For the first time since 1999 the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers Area I festival and conference will return to the University of Maine in Orono June 25-28, reports Jackie Frisk, and you’ll have an opportunity to hear its members perform.
You can hear Embellish! which Frisk describes as “a world-renowned handbell ensemble,” performing an opening concert at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at the Collins Center for the Arts.
This event is free for the festival and conference participants, $5 for members of the public.
The conference, which attracts more than 700 musicians and instructors, will close with a gathering of the ringers performing a free public concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 28, at Alfond Arena on the UMaine campus.
Frisk wrote this four-day biennial event attracts hand-bell choirs from Maine and New England, including members of the Jubilation Ringers of Hampden Highlands United Methodist Church in Hampden as well as two ringers who are traveling from Paris, France.
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Grace United Methodist Church will hold a yard sale 9 a.m.-3 p.m. today in the church parking lot at 193 Union St., Bangor.
Sponsored by its thrift store volunteers, the thrift shop also will be open all day.
The sale offers large and small items, a bake sale, hot dogs, soda and games for children.
Proceeds benefit the church’s general fund.
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A casting call for the Caribou Sesquicentennial Historical Pageant play has been issued by playwright Dr. Philip Turner and director the Rev. Lynne Josselyn for 7 p.m. Monday, June 22, and Tuesday, June 23, at Gray Memorial United Methodist Church in Caribou.
“Narrators, a variety of actors and backstage personnel are needed,” Josselyn reports.
You can answer the call either night.
She also says singers for the choir and musicians for the service band are needed for the Sesquicentennial Ecumenical Service, and you can call musical director Margaret Cyr at 493-3028 to sign up.
The first meeting of those musicians is 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, at the church.
For more information, call Josselyn at 896-7906 or e-mail ljosselyn@embarqmail.com.
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Marine Environmental Research Institute invites you to attend the MERI Ocean Environment Lecture Series beginning with a reception at 6 p.m. and a presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at MERI, 55 Main St., Blue Hill.
For this lecture, photographer and explorer Anne Doubilet will present “Ends of the Earth: From Papua New Guinea to the Arctic.”
The reception before the presentation features a photographic exhibit of Doubilet’s work, titled “Coral and Ice.”
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“The United Church of Christ of Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor is supporting the work of Maine faith and community organizations in resettling Iraqi war refugees in Maine,” wrote its minister, the Rev. William Bigelow.
Since the U.S. “invasion of Iraq in March of 2003, 2 million Iraqi children, women and men have become homeless refugees,” Bigelow said of those who constitute “a greater number than the entire population of Maine.”
He said the U.S. “so far has agreed to accept only 17,000” refugees and that “200 to 300 … are being resettled in Maine, mostly in the Portland area.
“These Iraqi citizens fall into three categories: refugees, asylum applicants and secondary migrants resettling from another initial location within the United States.
“The Refugee and Immigration Service of Catholic Charities of Maine is a primary service provider and coordinator for these resettlement efforts.”
Bigelow wrote contributions for this effort are welcome and may be mailed to United Church of Christ, P.O. Box 555, Northeast Harbor 04662.
For more information about this program, call the church at 276-5521.
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Ever notice how things come in threes? Even mistakes.
In my June 16 lead item about the Gary “Griff” Griffith Memorial Motorcycle Ride at 10:30 a.m. today on Elm Street in Guilford, I misspelled his name.
On top of that, I mistyped the telephone number for contact person Sarah Quirk, daughter of the late Guilford-area businessman. The correct number is 538-4466.
Third, I wrote her father’s accidental death occurred in 2007 rather than 2006.
I apologized to Quirk, who graciously said that “the important thing is the information [about this benefit] is out there.”
It is again — correctly, I hope!
Proceeds from the ride, followed by a barbecue on Bradstreet Road in Parkman, benefit a Piscataquis Community High School scholarship in Griffith’s name.
Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; javerill@bangordailynews.net; 990-8288.