Bangor Kiwanis Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast chairwoman Deborah Paradis remind readers the Kiwanis Annual Pancake Breakfast is 6-10 a.m. Friday, July 4, at the Brewer Auditorium, and is the official kickoff for all holiday activities planned by members of Bangor area Kiwanis chapters.

Admission is $4.50 for adults and $3.50 for children 12 and under.

“I realize that most Bangor area residents are still unaware that it is the Kiwanis area chapters that raise the funds necessary for the fireworks and the parade,” Paradis wrote.

“Over the past few years, the cost of the parade and the fireworks has increased substantially, making it a yearlong process to raise the funds necessary for these events.

“We need the support of our community in order to make this a special event,” Paradis said. “We are hoping for a wonderful turnout for the breakfast and the rest of the festivities.

“Once again,” she wrote, the meal features “strawberries from Ken and Bev Tate’s Strawberry Farm, coffee donated by Dunkin’ Donuts of Brewer, the canopy tent from Maine Equipment rental and sausage from Hormel.”

Dennis Paper and Food Service, Unisource and North Center are other “wonderful sponsors,” Paradis wrote.

New this year will be “a pancake-throwing contest for adults and another for children.” Tickets are $1. The adult prize is a hotel stay; children win books. A scooter being raffled will also be on display at the breakfast.

Paradis reminds you the goal of Kiwanis chapters is to fund local programs for children, ranging from food to clothing and recreation.

Friends of Calais Free Library remind you July is Book Drive Month. You can bring books to the library or the Secondhand Bookstore, or call 454-2758 for someone to pick them up.

The bookstore is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday, July 3, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, July 5, next to Unobskey School on Main Street in Calais.

The bookstore is expected to be open those hours, Thursdays and Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. most Saturdays through October.

Buck Memorial Library board of trustees chairman Robert Blake has announced the reprinting of “The History of Bucksport to 1857,” by Rufus Buck, whose first presentation of this speech was “at a Fourth of July celebration 151 years ago.”

The book is available for a $20 donation at the library or at BookStacks, both on Main Street in Bucksport, and amazon.com.

All proceeds benefit “repair and restoration work at the library,” Blake wrote, adding the book “contains a history of early families of Bucksport compiled by the library director.”

Church secretary Paula Baines wrote the Hampden Highlands United Methodist Church Strawberry Festival is 5-6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at 44 Kennebec Road.

Admission is $7 for adults and $4 for children. Proceeds will “cover costs of the church and its programs.”

The menu features ham and potatoes, a variety of salads, coffee, tea and strawberry shortcake, and quarts of strawberries for sale.

The Ellsworth Public Library hosts a Red, White and Blueberry Bash 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, July 5, inside and outside the library at 20 State St.

The event features Grayson Richmond and owls from Birdsacre at 11 a.m.; Fletcher’s Landing Philharmonic Orchestra at 11:45 a.m.; artist Robert Shetterly and his “Americans Who Tell the Truth” exhibit at 12:30 p.m., and scholar, philosopher and naturalist Allyn Storer at 1 p.m.

The celebration concludes with a patriotic program by Shetterly at 1:15 p.m. All events are free, and more information is available by calling the library at 667-6363.

Nancy Herr e-mailed to say the Ruggles House Society annual Ice Cream Social is 1-3 p.m. Sunday, July 6, at 146 Main St., Columbia Falls.

This free event is “to thank our friends and guests for their support throughout the year,” and introduce “new visitors to the museum,” she wrote.

Dan Williams reports the Charlie Howard Memorial Walk begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 7, at Hammond Street Congregational Church in Bangor, with the walk at 7:15 p.m. to the State Street Bridge.

Williams suggests you bring a flower to be dedicated at the bridge.

The walk is in memory of the young gay man who died after being attacked by local teens and thrown off the bridge.

It’s time to vacation in Vacationland. My column returns to this section Wednesday, July 9.

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