10 years ago – Sept. 5, 1992

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

BANGOR – Salvation Army and Red Cross chapters in Bangor are sending representatives to Florida as part of a massive effort to help hurricane victims there.

Capt. Frank Kirk of Bangor’s Salvation Army will head a team of medical experts and general volunteers from throughout New England that will leave Saturday for Homestead, Fla.

The group, including three nurses and a doctor, will travel directly to Homestead to help coordinate food and medical services for thousands of Florida residents who remain homeless after the Aug. 24 hurricane that destroyed property in south Florida.

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BANGOR – Area students will be introduced to meteorology, navigation and oceanography when the Lightship Nantucket No. 112 brings its educational program to Bangor and Belfast this month.

Public tours of the floating lightship will be offered at both port calls, but there is an added emphasis this year on exposing more students to the vessel and its unique history, and in supplementing lessons taught in the classroom.

More than 300 students from the Bangor area are scheduled for field trips to the Nantucket and classroom visits by ship volunteers. The Nantucket will be open for tours in Bangor from Sept. 8 to 13.

25 years ago – Sept. 5, 1977

HERMON – They came wearing faded bluejeans, T-shirts and hats of all kinds, and they carried coolers full of beer and ice, which they promptly consumed as they sat squat-legged on the infield of Speedway 95.

Despite promoter John Michael’s apologies to the Hermon Town Council last week for the advertising of his daylong concert here as “a rock extravaganza,” it turned out to be just that. But it went off without any major incidents, Michael and the sheriff’s department both said.

An estimated 10,000 people poured into the race track off the Odlin Road Saturday to hear a number of rock bands pour out their collective musical talents through house high speaker assemblies on each side of a small stage where they performed.

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ORONO – The service of consecration for the new sanctuary wing for the United Methodist Church in Orono will take place Sept. 11 at 10:45 a.m.

Leading the service will be Bishop Edward G. Carroll, the presiding bishop of the Boston area of the United Methodist Church.

Work was completed on the new sanctuary in June and the first service was held July 31. Work continues on the old building as it is renovated as a Christian Education Center. The public is invited to stop at any time to see the new building.

50 years ago – Sept. 5, 1952

ORONO – New techniques are being developed in the dehydration of potatoes that may affect substantially the marketing of spuds throughout the country. A.K. Gardner, consultant to the Maine Potato Tax Committee, advised today.

Gardner recently attended the fourth annual Conference on Potato Utilization Research in Denver, Colo., sponsored by the Research Branches of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture and the United Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Association.

“Showing great promise in the potato dehydration field is a new “add back” process being perfected by Dr. R.L. Olsen of the Western Regional Research Laboratory, Albany, California,” Gardner said.

Under Dr. Olsen’s “add back” method, potato cells in the dehydration process are not crushed substantially, so that, when reconstituted, they can scarcely be identified from the fresh product, according to Gardner.

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BANGOR – The board of directors of the Bangor-Brewer Community Chest has set this year’s campaign at $117,900, to be raised in an intensive drive opening officially on Sept. 6 and running through Oct. 1. The campaign goal for this year is $300 less than that of 1951, which was $118,200.

The announcement of the quota for this year was made by Earl C. Banks, general campaign chairman, following a meeting of the board held at Chest headquarters Wednesday evening.

In commenting on the goal set for 1952, Mr. Banks pledged to raising it by the united efforts of the entire campaign organization, consisting of nearly 1,000 Bangor and Brewer citizens. He pointed out that the people and the business enterprises in Bangor and Brewer are not only capable of reaching the goal, but can far surpass it if the “giving potential” of the communities can be tapped.

100 years ago – Sept. 5, 1902

ORRINGTON – Owing to the skies on inky blackness and mighty downpours of clear, cold rainwater, the Orrington fair was not extensively patronized on Thursday, its closing day. A few dozen people scattered themselves thinly through the grounds and about the rain-swept midway during the morning and early afternoon, but long before the proper hour for closing all interest had entirely ceased, and the dispirited fakirs and midway men began packing their water-soaked tents in preparation for the seeking of new fields. The fair of 1902 had passed into history.

Premiums have been awarded by the judges of the various departments as follows: stock, swine, poultry, sheep, fruit, and fancywork, including quilts, table and toilet mats, and needlework.

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ORONO – Twenty-four members of the Women’s Club went to Perkorock, Wednesday, Sept. 3, and held a most enjoyable field day. The pleasant Gould and Whitcomb cottage was thrown open for the use of the club. After a delicious banquet had been served, an informal but wholly admirable program was carried out, Mrs. Lucius Merrill, president of the club, presiding. Mrs. George Emory Fellows gave a talk on the work of some of the western women’s clubs. Mrs. James Stevens gave a humorous reading concerning the trials and tribulations of a club president, who was ignorant of the workings of parliamentary law. Mrs. George Hamlin wittily set forth the trials met in arranging a field day, and Mrs. W.M. Munson responded to the toast, Our Husbands. Mrs. Elizabeth Balentine was chosen delegate to the Federation of Women’s Clubs, which meets in Lewiston in October.

Compiled by Matt Poliquin