R.B. Hall Day honors composer, community bands

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Because we are so fortunate to have many wonderful community bands, music lovers need to know that one of the most enjoyable free summer events is the annual R. B. Hall Day.

The 22nd Annual R.B. Hall Day begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 29, at the Farmington Fairgrounds.

According to information provided by Brewer Hometown Band director Jan Cox, the Old Crow Indian Community Band of Farmington will be the host of this year’s event.

You are invited to “bring a chair, picnic lunch, etc., and enjoy Maine’s finest Community Bands!”

Robert Browne Hall was born into a musical family in Bowdoinham in 1858.

A coronet player, he was directing his own band by 19 and the following year was performing as a soloist in Boston.

Hall is credited with helping rebuild the Bangor Band in the early 1880s. The Bangor Band was established in 1859 and is believed to be this country’s second-oldest continuously performing community band.

He led bands in several other Maine communities and composed more than 120 pieces, of which 76 were marches.

The Maine Legislature established the last Saturday in June as R.B. Hall Day in honor of the man whose works were performed by such notable conductors as John Philip Sousa and played at such national occasions as the funeral of President John F. Kennedy.

The festival opens with the Skowhegan Area Community Band at 9 a.m., followed by the R.B. Hall Memorial Band at 9:40 a.m., the Bridgton Community Band, 10:20 a.m., the Westbrook City Band, 11 a.m., the Lincoln Community Band, 11:40 a.m., and the Massed Band at 12:20 p.m.

The Brewer Hometown Band plays at 1:40 p.m., followed by the Sebasticook Valley Community Band, 2:20 p.m., the Bath Municipal Band, 3 p.m., the Lincolnville Band, 3:40 p.m., the Italian Heritage Concert Band, 4:20 p.m., the Bangor Band, 5 p.m., the Casco Bay Concert Band, 5:40 p.m., and the Hallowell Community Band at 6:20 p.m.

Debbie Seybold invites interested individuals to become American Cancer Society Road to Recovery volunteers.

Anyone in Hancock County who thinks this would be a good way to help one or more of the 7,000 Maine residents living with cancer get to appointments and treatments should attend a Road to Recovery volunteer training session. It will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 26, in the council meeting room at the Bucksport Town Office.

Because many cancer patients cannot provide their own transportation, may not have family or friends who can do drive them, or may be too ill to drive themselves, the ACS is recruiting volunteers to ensure that all cancer patients have transportation when they need it.

Some cancer patients need transportation as often as five times a week for six weeks, and elderly cancer patients especially are in need of rides to treatment.

Whether you choose to volunteer once a month or once a week, your help is most welcome.

To register for this training session or to learn more about Road to Recovery, call Seybold at (880) 464-3102 and press 3.

Seven lovely gardens are open for your pleasure when you attend the Second Annual Garden Tour to benefit the University of Maine Softball Scholarship Fund from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 29, in Old Town and Orono.

Tickets are $12 each, and children under the age of 12 will be admitted free.

Tickets can be obtained at Dawn Till Done in Old Town, at Bell’s IGA in Orono or by calling Sharon Dupuis at 827-5708.

This year’s tour includes the Old Town gardens of Kathy Moriarty and Alice Kennedy, and the Orono gardens of Lenou Tipping and Tom Spits, Chris Dorian, Ed Lord, Lou and Murray Bain and Rhonda Smith.

Rock walls, archways, herbs, perennials, shrubs, vegetables, a small lot with many kinds of flowers, a pond, Japanese gardens, a patio and a mother’s garden now tended by her son are all part of this tour that helps young women attend UMaine and represent its softball program.

Lisa Harding of Levant is working to raise $175,000 to fund a Twin Towers Memorial to be erected in Augusta.

Sculptors Glenn and Diane Hines of Houlton have agreed to do the work, which is expected to be two black bronze towers, each three feet wide and 16 feet tall, with a policeman and firefighter on each side running toward the towers.

A glass case will hold the names of all those killed when the World Trade Center in New York City was hit by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.

Among the many fund-raisers planned for this project is the sale of 1,000 American flags.

The flags will be sold for $20 each.

Each flag will have a number and, at the end of a three-week raffle, one number will be drawn.

The individual with the lucky number will win a 3-year lease for a 2002 Malibu through Quirk Chevrolet at Quirk Auto Park of Bangor.

Harding purchased the lease, and the remaining funds raised through the sale of the flags will benefit the Twin Towers Memorial Fund.

The winner will be responsible for all taxes, Harding said.

The flags will be sold from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, July 6, at the Community Booth near Sears in the Bangor Mall.

You can also obtain the flags by calling Harding at 884-6066.

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