Helping Hands with Heart (HHH), in partnership with Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) is pleased to announce the 2019 movie schedule. These films are part of the collaborative “Maine Highlands Investment Partnership” which seeks to improve opportunities for economic and human development in our rural region.

This February let’s go beyond “Be My Valentine” and cute cupid cards. While love may be all we need, connection is arguably even more important, especially these days. The Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft is a great place to connect with people, programs, books, ideas and, yes, even computers.

Kim Cavanagh, a local lawyer and Foxcroft Academy alum, was celebrated recently at the Center Theatre for the Performing Arts Board of Director's annual meeting. The meeting was Cavanagh's last after being on the Center Theatre board since 2012.

The Center Theatre announced recently that Ashlie McLeish, who joined the Theatre in 2016, has been promoted to Theatre operations manager. According to Patrick Myers, the Center Theatre's executive director, the new position better describes what McLeish's role in the Theatre has become during the past year.

The public is cordially invited to the Foxcroft Academy Winter Student Recital, to be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20 at the Dover-Foxcroft Congregational Church.

The Center Theatre recently announced that it will be offering a free showing of the classic movie "All the President's Men" at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 13. The screening will be preceded by food and a discussion at 5:30 p.m. The program is part of a joint project between the Center Theatre, Foxcroft Academy, and the Thompson Free Library supported by a grant from the Maine Humanities Council's Democracy, Journalism, and the Informed Citizen grant program.

The Guilford Memorial Library has been selected by the Maine Humanities Council to offer “Let’s Talk About It,” a free reading and discussion group with copies of books available through the library. This program is provided by the Maine Humanities Council’s Maine Center for the Book in cooperation with the Maine State Library. The series “Mysteries by Maine Authors” begins at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5 at the Guilford Memorial Library, and continues for five sessions through Tuesday, May 28.

The Center Theatre and the Slightly Off-Center Players are looking for directors for two shows in 2019. The first, “Seussical Jr.,” is a magical musical romp through the land of Dr. Seuss. This kid's production will be performed the first two weekends in May.

The Center Theatre announced that it will be screening the award-winning film "Farmer of the Year" starting on Friday, Jan. 18. The comedy-drama, produced by Vermont-based Yellow House Films, has played festivals around the U.S. It has picked up honors such as the New Filmmakers Forum Emerging Director Award at the St. Louis International Film Festival and audiences have praised its authenticity and humor.

January, the perennial fresh start, can feel a bit anticlimactic, even weighted with pressure from loose ends of the past year to the bright, uncertain promises of a new one. So, it’s the perfect time to visit the Thompson Free Library (TFL) in Dover-Foxcroft, where our programs, like our collection, feature plenty of your favorite elements mixed with new concepts and new faces -- all in a welcoming setting.

Over 80 beautiful parrots will celebrate the holidays at a free open house on Saturday, Dec. 29 from noon to 4 p.m. at Siesta Sanctuary, 104 Brown Road. There is no snow date.

Light, camera, action! On Monday, Dec. 17 the Center Theatre is proud to announce that it will be hosting an advance screening of the new action-packed Transformers movie "Bumblebee" nearly a week before it opens to the public nationwide. Thanks to the work of the Foxcroft Academy, Dexter Regional High School, and Greenville High School Key Clubs with the Thirst Project, Paramount Pictures has offered this movie, at no charge to the theatre and guests, to be screened at Center Theatre as a thank-you for the students' efforts.

On Sunday, Dec. 23 at 2 p.m. Susan Ramsey & The North Country Strings perform "A North Country Christmas" at the Center Theatre, 20 East Main Street. The program is rescheduled from Dec. 2.

On Friday night, Dec. 7, the Center Theatre and the Slightly Off-Center Players debuted a new work by award-winning playwright Bobby Keniston. His new work “A Wicked Christmas Carol” brings Dickens’ classic story “A Christmas Carol” to the land of Oz and casts it with characters from L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

The Piscataquis Community High Drama Club will be presenting the Christmas play “The Night Before the Night Before Christmas,” a two-act comedy by Pat Cook, at 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14. The Glee Club sings during intermission, with a bake sale and raffles.

On snow days Mainers get creative and get to work! The Commons at Central Hall, formerly the Maine Highlands Senior Center, is doing just that this winter by coming up with an innovative way to raise money to fulfill the vision of building space for an adult day service center at Central Hall. Some of you may have seen an oddly placed car with a red bow on the hill in front of Central Hall! That classy 2002 Toyota Celica sports car is being raffled to raise money to complete the building project that was started in 2012.

A “Bah Humbug Christmas” is the theme for the annual holiday concert presented by the Harold J Crosby Community Band at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 9 at the town hall.

Raffle tickets are available to be entered into a drawing to win a 2002 Toyota Celica, with all proceeds benefiting the restoration of The Commons at Central Hall. A maximum of 450 tickets will be sold for the drawing on Friday, Dec. 21. The vehicle is available to view on The Commons lawn at 152 East Main Street.