Three prestigious awards were announced at Foxcroft Academy’s 2018 Alumni Banquet, the Dr. Mary Chandler Lowell Award, the Tillson D. Thomas Award and the James S. Holmes Award. This year’s respective recipients are Linda Clark Howard ’63, Gene Philpot and Dr. Albert S. Buck.

At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 28 the Abbot Historical Society will be meeting at the historic Washington School (pictured) located just outside of Abbot at the corner of Route 15 and the Howard Siding Road.

Upcoming events around the region.

The Center Theatre for the Performing Arts recently announced that they updated their mission statement to more clearly reflect their community work. The theatre’s updated mission is “to make arts, culture, education, and entertainment accessible to our rural communities.”

On Sunday, Aug. 5, the Brownville Community Church honored Violet Grant for her many years of service to the church by presenting her with the title Deacon Emeritus.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage is waiving state park fees for residents as a show of appreciation. His office said that day use fees will be waived for residents at Maine State Parks and Historic Sites from Saturday, Aug. 11 through Labor Day.

The American Red Cross of Maine and the Brownville Fire Department are teaming up to make town residents safer by installing free smoke alarms in their homes and teaching them about fire safety on Saturday, Aug. 18.

The Maine Red Hot Festival will be back in downtown Dexter on Saturday, Aug. 11 as the third annual event will feature activities, with free admission, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. -- rain or shine.

The 27th annual Maine Forest Heritage Days is scheduled for Aug. 9-12. The weekend includes a bus tour through Maine’s working forest, a craft fair, carriage rides, chainsaw carving, a woodsman demonstration featuring chopping and ax throwing and the regional Game of Logging competition.

Along the banks of those ponds, they may also find a few dozen stashed canoes left behind by their owners. The unspoken rules of the Maine custom are that anyone can use them, as long as they are returned in the same condition as they were borrowed.

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, Aug. 15.

In the cool and pleasant basement of the Abbott Memorial Library Friday evening (Aug. 3) for the monthly gathering of Dexter Dover Area Towns in Transition (DDATT), about two dozen area people watched the short film “A Farm for the Future” in which the foundations of modern agriculture are questioned by a young farmer trying to figure out how to make her family’s land productive and profitable.

Bring your inner child and see a show for free. The Wayside Grange and Theatre is a proud sponsor of the free Frogtown Puppeteers show at the Maine Red Hot Dog Festival in downtown Dexter at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 11. Great entertainment for all ages.

DEXTER -- Catholic Charities’ Parish Social Ministry program presented its annual Matthew 25 Award on Sunday, July 29 to Our Lady of the Snows’ kitchen ministry “Our Lady’s Kitchen.”

In August of 1818, a group of 15 settlers chartered a Baptist Church in Parkman. Soon thereafter, Zenas Hall was ordained at the home of Elias Merrill and became the church’s first minister. In 1831 the meeting house where Parkman Baptist Church currently gathers was built and in 1833 a bell was installed in the belfry.

A daughter, Ivy Lynn Rideout, born on May 3, 2018 at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft to Ashley and Kyle Rideout of Dover-Foxcroft.

The Academy of General Dentistry, a professional association of more than 40,000 general dentists who are dedicated to professional excellence through the pursuit of continuing education, is pleased to announce that Daniel L. Steinke, DDS, MAGD of Steinke & Caruso Dental Care in Dover-Foxcroft has earned the 2018 Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition for his commitment to lifelong learning, volunteering his services to communities in need, mentoring associates and new dentists and participating in organized dentistry. This is the second time Dr. Steinke has received this prestigious award.

The fourth annual Dexter Sunrise Kiwanis CRUISE-IN will be held from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4 (rain date is Aug. 5) in the parking lot at the Ridge View Community School on Fern Road off Route 94.