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

The final Brownville-Brownville Junction Historical Society meeting of 2018 was held at the museum with seven members and one guest attending.

The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) is partnering with the East Sangerville Grange to bring you an afternoon of family fun at our upcoming cider pressing event. This event will be held at the East Sangerville Grange at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 14.

On Friday, Oct. 5 Dexter Dover Area Towns in Transition (DDATT) will be hosting a free public harvest potluck supper from 5 to 7 p.m. at the newly refurbished The Commons at Central Hall (152 East Main Street). Everyone who likes to break bread with others is invited.

Contra dances held over the past few months at The Commons at Central Hall have proved so popular that they will become a regular monthly event. Part of the allure of contra dance is that a lesson is provided by the caller before the band plays each tune, so everyone has opportunities to learn. More experienced dancers and beginners are blended together as the music and the caller’s instructions move them down the line of ever-changing couples on the dance floor.

Please consider joining this special evening to celebrate the work of volunteers and to learn more about Pine Tree Hospice and its role in area communities. For more information or to RSVP, contact 564-4346 or wecare@pinetreehospice.org by Friday, Nov. 9.