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.

Without overnight service, residents suffering urgent medical issues past normal business hours in one of the most remote areas in Maine and all of the northeastern U.S. would have to travel at least 50 miles to hospitals in Skowhegan or Greenville on their own or in an ambulance.

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.”

Foxcroft Academy Head of School Arnold Shorey is pleased to announce the honor parts for this year’s graduating class, the 197th class in school history.

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced that HealthReach Community Health Centers, the Maine Hospital Association, Inc., the Penobscot Community Health Center, the Katahdin Valley Health Center -- which has a clinic in Brownville -- and the Maine Primary Care Association have been awarded a total of $5,794,031 to support their efforts to provide health care to Mainers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Barely three weeks ago Matt Tibbetts awoke to the biggest snowstorm of the year in southern Piscataquis County. The weighty and wet dose of frozen precipitation left him and other homeowners in the area with considerable storm carnage to clear -- particularly broken branches from virtually every tree in every yard.

Tong “Edward” Wu, a John Bapst Memorial High School junior who recently won first place in the 2020 Penobscot County Bar Association (PCBA) Law Day Contest for his artwork commemorating the women’s rights movement, has donated his $500 cash prize to Partners for Peace -- a Maine organization focused on assisting members of the community affected by domestic abuse.

During the morning of Friday, June 5 staff from the SeDoMoCha School will be traveling throughout the RSU 68 district towns, waving to students and families as a way to say thank you for all their hard work --  staff miss them very much.

Maine courts will return slowly to normal operations over the next three months, but it will be September before activities fully return, provided there isn’t another outbreak of the coronavirus.

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.

“People were here camping and fishing,” said Craig Watt, vice president of the Indian Hill Trading Post in Greenville. “The numbers weren’t quite on par with previous years, but there were people here.”

The Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming Committee announces the cancellation of the 2020 celebration due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The health risk and uncertainty from the pandemic has led the committee to cancel the parade and fireworks scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 1. 

The coronavirus pandemic and the related suspension of school sports this spring allowed Luis Ayala a rare respite to consider his big picture. The longtime Foxcroft Academy wrestling and soccer coach typically spent his offseasons coaching both sports at the middle-school and youth levels.

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.

The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) is very excited to announce that it will be collaborating with Widdershins Farm LLC this summer. Widdershins is a local farm in Dover-Foxcroft offering a wide variety of services and products and includes a creamery and farm store that is open seven days a week. The farm specializes in sustainable agriculture and caring for their livestock in the most natural way possible

The Center Theatre announced that its community theater group, the Slightly Off-Center Players, will be holding open auditions for their summer production of “Born in a Small Town,” a new play written and directed by Bobby Keniston. The auditions, which will take place on June 13-14 from 1-4 p.m. at the Center Theatre, 20 East Main Street.