Mallett.

You’ll have a chance to look at solar and hybrid cars, and join with volunteers from the Maine Discovery Museum who will show how much fun learning about the environment can be.

One of the features of the festival that really has Hayes Grillo excited is the fact that “the Bangor Symphony Orchestra will be sending over their ‘instrument petting zoo,'” she said.

“This is something they’ve done for quite a while. I’ve actually taken my kids to it, and they love it.”

She explained that members of the BSO “bring brass, woodwinds and other instruments, and they allow the kids to touch the instruments, and then try an instrument, with the musicians giving them a little help and encouragement.”

This is not, obviously, what you expect at a “petting zoo,” where normally you learn about different animals.

But who knows? Learning about different instruments may just tap some hidden talent and help start some children on a new and exciting journey into the world of music.

Near the end of the festival, at 2:30 p.m., a children’s parade will feature items made at the craft and activity tables sponsored by the community groups and the Maine Discovery Museum.

It should be a wonderful day, and everyone is invited to attend.

When I arrived at my office Thursday morning, I found a short note with brief information about two special celebrations that I know many of you will want to attend.

The note contained word that two celebrations are planned to honor the life of the late dance instructor Polly Thomas, who died last February in Florida at the age of 86.

Polly founded and operated the Thomas School of Dance in Bangor.

For 50 years, until she retired in 1983, many, many young people in the Bangor area, boys and girls alike, benefited from her instruction.

I am eternally grateful to her, for example, for making my husband such a wonderful dance partner!

The note on my desk contained two numbers to contact her son, Calvin M. “Cal” Thomas II, and luckily I was able to reach him as he was en route from his Daytona, Fla., home to the airport to catch a flight to Bangor.

Cal and his children, Calvin III and Kathleen of Boston, and other family members cordially invite you to join them in one or both celebrations, here in Maine, in Polly’s memory.

The first is a memorial Mass for Polly Thomas at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 13, at St. John’s Catholic Church on York Street in Bangor.

Cal was especially pleased that he was able “to track down Father Richard Harvey, who is in Florida,” to serve as celebrant for the Mass.

Father Harvey formerly served at St. Joseph Church in Brewer, and is one of the few people left from Polly’s era, Cal said, “who really knew her well.”

An informal reception will follow the memorial Mass at the church.

The second celebration will be a reception to celebrate Polly’s life and her contributions to the people of Maine.

That event begins at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at the Polly Thomas Dance Studio at the School for the Performing Arts on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono.

“We really have no idea how many people will attend,” Cal said of both celebrations, but he wants readers to know that everyone is more than welcome to join in celebrating of the life of a woman considered the “grand dame of dance” in this part of Maine.

Last October, Lisa Leighton Alley of Hampden was diagnosed with melanoma.

She has undergone surgery and is now in the midst of a yearlong intensive cancer treatment program, according to her husband, Layne Alley.

This summer, Lisa and her fellow Hampden Academy alumni will celebrate their 20th class reunion.

Last month, a benefit dinner was held for the woman I fondly remember writing about when she was a star athlete for the HA Broncos and I worked on the Bangor Daily News sports desk.

Lisa has written me in order “to thank my many wonderful friends and co-workers” at Eastern Maine Medical Center’s Family Practice Center in Bangor “who worked on, and organized” a benefit dinner for her and her family.

She also extends her thanks to the owners of local businesses “who donated food,” she wrote, and especially thanks her “friends and family for their generous financial donations to help with medical costs.”

As we keep Lisa in our thoughts and prayers, she wants you to know that she has been “truly touched by the overwhelming love and support of the community.”

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