Bangor

All things ‘Nutcracker’

Music, clowns, face painting and more. The Bangor Symphony Orchestra is gearing up for all things Nutcracker, and part of the festivities is a stop at the Maine Discovery Museum to present a Nutcracker Neighborhood event. BSO staff and musicians will be at the museum from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25.

The public is invited to stop in that day and order tickets for “The Nutcracker” to be performed at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3, at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono.

On Nov. 25, enjoy live music by a Bangor Symphony ensemble at the museum while you have your face painted with Nutcracker characters.

Try your hand at making music with an instrument at the instrument petting zoo. Meet Flip the Clown and your favorite Nutcracker characters from the Robinson Ballet. Then remain for the afternoon to enjoy all of the Maine Discovery Museum exhibits.

Admission to the museum is $6. For information, call the Bangor Symphony Orchestra box office at 942-5555.

Home for the Holidays

St. John’s Episcopal Church will host its sixth annual Home for the Holidays tour noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at four local historic homes: 72 Broadway, 33 Grove St., 36 Grove St. and 75 South Park St. The parish choir will carol at each of the homes and light refreshments will be provided. This is the last year for this event.

Tickets are available at Rebekah’s, Hampden Floral, Patrick’s Hallmark, St. John’s Parish Office; and, vestry members will be selling tickets. For more information, call Heather Souweine, 947-2325, or the parish office at 947-0156.

Food drive

Bugaboo Creek Steak House customers are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items to its Bangor location until Dec. 22. The food collected will be donated to Manna Ministries.

Seasonal singers, musicians

The choir at Grace Methodist Church, 193 Union St., is seeking temporary singers and instrumentalists for the Christmas season. The choir meets for practice 6-7 p.m. Thursdays. For more information, call the church office at 942-8320.

‘Alice in Wonderland’

Auditions for “Alice in Wonderland,” Bangor Ballet’s June 2007 production, will be held on Thursday, Dec. 7. Advanced beginners will try out 3:30-5 p.m., intermediate dancers, 5-6:30 p.m. and advanced dancers, 6:30-8 p.m.

Those who audition must be at least 8 years old with one year of ballet experience. Auditions will be held at Thomas School of Dance, 14 State St. Call 945-3457 for information.

‘Ruthie Bon Bair’

Susan Lubner, author of “Ruthie Bon Bair Do Not Go to Bed with Wringing Wet Hair,” will read and sign her book at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24, at The Briar Patch bookstore, 27 Central St. The children’s book is about the trials of bedtime. Call the bookstore at 941-0255 for more information.

BSO and Kruger Brothers

Bangor Symphony Orchestra will present the Kruger Brothers at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, at the Bangor Opera House. The internationally acclaimed virtuoso acoustic trio will perform an evening of American folk and original music with Jens Kruger, banjo; Uwe Kruger, guitar; and Joel Landsberg, bass.

Proceeds will benefit the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s education outreach program.

The Kruger Brothers’ performance is a preamble to a world premiere event June 2 at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono when the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the Kruger Brothers will perform “Music from the Spring: a Romantic Serenade for Banjo, Guitar, Bass and Orchestra,” composed by Jens Kruger.

Leading up to the premiere, educational outreach in schools and community settings by the Kruger Brothers, local folk artists and BSO musicians will educate the public and area students about the relationships and influences between traditional folk music and the classical genre.

Patron opportunities and tickets for the June 2 event are available at bangorsymphony.com or call the box office at 942-5555.

Tickets for the Nov. 30 event are $20, $8 youth, general admission. Order online at penobscottheatre.org or call the Penobscot Theatre at 942-3333. More information on the Kruger Brothers is available online at bangorsymphony.com.

Eddington

Office hour interruptions

During the construction period, November through May, the Eddington town office will be closed at various times for one to three hours to accommodate electricians and other contractors.

Officials advise calling ahead at 843-5233 to make sure the office will be open. When possible, closed periods will be held mid-morning, according to town manager Russell J. Smith.

Levant

Library grant

The Levant Heritage Library has gratefully acknowledged the receipt of a grant from the Libri Foundation of Eugene, Ore.

The grant enabled the library to acquire $1,000 worth of award-winning children’s books for which the library only paid $300. The books were a welcome addition to the library’s children’s section, officials said.

Orono

Maryann Hartman Award

Mary Cathcart, senior policy associate at the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, was recognized as one of three 2006 Maryann Hartman Award winners.

The university’s Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies Program organizes the annual awards, which recognize accomplished Maine women for outstanding achievement in the arts, politics, business, education and community service.

Cathcart of Orono began her work on behalf of women nearly three decades ago as a volunteer for Spruce Run, one of the oldest battered women’s projects in the nation. She followed up on her commitment as a member of the Maine House of Representatives 1988-1994 and as a member of the Maine Senate 1996-2004.

Cathcart has helped improve women’s lives in many aspects, officials said, including education, care giving, environment, health care, reproductive choice, mental illness, family security, veteran’s affairs and aging.

Cathcart said she was both excited and honored to receive one of the Maryann Hartman Awards. “It’s great company to be a part of,” she said.

The other two Maryann Hartman Award winners were Lee Sharkey, a poet, peace activist and professor at the University of Maine at Farmington; and Sarah Hudson of Maine Maritime Academy, an emergency medical technician and founder of Bagaduce Ambulance Service in Castine, who now trains students for U.S. Coast Guard licenses in ship medicine.

UM Professor Maryann Hartman was director of forensics in speech communication at UMaine and a pioneer in the field of oral interpretation. A teacher, scholar, advocate, friend and mother, Hartman died in 1980 of cancer.

Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies Program also bestowed its Young Women’s Social Justice Awards on high school students Hazel Stark of Winterport and Amelia Butman of Greenville.

Fashion show plans

The Orono Historical Society is contemplating a fashion show to be held next summer. The idea is to show clothing that was worn from the 1860s to the 1940s.

The group is seeking models for the show and ideas and information about styles and how to present the show.

A meeting to plan the show will be held at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, at the Treadwell Building across from the post office. Bring a bag lunch and ideas and suggestions. Beverages will be provided. The public is invited to attend.

For more information, call Marlene Doucette, 866-2597, or write her at 19 Pine St.

Orrington

Bluegrass music series

The sound of banjos, guitars, mandolins, fiddles and dog house bass will echo off the Orrington hills. Jim Leighton and Billy T. have lined up blue grass to perform from December to April at the Orrington Grange Hall, 446 Dow Road. Shows begin at 7:30 p.m. The schedule:

. The Mueller Family of Oakland and the Adrians, Saturday, Dec. 9. $10, $8 seniors, under 12 free.

. Katahdin Valley Boys, Saturday, Jan. 13.

. Penobscot River Ramblers, Saturday, Feb. 10.

Shows also are planned for March 10 and April 14.

Proceeds from the shows will benefit a youth education fund for teaching children about bluegrass music.

Bluegrass jam sessions will be held 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursdays and noon-4 p.m. Sundays, October through April, at the Rocky Knoll Golf Course, Route 15.

For more information, call Jim Leighton at 944-3128 or 825-8839. Billy T. can be reached at 843-5994, or 949-1867.

Winterport

Nativity Pageant

The town’s 39th annual outdoor Nativity Pageant will take place at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 22 and 23, at the Union Meeting House on Main Street. Pageant length is approximately 15 minutes.

For information about participating in the pageant, call Lynda Casteris-El-Hajj at 947-4511.

Prospect-Bucksport

Friends of Fort Knox

The Friends of Fort Knox, located in Prospect, are offering three gift items for sale this holiday season to help support the group’s ongoing preservation efforts at the state historic site. Holiday gifts offered are Maine State Park Season Passes, 1st Up Observatory raffle tickets and Friends of Fort Knox memberships.

Maine State Park Season Passes, which allow unlimited day access to Maine’s many parks and historic sites, are available for individuals for $30 or for the occupants of a vehicle, for $60.

The 1st Up Observatory raffle tickets will allow the first eight official public visitors drawn in the raffle the chance to ride more than 400 feet to the top of the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory.

The new observatory, the only one like it in the Western Hemisphere, will allow visitors a view from Acadia National Park to Mount Katahdin. The raffle drawing will be this spring shortly before the official opening of the observatory.

The Friends’ final gift suggestion is a membership to the organization to help support the ongoing mission to preserve the fort and enhance its educational, cultural and economic value to the people of Maine.

Friends’ members receive a free admission to the fort, newsletters, notice of annual meeting and 10 percent off purchases in the gift shop.

The Friends, working in partnership with the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands and with funding from the town of Bucksport, recently repaired the exterior lights of the fort, which had not functioned this past summer.

The next project the organization is embarking on is the restoration of four 24-pound flank howitzer cannons and carriages, original to the Fort Knox State Historic Site. Once restored, Fort Knox will have more of these types of cannons on display than any other site in the United States.

The flank howitzer cannons were a defensive weapon used to repel land forces trying to take a fort by firing canisters full of steel balls into advancing troops.

The Friends of Fort Knox was formed in 1991 and has been involved in the restoration of the fort roof, transformation of the torpedo storage shed into the Visitor and Education Center, restoration of the officer’s quarters, replacement of the Battery A powder magazine roof and installation of interpretive plaques providing visitors with a self-guided tour.

Those who would like to order gifts or learn about the Friends of Fort Knox are invited to visit fortknox.maineguide.com, telephone 469-6553, e-mail FOFK1@aol.com or write FFK, P.O. Box 456, Bucksport, ME 04416.