The local coordinators for the Council for International Educational Exchanges are seeking host families for the 2005-2006 school year.

Dennis and Delia Michaud of Bangor invite interested individuals to contact them this month to ensure that there is enough time to become better acquainted before the visiting students’ arrival in August.

The host families provide room and board for the students, transportation to and from school, and a place to study.

The exchange students have their own medical insurance and spending money.

The local coordinators already have placed eight exchange students in area high schools whose home countries are Brazil, Germany, Japan, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine.

The Michauds write that they “invite interested families to open their home to a mutual, exceptional experience in international cultures that will last a lifetime,” and suggest this opportunity will help you “discover what a difference a single American family can make in our world.”

For more information, call the Michauds at 990-0963, e-mail ddmich@myexcel.com or write them at 523 Union St., Bangor 04401.

More information is also available at www.council exchanges.org.

CIEE is a nonprofit international organization.

The great cooks of Dixmont join with the gracious volunteer members of Back Door Dance Studio’s Zoot Suit Revue in a benefit for the Dixmont Bicentennial Committee.

Dixmont will celebrate that special occasion in 2007.

Zoot Suit Revue, a Dessert Social, begins with a dessert sale at 5:30 p.m. and the show at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 9, at the Etna-Dixmont School on Town Line Route 143 in Dixmont.

Admission is by donation.

Directed by Chuck and Sue McKay of Eddington, this group of enthusiastic entertainers will delight you with their dances from the ’20s through the ’50s.

The menu features cheesecake, cookies, brownies, cakes, fudge, pies, popcorn, punch and coffee.

The benefit, which sounds like a great way to get over these gray days, includes door prizes and a 50-50 raffle.

Waldo and Kathleen Tarbell of Pembroke can be counted as a most fortunate couple: They are preparing to celebrate their 78th wedding anniversary on Saturday, April 9.

What would make this day even more special for them would be hearing from friends, old and new.

Your congratulatory greetings can be sent to the Tarbells at 40 Middle St., Pembroke 04666.

Here is a reminder the Manpower MS Walk, the Maine chapter’s major fund-raiser, begins this weekend with walks Saturday, April 9, in Augusta, Bangor, Brunswick, Pittsfield and Waterville.

Walks will be held Sunday, April 10, in Androscoggin County, Biddeford, Camden-midcoast, Greater Portland, Sanford and York.

The last group of walks will be Saturday, May 14, in Bethel, Eastport, Ellsworth and Guilford.

Registration can be made by calling (800) 526-8890 or by visiting www.msmaine.org.

Comedian Bob Marley will appear in concert to benefit Mount Desert Island High School 2005 Project Graduation.

The concert is 5 p.m. Sunday, April 10, in the high school gymnasium.

Ticket are $15 each and can be obtained by calling or visiting the high school, 288-5011; Gott’s Store, Southwest Harbor; Sewing by the Sea, Trenton; and Cadillac Mountain Sports, Bar Harbor and Ellsworth.

A silent auction precedes the concert.

Bidding starts at 3 p.m. and ends at intermission of the concert.

Kathy Stanley reports the silent auction will feature services, gift certificates and items donated by senior class families and local business owners.

Proceeds will help fund the Class of 2005 Project Graduation evening cruise out of Boothbay Harbor.

Volunteers Sue Slate, Phyllis Dyer, Salley Sue Pearson, Mary Shapleigh and Julie Gallagher of P.E.T.S., Prevent Euthanasia through Sterilization, serving the Dover-Foxcroft area, report its recent fund-raiser was a great success, raising nearly $1,000.

Two more fund-raisers are planned to help this reduced cost, spay-neuter program.

Volunteers will sell raffle tickets for a Weekend Getaway for Two during regular store hours, Saturday, April 9, at Shop ‘n Save in Dexter.

The drawing is Friday, April 15.

Tickets are also available at Cup and Easel on Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft, or from P.E.T.S. volunteers.

P.E.T.S. will sponsor a bottle drive Saturday, April 16, in the area, with a rain date of April 30.

For more information about any P.E.T.S. activity, call Slate, 379-2809; Dyer, 564-8072; Pearson, 876-2752; Shapleigh, 564-8092 or Gallagher, 943-5083.

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