Writing on behalf of organizers of Old Home Sunday, Dr. Everett Parker, pastor of Shirley Community Church, reminds everyone associated with that small Maine community the event is Sunday, Aug. 7.

He invites you to attend a special church service at 11 a.m. that day at the church, and asks you to please note the time change, since regular Sunday services are 9 a.m.

After the service, the Old Home Sunday Dinner will be served at 12:30 p.m. at Shirley Town Hall, where you will dine on food prepared by those whom Parker describes as “some of the Moosehead region’s finest cooks.”

The menu includes ham, potato salad, coleslaw, two kinds of homemade baked beans, bread and beverage.

You will complete your meal by choosing from a “wide variety and assortment of homemade pies,” Parker added.

Admission is $7 for adults; $3 for children 5-12; and free for children under 5. The dinner is a major fundraiser for this community church.

One of the highlights of Old Home Sunday will be a special Mortgage Burning Ceremony in which church members will celebrate paying off a mortgage that enabled them to purchase the former United Methodist Church building.

And while the $29,000 was actually raised and paid off last fall, church members chose to wait until now to celebrate that accomplishment so as many people as possible could attend the celebration.

Parker also reports recent work on the Shirley Community Church has made it “more comfortable” for those attending activities or services there.

A new furnace has been installed to keep it warmer in the winter, and Lee Turner has completed work on the stained-glass windows, which now can be opened for better air flow on hot days, especially this August Sunday, Parker wrote.

Members of the public are invited to attend both the church service and the dinner.

In addition to participating in this annual summer reunion and the mortgage burning ceremony, you also can join in discussions of plans for next year’s centennial celebration of the Shirley Community Church.

For more information about this event, call Parker at 695-3163.

Local Grange members certainly are working to “keep Grange alive,” as membership chairwoman Thelma Andrews of Brewer wrote in announcing a coming event sponsored by a now combined Grange.

Andrews explained that Old Town Grange and Riverside Grange of Brewer have joined forces to become Old Town-Riverside Grange No. 273, and that its members will meet twice a month.

“Plans are under way for a public supper the first Saturday of each month,” Andrews added, and the next supper is 4:30-6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Grange Hall on outer North Main Street in Brewer.

The cost is $5 for adults and $2.50 for children for the meal that features baked beans, ham and vegetables, with strawberry shortcake for dessert.

“We welcome the public to come,” Andrews wrote, “and also invite new members to join us. Let’s keep the Grange alive!”

For visitors to our area who’ve never attended one of our popular local public suppers, this is a great opportunity to do so and get a taste of real, down-home Maine cooking.

The 2nd annual MDA Poker Run, to benefit the Maine Chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, is one month from today.

The event, which is open to all riders and motorcycles, begins at 9:30 a.m. Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5, at WABI-TV 5, 35 Hildreth St. in Bangor.

The ride is 90-100 miles, with three stops to draw cards, and ends at 3 p.m. at The Sports Arena on Route 2 in Hermon.

Sponsored by Central Maine Harley-Davidson/Buell, WABI TV 5, Cumulus Broadcasting and The Sports Arena, pre-registration is $15 per hand with no limit on the number of hands purchased.

Preregistration is encouraged, and you can choose to ride in small or large groups.

However, if you are unable to pre-register, you can do so from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at WABI TV 5.

You can also participate, nonregistered, for $20 per hand, with no incentives or prizes.

Coincidentally, 2005 is the 25th Anniversary of the MDA/Harley-Davidson partnership, and the ride begins live, on air, during the local broadcast of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day MDA Telethon.

For more information, call Kim Mancini at MDA, 854-3749, or Robin Cummings at Central Maine Harley-Davidson, 848-5709.

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