Every person with PTSD has their own story. On Wednesday, June 17 at 1 p.m., NAMI Piscataquis County will host Nicole Foster, JD, who will relate her experience as a PTSD survivor. Foster is employed by NAMI Maine as the director of peer services and will offer her story as a message of hope to those with PTSD and their families and friends.

During the morning of Friday, June 5 staff from the SeDoMoCha School will be traveling throughout the RSU 68 district towns, waving to students and families as a way to say thank you for all their hard work --  staff miss them very much.

In this unusual time of restrictions on schools, churches, public meetings and gatherings, and of rural reopening, the Parkman Grange is announcing plans to award 2020 Minnie Welts Bridge Memorial Scholarships to one or more deserving Parkman students continuing their education beyond high school. There will be no Memorial Grange Supper this year, but scholarships will be awarded anyway.

Upcoming events around the region.

There will be a graduate parade immediately following the ceremony. The parade, to be led by Dexter police and fire departments, will begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. leaving from the high school, proceeding down Lincoln Street, on to Main Street to the lights, then turning left and ending by the fire department.

The Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming Committee announces the cancellation of the 2020 celebration due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The health risk and uncertainty from the pandemic has led the committee to cancel the parade and fireworks scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 1. 

After much consideration the Dexter Revitalization Committee has decided that due to the uncertainty in planning with the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Maine Red Hot Dog Festival originally scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 15 in downtown Dexter has been canceled.

Effective Monday, June 1, the Diocese of Portland is allowing Maine churches to hold public Masses with restrictions and safeguards in place.

The Thompson Free Library in will offer curbside pickup service for books, movies and other library materials beginning on Wednesday, June 3. Pickup hours will be Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday morning pickups can be arranged by appointment.

Scheduled for the final day of school, Wednesday June 10 and starting at 1 p.m., the parade of vehicles will travel through the SAD 4 campus with appropriate waving, balloons, decorated vehicles, horn-blowing and yelling. Teachers and staff will line the edges of the driveway in what Boomsma hopes becomes a “huge event” that marks the official end of the school year and the start of summer.

The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) is very excited to announce that it will be collaborating with Widdershins Farm LLC this summer. Widdershins is a local farm in Dover-Foxcroft offering a wide variety of services and products and includes a creamery and farm store that is open seven days a week. The farm specializes in sustainable agriculture and caring for their livestock in the most natural way possible

The Center Theatre announced that its community theater group, the Slightly Off-Center Players, will be holding open auditions for their summer production of “Born in a Small Town,” a new play written and directed by Bobby Keniston. The auditions, which will take place on June 13-14 from 1-4 p.m. at the Center Theatre, 20 East Main Street.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the previously scheduled Relay For Life live events across Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire through June have suspended their live events, and many now are participating on Sunday, June 7 in a virtual online experience called Hope From Home. Participants should register for their local event at http://RelayForLife.org and then on June 7 join the activities at https://bit.ly/RelayHopeFromHome.

After two months of being unable to hold live support group meetings because of the COVID-19 distancing policies, NAMI Piscataquis County will reconvene via Zoom on the first Wednesday of each month at 1 p.m.

Therefore, we found it fitting and proper to remember. On behalf of Post #29 Chadbourne-Merrill American Legion we would like to offer a few words of remembrance in honor of those who have loved so deeply as to give their all for the cause of freedom and everything it entails. At this important and solemn time, we remember the hard-earned liberty gained through the sacrifice of so many on our behalf, a grateful nation.

Upcoming events around the region.

Annis, born on the Cape, is a business-savvy guy who owned and operated restaurants in the Boston area for 30 years before his intense desire to travel sent him across the country for a stint, eventually returning to Boston, where he would meet the love of his life. Several years ago, and two children later, the couple moved to Dresden, motivated by a pursuit for a simpler life for their daughters. While in Dresden, they began a search for their slice of heaven; a family farm, which eventually landed them in Dover-Foxcroft, and Maison de Chevre (translated as goat house) was born.

The Thompson Free Library will host Susan Pinette, professor of modern languages and literatures and director of Franco American programs at the University of Maine, live via Zoom at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 28. This online presentation is part of an ongoing Bicentennial series sponsored by a Maine Bicentennial Community Grant.