Warm up your clapping hands and your tapping toes to get ready for one terrific evening of joyful bluegrass country music courtesy of The Beecher Boys & Girls Hillbilly Band, which is appearing in concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at Dedham Elementary School on Route 1A.

Admission is $7 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under, and all proceeds benefit the Dedham Congregational Church building fund.

Band member and fundraising coordinator Lorraine Bloodsworth reports this family-style event also will include a craft table, a bake sale table, gift basket raffles and a quilt raffle, all to benefit the church.

This fun-loving group of local performers, who call themselves the Simple family, volunteers its services for fundraisers such as this, but any donations they do receive they give, “100 percent,” Bloodsworth reported, to The Salvation Army Angel Tree program.

To learn more about the volunteer work of The Beecher Boys & Girls Hillbilly Band, visit www.hillbillyband.com or call Ben Dresser at 827-8539 or Joe Cannon at 327-1278.

Here’s a reminder that Penquis Community Action Program’s Tame the Lion Silent Auction is 5:30-8 tonight at Carver Hill Gallery in Rockport.

Tickets are $25, and while preregistration is suggested, Rachael Davis of Penquis CAP reports you also can register at the door.

Proceeds will help provide fuel assistance for families in Penobscot, Piscataquis and Knox counties through the Penquis CAP Keep ME Warm Fund.

For information, call Davis at (800) 585-1605 or 596-0361 or e-mail Rdavis@penquiscap.org.

You are invited to attend a performance and reception for the artists when College of the Atlantic closes its exhibition “Not Your Usual Whitebread.”

The closing reception is 4:30-6:30 p.m. Friday, March 30, at the Ethel H. Blum Gallery on the COA campus in Bar Harbor.

Featured at the reception will be performance artist Peter Buotte of Augusta and filmmaker Walter Ungerer of Camden, whose recent work, “A Week in Northern Germany,” will be shown at the conclusion of the reception in Gates Center on the COA campus.

There is no admission for either event.

Cathy Marquez and members of the board of deacons of the Church of Universal Fellowship extend a warm welcome to the public to attend “Songs for a New World: A Community Musical Event.”

With music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, “Songs for a New World” had 28 performances off Broadway.

The local production begins at 7:30 p.m. both Friday, March 30, and Saturday, March 31, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 1, at the church, 82 Main St., Orono.

Admission is free, but donations will be graciously accepted at the door.

Andrew McCormick is the music director and Connie Carter is production manager for the production, which features 15 singers and actors.

U.S. Cellular seeks nominations of Maine customers for the wireless industry’s annual VITA Wireless Samaritan Awards, sponsored by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association.

The nomination deadline is Monday, April 23.

To be considered, the event must have occurred between Jan. 1, 2006, and March 16, 2007.

Awards are presented to individuals who exemplify the importance of putting safety first, as well as the role individuals and wireless phones can play in emergency situations.

Wireless Samaritans receive an all-expenses-paid trip to an awards ceremony in June in Washington, D.C.

Entries are judged by a panel representing law enforcement agencies and the emergency response services industry.

Nominations can be submitted to U.S. Cellular, Public Affairs & Communications Department, 8410 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago, Ill. 60631 or by e-mailing PublicAffairs&Communications@uscellular.com.

The Penobscot Valley Branch of the American Association of University Women will hold its annual Used Book Sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at Church of Universal Fellowship in Orono.

There is no admission fee, and visitors are asked to use the church entrance on Juniper Street.

Early birds are welcome from 8 to 9 a.m. “for a small fee,” reports Anne Hathaway.

Sale chairwoman is Fran Haines. Peggy Hallee, assisted by Phyllis Borns, “return to provide snacks and lunch,” Hathaway wrote of that offering from one of this area’s favorite local chefs.

Hathaway describes Hallee’s work as “always great” and “reasonably priced, as is the coffee and delectable desserts.”

Book donations will be accepted from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, at the church or the Orono Public Library.

Proceeds help finance local and international AAUW scholarships.

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