On Friday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. the Center Theatre will be hosting its second annual Pumpkin Jam Battle of the Bands Fall Fundraiser. The event brings three favorite local bands together to compete for a cash prize and bragging right for the year. This year, Troy Youngblood and Deb Maynard's Little Big Band will be trying to knock last year's winners the Doughty Hill Band off their pedestal.

Many times we are asked “what does the American Legion do?,” “why should I belong?,” and “what’s in it for me?” These questions hang out there because we do a poor job to telling our story. To answer the first question, the American Legion is the largest veterans service organization in the United States standing on four pillars of service -- veterans affairs & rehabilitation, national security, Americanism, and children & youth.

Upcoming events around the region.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced that staff from her Bangor Constituent Service Center will hold office hours in Dover-Foxcroft from 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, Oct. 26 at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building, 48 Morton Avenue, Suite A.

Leslie Lizotte, aging and disability resource center specialist from the Eastern Area Agency on Aging, will be holding a Medicare 101 class at the Piscataquis County office building (Peaks House) located at 163 East Main Street from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Oct. 24.

Members of the community are invited to attend the Piscataquis Regional YMCA annual meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25. The meeting will be held at the Piscataquis Regional YMCA at 48 Park Street.

The Misty Mountaineers play traditional bluegrass, gospel, and a mix of older country tunes done bluegrass style at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27 at the Wayside Theatre.

Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC), the Katahdin Higher Education Center, and the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) are partnering to bring a grant writing conference to Dover-Foxcroft. The event comes four months after EMDC and the Katahdin Higher Education Center hosted a similar event in East Millinocket. The Grant Writing Conference will be held at The Commons at Central Hall, 152 East Main Street, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18.

The Guilford Memorial Library will be hosting William Geller as he leads a discussion on the history of the Piscataquis watershed. This discussion will also include the 1825 Guilford fire and local river logging drives. This will take place at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at the library.

Girl Scouts of Maine will host a Discover Girl Scout event at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18 at Piscataquis Community High School for potential members and volunteers.

To support those who are grieving, Pine Tree Hospice holds an adult evening bereavement support group on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month in Dover-Foxcroft. Many people seek and find comfort by sharing their feelings of pain, emotions and thoughts in a group setting. Others may never say a word but because the participants in the group have the shared experience of the death of a loved one, they are able to show understanding and empathy to one another.

Upcoming events around the region.

Foxcroft Academy is partnering with Finance Authority of Maine to offer a Financial Aid Help Night from 6-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 17. A Finance Authority of Maine representative will spend 30 minutes presenting the most important elements of the financial aid application, and will spend the remaining hour assisting families in filling out the FAFSA application.

The JD Foundation is setting up fall and winter classes and support groups. If interested in being a presenter for suicide awareness in the community or a co-facilitator for bereavement groups, please call 876-2295. There is always room for more people who want to help.

October in Maine has a cinematic feel. From the red, orange, and yellow-tinged backdrops to the fallen leaves swirling in the wind to the jack o’ lantern grinning from the porch. One minute a bittersweet Lifetime romance, the next the ominous foreshadowing of “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” before culminating in a tension building scene straight out of “Halloween.” Whatever lens you view the month through, the Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft has programs to fit your shifting mood as autumn takes hold and All Hallow’s Eve approaches.

With so many struggling churches and businesses in our community, it is wonderful to see a ray of sunshine at the Guilford United Methodist Church.

Everyone is invited to hop aboard the Maine Poetry Express workshop and community reading at the Thompson Free Library. Maine Poetry Express is a program of the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine State Library to bring Maine poetry and poets to local libraries and their communities. Community members in Dover-Foxcroft will select Maine poems, learn to perform those poems in a workshop with Millinocket poet Paul Corrigan, and host a community poetry-reading event, where all are invited to come together to celebrate Maine poetry. The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18 at the Thompson Free Library. All are welcome and no registration is necessary.

Upcoming events around the region