Winterport Musical Festival an eight-hour gala

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Those who remember the Bluegrass-Blueberry Festival in Winterport before it was discontinued a few years ago, might be interested in knowing that community has come up with another musical day that should please many tastes.

The Winterport Musical Festival begins at noon Saturday, Aug. 5, in Abbott Recreation Park.

Admission is just $5 for adults and free for children under 12.

Directed by town manager Phil Pitula, my former colleague Joe Brooks describes the events as a “buffet of musical treats” in a “gala, daylong event … that won’t end until nearly a dozen groups of musicians have performed.”

Tracy Gran is chairman of the Winterport Musical Festival Committee that is bringing you Souder & Williams, Mutt and Jeff, Union River Band, Spirit Fiddle, Piero Trio, Paul Anderson, Evergreen, Wolf Creek, Fiddlin’ Noah Gardner, King Pirogi, Sista Sadie and, concluding the event, the Kruger Brothers.

Two stages will be going non-stop for eight hours; vendors will have food ranging from pizza to sandwiches and hand-made ice cream by Mike Thibodeau “on his antique, single-stroke engine,” Brooks wrote.

The Festival has the support of the Town Council as well as donations from more than a dozen local businesses.

For more information, call the town office at 223-5055 or visit the town of Winterport Web site at winterportmaine.org and click on the Winterport Musical Festival Information link.

People passing through Winterport from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, will encounter a Voluntary Toll Booth and have the opportunity to find bargains at the Mile Long Yard Sale along Main Street.

Sponsored by the Winterport Woman’s Club, May Pardy reports proceeds will benefit a scholarship for a Hampden Academy student.

Heavy rains postponed one night of the 58th annual Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis Club Auction, its major fundraiser, so that final night now begins at 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, at Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds in Dover-Foxcroft.

Tom Lizotte reports all items must be sold during “Bargain Night.”

In addition to the auction, it offers a Bargain Barn, Book Barn, Food Sales and an Auction Raffle with a $500 grand prize.

The event raises about $20,000 to support Kiwanis charitable activities and programs for the area.

Speaking of Dover-Foxcroft, tickets for the P.E.T.S., or Prevent Euthanasia through Sterilization, annual quilt raffle are on sale through the end of August at Mr. Paperback there.

The 84-inch square quilt, Countryside Cottage, was handmade and donated by P.E.T.S. volunteer Vickie Brackett of Quilting Mania.

P.E.T.S. volunteers will also have raffle tickets available at the Piscataquis County Fair.

P.E.T.S. is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing overpopulation and suffering of companion animals through a reduced-cost, spay-neuter program.

President Joanne DeWitt invites you to the annual Milo Garden Club Summer Fair 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, at Penquis Valley Elementary School in Milo.

She promises “lots of perennials, plants, food, crafts, veggies and a newly-new table … as well as door prizes, a raffle and a silent auction.”

Luncheon will be available “by donation,” she wrote, adding that the club “uses its money to beautify the town, every year, with window boxes, Christmas wreaths and the upkeep of specific gardens.”

The club’s most recent project is the Veterans Park gazebo, so DeWitt hopes you will come to the Garden Club Summer Fair, and she will “see you all there.”

Members of the Bangor-Brewer Christian Women’s Club invite you to attend a Signs of the Times luncheon from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, at Spectacular Event Center, 395 Griffin Road in Bangor.

Admission is $10 for the lunch and the reservation deadline is Saturday, Aug. 5.

Bangor Interpreting Agency owner Nancy Ordway has donated her time for the program on American Sign Language interpretation reports club chairwoman Lucille Gosselin.

The agency’s assistant director, Annette Mayhew, will highlight the services available to people who are deaf and hearing impaired as well as teach attendees some basic American Sign Language.

Cherry Bradford of Derry, N.H., a teacher is the Manchester program for the deaf and hard of hearing who has more than 25 years experience at the elementary school level, “will share her life’s journey of being different,” Gosselin wrote.

Local music teacher Sandi Blanchette will entertain with music and song.

Anyone interested in this program is invited to attend, and complimentary child care will be provided.

To make reservations and-or arrangements for child care, call 989-5796 or 949-0691.

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