You have the opportunity to enjoy a delightful evening of ballet, dining and mime while, at the same time, assisting in the efforts of 20 Bangor Ballet members to participate in a cultural exchange program, in April, in France.

Jane Bragg reports Bangor Ballet will host its third annual Evening at the Arts beginning with cocktails at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5, at the Husson College Campus Center in Bangor.

The $45 admission per person includes a four-course dinner “and live entertainment including a guest appearance by Maine Arts Commission award-winning mime Karen Montanaro,” Bragg wrote.

However, for planning purposes, tickets must be purchased by the end of December.

To order tickets, send a check to Bangor Ballet, 14 State St., Bangor 04401.

Bragg wrote that dinner choices can be included on your check.

You can also e-mail your dinner choices, but you must mail your check to Bangor Ballet. The e-mail address is thomasschoolofdance@gmail.com.

The dinner choices are pork tenderloin stuffed with pears, rice and pecans; grilled salmon with chef’s sauce; chicken with artichoke cream sauce and spinach; and cheese ravioli in pesto.

Bragg said that the evening will feature “a French flair.

“Our cancan dancers will entertain,” she wrote, “and dancers from Bangor Ballet will perform George Gershwin’s ‘An American in Paris.'”

All proceeds from the event will help Bangor Ballet members travel to Vendome, France, where they “will perform our full-length ballet, ‘The Little Mermaid,’ which will also be performed” in March and April, in Maine, Bragg wrote.

All members of Bangor Ballet hope you will attend this special fundraiser.

And, Bragg wrote in recognition of everyone being so very busy around the holidays, “if time gets short,” and you want to be sure to get your tickets, you can reach her on her cell phone at 944-9430.

With lingering memories of last summer’s Garden Tour hosted by the Pittsfield Community Garden Club, Justine Mencl is most grateful that the club, “Eastern Star and all 11 willing gardeners were able to give” more than $2,600 “to the Pittsfield Library Renovation Fund,” exceeding the club’s goal of raising $1,000.

Mencl also was pleased that the event generated interest “for improving our in-town yards,” and attracted visitors “from Caribou to York and points in between.”

Trustees of the Pittsfield Public Library, which opened in 1904, are conducting a campaign to add space and modernize library services.

I have more delightful information for area dance enthusiasts.

Artistic directors Keith and Maureen Robinson of Robinson Ballet-School of Robinson Ballet in Bangor, are inviting dancers to attend a free dance workshop with their new instructor, Stevie Dunham, on Saturday, Dec. 29, at the School of Robinson Ballet, 107 Union St. in Bangor.

The school is located above the Greyhound bus terminal in downtown Bangor.

For younger dancers, a free, modern dance workshop will be conducted from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. that day; and a free jazz workshop from 10:45 a.m. to noon, that day.

For experienced dancers, a free modern dance workshop is planned from 1 to 2:15 p.m. that day, and a free, jazz workshop from 2:30 to 4 p.m. that day.

Managing director Julie Lisnet reports that dancers are requested to preregister for these free workshops by calling 989-7226, and she wants you to know that class sizes will be limited to 30 students each.

You can receive more information by visiting www.robinsonballet.org.

Here’s one of those “aw-shucks stories” from Helen King of Orono who thought readers might appreciate hearing about an unfortunate incident, last fall, involving her son, Marshall King, of Waterville.

Helen King wrote the Bangor Daily News because she thought the story could “be of interest to Orono residents because Marshall was a fireman” in that town for 25 years.

King wrote that her son spent a week, last November, in Las Vegas, prepared and fully “intending to compete” in the World Finals of the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge.

Marshall King was registered in the over-55 age group, his mother explained, adding that the trip “was financed by a local fitness gym in Waterville.”

However, “due to the loss of his gear, in transit,” King wrote that her son “was unable to practice” and, as a result, missed qualifying for the challenge “by 1.6 seconds.”

However, she added with great pride, Marshall King “was the only fireman from Maine” entered in the competition.

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