The annual Hampden Academy Boosters auction is one in which you should be able to find “something for everyone,” reports boosters spokeswoman Janet Groshon, since a wide variety of sports and nonsports items have been generously donated by individuals and local businesses.

The HA Boosters Annual Auction begins with a preview at 5:30 p.m. and bidding starts at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, in the Hampden Academy Old Gym.

The goal of this year’s event is to raise $10,000 to help supplement needs by all the sports programs, Groshon wrote.

Organizers hope that goal will be reached and have every good reason to believe it will.

Their confidence is due to the hard work of auction Chairwoman Carol Albright and members of her committee, who have done a great deal of leg work to get contributions for the fund-raiser.

This event, by the way, will be the final time Albright serves as chairwoman. Groshon pointed out that Albright has spent “endless hours” working on the auction to help make it a success.

The highest bidders will take home such great items as a Tom Hennessey print, an Old Town kayak and canoe, a mountain bike from Bangor Ski Rack, bronze sculptures by HA alumnus Forest “Toby” Hart, an official Wilson NFL football signed by Super Bowl XXXVI Most Valuable Player Tom Brady or autographed baseball bats from another Academy alumnus, Mike Bordick.

In addition to the regular auction, which will be conducted by Gary Arsenault and Tom Cavanaugh, you can participate in a silent auction that includes more than 80 items.

And, if all the evening’s activities make you hungry, you can purchase hot dogs, pizza and popcorn, as well as gourmet desserts sold by the slice.

Want to get your heart pounding and your pride in America showing?

Plan to attend the Brewer Hometown Band Concert, “A Patriotic Tribute,” at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 14, at Brewer Auditorium.

Under the direction of Jan Cox, the band invites you to help celebrate the red, white and blue with music, fun, refreshments and door prizes.

Tickets for the concert are $5 each; children 12 and under are free.

Tickets are available at the door or in advance from any band member.

The concert is the only one for which the band charges admission, Cox said, noting that profits are used for expenses throughout the year.

Attending the concert is one way to support the work of this popular band, which offers so much fine – and free – entertainment throughout the year.

Brochures are out and it’s time for area artists to make plans to enter the Bangor Art Society’s 2002 Open Juried Art Show next month at the Bangor Public Library.

Artists from all over the state are encouraged to enter the show.

Brochures with entry requirements can be obtained at Penobscot Paint Products Co., Penobscot Plaza, 31 Washington St., Bangor; Bangor Frameworks, Maliseet Gardens Plaza, 175 Exchange St.; Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St.; or Art Etc., 19 Mill St., Orono.

Jean Oliver of the sponsoring art society said this is an open juried art show, and anybody can bring in his art, but that all entry forms must be received by Wednesday, May 1.

If you have questions, you may write the BAS in care of Oliver at P.O. Box 81, Orrington 04474, or call her at 825-3157.

Ginger Phelps, Maine Shakespeare Festival’s resident costume designer, is issuing her “A Kingdom for Some Cloth” plea to gather materials for costumes for the festival, which runs July 6 to Aug. 17 on the Bangor waterfront.

Penobscot Theatre Company-Maine Shakespeare Festival staff and volunteers need materials to make more than 100 costumes for this year’s festival.

Immediate donations of fabric, sewing supplies and related material are more than welcome – it’s a necessity!

The most needed items include costume jewelry, feathers, ribbon, trim, twill, seam, hem tape, buttons, zippers, Velcro, elastic and cloth in 2-yard or greater pieces. Also needed are luxuriant fabrics such as satin, velvet, brocade and damask, as well as rough weaves, fur and leather along with costume and vintage patterns.

Donations will be accepted through the first week of June, when the sewing begins.

You contributions can be left from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at the Bangor Opera House, 131 Main St. in downtown Bangor.

All donations are tax deductible.

In case there is any doubt why such wonderful and unusual fabric is needed, you should know that the festival will include productions of “The Tempest,” “Richard III,” “The Compleat Wrks of Shkspr (abridged)” as well as the family favorite “Anne of Green Gables.”

If you have questions, or want more information, call PTC-MSF at 942-3333.

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