President Donald Trump will hold a roundtable discussion with parties involved in the commercial fishing industry during his visit to Maine on Friday, according to a White House official. The president is slated to come to the Pine Tree State to visit the Puritan Medical Products facility in Guilford, which manufactures medical swabs used in coronavirus testing. The Guilford company is one of the two largest swab manufacturers in the world and is opening a new swab manufacturing facility in Pittsfield this summer to meet the surging demand for swabs.

The 133rd edition of the Piscataquis Valley Fair in Dover-Foxcroft has been postponed until next year due to factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fair, originally scheduled for Aug. 27-30, will be held next on Aug. 26-29, 2021.

Extension staff will have seedlings available at several other locations while supplies last: Tradewinds in Milo, 7 to 11 a.m. on Friday, June 5; Smith’s Grocery and Lunch in Brownville, noon to 3 p.m. on June 5; Whitney’s Supermarket in Guilford, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 6; and the Piscataquis County Extension Office in Dover-Foxcroft, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, June 8.

Maine police agencies are planning for President Donald Trump’s planned Friday visit to a medical swab manufacturer that could involve a complex and costly transfer from the Bangor airport to the Piscataquis County town roughly 45 miles away.

Next month citizens of the region will be voting on the $145,000 -- plus interest -- purchase of the former Key Bank location in downtown Guilford to be the new home of the sheriff’s office patrol and investigation divisions when they head to the polls on Tuesday, July 14. Before the referendum, county officials will be holding several late June information meetings across the region on the bond question.

Behind the steady stream of shoppers entering Whitney’s Family Supermarket late Monday afternoon was an anticipation of what is to come Friday -- a visit to this quiet milltown of some 1,500 residents by President Donald Trump.

The 2020 Piscataquis River Festival, which was scheduled for Saturday, July 25, will not be happening.

President Donald Trump will visit a medical swab manufacturer in Guilford on Friday despite pushback from Gov. Janet Mills, who told the president his trip could create unrest and later said he is failing to assert leadership as protests rage across the country.

Valley Grange of Guilford recently announced that in a joint agreement with the administration of SAD 4, the Parade of Pirates scheduled for Wednesday, June 10 is being canceled. In announcing the cancelation, Valley Grange Program Director Walter Boomsma explained, “After reviewing the recent changes to Gov. Mills’ Executive Order, we made the unhappy decision to cancel the event in keeping with the spirit of the order and everyone’s safety.”

In this unusual time of restrictions on schools, churches, public meetings and gatherings, and of rural reopening, the Parkman Grange is announcing plans to award 2020 Minnie Welts Bridge Memorial Scholarships to one or more deserving Parkman students continuing their education beyond high school. There will be no Memorial Grange Supper this year, but scholarships will be awarded anyway.

Scheduled for the final day of school, Wednesday June 10 and starting at 1 p.m., the parade of vehicles will travel through the SAD 4 campus with appropriate waving, balloons, decorated vehicles, horn-blowing and yelling. Teachers and staff will line the edges of the driveway in what Boomsma hopes becomes a “huge event” that marks the official end of the school year and the start of summer.

Maine's top election official is encouraging people to vote via absentee ballot during the July primary election to limit the exposure voters and polling workers have to the coronavirus. The state will still hold in-person balloting July 14 with new social distancing protocols, but it's easier -- and safer -- to vote via absentee ballot, Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said this week.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the previously scheduled Relay For Life live events across Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire through June have suspended their live events, and many now are participating on Sunday, June 7 in a virtual online experience called Hope From Home. Participants should register for their local event at http://RelayForLife.org and then on June 7 join the activities at https://bit.ly/RelayHopeFromHome.

Memorial Day Weekend marks the beginning of the boating season in Maine for many, and the Maine Warden Service is urging all boaters to wear your life jacket, boat safely and maintain proper social distancing while out on the water.

The state's wildlife biologists have proposed a 61.2 percent increase in the number of any-deer permits allotted this year. If the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife's advisory council approves the plan, 109,890 hunters will be allowed to shoot deer without antlers during the firearms hunting season.

For years, the world’s two largest producers of medical testing swabs -- one based in rural Maine, the other in the foothills of the Italian Alps -- have waged a series of transatlantic legal battles. But for now, both companies seem to be temporarily laying down their arms so they can focus on a much greater challenge: scaling up their production to meet the new demands of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Renovations and recruiting have now begun for the Somerset County expansion of a Guilford company that makes the nasal swabs that are critically necessary to test patients for the coronavirus. Beginning in early July, Puritan Medical Products expects to start churning out the foam swabs from its new Pittsfield factory overlooking the Sebasticook River. 

In Piscataquis County, one of the poorest in Maine, food is flying off the shelves of the Dover-Foxcroft Area Food Cupboard. On a recent day, cars started arriving an hour ahead of the scheduled grocery pickup. By 10 a.m., the line stretched down a long driveway and onto the street.