What fun you will have helping the Robinson Ballet Company celebrate its 26th anniversary!

The public is invited to share in “Dancin’ through the Decades,” a family dance and silent auction, to raise funds for the company, which brings so much joy and pleasure to our community and all of eastern Maine.

“Dancin’ through the Decades” will be held from 2-10:30 p.m. Saturday, April 19, at the Brewer Auditorium.

Bidding for the silent auction begins at 2 p.m., and the dance at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are $5 per person or $15 per family.

Robinson Ballet dancers will be on the floor with you, demonstrating dances from the ’40s through the ’90s, to music provided by a local disc jockey.

Karen Hartnagle hopes you will enjoy this opportunity to dance along with members of the company, and that you will enjoy bidding on auction items that include some delicious desserts.

She also reminds us that Robinson Ballet’s 10th annual Spring Dance Show will be performed at two sites.

The first show begins at 7 p.m. both Friday, April 25, and Saturday, April 26, at The Grand auditorium in Ellsworth.

The next performance begins both at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 9, and Saturday, May 10, at Hauck Auditorium on the University of Maine campus in Orono.

“This year,” Hartnagle wrote, “we will have nationally acclaimed guest choreographer Cathy Young doing a piece for the shows.”

Tickets for both sites are $14 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for those ages 18 and under.

Tickets the Ellsworth shows can be obtained by calling The Grand 667-9500.

Tickets for the Orono performances can be obtained at the Grasshopper Shop in Bangor, Dr. Records in Orono or by calling 942-1990.

I was delighted to hear from Anne Crowley, president of the Carmel Fireman’s Auxiliary, who wrote: “Well, we made it. We got our thermal-imaging camera in November, and made our last payment in December, thanks to Brenda and Dick Arnold” and everyone who supported the efforts of the auxiliary to obtain this much-needed equipment.

Now, Crowley reports, “we are trying to replenish our treasury to be able to help the firemen while they are helping us.”

The auxiliary is holding Basket Beano at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 19, at the Carmel Elementary School.

Tickets are $10 each, and only 200 will be sold.

At the event, you will be able to buy hot dogs, Italian sandwiches, soda, water, chips and candy bars.

The auxiliary also is raffling an Old Town Canoe kayak package consisting of a kayak, life vest and a paddle. The drawing is Thursday, May 1.

Tickets are $1 each, and can be obtained at Eastside Variety, the Carmel town office, Ye Old General Store in Carmel, or from any firefighter or auxiliary member.

It’s back! That chain-letter hoax, for which Make-A-Wish Foundation maintains a special, toll-free line to disclaim, has resurfaced in our area, according to Tom Peaco of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine.

This is the chain letter that requests people to send business cards for a Craig Shergold, Craig Sherwood, Craig Sherfold, or any combination of similar-sounding names.

As hard as it may be to believe, I last wrote about this problem in 1999, with the same message.

This chain letter (which has now become e-mail) began in 1989, when the real Craig Shergold, a 9-year-old English boy diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, requested through another wish-granting organization that cards be sent to him so he could be recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the most greeting cards.

His wish was fulfilled in 1990 after having received 16 million cards.

Not only was Shergold’s tumor successfully removed in 1991, but his family also requested an end to the mail, and Guiness retired the category in his honor.

So, please, on behalf of Make-A-Wish Foundation, do not respond to this request.

It is not legitimate! For more information, call Make-A-Wish Foundation at (800) 215-1333.

The Friends of Fort Knox need your help. The Friends need volunteers to work part time in the gift shop, and to act as tour guides and collect gate fees at the fort on Route 174 in Prospect, which is Maine’s most visited historic site.

The hours are varied and flexible, and volunteers are needed beginning Thursday, May 1, through October. If you can help, call the Friends office at 469-6553 or e-mail fofk1@aol.com.

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