Presale tickets are now available for the Camp CaPella Gala, which is planned for 5:30-11 p.m. Friday, April 11, at Spectacular Event Center, 395 Griffin Road, Bangor.

Proceeds from the gala will directly benefit scholarships for children with disabilities to attend the camp, which is located on Phillips Lake in Dedham.

The Camp CaPella Gala includes dinner, music by Midnight Rose, a silent auction and the entertainment of magician Deane Stern.

Tickets and information are available by calling Camp CaPella board member Katie Guernsey at 745-0379.

Unfortunately, because of funding difficulties, the camp that had been in operation for more than four decades has been closed the past two years.

However, through the efforts of its board members and other volunteers, the campaign to reopen the facility has been successful.

The Camp CaPella board recently hired Dana Mosher as its new executive director, and the camp is expected to reopen in June.

Guernsey wants readers to know what your support of this gala means to the campers.

“The cost for each camper to attend the camp for one week is $1,250,” she said, adding that “the reason for this cost is the camper’s need for direct supervision and assistance due to the camper’s disability.”

Guernsey reports the board is seeking gift donations for the silent auction or monetary contributions from area businesses in support of the gala.

Anyone willing to make a contribution is encouraged to call Guernsey at the number listed.

Bittersweet Gift Shop owner Carol Metthe invites you to her Grand Re-Opening & Shop for a Cause Day from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 15, at Bittersweet, 81 Main St., Bucksport.

During the event, Metthe will donate 15 percent of the day’s proceeds to Bucksport Community Concerns, a locally run pantry that helps families in need.

She also hopes you not only shop “with a big heart,” but that you bring your appetite as well, because delicious hors d’oeuvres will be served throughout the day.

In addition, Leslie Wombacher of Sundial Framing and Photography of Bucksport will be at Bittersweet from noon to 2 p.m. to take Easter portraits for $5 each.

For information, call Metthe at 469-1156 or e-mail bitttersweetgift@juno.com.

Irv Marsters, Carroll Adams, John Mugnai and everyone else associated with the Curran Homestead invite you to join them for the 12th annual Maple Festival & Irish Celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 15, at the Curran Homestead, 372 Fields Pond Road, Orrington.

The snow date is the same time Sunday, March 16.

In addition to learning how maple sap turns into maple syrup, and enjoying Irish stew or beef stew with biscuits, this year children 12 and under can participate in an Easter egg hunt, and everyone can meet a Scottish Highland cow.

You will also enjoy live Irish music and a singalong with Jerry Hughes.

For members and donors, admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children under 12.

Admission for nonmember adults is $7, $5 for children under 12. Admission includes food and all events.

For information, call Marsters at 745-4426, Adams at 989-2430, or Mugnai at 825-3304.

Mary Bird of the Dr. Edith Marion Patch Center for Entomology, the Environment and Education invites you to hear the story of the rescue of the American chestnut tree from Glen Rea, president of the Maine Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation.

That presentation, one in a series of free, public lectures, is 2-4 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at Page Farm and Home Museum at the University of Maine in Orono.

For those who are unaware, Bird reports that a Maine logger, “who thought twice before putting his chain saw to the trunk of a strange-looking tree,” is credited with discovering the rare American chestnut tree, “one of a species that had been virtually wiped out by blight a century ago.”

“Thriving far north of the species’ natural range, this tree is just one of a grove of chestnuts that somehow never got the news that others of its kind had disappeared from North America.

“Now trees from that grove and the seeds they produce are contributing to the effort to restore the American chestnut tree nationwide.”

For information about this lecture, the series, or the Patch center, call Bird at 866-2578.

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