Longtime Dexter Regional High School teacher and coach Peter Murray was recognized through the Boston Red Sox’s Most Valuable Educator program during a recent home-plate ceremony at Fenway Park. Educators around New England are nominated by students from their school as someone who makes an effort to ensure that every child has the benefit of a great school.

This summer area Democrats undertook a “Write On” service project and collected 3,486 pencils for SAD 41 schools. Pencils came in from different areas of Maine as well as North Carolina and Washington.

The Parkman Grange needs the community’s help. The Grange well has run dry and a new one must be drilled immediately in order to carry on scheduled and planned activities, such as the upcoming Smoke Off (Sept. 14) and the annual Military Appreciation Supper (Oct. 19).

“Relocating the 100 Mile Wilderness,” a presentation by Dave Field, overseer of Lands for the Maine Appalachian Trail Club and trail worker in Maine for 64 years, will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Monson Historical Society.

Upcoming events around the region.

Again in 2019, the annual Maine Red Hot Dog Festival kicked off with the Millside Fitness Bun Run 5K on Aug. 9 with 54 runners racing through the streets of Dexter. Perry Lebreton, 44 of Old Town, won the Bun Run in a time of 18 minutes, 14 seconds.

Every five years the town of Bowerbank celebrates community with Bowerbank Days, held Aug. 9-10 in 2019 with a mid-morning parade on Saturday as the procession traveled down the Bowerbank Road past the town hall and fire station.

The Gary Wakeland Memorial 5K was held on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 10 in conjunction with the town celebration of Bowerbank Days, an event that occurs every five years.

Thursday, August 8, 2019, an unidentified 20-year-old man wearing camo clothes, a bulletproof vest; carrying 100 bullets, a rifle, and a second gun, walked into a Missouri Walmart. He was spotted immediately by an off-duty firefighter with a concealed carry permit who held a gun on the 20-year-old until police arrested him. No shots were fired. No one was killed.

The Gerrish Gravel Crushers defeated Save-A-Lot by a score of 12-7 in the 2019 Piscataquis Regional YMCA adult coed softball league championship game on Aug. 4. The win marks the fourth consecutive championship for the Gerrish Gravel Crushers.