This invitation comes your way from the Heart of Maine Chorus of Sweet Adelines International, via member Anita McGarry of Bangor.

“All ladies are invited to test out that special feeling of four-part harmony, barbershop style,” she wrote of the organization’s Musical Open House for Women at 7 p.m. Monday Oct. 17, at St. John’s Catholic Church, 207 York St. in Bangor.

Of four-part harmony, barbershop style, McGarry wrote, “There is the correct part for each person’s ability, so bring along a friend and sing together.”

She emphasizes that potential barbershoppers do not “need to be able to read music, as tapes are provided for each part, and section leaders are our guides.”

This year, the Heart of Maine Chorus celebrated its 25th anniversary and, as it enters its 26th year, its members hope to attract even more singers to enjoy this special harmonic experience.

For more information, call 827-3509 or 989-5370, or McGarry at 942-6046.

Page Farm and Home Museum is offering a Brown Bag Lunch Program at noon Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the museum on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono.

The program, with presenters Melissa Ladenheim and Virginia Fortier, is the video, “In Their Own Words,” offering personal reflections about the history of Old Town. The program will be followed by a discussion period, and the event is free and open to the public.

Ella Waitt of Hampden is president of the 90-year-old Bangor Nature Club, which is seeking new members to keep it “perking into the 21st century,” she wrote.

BNC will host its Annual Luncheon at noon Thursday, Oct. 13, at United Methodist Church at Eddington Bend on Route 9.

Admission is $10, and reservations can be made by calling Waitt at 990-1206.

The guest speaker is retired Augusta educator Duane Prugh, whose slide presentation and lecture, “Exploring Maine’s Covered Bridges and Lighthouses,” is sure to please.

BNC membership “is open to all who are interested in conservation and the education of future generations,” Waitt said.

Regular meetings are 1 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month at First Congregational Church, 35 Church St. in Brewer.

Waitt hopes to hear from you, whether you wish to make a reservation for this special event, or to learn more about this historic organization.

The Salvation Army’s seventh annual Harvest Auction is 6-10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, and Saturday, Oct. 15, at 65 South Park St. in Bangor.

Doors open for browsing at 5:30 p.m. each day and light refreshments will be available.

There is no admission, and your donations of items for this auction would be greatly appreciated.

For more information about making a contribution to this event that helps The Salvation Army serve so many of our neighbors in need, call either Maj. Deb Burr or program director Mary McKay at 941-2990.

Organizer Bill Gawley invites the public to attend a Benefit Concert for Hurricane Katrina victims 7-10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Blue Hill Town Hall.

The benefit features Gawley, Juliane Gardner, Blue Gene and Frank Gotwals, and the rock ‘n’ roll band Pushing Zero.

Admission is by donation, and Gotwals added, “donations will be divided equally among Habitat for Humanity’s Hurricane recovery effort, the Backbeat Fund’s effort to help New Orleans musicians rebuild their homes, Pastors for Peace people-to-people humanitarian aid, and Acadiana Outreach Shelter to help shelter evacuees.”

According to the concert release supplied by Carolyn Coe, your donations “will support several groups so that local citizens, especially poor people and people of color, have the resources to organize, at the grassroots level, to direct the rebuilding of their communities.”

For information, call Gawley at 326-0612.

Maureen Chicoine reports the Maine Franco-American Genealo-gical Society is hosting a 25th anniversary Open House at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Great Falls School on the corner of High and Academy streets in Auburn.

The MFGS was founded in 1980 as the Father Leo E. Begin chapter of the American Canadian Genealogical Society to honor the late priest who “accumulated a small library during his lifetime” of service to “Franco-Americans of that region,” Chicoine wrote.

It became an independent, nonprofit organization in January 2001 and today serves “primarily as a self-help genealogical research library dedicated to assisting individuals in recovering their family’s history and thus a greater sense of self.”

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