For people who love the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, or for people who simply love watching their friends and neighbors perform, the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Hancock County is ready to entertain in two eastern Maine communities this winter.

Sandi Blanchette reports GSSHC will perform “The Gondoliers” at the Bucksport Center for the Arts at Bucksport Middle School and at The Grand in Ellsworth.

The showtimes, dates and locations are 7 p.m. both Friday, Feb. 22, and Saturday, Feb. 23, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, in Bucksport; and both 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, and Saturday, March 1, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 2, in Ellsworth.

Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, $10 for students and can be obtained at BookStacks on Main Street in Bucksport, 469-8992, and The Grand in Ellsworth, 667-9500.

However, “due to the incredible support from the Bucksport Area Cultural Arts Society and BookStacks bookstore,” Blanchette wrote, “all presale tickets at BookStacks are $9.”

Blanchette explained this is the first time in years the GSSHC has taken its show on the road.

“The recently built auditorium is state-of-the-art in many ways and provides a venue closer to Bangor in this very snowy winter,” she wrote of the Bucksport performances.

Dede Johnson of Blue Hill is directing the production and Fred Goldrich of Trenton is conducting the orchestra.

The Gondoliers are Josh Howie of Bar Harbor and Zach Field of Hampden, with newcomer Jen Buffington of Blue Hill and Lisa Blanchette of Sullivan playing their wives.

Other cast and choral members include Sandi Blanchette, Joe Marshall, Debra Hangge, Roland Dube, David Blanchette, Jennifer Chaloult, Rose Upton, Helen Conway, Irv Hodgkin, Lee Patterson, Chuck Geyer and John Van Pelt.

UPtown Business and Professional Women President Marie Saucier invites you to learn about resources to grow your business from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, in the Sea Dog Restaurant Banquet Room on the Bangor Waterfront.

Sponsored by TD Banknorth, light refreshments will be served and donations will be accepted to benefit the BPW Scholarship Foundation.

The public is welcome to attend, and reservations can be made by calling Deborah Marsters at 974-2201 or e-mailing Deborah.Marsters@tdbanknorth.com.

Dr. A. Scott Denning, a 1984 graduate of the University of Maine and associate professor with the atmospheric science faculty at Colorado State University, will discuss carbon-climate connections in the 21st century at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at Donald P. Corbett Hall on the University of Maine campus in Orono.

The lecture will be preceded by a reception at 6:30 p.m. in the DPC atrium.

Bob Potts of the UMaine Alumni Association reports that the reception and lecture featuring the noted climatologist and co-sponsored by Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, is free and open to the public, but that guests are asked to RSVP by calling 800-934-2586 or 581-1185.

The University of Maine has announced that the public is invited to view the total eclipse of the moon at the Maynard F. Jordan Observatory.

The Observatory will be open, free, weather permitting, from 8:30 to 11 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 20, on the Orono campus.

The Jordan Planetarium in Wingate Hall also is offering a moon show, “Moon Shadows,” on Saturdays during February, and will offer a matinee at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20.

Reservations for that program are recommended, and can be made by calling 581-1341. Admission is $3.

Planetarium director Alan Davenport reminds readers that last fall’s lunar eclipse was seen only briefly, and that the next lunar eclipse will not occur in Maine until the end of 2010.

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