The public is invited to participate in three coming events hosted by the Marine Environmental Research Institute on Main Street in Blue Hill.

In conjunction with its board of directors’ annual summer meeting, MERI invites the public to an art opening and reception at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, in the MERI Ocean Art Gallery.

The exhibit features “Paintings of the Sea” by Jean Palmer Messex, a lifelong summer resident of Blue Hill. A portion of the proceeds from sales of her artwork will benefit MERI research and educational programs.

Immediately after the art opening, you can attend a lecture and panel discussion titled “Is Fish Safe to Eat? Fish Consumption and Human Health” at 7 p.m. at that location.

The panelists are Dr. David Carpenter of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the State University of New York at Albany; Dr. Deborah Rice of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and Dr. Susan Shaw, MERI founder and executive director.

Carpenter and Shaw are also members of the MERI board of directors, and Rice is a member of its scientific advisory board.

This lecture may help answer questions about the health benefits of eating fish in light of recent scientific findings indicating that certain fish species carry high levels of contaminants.

Finally, MERI board member Amy Briton and her “Moms for MERI” group invite you to attend the second annual MERI Family Festival from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 13, on the grounds of the MERI Center.

The festival features ocean-theme games, crafts, a dunk the dads tank, and more than a dozen games that are all part of this fun-filled plus educational day.

Willy Claflin, a two-time American Library Association Notable Children’s Recording Award-winner, will be featured along with the Rhythm Rockets, a local youth steel drum band.

With the exception of the sale of light refreshments, all activities and events, including the art opening and lecture, are free and open to the public.

Whether you’re a local resident, a from-away summer resident, a summer resident who lives elsewhere in Maine, or a visitor to the Hancock County area, you’re sure to delight in the interesting activities offered by the Historical Society of the town of Hancock.

Its president, author Sandy Phippen, wrote recently that two events are planned for August, and both are free and open to the public.

The first is the appearance of novelist Miriam Colwell at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 11, at the Hancock Community Center on Route 1 in Hancock.

The Prospect Harbor native will read from and discuss her latest novel, “Contentment Cove,” Phippen wrote. “This novel is the first new book Colwell has published in 50 years, and is the last book edited and published by the late Constance Hunting and her Puckerbrush Press in Orono.”

Then “by popular demand,” he explained, there will be another open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, at the old South Hancock-Hancock Point Schoolhouse on Hancock Point Road.

“Again this year,” Phippen wrote, “a former teacher at the school, Elizabeth DeShon Tibbetts, will be the guest of honor.” Tibbetts taught there from 1937 to 1939.

This program is co-sponsored by Dick and Patty Moll, and everyone is welcome to attend either or both events.

How proud members of the First Congregational Church of Ellsworth must be that they are hosting their 130th summer fair from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 12, at the church on Church Street in Ellsworth.

And how pleased I was to obtain this information, once again, from Viola Sargent who, by my count, must now be in her 95th year!

Viola wants you to know that this year’s fair includes “hand crafts, Christmas ornaments, cooked food and much more in the church basement.”

Members of Franklin Historical Society invite you to take a Granite Workshop with Mark Herrington, to learn how to hand-cut granite, from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 12, at Herrington’s Franklin Workshop Quarry on Route 182.

The workshop fee is $40 for the day, during which you will learn how to use hand chisels, hammers and drills, and even make a few granite benches.

One lucky student will win a granite bench of his or her own.

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