(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – May 18, 1996

HAMPDEN – A select group of high school musicians and singers from around the state arrived in Hampden to participate in the Maine All-State Music Festival. After months of individual practice, and intensive group work with distinguished guest conductors, their efforts culminated in two concert performances.

Tenor David Madore, 18, of Hampden is planning a professional career in music and enjoys seeing friends he has made at other seminars and music camps.

Trumpet player Jason Amsden, 18, also from Hampden, welcomes the opportunity to compare techniques with peers from other music programs.

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BANGOR – When you go to shows every week – or even a few times a month, you begin to sense that all the world really is a stage and that you, too, are a player.

Eventually, you have a sense of what the local performing arts scene is about – its weaknesses and strengths, its beauty marks and warts.

From September until May, the Bangor Daily News ran more than 50 reviews from the Bangor area, and that doesn’t even begin to cover the number of performances that went unrecorded.

Face it. Bangor is an arts town of sorts. As such, it has a theater, a symphony, ballet companies and several smaller groups to keep you busy on weekends.

25 years ago – May 18, 1981

OLD TOWN – Our Neighborhood Club held its annual banquet at The Helm Restaurant in Bangor. Past president Cora Paradis installed the incoming officers, using as her theme, “Spices.”

Leota Moors, president, was installed as “allspice,” a combination of many traits; Jan Littlefield, vice president, as “parsley,’ an aid and added spice; Bonny Freeman, secretary, “rosemary,” denoting fidelity; and Hope West, treasurer, “ginger,” a necessary and important ingredient.

50 years ago – May 18, 1956

BANGOR – A new million-dollar campus for Husson College may be built near outer Broadway in the near future, according to plans now being made by Chesley H. Husson, president and founder of the college.

Negotiations are now under way for the purchase of a 50-acre campus on the Earle M. Hillman property on outer Broadway. The campus would be reached through a new street which has been approved by the city planning board and accepted by the City Council. The new street will be known as Grandview Avenue.

Plans for the expansion of Husson College facilities have been under way for some time, but were spurred by the fact that registrations already have been accepted from enough students to replace the graduating class. President Husson anticipates 600 requests for registration by the time school opens in the fall. The present freshman class numbers 413.

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BANGOR – The hub cap bandit has struck again.

Exactly one week after his first job, Bangor’s nocturnal thief struck again Wednesday night, stealing three hub caps from an automobile parked near the old auditorium.

Assuming that the same person is responsible for all the recent thefts, police figure that he now owns the biggest private collection of hub caps in this section of the state. Wednesday night’s haul brought the week’s total to 17 hub caps.

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ORONO – Various phases of life in Orono during the past 150 years are being recreated on 23 paintings by seven Orono artists to shown at the Orono Sesquicentennial celebration.

The paintings, which are being done in watercolor, will be 18 by 20 inches in size and are to be used in three parts of the three-day celebration. For the most part, the scenes will be copied from old photographs. Some, however, will be the products of the artists’ imaginations and others will be a recreation of verbal or written descriptions.

The amateur artists engaged in the work are Philip J. Brockway, Mrs. Howard Nichols, Mrs. Ashley Campbell, Miss Frances Clapp, Mrs. Dorothy Queen, Mrs. Christine Abbott and Fred K. Round.

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MILFORD – The first injections of Salk polio vaccine for Milford youngsters will be given Friday morning at the Libby School. Dr. John J. Pearson will be the physician in charge. In addition to two local nurses, Miss Bertha Simpson and Mrs. Elizabeth Spruce, volunteer helpers will be Mrs. Alfred Craig, Mrs. Gilman Bouchard and Mrs. Millard Libby.

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BANGOR – The seemingly never-ending attempts to outfox parking meters continue in Bangor – probably in common with most other cities – and except for the nuisance they cause, the meter is far and away the winner.

Practically every time the meters are emptied by collectors, various extraneous items turn up in coin boxes as a small percentage of motorists persist in trying to come up with a device that will trip the mechanism.

For the most part the items, such as washers, foreign coins, bus and ferry tokens and other things that only remotely resemble coins, slide through without registering.

Some get jammed on the way through the mechanism and clog it up, and some do start the clock ticking, but here again the motorist is likely to be the loser. He probably thinks he has an hour coming to him, whereas in fact his gimmick probably didn’t work properly and the red flag may fly up before he’s around the corner.

100 years ago – May 18, 1906

BANGOR – Tremendous interest has been aroused in the mass meeting called to protest against the summer schedule announced by the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. It is practically assured that hundreds of the city’s most prominent business and professional men will attend. This is not surprising as the question is one which vitally concerns the welfare of both Bangor and Aroostook County.

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BANGOR – The season on the Meadowbrook golf links promises to be a very busy and enjoyable one. Elaborate plans are being made for the comfort and entertainment of the members and their guests.

During the season there will be four drive bridge parties. Tickets will be sold for these parties and the proceeds devoted to furnishing the new clubhouse. These parties were arranged by Miss Chapman, Miss Engel, Miss Prentiss, Mrs. E.T. Savage and Mrs. Henry Bradley.

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CARMEL – The walls of the new creamery building are up and boarded. Quite a large force of men are employed on the building and foundation. Cream is being bought three days a week and shipped to other plants of the company.

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BUCKSPORT – The salmon fishing still continues fairly good. Manley Abbott caught a 22-pound beauty in his weir, which is located in the rear of the old shoe factory on Main Street. The fishermen on the island had fair luck and caught quite a number. Decator Bridges took them to Bangor where they found ready purchasers. Mr. Abbott shipped his to Boston parties by American Express.

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BUCKSPORT – Louis C. Davis had just received a new line of foreign and domestic postcards. Views of San Francisco before and since the disaster [earthquake], and leather cards for the new postal card pillow craze are part of the stock. A full line of postal card albums are available, 15 cents and up.

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BUCKSPORT – Alvah G. Dorr made a fine catch of cod below Verona Park landing. Three of the fish weighed 65 pounds.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin