Everyone who wants to participate fully in May Festival 2003 on Friday, May 9, and Saturday, May 10, in downtown Bangor, needs to register and get tickets now because seating is limited and some events require preregistration and a small admission fee.

Admission to the festival itself is $7.50.

For that, you will receive a ticket to the May Festival luncheon and a button admitting you to other May Festival events, including a discount for the film “I’m Going Home” and the Penobscot Theatre Company production “I Hate Hamlet.”

Admission to Friday night’s May Festival dance is a separate ticket at $8 per person or $15 per couple, in advance.

At the door, tickets are $10 each or $18 per couple, so you can see it would be a good idea to preregister.

Tickets and registration are available at the Orono Pharmacy, 16 Mill St., Orono; BookMarc’s, 78 Harlow St., Bangor; the Greater Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau, 115 Main St., Bangor; Eastern Agency on Aging, 450 Essex St., Bangor; Hammond Street Senior Center, 2 Hammond St., Bangor; and Patrick’s Hallmark in the Broadway Shopping Center in Bangor.

More information on the event, held by the UMaine Center on Aging at the University of Maine and Eastern Agency on Aging, can be obtained by calling 581-3444 or visiting mainecenteronaging.org.

The two-day festival, “A Celebration of Generations,” features many activities that everyone will enjoy, reports chairwoman of volunteers Cynthia Cavanaugh.

She said that “new, exciting additions to the May Festival, which take place outside in Hannibal Hamlin Park,” include the introduction of “cloudlike sky structures covering parts of the park, sponsored by Dan Leaden of Acadia Fabric Structure, and a very entertaining Peruvian musician, Sergio Espinoza.”

Additionally, in Hannibal Hamlin Park, Cavanaugh said, “artists’ renderings of the proposed Bangor waterfront park and the Eastern Maine Arena and Convention Center” will be displayed, and “representatives of Bangor’s Business and Economic Development Bureau will be on hand to discuss these exciting new developments.”

Friday’s activities include workshops, art museum tours, a luncheon and a 5 p.m. after-hours Youth Chamber Music Concert in Bangor City Council chambers on the third floor of Bangor City Hall.

Saturday’s events include workshops, musical entertainment and an antiques appraisal, so you really should get your tickets and a schedule to plan your activities for these exciting two days.

Popular children’s singer-songwriter-performer Rick Charette will appear in concert at 7 p.m. Friday, May 9, at John Bapst Memorial High School on Broadway in Bangor.

Doors open for the All Saints Catholic School fund-raiser at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are $6.50 and can be purchased at either the St. John’s or St. Mary’s campus of All Saints and at Shepherd’s Path, The Briar Patch, Patrick’s Hallmark and Frank’s Bakery in Bangor or Touch of the Past in Brewer.

Charette, a Maine native, is adored for his snappy favorites such as “I Love Mud” and “There’s an Alligator in the Elevator.”

The third annual Kiwanis Variety Show, sponsored by Three Rivers Kiwanis of Milo and Brownville, begins at 7 p.m. Friday, May 9, and Saturday, May 10, in Wingler Auditorium at Milo Town Hall.

“Lost in the Fifties Tonight” is designed to appeal to all age groups “with its lively music and skits,” reports variety show co-chairwoman Kathy Witham.

Tickets are $5 each, and refreshments will be on sale.

Proceeds from the event benefit the Reading Is Fundamental program in SAD 41, which serves the communities of Milo, Brownville, Lakeview, LaGrange and Atkinson.

The board of trustees of Simpson Memorial Library of Carmel is holding its annual book sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, May 9, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 10, at the library in Carmel Village.

Trustee secretary Sue Kircheis promises you will find “a huge selection” of books at “very reasonable prices.”

For more information, call the library at 848-7145.

The sixth annual Spring Charity B&B tour, hosted by the Bar Harbor Bed and Breakfast Association, is from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 10.

Your $10 ticket grants you admission to 10 participating inns, according to Susan Schwartz, and your visit includes light refreshments.

Tickets can be purchased in advance and on the day of the tour, at the Primrose Bed and Breakfast on Mount Desert Street in Bar Harbor.

Proceeds from the event benefit Island Connections, an organization that helps older people and people with disabilities live independently at home.

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