EDDINGTON – The auditorium upstairs at Comins Hall is, as Tim Sample would say, “simply gawgeous,” and he’ll have a chance to say so during a benefit performance at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 22, in the facility at 1387 Main Road.

A Mainah like humorist, Sample will appreciate the floor of inch-thick maple, the photos of the Grange masters on the rear wall, and the stage with its scenic roll drop that dates back a good nine decades.

Built in 1879 as the East Eddington Public Hall Company, the facility has been home to the Eddington Agrarian Club, the Grange – which still meets there – scout troops and community groups.

The year it was built, a share in the East Eddington Public Hall Company was available for the sum of $5.

Share No. 108 has an interesting history. It has stayed in the Comins family for more than a century, and was purchased in 1879 by E. & J.H. Comins – J.H. being Jerome Harris Comins, one of the founders of the Farmers Club, first master of the Grange and member of the Maine Legislature.

They transferred the share to J. Herbert Comins in 1916. He was treasurer of the East Eddington Public Hall Company for nearly a half-century, and like his father, J. Herbert Comins served in the Legislature. In 1967 he conveyed Share No. 108 to his son-in-law R. Leon Williams.

Williams turned it over to his wife, Alma (Comins) Williams, in 1980, and in 2000 she transferred it to her daughter Margaret (Williams) McKinney.

For the last quarter-century, the building has been under the aegis of the nonprofit Eddington-Clifton Civic Center Corp.

In 1983, it was renamed Comins Hall for the town’s early settlers, and in 1986 the auditorium was named for Mason Shaw and family.

Is such a grand old building on the National Register of Historic Places?

Indeed it is, President Mark Shane tells everyone he can, “so let’s treat it like one.”

Lots of work has been done on Comins Hall already, with members and businesses pitching in. The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department Community Service Program also has been involved in big projects.

Prerelease inmates pulled up the carpet in the dining hall downstairs, scraped the original tin ceiling and repainted it, and repainted the entire room.

“We weren’t quite sure what we were going to find under the carpet,” Shane explained, but it turned out to be wide-board hemlock, which refinished beautifully.

“There were tables in this room permanently,” said Shane’s wife, Sue Dunham Shane, who came to Eddington every summer as a child. “But the tables just took up too much space.”

Girl Scout projects have accomplished countless tasks, from making curtains to painting the serving room.

From June to October, Comins Hall offers public suppers with a different menu every month.

“People love chicken barbecue and adore trash-can turkey,” Dunham Shane said. Smothered beef is a hit, as well. But proceeds from regular activities are needed just to keep things operating, leaving major projects out of reach.

For one thing, the hall needs more bathrooms, including one with handicapped access.

The biggest need is making the second-floor auditorium accessible to all.

Currently, those who can’t climb stairs watch events such as the annual variety show in May via a video connection in the dining hall. For the Tim Sample event, a large screen will be used downstairs to add to the capacity in the auditorium.

“If we could sell every ticket,” Dunham Shane said, it would be a great start to the funding needed. “In looking for grants, we need to demonstrate the support of the community – and the ability to raise money.”

The Civic Center board is grateful to the Maine Expansion Arts Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, which awarded a $2,000 grant to help underwrite the costs of the performance.

Sample has been recording comedy albums since 1979. He also has put out videos, written and-or illustrated more than a dozen books, and brought Maine and his own brand of humor to the country as a regional contributor to CBS “Sunday Morning.”

Anna Mae Mitchell and Rising Tide, an acoustic band from the Bangor area, will open for Tim Sample.

The band offers fresh interpretations of traditional folk, bluegrass and soft rock ballads, along with tasteful originals.

Mitchell’s powerful vocals are supported with beautiful harmony arrangements by Kadee Reynolds and Nancy Merrill, who also doubles on the upright bass; Richard Silver on mandolin and guitar; Bill Thibodeau on guitar and fiddle; and Hal Meyers on banjo.

Tickets are $30 for preferred seating in the auditorium and dessert with Sample after the show; $25 for general admission in the auditorium; and $15 for seating in the dining hall downstairs with viewing on a theater video screen. Tickets can be purchased at Eddington Town Hall, Clifton Town Hall, the Eddington Store and Clifton Country Store.

For information, call 843-6669.