This year, peony lovers will have not one but two dates to enjoy the Peony Society of Maine’s sixth annual Peony Garden Tour, reports Paula Boyer Rougny.

The Peony Tour is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 16, and the same times Saturday, June 23, at the home of Ken Liberty, 23 Ohio St. in Bangor.

Admission is still just $2 per person for this special event to delight the senses.

Rougny explained the two dates were selected “because peonies, being extraordinarily beautiful, are fickle. They don’t bloom for long, and experience [and strange weather patterns produced by global warming?] has taught that the luscious flowers are occasionally ahead of schedule or behind it on the big garden tour dates.”

The two tour days offer you the opportunity to view more than 70 varieties “of herbaceous and tree peonies that come in dozens of hues and early-, mid- and late-season varieties,” Rougny wrote.

“The garden … never fails to offer something in bloom.”

She is hopeful “the magnificent Joseph Rock tree peony, Old Joe, as it is known,” will be in bloom.

Rougny does suggest that “for the latest update on progress of all the peonies in the garden” you visit the Peony Society of Maine Web site at bairnet.org/~peony, where you will find “up-to-the minute information on the blooming process at 23 Ohio.”

Sally Bates of Bangor Center Corp. reports the Outdoor Market and Cool Sounds Concerts return, rain or shine, on Thursdays throughout the summer.

The first Outdoor Market, which has grown to include 37 vendors with everything from farm products to crafts, is 5-8 p.m. Thursday, June 14, behind Pickering Square Parking Garage in downtown Bangor.

In case of rain, the market moves under the parking garage. The Outdoor Market continues at the same time through Thursday, Aug. 2, at the same site.

The first Cool Sounds Concert is 7-8 p.m., Thursday, June 14, in Pickering Square in downtown Bangor, and features the Flash in the Pans Steel Band.

The concerts continue at the same time through Thursday, Aug. 2, at the same site.

Additionally, you can take a horse-drawn trolley ride, with on-board piano playing and singing, on a tour of downtown Bangor.

For more information, call 992-4234, or visit www.down

townbangor.com.

Barbara Brooks e-mailed that a pancake breakfast is 6 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 16, at Hose Five Fire Museum at 247 State St. in Bangor.

Your $5 donation will be collected at the door.

“It would be great for kids to take their dads to a pre-Father’s Day breakfast and see the antique firetrucks and equipment,” she suggests.

Brooks added that the Hose Five Fire Museum summer hours are 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays.

The second annual Memorial Ride for Gary “Griff” Griffin begins with registration at 10:30 a.m., at Iron Art Forge, 54 Elm St., Guilford.

Lunch will be served at noon at Bradstreet Farm in Parkman.

The cost for the ride, including a T-shirt and lunch, is $20; the cost of lunch and a T-shirt is $10; and the cost of the lunch alone is $5.

“All are welcome. You don’t need a bike to come,” reports Sarah Quirk.

The ride is in memory of her father, who was killed in a motorcycle accident on June 16 last year, his daughter explained of the former Guilford-area businessman and blacksmith.

All proceeds benefit a scholarship in his name to be given to a graduate of Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford.

For more information, call Quirk at 538-4466.

Last week, I received a mailing from Rebecca Emerson of Deer Isle.

Emerson wrote to inform readers that the Island Fishermen’s Wives Association will host its 18th annual Fishermen’s Day on Sunday, July 22, at the Commercial Fish Pier in Stonington.

She explained “the event is planned as a celebration of commercial fishermen and their families.”

“There will be lots of food and fun for the entire family,” she wrote of activities that will include a “Wacky Row Boat Race, a Car Show, a Pet Show,” children’s games, a Tug of Towns contest and a face-painting artist.

If you would like more information or want to be included on the mailing list to rent a space at this event for $25, call 348-6980, e-mail IFWA@msn.com, or write IFWA, P.O. Box 293, Stonington 04681.

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