The Senior College is calling all visual artists 50 and older, amateur or professional, to participate in its Festival of Art, which is scheduled for May 22-25, at Senior College, University of Maine Hutchinson Center, 80 Belmont Ave. (Route 3), Belfast.

The first 140 entries will be accepted until Sunday, March 30.

The Festival of Art “is a special event, held each year,” reports Dorothy Alling, who is chairwoman of the event.

“We don’t charge anything for the artists to show their creations, and we don’t charge the public to come to the festival.

“In fact, it is our way to say ‘thank you’ to the public at large,” from “Portland to Bar Harbor and central and northern Maine and the islands, who support our Senior College and the University of Maine.”

Alling reminds entrants “the only criteria is that the artists must be 50” or older to enter the show and reiterates “the festival is open to both amateurs and professionals.”

Artists can contact Rainy Brooks for an entry form at rainysart@gwi.net or by calling her at 548-2502.

Kristie LeBlanc of the Brain Injury Association of Maine reports that BIAME and Marden’s stores is giving away free bicycle helmets for children, and this certainly is an offer that parents and guardians should not pass up.

LeBlanc wrote the helmets will be given out between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. today at Marden’s stores in Presque Isle, Calais, Brewer, Waterville, Lewiston and Sanford.

For information about this helmet giveaway program or the work of BIAME, e-mail LeBlanc at kleblanc@biame.org or call the Waterville office at 861-9900.

The fourth lecture in the Hitler’s Holocaust series begins with a complimentary lunch at 12:15 p.m. and the lecture at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at Congregation Beth Abraham, 145 York St., Bangor.

Dr. Matthias Kuentzel of Hamburg, Germany, and Vidal Sassoon Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, will discuss the “Iranian Holocaust Denial.”

The event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

Sponsors do remind you, according to its release, that “these programs contain mature content and are not appropriate for children under 15.”

For information, call 651-3532.

Morita Tapley called to invite you to enjoy a traditional Irish dinner followed by the music of Jerry Hughes and the Late Edition, 6-10 p.m. St. Patrick’s Day, Monday, March 17, at Morgan Hill Event Center on Route 2 in Hermon.

Dinner reservations are required and can be made by calling 848-7100.

The cost is $49 for couples and $25 for singles for the dinner and dance or $10 for the dance only for those arriving after 7:30 p.m.

Tapley said a portion of the proceeds will benefit organizations supporting people affected by Parkinson’s disease.

Pianist Dr. Robert Siemers appears as part of the Arlan A. Baillie Performance Series at 7 p.m. Monday, March 17, at All Souls Congregational Church, 10 Broadway, Bangor.

There is no charge to attend this performance, during which Siemers will play J.S. Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” and Schubert’s “Sonata in A Major,” reports All Souls music director Kay Byther Eames.

In addition, “the performance will be enhanced with live video, projected onto a screen to allow everyone to see the pianist,” whose “artistic lineage can be traced back” more than 200 years to Beethoven, according to Eames.

A distinguished lecturer and instructor, Siemers teaches at Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pa.

Director Jan Cox wrote the Brewer Hometown Band is “sure to wash away the winter blahs” with its Beach Party at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at the Brewer Auditorium.

“If you’ve been thinking that there’s been too much cold weather, too much snow and too much winter,” Cox wrote, “we’ve got the solution.”

This concert “will be devoted to water,” with musical tunes such as “‘Lake Wobegon,’ a new Gordon Bowie march, ‘Lazy River,’ ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,’ ‘Blue Danube'” and many more.

She added band members will “surprise you with a unique “uniform of the day,” and knows you will enjoy “a warmer climate” for “a few hours.”

Admission is free but you are asked to “bring nonperishables for those less fortunate,” Cox wrote, adding she hopes you will attend and “bring a friend or two … for an afternoon of musical make believe.”

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