The Maine Wildlife Park in Gray is offering a program that may be perfect for children who enjoy creating their own wildlife art.

Local artist Patricia Chandler will supervise and instruct a wildlife chalk art contest at the park on Aug. 21. Chandler will give a short introductory skill demonstration emphasizing wildlife.

Each participant will then be assigned a one-square-yard section of blacktop on which to create his or her work of wildlife art.

Chandler will encourage and advise the children as their work progresses. Each participant will receive a wildlife track card and poster, but there will also be a first prize – a $10 gift certificate to the park’s Nature Store – for each of five age groups.

The contest is open to everyone age 4-14, and a grand prize – a 2005 family pass to the park – will be awarded to the overall winner.

Chalk will be sold at the Nature Store, or participants can bring their own.

The event will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a rain date of Aug. 22.

MBA plans Shoot for a Cure

The Maine Bowhunters Association will sponsor a benefit event on Sunday at the Outdoor Sportsman in Northport.

The proceeds from “Shoot for a Cure” will help fund breast and cervical screening programs as well as educational material and support groups.

The event will run from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the entry fee is $10. The shoot features a 30-target 3-D course. First-time shooters can get instruction and shoot on the indoor range for a donation.

Hot dogs, soda and chips will be available for sale. For more information, call Troy Frye at 469-8905, Scott Abbott at 947-4597 or Jeff Hopkins at 469-8905, or check the MBA’s Web site at www.mainebowhunters.org.

Representatives of the Becoming an Outdoors Woman program will also be present to provide information about their course offerings.

Unity students earn scholarships

Rain and lightning stalled the festivities, but couldn’t stop a crowd of 300 who fished on Unity Pond for the chance to win college scholarships Aug. 1.

The second-annual Fishing for Scholarships Tournament, which is sponsored by Unity College, which bills itself as “America’s Environmental College.”

The tournament offers new and returning students the chance to earn tuition scholarships either by catching tagged fish or through drawings and raffles.

The big scholarship winners this year: Mike Bradford of Bear, Del., who won $1,100, and $1,000-winners Bruce Currie of Hodgdon and Matt Pawlikowski of Rome, N.Y.

The competitor count increased almost 80 percent this year, as 161 students from 15 states participated. Last year just 92 students participated.

Though nobody won the biggest prizes offered – tuition scholarships for four years, one year, or $5,000 – it wasn’t for lack of trying. Nearly all entrants took advantage of the chance to bring a friend to fish with them.

To submit an item for publication in the Outdoor Notebook, send e-mail to jholyoke@bangordailynews.net, fax to 990-8092 or mail information to Outdoor Notebook, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor, Maine, 04402-1329.