Brewer art students plan a souped-up benefit

Folks in the Brewer area looking for a rewarding way to dine out should not miss the Empty Bowls Supper held by Brewer High School art students from 5 to 7 tonight in the BHS cafeteria.

Admission is just a $5 donation for this “soup fundraiser” from which, Randy Menninghaus explained, all proceeds will benefit the Brewer Food Cupboard.

If you’re not familiar with such an event, you will enjoy the fact that your $5 will purchase a food-safe, handmade soup bowl, which you take home with you, that was designed and crafted by BHS art students.

Thanks to generous donations from BHS staff and local businesses, the meal consists of soup and bread and offers you the opportunity to help those in need.

Mary-Anne Saxl of the Warren Center for Communication and Learning in Bangor reports that the Brown Bag Lunch & Learn program, Communication Tips for Speaking with Family and Friends with Memory Disorders, which was to begin at 11:45 a.m. today at the Bangor Public Library, has been canceled.

Ann McGowan, capital campaign chairwoman for the Pittsfield Public Library Building Project, e-mailed that her daughters Jill and Jolene McGowan of Jill McGowan Inc., of Portland will conduct their seventh benefit clothing sale to support the PPL Building Project fund.

The sale is 3-7 p.m. Friday, May 30, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, May 31, at Details, 119 Main St., Pittsfield.

The sale, which features “heavily discounted designer clothing from their line,” their mother wrote, will have as its host Jean Cianchette Bradshaw “at her newly opened hair salon,” and will feature a sale of gently used books under the direction of PPL trustee chair Lancy Bradshaw.

Ann McGowan wrote that good progress is being made in the effort to restore and expand “Pittsfield’s historic Carnegie library” and that while work on the facility is expected to begin soon, everyone involved with this effort is “making a big push to secure the final dollars for the expansion.”

I’m sure I don’t need to remind the many loyal participants that the American Cancer Society Relay for Life event runs from 6 a.m. Friday, May 30, until noon Saturday, May 31, at Old Town High School.

If you are new to the area or just now deciding what to do this weekend, you might want to participate in this fundraiser that not only celebrates the lives of those who survived cancer, but also remembers those who did not.

Carla Bommarito chairs the Old Town Relay for Life committee and is appreciative of the fact that this event’s many corporate sponsors make it possible for the funds that are “raised by participants, goes directly to the American Cancer Society’s lifesaving programs.”

For more information about this event, call Mike Hart, community executive for development, at 989-0332, or the ACS at 800-ACS-2345.

Jay Barnes e-mailed that the Ellsworth Garden Club will hold its annual Park Appreciation Day and Plant Sale “starting at 10 a.m.” and continuing “until the plants are sold” Saturday, May 31, at the Donald A. Little Park located at the triangle of State, School and Birch streets in Ellsworth.

The event, which is “timed as the introduction to National Gardening Week,” features hardy perennials, shrubs, annual seedlings, vegetables, herbs, seeds, houseplants and more, Barnes wrote.

All proceeds will benefit Little Park, which has been owned and maintained by the club for more than 50 years.

For more information about this event or the club, call Barnes at 667-8878.

Here is some good news for folks who appreciate buying locally grown products.

Martha Goodale wrote that the Monroe Farmers Market will open for the season from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 31, on Main Street in Monroe.

The farmers market will be open the same time each Saturday through September.

Located at the intersections of Routes 141 and 139, the market will feature “a great selection of fresh, local produce, fruits, meats, baked goods and numerous other items,” Goodale wrote.

The site, “centrally located” for residents of Winterport, Jackson, Brooks, Swanville and Frankfort, also offers “restrooms, and a small restaurant where breakfast and lunch are served,” she added.

“We welcome new vendors,” Goodale wrote, and you can obtain more information about this farmers market by calling her at 525-3532 or e-mailing goodwight@gmail.com.

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