Jordan Spelios of Dover-Foxcroft was one of 77 seniors who graduated from Montserrat College of Art during commencement on May 17 at the college’s Cabot Theatre.

The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District has opened registration for final sessions in its popular Families in the Outdoors series. Families in the Outdoors was started in 2018 from a grant received by the Davis Conservation Foundation. The goal of this program is to engage with families outdoors and provide fun, educational opportunities to learn and play together.

On Tuesday evening, July 30 nearly 40 people gathered at the Brownville Community Church to view home movies recorded in Brownville Junction and along both the Canadian Pacific and the Bangor & Aroostook rail lines by Sam Michaud and his son Andrew in the 1940s and 1950s.

The state and federal governments have proposed using the settlement money on four restoration projects in Charleston, Hampden, Brooksville and Sedgwick meant to help migratory fish such as Atlantic salmon, wild brook trout and alewives travel upstream. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is now circulating the proposal to collect public input on it.

Have you ever wondered about the stone wall you found when walking through the woods? Have you questioned why anyone would build a wall in the woods? Many of your questions will be answered on Thursday, Aug. 8 at the Abbott Museum on Church Street in Dexter. Kevin Gardner of Hopkinton, New Hampshire will present a program on the history of New England stone walls.

This weekend the annual Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming and Foxcroft Academy’s 2019 Alumni Weekend together will feature a number of events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union sponsored the Piscataquis River Festival Pie Eating Contest on Saturday, July 27 in Guilford.

The Office of the Secretary of the Maine State Senate has released its records for the first session of the 129th Maine Legislature and Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville has been recognized for having a voting record of 100 percent.

For a century the employees have been instrumental in the success of Hardwood Products and the Puritan Medical Products Company. Company officials recognized employees with a 100th-year celebration party on Friday, July 26, the eve of the annual Piscataquis River Festival, near the town athletic field on the shore of the river.

The peak months for shark activity in New England waters are August and September. To celebrate this annual event, the Abbott Memorial Library in Dexter will be showing the 1975 classic film about a giant man-eating great white shark that attacks beachgoers in a New England summer resort town. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film stars Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss.

Pollinators are vital to food production all over the world. In Maine, examples of well-known pollinators include butterflies, birds, beetles and of course, bees. In June, the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) worked with local volunteers to plant its “Pollinator Sunflower Garden,” a garden space for the public to enjoy, observe and learn about native pollinators. In celebration of this new addition to the Law Farm, the PCSWCD will be holding a free Pollinators! event on Friday, Aug. 16 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Law Farm.

Upcoming events around the region.

The annual Piscataquis River Festival returned to Guilford on Saturday with a morning parade celebrating the theme “Got Wood?”

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved book, the Center Theatre for the Performing Arts in Dover-Foxcroft is producing “Little Women the Broadway Musical” (music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, book by Allan Knee.) The Center Theatre is seeking both a motivated director and music director, or someone with the energy and skills to do both.

The Tisbury Manor Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution welcomed a new member at the June meeting. Nancy Trogdon joined, proving her lineage to Revolutionary War veteran Thomas Taylor from North Carolina who provided civil service to the new nation by serving as a juror and overseer of the roads.

University of Maine Cooperative Extension will offer a food preservation hands-on workshop on Tuesday, Aug. 6 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Piscataquis County office, 165 East Main Street.

On Tuesday, Aug. 6 at 6:30 p.m. the Abbot Historical Society will host the H.J. Crosby Band at the Abbot Town Hall for an outdoor concert. In case of rain the band will play inside at 7 p.m. Following the concert there will be a free ice cream social.

“I’m going to open doors for you, doors you never dreamed existed.” Rosalind Russell utters those memorable words as she ascends her impossibly lavish and dramatic staircase in the final scene of the wonderful film “Auntie Mame.” This August promises to open new doors -- for all ages -- at the Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft.