Bridgewater Sesquicentennial seeks quilted items

What might be considered one of the more lovely aspects of the Bridgewater Sesquicentennial celebration, which is Thursday, July 24, through Saturday, July 26, in that Aroostook County community is its “Quilts Old & New” show.

That event is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, at the Bridgewater Free Baptist Church.

Anyone wishing to enter quilted items can deliver them to the home of Debbie Taylor, from noon to 3 p.m. Thursday, July 24, 20 Tannery St.; or 5-7 p.m. that day, to the church; or 7-10 a.m. Friday, July 25, to the church, wrote Diane Clough.

The committee “enthusiastically encourages everyone from Bridgewater, Blaine, Mars Hill and Monticello to provide new or vintage quilts, wall hangings, quilted apparel and quilted bags for the show,” Clough wrote of the display the committee hopes will be “rich in history but also includes contemporary quilted items.”

If you need to make other arrangements to enter a quilt, or wish more information, call Reta Hersey, 425-4492.

By the way, Clough suggests you might also be interested in attending the Bridgewater Community Club’s fashion show, “Fashions through Years” at 7 p.m. Thursday, at the church, featuring women’s and children’s fashions, from 1858 to “modern times,” with assistance from collectors and the Aroostook Historical and Art Museum in Houlton.

Admission is $5, and the club will offer tea, including sweets, during intermission.

Of course, anyone associated with the Bridgewater, Blaine and Mars Hill area is most certainly aware much is going on in those communities this coming weekend, but readers elsewhere might also be interested in learning about events taking place there.

Again, thanks to Diane Clough, we know that while Bridgewater celebrates its 150th year, under the leadership of its Sesquicentennial Chairman, Mike Crawford, former students of Aroostook Central Institute and Central Aroostook High School are holding their “famous all-school reunions.”

Clough reminds you ACI closed in 1965 when it became part of CAHS.

Joe Shaw and Emmett “Bud” Porter are co-chairing the event that will attract former students from the communities already mentioned, as well as Robinson and E Plantation.

Crawford, according to Clough, reported his committee sent mailings “encouraging attendance” at all the activities, not only to Bridgewater residents, but also to alumni of Bridgewater Classical Academy, which was the local high school before consolidation, and “Bridgewater Grammar School, which is still open and operating.”

Planners have worked hard to ensure you can attend everything without conflict so the Bridgewater Parade will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, and the Mars Hill parade at 1 p.m. Bridgewater celebrations conclude with a dance, Saturday night, and the ACI-CAHS Reunion ends with a Sunday outing.

Tour chairman Elly Andrews, publicity chairman Julie Leisenring, and members of The Garden Club of Mount Desert invite you to their Open Garden Day, featuring three Northeast Harbor and three Seal Harbor gardens, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 26, rain or shine on Mount Desert Island.

Tickets are $30, and are available at each site, the day of the tour, and at McGrath’s Store and Northeast Harbor Library in Northeast Harbor, and Port in a Storm Bookstore in Somesville.

The featured Northeast Harbor gardens are 334 Sound Drive, Route 198, 53 Sargeant Drive and 74 Manchester Road.

The Seal Harbor Gardens are 65 Cooksey Drive, 93 Cooksey Drive and 127 Cooksey Drive. For your information, brochures will be available at each garden, Cooksey Drive will be one-way, starting at the Otter Creek end, and there should be signs for you to follow.

More information is available at www.gcmdgardenday.com or by calling 276-0745.

Proceeds from the tour help support the nonprofit organization’s projects both on and off MDI.

My deepest sympathies are extended Richard “Dick” Sprague and his family after the death last week of his wife, Ann Sprague, of Bangor.

I have known Ann for more than 30 years, and am proud to say she was one of my staunchest supporters.

Perhaps it was because our lives traveled such similar paths, leading us to our volunteer commitments and professional careers, that Ann was always there for me, with an encouraging smile, hug, word or note, no matter what task I undertook.

I so appreciated her thoughtfulness and guidance.

Ann Sprague was a positive re-enforcer extraordinaire, and we honor her memory by continuing to be as supportive and committed to others as she was to us.

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