Once, many yaars ago, there was a group of families who lived along Smith Pond, about five miles outside Millinocket, on the way to Millinocket Lake.

Those families have since scattered, but wonderful memories remain of days gone by for members of this close-knit community, and many of those same folks are planning to share those memories this summer.

Former residents of Smith Pond, of all ages, and their families, are being asked to “save the date” for the Smith Pond Reunion, which will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday, July 2, at the camp of Billy McDonald on Fire Road 14 in Smith Pond.

The reunion will be held rain or shine.

A tent and tables will be provided, but you are asked to bring your own chairs and await details about food, which will be provided at a later date.

Bridget Fraser Woodward of Bangor wants you to know a memory board will be constructed during the day, so be sure to bring pictures and other memorabilia you would like to share.

And while there is no fee to attend the reunion, donations to cover expenses would be greatly appreciated.

If you would like more information about the Smith Pond Reunion, call Lorraine Boyington at 723-4468; write Bridget Woodward, 20 Coombs St., Bangor 04401; call her at 942-6637; or e-mail bridgetsmithpond@gmail.com.

To date, Woodward reports, response to the reunion plans has been tremendous. Organizers have been in contact with former Smith Pond residents from Maine to California.

“Indefinitely postponed” was the consensus of Orono town fathers 100 years ago when a decision had to be made whether to pursue funding for a public library building offered by Andrew Carnegie.

A century has passed, and Orono still has no free-standing library, but that is about to change.

On behalf of the Orono Library Foundation, Polly Camp invites you to an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 19, at the Keith Anderson Community House in Orono.

The event celebrates the community’s decision to build a free-standing public library and will feature a skit about that important 1906 town meeting. The skit will be written and performed by local students and residents.

The celebration also will include viewing of the new building plans and a talk with the architect. Children will have an opportunity to make period hats, and there will be background music, refreshments and a chance to have your photo taken with “Andrew Carnegie.”

Speaking of Orono, Bicentennial Committee member Marlene Doucette thanks “everybody for all they did, and everyone who brought those cakes” for Orono’s recent Bicentennial Birthday 200 Cakes Party.

“We hit our goal,” Doucette said of the event that featured 215 cakes.

Until the last minute, she told me, the committee wasn’t sure the celebration would come off as planned, but even though the committee members didn’t have an advance count, “they came through for us,” Doucette said of Orono residents who enjoyed this delicious event that attracted more than 500 guests.

People in the Pittsfield area are rallying behind the families of Clayton and Marilyn Hunt, their son Craig Hunt, and his girlfriend, Cindy Taylor, who lost everything when a fire burned their home earlier this month.

A benefit supper for the Hunt family is planned for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 23, at the Elks Lodge on Middle Street in Pittsfield.

Admission is by donation, and anyone wishing to help in any way is urged to call Sharon Knowles at 368-5384.

Emergencies like the fire that destroyed the Hunt family’s home put a great deal of strain on the American Red Cross, as Pine Tree Chapter executive director Susan Bell points out.

Since the last day of February, she wrote, the PTC has responded to 14 separate house-apartment fires affecting 15 families and more than 40 people from Caribou to Searsport, Eastport and Bangor.

Currently, emergency workers and disaster relief volunteers are working with those families to help provide immediate emergency assistance in the form of food, clothing and shelter.

Thanks to your generous, voluntary donations of time and money, all Red Cross disaster assistance is free.

It is you who enable the Pine Tree Chapter workers to respond to emergencies affecting residents of Aroostook, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Washington, Hancock, Waldo, Knox and parts of Lincoln counties.

Donations can be sent to the Pine Tree Chapter of the American Red Cross, 33 Mildred Ave., Bangor 04401.

For information about how you can help in other ways, call the PTC at 941-2903.

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