Red Cross extends hero nomination deadline

Among the most moving events I have regularly attended is the Pine Tree Chapter of the American Red Cross Real Heroes Breakfast, which this year is Nov. 13, at the Bangor Civic Center.

I recently responded to an e-mail from Mickey Sirota of the PTC that being there was a bit of “a tough way to start out the day: Crying! Those stories are always so moving, I never leave without shedding a few tears.”

And that is true. Some amazingly wonderful people live among us, and they more than deserve the recognition they receive for lending a hand when it is most needed.

Sirota had e-mailed me to report the PTC has extended its deadline for people to submit their Real Heroes award nominations from the original Sept. 1 date to Thursday, Sept. 11.

“Real Heroes are men, women and children who have shown courage, kindness and unselfishness to help save the lives of others,” Sirota wrote of those who performed a heroic act between August 2007 and Sept. 11, 2008.

Nominees must live, work, or study in Penobscot, Piscataquis, Hancock, Waldo, Washington, Knox or Lincoln counties.

You can obtain a nomination form by calling the American Red Cross at 941-2903 or e-mailing sirotam@pinetree.redcross.org.

“Guess the summer’s nearly over! It’s flown!” wrote Ann Carter.

That message came with her announcement that the final SummerKeys’ Mary Potterton Memorial Faculty Concert is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, at the Lubec Congregational Christian Church.

Donations benefit its piano-tuning fund, and intermission refreshments will be provided by Tours of Lubec and Cobscook and the Lubec Historical Society.

Information about the concert boat from Eastport is available by calling 853-2500, and information about the boat taxi from Eastport is available by calling 733-4400.

Carter wrote that this concert features cellist Peter Lewy and SummerKeys founder and pianist Bruce Potterton.

It is now time for Nan Cobbey, who has been busy with publicity for the Belfast Garden Club’s summer-long Open Garden Days, to show you the fruits of her labor, literally, as she invites you to visit her fruit, vegetable and herb gardens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, at 15 West Waldo Road.

There you will enjoy viewing a very special “circular, sundial-patterned garden,” which was made possible by hiring an excavator and driver who brought her 21 cubic yards of compost to make the garden, which is surrounded by a 7-by-325-foot-long wood-and-wire fence to keep out the deer.

Cobbey’s garden features everything from apple trees to potatoes, grapes and nasturtiums, and she will be serving iced teas made from herbs she has grown.

The suggested donation is $3, to benefit the Belfast Garden Club beautification projects, and a list of gardens, brochures and directions are available at local businesses, the library, at the Visitor’s Center, in the decorative birdhouse planted at Post Office Square and at www.belfastgardenclub.org.

Jean Miller writes that the Castine Town Band performs the last of its five-concert summer series at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, “on the grounds of the Wilson Museum on Perkins Street overlooking beautiful Castine Harbor.”

The band, directed by Silas Yates, is expected to perform some of its most memorable music from the summer series, Miller wrote of tunes you might hear ranging from Sousa marches to Glenn Miller and patriotic favorites.

“Bring your chairs or blankets, and a picnic if you choose,” Miller wrote, adding that “children and dogs are welcome.”

If it rains, the concert will be held at the Trinitarian Parish Church on Main Street.

Tickets are now available for those who would like to hear the Chapter 6 Vocal Band at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Caribou Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors.

Presented by the Council of the Arts, tickets may be purchased at Food Trend in Caribou and the Aroostook Centre Mall in Presque Isle. For more information, call 498-2173 or 493-1185.

Writing about the group, Cyr explained that Chapter 6 “became the premier jazz a cappella ensemble at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill.,” after making its professional debut in 2001 and, among its honors, won the Grand Champion title in the 2004 National Harmony Sweepstakes.

The program features “freshly arranged swing standards and pop-rock covers to signature pieces,” including its “very own version of The Wizard of Oz,” Cyr wrote.

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