Holiday show to aid Charles Howard Foundation

Space is limited but tickets are still available for Christmas With The First Timers, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and the show starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, in the Ninth Floor Ballroom of the Four Points Sheraton at Bangor International Airport.

Tickets are $15 for singles, $25 for couples. Parking is free, and a cash bar will be available.

The show features female impersonators Miss Caddy DeVille and Lady Daniella and special guest Grand Duchess of Southern Maine Pride.

The production, which runs to 9 p.m. and will be followed by dancing to music from the 1950s to the 1970s, is a fundraiser for the Charles Howard Foundation and its efforts to help nontraditional and traditional students attend college, explained Linda Estes, secretary-treasurer of the foundation.

For ticket information, visit Epic Sports at 6 Central St. in Bangor or call (800) 466-2296 or 941-5670.

Downeast Community Hospital Auxiliary president Lil Hanscom wrote that the DECH Auxiliary Christmas Craft Fair is 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, in Alumni Gymnasium at Washington Academy in East Machias.

“It’s our 35th year, and it seems to get better each year,” Hanscom wrote last month when 53 crafters already had signed up to participate, including 10 who “have joined us for the first time.”

Pictures with a “very photogenic” Santa Claus who has “some sweet surprises” for visitors will be available along with breakfast and lunch selections.

Fair-goers will find gift ideas such as doll clothes, sea glass accessories, note cards, Washington County area photos, baskets, Maine music and raffles.

Some tickets remain for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s 23rd annual production of The Nutcracker with the Robinson Ballet for three shows this weekend at Maine Center for the Arts in Orono.

Local television news anchor Jim Morris of WABI-TV Channel 5 appears as Mother Ginger in the 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, performance; WVII-TV Channel 7 news anchor Cindy Michaels fills the role for the 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, performance; and WLBZ-TV Channel 2 news anchor Donna Gormley is the mother for the 3 p.m. performance Sunday, Dec. 3.

Tickets range from $22 to $32, with senior, youth and group discounts available, and can be reserved online at bangorsymphony.com or by calling the BSO box office (800) 639-3221 or 942-5555.

You are invited to the Holly Berry Fair 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at Trinitarian Congregational Parish Church on Main Street in Castine.

Gene Bland reports that you will find handcrafts, knitted items, Christmas decorations, greens, baked goods, and gently used household items. The luncheon offering is a choice of fish chowder or chili, hot dogs and homemade desserts.

Proceeds from the fair, which is sponsored by the Dr. Mary Cushman Circle, benefit charities including Hospice of Hancock County, Hancock County Habitat for Humanity, Maine Sea Coast Mission and Hancock County Medical Mission.

The Pembroke Historical Society Craft Fair is 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at Pembroke Elementary School.

Proceeds help to maintain the society’s activities and museum.

Stained-glass work by Mark and Arlene Wren of Robbinston; tole paintings by Joan Dodge of Alexander, handcrafted pottery by Don Sutherland of Eastport, photographs by Fred Knapp of Princeton, handcrafted jewelry by Amanda Williams of Charlotte, polar fleece garments by Ellen Brown of Perry and folk art dolls by Theo McDonough of Charlotte are among the gift opportunities.

PHS also will sell back issues of its newsletter, souvenir plates, T-shirts and sweat shirts, memberships and raffle tickets for a sampler quilt donated by the St. Croix International Quilters’ Guild.

For more information, call Bonnie Hunter, 726-5117.

This weekend in Florida and next weekend in Maine, family and friends will gather to celebrate the wonderful life of Paul Howard, a former local resident who died Nov. 20 in Florida at the age of 84.

Paul was an absolutely delightful man who embraced the world with all it had to offer and with all whose paths he crossed.

He was a welcoming, comforting man with the greatest laugh (an elongated chuckle, really) that just made you feel pleased to be in his company.

Paul did not dwell on the adversities of life, but moved past them with grace and dignity, encouraging those around him to follow his lead.

He will be greatly missed and remembered fondly by those who were fortunate enough to have known him.

To Paul’s family and dear friends, my deepest sympathies.

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