Camp benefit planners singing, ‘Let it snow!’

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Once again, it’s time to start singing that wintertime favorite, “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.”

That’s so folks participating in the 7th annual 5 Club Poker Run to benefit Pine Tree Camp for Handicapped Children and Adults in Rome can do so using their snowmobiles rather than their automobiles, although both are equally acceptable.

The event is sponsored by the snowmobile clubs of Carmel, Glenburn, Hampden, Hermon and Levant.

Check-in time is from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 21, at the club of your choice, and you must return by 4 p.m. to your starting point.

Susan Hall of Hampden said 100 percent of all proceeds benefit Pine Tree Camp, and there is no limit on the number of hands you can purchase.

“Each club sponsors its own breakfast, lunch and/or supper, and other activities,” she added, “so it’s a good idea to check in with your club to find out what is available, like raffles or door prizes.”

Hall des-cribes this event, which raised more than $2,500 last year, as a fundraiser “for a very good cause,” but also considers it a “good chance for different clubs to work together and get to know each other.”

Besides your snowmobile or your automobile, and your money, the only other thing you really need to bring is your appetite.

It promises to be a fun event, no matter what the weather, but it certainly would be nice if these snowmobilers could enjoy their machines on this special day.

For more information about this event, call Bill Hall at 862-2062.

Members of the public are invited to preview a pilot DVD of videotaped interviews with former Eastern Fine Paper Mill Co. workers, along with photographs of a century of work at the mill from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, in the Brewer Auditorium conference room.

The DVD, overseen by photographer and New Media lecturer Bill Kuykendall, is the result of an effort to collect and preserve the stories of generations of former workers of Eastern Fine by the Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine, which has received renewed funding from the Maine Humanities Council to sustain the project.

So far, approximately 20 people have been interviewed, according to a UMaine press release, and it is hoped more people who worked at the mill, or were affected by its operation or closure, will come forward with their stories.

Interviewers will record workers’ accounts of jobs they performed; how they learned their skills; stories about the mill, its people or events that occurred, including rituals and pranks; as well as feelings workers had about their jobs, both before and after the mill closed.

The gathered information will be part of an exhibit titled “The Writing on the Wall: The Twentieth Century Culture of a Maine Paper Mill,” which will open in the Brewer mill and travel throughout Maine.

For more information about the project, or the coming meeting, call Pauleena MacDougall or Amy Stevens at the Maine Folklife Center, 581-1891.

A $1,000 grant from the Maine Humanities Council has enabled the Orono Historical Society to offer a series of monthly public lectures on Orono’s history as that town celebrates its bicentennial.

The first lecture will feature University of Maine anthropologist Dr. David Sanger and UMaine geologist Dr. Harold Borns discussing Orono’s pre-history.

The lecture begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, in the Orono Town Council chambers.

All lectures are free and open to the public.

A complete Orono bicentennial committee schedule of events can be found at www.orono2006.com/

events.htm.

James Day of Presque Isle is hospitalized in Fairfax County, Va., after quadruple bypass surgery and a stroke, and friends are trying to raise money to help him come home.

Dorothy McNulty called to report that a Benefit Supper for James Day is planned for 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at the VFW Hall in Presque Isle.

Admission is $5 per person, and the public is invited to attend.

“People are trying to get him up here,” McNulty said.

“They have a man with a private plane who will fly him home for nothing, but they need money to get him from the hospital to the airport.”

If you cannot attend, but would like to contribute to this effort or want more information about the benefit supper, call McNulty at 764-3484.

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