FORT KENT – A Fort Kent Elementary School seventh-grader is having a blast singing at events throughout New England, the Canadian Maritimes, the province of Quebec and beyond.

Melanie Saucier’s latest adventure took her to New Jersey to entertain more than 700 people gathered at a homecoming celebration for Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander in Chief George J. Lisicki. She has been invited by Lisicki to perform at next year’s national convention of the VFW in Florida.

Only 12 years old, she already has sold a CD of French and English songs and is working on several more singing projects including another CD of patriotic songs supporting soldiers in the U.S. Armed Services.

Singing since she was 5, Saucier has performed at French festivals in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Quebec and New Brunswick.

Her singing is where she has the most fun.

“New Jersey was a blast,” she said recently. “It was really, really fun staying at a humongous hotel, going on a cruise around Ellis Island and meeting all kinds of people who went out of their way to make us welcomed.

“It all happened so fast,” she said. “It was loads of fun meeting all sorts of people.”

She said developing a second CD is an ongoing project. She wants it out as soon as possible.

Diane Nadeau Saucier, Melanie’s mother, said her daughter is creating original songs. Along with her own CD, she’s collaborating on a St. John Valley cultural heritage CD and another CD of children’s songs with a group from Grand Falls, New Brunswick. The children’s CD is being released this coming weekend.

Last year she sang at Gov. John Baldacci’s inauguration and has performed annually at a French Heritage Day sponsored by the Maine Legislature. She performed at the opening ceremonies of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of French settlers at St. Croix Island in Calais in 2004. She performs annually at Lewiston’s Festival de Joie and has performed at Biddeford’s La Kermesse.

Her latest adventure to New Jersey started when she performed at a ceremony at the Maine Veterans Cemetery in Caribou. She also sang at the Caribou Veterans Home the same day. She was invited to the Maine VFW Convention where she was heard by people from out of state. One of those people was Lisicki. He invited her to his homecoming, held after his election to the national post, in his hometown of East Brunswick, N.J.

“She had them going at the homecoming,” her mother said Wednesday. “It was just unbelievable.”

Harry King of Texas, a producer who had heard her sing before, prepared a medley of military songs for her New Jersey night. During the evening she sang “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” Lisicki’s theme song, an original song created by King called “Stand Up for the Veterans of America,” and the ever-popular “God Bless the USA.”

She ended the night with “God Bless America” with her father, Gary Saucier.

Melanie’s mother said her daughter will be performing at Magog, Quebec, next month. She won best of show at a French national singing contest there last year and is returning as the reigning champion. Magog is just south of Montreal.

Before New Jersey, she sang at a Catholic pilgrimage in Attleboro, Mass. The Franco-American weekend was hosted by an insurance company which serves French areas of New England and Canada.

Melanie has more performances scheduled in Connecticut and Massachusetts this winter.

Locally, in the St. John Valley, she sings every week in Roman Catholic churches in Fort Kent, St. Francis and Clair, New Brunswick.