Members of the Brewer Garden & Bird Club are getting ready for their annual perennial sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at the Brewer Auditorium.

“We are happy to report that the Brewer Farmers Market has invited us to join their group for the day!” wrote Carol Smith, club president. “We will have perennials from our own gardens for sale, as well as baked goods and a white-elephant table.”

If it rains, the club’s plant sale will be in the downstairs room on the Wilson Street side of the Brewer Auditorium.

But the club members have been, and continue to be, busy with other activities as well, and Smith is very pleased to announce the organization applied for and received a PETALS grant from Shell Oil and the National Garden Clubs, Inc.

PETALS is an acronym for Protect the Environment Through Action, Learning and Service.

A member of the Garden Club Federation of Maine and National Garden Clubs Inc., the Brewer Garden & Bird Club received a $250 incentive grant to be used to beautify the Brewer Historical Society on Wilson Street in Brewer.

The PETALS grant will enable club members to plant and landscape an heirloom garden at the historical society, fix an existing stone wall, and prune trees.

Smith wrote that the club also welcomes participation in the project by community members, and is happy to report that a spring cleanup crew from Brewer Middle School has committed to help with the project.

The club is especially interested in acquiring perennials that Brewer residents have had in their families for years, and would eagerly accept such offerings.

It also should be noted that the Brewer Garden & Bird Club must match the PETALS grant with volunteer and monetary donations.

The Garden & Bird Club meets monthly, September through June, at the Brewer Auditorium, and Smith wants you to know that “anyone is welcome to join in!”

For information about the club, its projects or the PETALS grant, call Smith at 989-1083.

You can turn in your old mercury thermometers and receive a new digital thermometer, while supplies last, if you visit the Winterport Woman’s Club booth during its annual Mile Long Yard Sale from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 1, in downtown Winterport.

If it rains that day, plan to take in the sale, and trade in those thermometers at the same time on the next Saturday, June 8.

To help support the work of the United Way of Aroostook, the Gigantic Garage Sale will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at the Maine Public Service Co. Call Center, 110 Carmichael St., Presque Isle.

This one day only, rain or shine sale also features, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the sale of two hot dogs for just $1!

So, do a little shopping, enjoy a little lunch and help out the UWA, big time, on Saturday.

He has taught more than 400 students and, as a principal, guided the development of more than 3,000 young people during the 38 years of dedicated commitment to the Bangor school system.

Vine Street School Principal Charles “Charlie” Thayer has announced his retirement and, as teacher Carolyn Bower writes, Thayer “will be very much missed by staff, students and parents alike.”

To honor and recognize Thayer for his lifetime investment in the future of our young people, a reception is planned from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, June 13, at Vine Street School.

Bower wants our readers to know that “everyone is invited to come and wish him well.”

Deanna Wetzler and Stewart Bean are among those who hope you will attend the Exeter Historical Society Trash and Treasures Sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at the Masonic Hall at Exeter Corners village.

The event offers yard sale items and baked goods, and you also can bring in your returnable bottles and cans.

The EHS also will be selling postcards and notecards of the town.

Postcards are 50 cents each, and the notecards, with envelopes, are $3 for a set of four different photos.

All proceeds benefit the Exeter Historical Society.

For information, call Wetzler at 379-2449 or Bean at 285-7903.

Because so many of us have been affected, directly or indirectly, by cancer, I remind you that Sunday, June 2, is National Cancer Survivors Day.

Nationwide, 700 communities are sponsoring public events under the guidance of the National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation.

But you can simply take a moment during your day to, as the foundation suggests, “celebrate life, and to call attention to survivorship issues such as affordable and accessible health care, workplace discrimination and emotional and physical recovery.”

According to the National Cancer Institute, 8.9 million Americans who have faced cancer are alive today.

National Cancer Survivors Days also is a good time to recognize families, friends and professionals who are helping cancer survivors live with, and beyond, cancer.

There still is room for more teams to compete in the United Way of Eastern Maine Shop ‘n Save Golf Classic and Auction on Wednesday, June 5, at Hermon Meadow Golf Club.

The tournament is an 18-hole scramble. The $75-per-person entry fee includes a golf cart, giveaways, refreshments on the course and a steak and chicken barbecue lunch.

Co-sponsored by Pepsi, Oakhurst Dairy and the Bangor Daily News, proceeds benefit United Way of Eastern Maine’s Read for Success program.

Read for Success now includes 112 volunteers reading to children in child care centers, after-school programs and classrooms. Also, more than 6,000 books have been collected and distributed to area children.

To register for the tournament, call UWEM at 941-2800.

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