Everything musical theater buffs want, and more, can be yours during a benefit for the Down East Community Hospital of Machias Endowment Fund.

Excerpts from an upcoming Downriver Theatre Company production of “Man of La Mancha,” directed by Campobello superintendent Skip Cole, and other Downriver Theatre offerings plus a four-course meal, comprise a “A Candlelight Dinner Theatre” beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 21, and the same time Saturday, June 23, at Helen’s Restaurant in Machias.

Tickets are $25 each, and seating is limited, so call 255-8632 to assure yourself a spot.

Marjorie Ahlin of Machias is coordinating the benefit, for which “everyone is volunteering their time and talent,” she wrote while extending “a big thank-you to Helen’s owners, Gary and Judy Hanscom,” and the actors, whose show opens the next week in Marshfield.

Much of the food for the benefit has been donated, and Julie Barker of Baywoods Catering Co. will assist Helen’s staff with the food preparation.

Making this an all-round effort of Helen’s, Ahlin wrote, “the waitresses are volunteering their time and are also donating their tips to the cause.”

The Bangor Band, the second-oldest continually performing community orchestra in the country, opens its 2001 season at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 12, outside the Bangor Public Library or, inside, if it rains.

Band president Don Menninghaus reports “our conductor, Jim Trembley of Orono, has chosen a great program of circus marches and Broadway tunes and light classics; stuff we hope people will go away humming.”

The band will perform at 7 p.m. each Tuesday through Aug. 7, usually at the Paul Bunyan bandstand on Main Street.

Judy Butler of Orrington invites the public to attend the 13th Annual Flag Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 14, at the Bangor Waterfront.

“We have wonderful music,” Butler said of the Penobscot Woodwinds directed by William Stetson.

Readings of poetry, and proclamations from state and federal political leaders will be presented; the colors will be posted; and Butler expects members of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans to participate.

“Everyone is invited, welcome and encouraged to attend,” Butler said, noting the ceremony is especially appealing to residents of local nursing homes and adult day care facilities.

The Hancock Volunteer Fire Department is raising funds to purchase a thermal-imaging camera, which will greatly enhance their efforts to protect the lives and property of those they serve.

The department’s first fund-raiser is a Golf Tournament with the first tee time at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 16, at the White Birches Country Club in Ellsworth.

Before the event, breakfast will be served to all tournament participants at 7 a.m. at WBCC.

Tickets are $30 per person, and available at either the Hancock Town Office or WBCC.

More information about this event, or the fund-raising project, can be obtained by calling Bob Peterson at 422-0903.

Norris Junkins of Masardis will be 100 years old Friday, June 15. He still drives his scooter to the store.

To honor this healthy, happy centenarian, his family is holding an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 16, at the Masardis Municipal Building.

“It’s for the public,” said his daughter, Alice Lyons of Presque Isle.

“We’d like to have everybody come and enjoy his birthday.”

Junkins was born in Oxbow and spent his life in Masardis working in the woods and on farms while raising a family with his late wife, Helen Wiggins Junkins, who died in 1973.

Junkins also has a son, Earl Junkins, and is the grandfather of eight, the great-grandfather of 15 and the great-great-grandfather of four.

We add our best wishes for a wonderful 100th birthday celebration.

We all have a favorite teacher: One who stands out from the rest and is part of our memories forever.

Joseph Sulya certainly has to be one of them.

A Bucksport High School chemistry teacher since 1964, Sulya is retiring after 37 years working with students who, when they think of him today, certainly must smile.

A Retirement Tribute and Open House for Sulya will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 15, at BHS, where three generations of students can share stories about his tie collection, flamingo fetish and the interesting occurrences that were a part of his classroom experience.

Members of the Brewer High School Class of 1943 meet monthly, and Charlotte Gray Cross of Bangor invites all classmates, their spouses and friends who might be home for the summer and unaware of these regular gatherings, to join them at noon Wednesday, June 20, at Pilots Grill in Bangor.

“There is no program, you don’t need reservations, and you order from the menu,” Cross said. “It’s just a social gathering.” For more information, call Cross at 945-2615.

Boy Scout Troop 10 of Bangor will travel to Alaska in the summer of 2003, and they know it will take time to raise the money.

To get fund-raising started, the Scouts are holding a yard sale from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 23, and 7 a.m.-noon Sunday, June 24, at 161 Fern St. in Bangor.

Anyone with items to donate for the sale can call Linda Dunn, 945-9817 or Mary Harrison, 942-3514. Arrangements can be make to pick up the items if that is more convenient for donors.

My husband and I are taking a two-week vacation to visit friends in Germany.

The Joni Averill column will reappear on this page on Tuesday, June 26.

In the meantime, look for news of community members and events in the scene, and on the local pages of your edition of the Bangor Daily News.

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