Members of the University of Maine Upward Bound Auction Committee and director Linda Ives invite you to the UMaine Upward Bound 5th Annual Art Auction 6:30-9 p.m. Thursday, April 17, at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono.

Ives reports the evening includes a live and silent auction, hors d’oeuvres and an opportunity to mingle with people who support the opportunity to create college scholarships for Upward Bound students.

Admission is $25 for singles, $35 for couples or $120 for groups of eight. A cash bar will be available. Tickets can be purchased at the door or may be obtained in advance by calling 800-581-2522 or at www2.umaine.edu/ub.

Ives reports among the artists who submitted pieces for the auction are Tom Hennessey, Arline Thompson, Jane Peterson, Tim Flanagan and Karen Wihbey .

Among the many items up for bid will be a poster including the late University of Maine men’s ice hockey coach, Shawn Walsh, and members of his teams who went on to play for the National Hockey League, all signed by the individuals in the poster.

“The public is invited to join us in supporting these students from low-income backgrounds who will be the first in their families to attend college,” Ives explained, adding that the “the need is especially great in times when college aid and loans are more difficult” for students to obtain.

For information, call Upward Bound or visit its Web site.

An e-mail from Barbara Russell informs us that a Barn Dance is planned today from 2 to 5 p.m. at Victor Grange in Fairfield Center.

The event “is part of the festivities of the Grange’s open house,” she wrote, adding that “food will be available downstairs.”

Admission is $6 per person, $9 for two people, or $15 for families.

Victor Grange is located at the intersections of Routes 23, 139 and 104.

The event is organized by Free Grange Productions and features the music of Hope Hoffman and Jim Berrier, with John McIntire teaching traditional dances.

For information, visit www.freegrange.org.

We have been informed that The Maine Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children will host its 3rd Annual National Crime Victims’ Rights Week event at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at the Calumet Club in Augusta.

The event coincides with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, for which this year’s theme is “Justice for Victims. Justice for All.”

For information about this event or this organization, call chapter leader Diane Gagnon at 623-8642, e-mail redcardinall1221@verizon.net, or visit www.pomc.com.

Merna Dunham, choir director of Park Street United Methodist Church, and Sara Richards, choir director of United Baptist Church, both in Milo, have since 1989 been co-hosting choir festivals “with good choir participation each year, usually about 100 voices,” Dunham wrote.

This year, the Annual Spring Choir Festival is 7 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at United Baptist Church in Milo.

“Several area choirs will present anthems,” Dunham explained, “and will join in a combined chorus to close the program with well-known hymns.”

The public is “cordially invited to attend this evening of song and praise.”

The fifth lecture of the Hitler’s Holocaust series is 1 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at Congregational Beth Abraham, 145 York Street in Bangor.

The guest speaker is professor Raphael Israeli, Truman Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who will discuss “Arab Holocaust Denial.”

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

The event sponsors warn people that “these programs contain mature content and are not appropriate for children under 15.”

For information, call 621-3000.

Several scholarships are available to Penobscot County residents planning to further their education in the 2008-2009 school year, reports Carl Little of the Maine Community Foundation in Ellsworth.

Many scholarships are also available to Maine students on a statewide basis, he added, and you can learn about all of those scholarships by visiting the MCF Web site at www.mainecf.org or calling, toll free, 877-700-6800.

“Thanks to the generosity of donors,” Little wrote, the MCF is able to award more than 800 scholarships, annually,” including 19, specifically, for Penobscot County students.

However, the deadline for applying for some of these scholarships is Wednesday, April 16.

For information, use the contact information provided above or check with staff members in your high school guidance office.

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