The summer food service program, sponsored by the RSU 68 food service program, returns this year from mid-June to mid-August at the SeDoMoCha School -- 63 Harrison Avenue. All children under 18 are welcome for free breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday with breakfast served from 8-9 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to noon. All meals must be eaten on site, and no application is needed.

As state lawmakers continue to evaluate a bill that would allow Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft to merge with the statewide Northern Light Health system, they must also consider a recent proposal that would give more control of the process to the communities that now oversee the hospital.

In less than a month thousands of people will be coming to downtownDover-Foxcroft for the 11th annual Maine Whoopie Pie Festival. Leading up to and during the event scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 22, several roads will be closed to vehicles and the selectmen reviewed the traffic plan with festival organizer/Center Theatre Executive Director Patrick Myers during a May 29 meeting.

A proposed $11,784,238 RSU 68 budget for the 2019-20 academic year was approved at the annual district budget meeting on May 28 at the SeDoMoCha School. The spending package will now go to a referendum in the towns of Charleston, Dover-Foxcroft, Monson and Sebec on Tuesday, June 11 with residents of the four communities voting either “yes” or “no” to make a district-wide decision on the total amount.

American Legion Post 29 Commander Adrienne Clarke gave the keynote address during the 2019 Memorial Day observance in Dover-Foxcroft on Monday, May 27. A parade proceeded from Summer Street to Monument Square for a ceremony where Clarke addressed the crowd on what Memorial Day signifies. The procession then moved down East Main Street for a wreath and flower ceremony over the Piscataquis River bridge and then marchers walked to the courthouse.

In observance of Arbor Week 2019 from May 19-25, the town of Dover-Foxcroft conducted its annual tree planting. Pictured are, from left, the maintenance crew of Erin Speed, Gabie Johnson and Maintenance Director Tom Riitano. They planted two red bud and two flowering crab trees at Browns Mill Park on the Vaughn Road.

The Forest Society of Maine (FSM) is responsible for monitoring the Moosehead Region Conservation Easement (MRCE), 359,000 acres of permanently conserved working forestlands located east and west of Moosehead Lake. When the MRCE was put in place in 2012, a related effort was launched to identify 121 acres, within the MRCE boundaries, where non-motorized trails should be constructed or improved, and made permanent with trail easements. Decisions about trail locations were largely driven by a local committee, of which FSM Executive Director Karin Tilberg was a member.

The 11 students are Ella Weber, kindergarten; Grace Wasel, grade 1; Jordon Dill, grade 2; Evie Wasel, grade 3; Jenna Hartford, grade 4; Samantha Kinney, elementary unified arts; Susan LaBree, grade 5; James Estes, grade 6; Tristan Turner, grade 7; Eli Sharrow, grade 8; and Evalyn Fisk, middle school unified arts.

Many visitors to Baxter State Park, the Golden Road, the Katahdin Woods and Waters Scenic Byway and other destinations in and near Piscataquis County will be able to learn more about the region, and use some new public restroom facilities, at a forthcoming Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) information hub at Millinocket Lake by the North Woods Trading Post and the Golden Road in T1 R9.

A 10-year-old who battled a brain tumor took a step toward his dream of one day becoming a firefighter by being named an honorary junior firefighter with the Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department during a presentation at the station on May 17. Brayson Dunton, who is a fourth-grader at the SeDoMoCha Elementary School, also had the opportunity to take a ride in the cab of his favorite ladder truck, being joined for the trip by his friend and classmate Evan Seavey.

Two Dover-Foxcroft women who have worked to provide comforting blankets to countless children through Project Linus and helped provide a happy holidays for numerous families via the Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis Community Christmas Project, among other volunteer efforts for each, have been honored by the Valley Grange with the organization’s 2019 Community Citizen of the Year honor. Barbara Austin and Judy Raymond received the recognition on the evening of May 17 at the Grange Hall.

Six Foxcroft Academy students were presented Horizon Scholarships by Tom Lizotte of the school’s board of trustees at a schoolwide assembly on May 17. Horizon Scholarships provide financial support for exceptional academic experiences not presently offered at Foxcroft Academy.

Food insecurity has become an increasing problem and Dover-Foxcroft Area Food Cupboard is attempting to do something about it in its little corner of the world.

When Dover-Foxcroft residents head to the polls on Tuesday, June 11, they will be voting on the municipal budget, several town positions as well as the RSU 68 budget. The warrants for these items were signed by the selectmen during a May 13 meeting.

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine will spend Saturday, May 25 visiting Milo and talking with constituents as he tours several venues in the area to begin the Memorial Day weekend. Local residents are encouraged to come out and meet with Golden and his staff at the American Legion in the morning and/or at Bissell Brothers Three Rivers in the afternoon.

A public hearing on bill “LD 1708” to amend the HAD 4 charter to authorize the merger between Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft and Northern Light Health, a statewide system comprised of hospitals across Maine, has been scheduled by the 129th Legislature’s state and local government committee for 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 15 in Augusta at the Cross Building, Room 214. More information is available at http://legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Committees/SLG.

Honored as the 2019 Piscataquis County Teacher of the Year is art educator Bobbi Tardif of SeDoMoCha Middle School in Dover-Foxcroft. Tardif is a resident of Corinna

On Saturday, May 4 28 volunteers gathered in the community to help manage one of Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation (PCSWCD) properties, the Law Farm on Lee Cemetery Road. Among the crowd were the Cub Scout Pack 61, Brian Roth from the University of Maine School of Forest Resources, Unity College Trail Crew and East Sangerville Grange members.