Bangor

Maine Discovery Museum

These activities are set for the Maine Discovery Museum:

. Parents’ night for holiday errands and shopping, 5:30-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, or Friday, Dec. 14. While mom and dad shop, the children will enjoy a pizza dinner, a science and craft activity and supervised playtime. The cost each night is $18 per child for museum members, $20 per child for others, half-price for siblings. Pre-register at 262-7200. Parents’ Night Out is sponsored by the New Moon Cafe and Christior’s Irish Public House.

. Holiday exhibit at the museum’s Booktown, The Nutcracker Neighborhood. It will spark the holiday spirit and highlight the joy of reading “The Nutcracker” and seeing the ballet performed by Robinson Ballet Company and Bangor Symphony Orchestra. General admission is $6.50.

. “Magical’ Elixirs & Potions,” 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 23. From flubber in flasks to bubbles in bottles, join museum staff for an inventing and mixing, slimy, bouncy and smelly workshop for all ages. General admission is $6.50, plus $1 materials fee per child.

. Shark Dissection Workshop, 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24. Join Tony Sohns, natural history educator, and “dive” into a real live specimen. Learn more about shark survival. The workshop is ages 6 and up. General admission is $6.50 plus a $4 materials fee per child. Pre-register at 262-7200.

Bangor Community Theatre

Bangor Community Theatre will hold its annual meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 29, at Columbia Street Baptist Church. Executive and board member elections will take place.

Topics will include the theater’s progress including the postponed dates and location for the 2008 production of “Annie Get Your Gun” and additional audition date and times. Light refreshments will be available. For more information, call Nancy Dymond, secretary, at 942-3148.

Benefit spaghetti supper

A benefit spaghetti dinner will be held 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, at Fourteenth Street School in Bangor to benefit Lynne Dumont, who was injured seriously in a car accident in October. Proceeds from the dinner will be used to help defray Dumont’s medical and living expenses.

A silent auction will feature a Creative Memories kit, Longaberger basket, University of Maine Women’s basketball tickets, Mary Kay products and other items.

The cost of the dinner is $5, $20 families. To obtain more information, or to donate, call Kerry Bushway at 947-1969 or Lisa Bullard at 947-5128.

Prayer and scripture study

Hammond Street Congregational Church is offering a gathering for quiet prayer and scripture study, Deeper Than Words, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 28 High St. Bill Lagerstrom and Lee White from Lazarus Ministries will present the weekly sessions. For more information, call 862-5448.

BSO musicians

Two members of Bangor Symphony Orchestra were key to last weekend’s performances by the University of Maine at Farmington Concert Band and the UMF Orchestra.

The band was directed by Anita Jerosch in a program including works by Hector Berlioz, Gustav Holst and Richard Strauss, along with a selection from “Fiddler on the Roof” and a classic Sousa march.

Jerosch, a versatile bass trombonist and euphonium player and member of the BSO, has performed with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and Maine State Music Theater. She directs the Edith Jones Project, a modern, big band jazz group and performed at both inaugural balls for President Bill Clinton.

The UMF Orchestra, which includes students, staff and community members, was directed by Trond Saeverud. The program featured Handel’s “Royal Fireworks,” Beethoven’s “Coriolanus Overture,” Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll” and Sibelius’ “Finlandia.”

Violinist and conductor Saeverud is concertmaster of the BSO, first violin in the Nor’easter String Quartet, artistic director of the Harald Saeverud Chamber Music Program and founder and conductor of the new Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra.

He has performed as soloist with major orchestras in Europe and the United States, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. He has built and conducted several community orchestras in Scandinavia and created his own school outreach program in Maine.

Avoiding workplace violence

Chris Greeley will present “Workplace Violence Avoidance” during the Leadership Lunch Series of the Bangor Region Leadership Institute Alumni Association 11:30-1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, at the Ramada Inn.

Greeley is the owner of Chris Greeley Training and Consulting. He also is a Holden police officer and state representative for District 22: Levant, Glenburn, Kenduskeag and part of Corinth.

Topics addressed will include who commits workplace violence and why, what an organization must do to prevent it, legal liability, spotting the potential problem, what to do when an incident occurs and afterward, and the spillover of domestic violence.

The cost of the luncheon meeting is $15. RSVP by Dec. 3 at www.bangorregion.com or contact Melanie Israel, 947-0307.

Brewer

Toy drive and party

Toys for Tots and My Gym will be the hosts at an open gym, toy drive and holiday party 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9, at My Gym, 256 State St. The cost of admission per family is a new, unwrapped toy valued at $10 or more. For more information, call My Gym at 989-1233 or Mary at 947-5979.

Benefit spaghetti dinner

Recently Laurie Stevenson of Bangor was diagnosed with breast cancer. To help the family with expenses incurred during her treatment, a dinner is being coordinated with the assistance of the Sub Deb Sorority of Bangor High School.

The benefit spaghetti dinner will be held 5-7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 25, at Jeff’s Catering. Tickets will be available at the door for $8 a person or $20 a family.

Laurie is the wife of Kevin Stevenson. They live in Bangor with their four children: Courtney, Lindsey, Kyle and Michaela.

Those who are unable to attend may send checks payable to Laurie Stevenson, c/o Pam Tweedie, 21 Fifteenth St., Bangor 04401. For information, contact Pam Tweedie at 947-7245.

Eddington

Dances for seniors

A free dance for senior citizens will be held 1-3 p.m. the first Thursday of every month at the new Meadowbrook Dance Center at 9 Lois Lane. Free pastries and beverages will be served to participants.

For information, contact Chuck McKay at 843-5638, or e-mail swingtime34@aol.com

Hampden

A word of thanks

Members of the Hampden Senior Citizens group thank those who helped make its craft fair a success, including those who worked at the fair and those who purchased crafts.

Raffle winners were Lillian Jellison of Hampden, who won the quilt made by Adelma Harriman of Bangor; Marjorie Bowman of Hampden, who won the afghan; Dot Anderson of Newburgh, who won the food basket; and Ally Tardif of Hampden, who won the children’s basket.

Indian Island

Polar Bear Dip

It is that time of year again. Are you ready to take the plunge? The Penobscot Nation Boys and Girls Club will hold its fifth annual bone-chilling, heart-warming Polar Bear Dip fundraiser at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, by the Indian Island Police Department.

Last year, the event raised $5,000, which enabled the club to participate in a matching challenge grant that provided food for its after-school health and nutrition meal program.

To promote the fundraising event, the public is invited to help cheer on the club’s staff, board of directors and volunteers as they brave the cold waters. The public also is invited to participate as a Polar Bear Dipper. For more information, call 817-7355.

Orland

Wild Christmas trees

Have an old-fashioned holiday experience in the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands this year and cut your own Christmas tree, noon-3 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 25 and Dec. 2. Enjoy a horse or tractor-drawn wagon ride through the Wildlands to choose and cut a balsam fir. Many sizes are available.

The views will be scenic, the trees wild, organic and “free-range,” and the cocoa will be hot.

Cost for the event, including a tree, is $25 per family. The gate on Route 1, near the Route 176 intersection, will be open, and cut trees also will be available for sale there.

Proceeds will benefit Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust and Wildlands forest health. For more information, call 469-7190 or e-mail greatpond@midmaine.com.

Orono

LaMarche book talk

After years of researching, writing and volunteering in homeless shelters, Pat LaMarche decided to go on a 14-day trip to 14 homeless shelters across America. The result is a series of vignettes in the book “Left Out in America: The State of Homelessness in the United States.”

LaMarche will lead a discussion about the book at the University Bookstore on campus at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28.

A business manager, journalist, educator, author, broadcaster and most recently a freelance writer and consultant, LaMarche graduated from John Bapst High School in Bangor and earned a bachelor’s degree at Boston College. She was the Green Party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2004, and she ran for governor of Maine in 2006.