16th Garden Show features birdhouse contest

BANGOR – Keep Bangor Beautiful is sponsoring its first annual birdhouse building contest as a special feature of the 16th annual Bangor Garden Show, Friday-Sunday, April 7-9, and at preview night, Thursday, April 6, at the Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center. A wedding-themed Penobscot District of State Garden Clubs standard judged flower show will add a touch of romance to the garden show.

The birdhouse contest is open to children ages 7-17. Individuals, groups and school classes are entering. Winning birdhouses will be displayed at the garden show. Competitors are urged to donate their birdhouses for use by the Bangor Land Trust in Bangor, Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden, and Ecotat Gardens in Hermon. Those organizations are especially interested in bluebird-nesting boxes.

Winners will be selected from the following categories:

. Groups and classrooms, all ages – minimum of five entries. First prize, $100.

. Individuals, age 15-17, first prize $50; age 11-14, first prize, $50; age 8-10, first prize $50 U.S. Savings Bond; age 5-7, first prize, $50 U.S. Savings Bond.

Other highlights of the Bangor Garden Show are its landscape design exhibits, the vendor marketplace, an auction, garden competitions, educational displays, cafe court dining and lecture series.

The lecture schedule is:

. Container gardening for children, 2 p.m. Friday, April 7; and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 9.

. Hands-on flower arranging, 5-7 p.m. Friday, April 7.

. Leapin’ lizards, 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 7.

. Hand-painted mailboxes, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 8.

. Unusual composting, 11 a.m. Saturday, April 8.

. Book signing with garden writer Carol Stocker, 5-8 p.m. Saturday, April 8; and 1 p.m. Sunday, April 9.

. Backyard birding slide show, 2 p.m. Sunday, April 9.

Visitors to the garden show won’t want to miss the live auction at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8. Some of the items to go on the block are hand-carved duck decoys, a white cedar arbor, a riding lawn mower, overnight stays at regional hotels and a bouquet of the month for 12 months.

Maine artist Lyn Snow’s original “Dutch Iris” painting will be raffled at the garden show. Snow created the painting especially for the Bangor Garden Show. Her paintings and prints will be showcased at vendor booth 45 at the show.

Businesses providing food at the garden show are Ann Marie’s Kitchen, Bagel Central, The Chocolate Grille, Evo Italian Brickoven, Frank’s Bakery, the Lucerne Inn, Muddy Rudder, Opus, Perri House Restaurant, Sara’s Cottage Bakery, the Seadog Brewing Co. and Thistle’s Restaurant.

Education Division organizations represented at the garden show are Bangor Area Storm Water, Bangor Land Trust, Eastern Maine Orchid Society, Keep Bangor Beautiful, Hancock County Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners, Maine Forest Service, Maine Integrated Pest Management, Maine Natural Areas Program and the Peony Society of Maine.

Garden show hours are 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 7-8; and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, April 9. The cost is $8, $3 children, free under 5.

Garden show sponsors are Bangor Daily News, city of Bangor, Hollywood Slots, Merrill Bank and WBRC Architects-Engineers.