BIDDEFORD
McArthur Library continues its online services, offering programs for all ages.
Childrens offerings include Storytime with John at 10 a.m. Monday-Friday on Facebook Live. PreK Storytime is offered on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Baby and Me sessions run on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Stories Under the Stars is offered at 7 p.m. daily Monday-Friday on Facebook Bedtime, with stories read aloud by Deanna and friends.
A Middle Grade Chapter Book Read-Aloud with John is offered at 1:30 p.m. Monday-Friday on Facebook Live. The current book is “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White.
A Kids’ Online Book Group, with Leslie Connor, is set to begin featuring the book is “All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook” by Leslie Connor, who will join in for the discussion. To register contact Deanna at dlgouzie@mcarthur.lib.me.us or call 229-2822 for details on how to get the book.
Kids! Want A Pen Pal? Write to McArthur Public Library Attention: Deanna 270 Main Street Biddeford, ME 04005.
And, the “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” Summer Learning and Discovery Program will kick off in June, offering fun online challenges all summer long! Learn how to build your own solar oven and make a s’more, go on a virtual camp out, participate in a
scavenger hunt, play virtual bingo and more!
Programs for adults include an online Knitting Group at 10 a.m. Go to meet.jit.si/McArthurKnittingGroup or call (512) 402-2718 PIN: 635 188 424#.
Smoothies with Deanna will be held at 10 a.m. Saturdays on Facebook, offering smoothie recipes and demos.
And Mug Cake Mondays are being offered at 3:15 p.m. Mondays on Facebook Live. Tune in for tasty and fun mug cake recipes and demos with Danie.
For more details, call the library at 284-4181 or email: reference@mcarthur.lib.me.us
Food preservation webinar series from UMaine Extension
ORONO
University of Maine Cooperative Extension is launching a food preservation webinar series at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The weekly series continues through Oct. 27.
“Preserving the Maine Harvest” will begin with a demonstration on freezing fiddleheads and making refrigerator spring pickles. The 45-minute sessions will include discussion and demonstration of research-based preserving methods by UMaine Extension food preservation staff.
Topics for June will include freezing rhubarb and greens, preserving strawberries and herbs, and drinks from the garden. Participants will have the opportunity to be paired with a trained Extension Master Food Preserver volunteer for advice throughout the growing season.
A $5 donation is suggested for each webinar; payment is not required to participate. Registration is available on the program webpage.
For more details or to request a reasonable accommodation, call Kate McCarty at 781-6099 or email kate.mccarty@maine.edu.
PORTLAND
A Live-streamed Mass, celebrated in Spanish, will be offered at 12:30 p.m. Sunday by Fr. Kevin Upham, parochial vicar of the Portland Peninsula & Island Parishes, from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
All are welcome to participate from home via livestream at www.facebook.com/PortlandCathedral or www.portlandiocese.org/online-Mass.
Fr. Michael Sevigny, OFM Cap., a Maine native who has returned to the state to serve in the Diocese of Portland’s Office of Hispanic Ministry, will celebrate Masses in Spanish via livestream each Saturday at 5:30 p.m. from the Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul in Lewiston. All are welcome to participate in the Masses which will be live-streamed on the Prince of Peace Parish Facebook page (www.facebook.com/PrinceOfPeaceME), website (https://princeofpeace.me), and YouTube channel.
For more details, call Sister Patricia Pora, RSM, at 615-2522 or Fr. Sevigny at 777-1200.
Local Tour Company Offers Pay-What-You-Can Pricing for Mainers
Portland Paddle, a seasonal business offering sea kayaking tours and lessons, is responding to the challenges of the global pandemic by offering “pay-what-you-can” pricing for Maine residents. Customers can enter a code when booking on Portland Paddle’s website that allows them to enter their own price. The pay-what-you-can pricing is available for all bookings made for all guided trips and lessons scheduled from opening day this Friday through June 30.
Portland Paddle offers guided sea kayak trips in Casco Bay, as well as a range of other offerings, including lessons, multiday expeditions on the Maine Island Trail, kayak and paddleboard rentals and a paddling program for kids, based at the Eastern Promenade by the East End Beach.
Portland Paddle will also be taking a wide range of steps to minimize risks of exposure to the novel coronavirus for its customers and staff. Among these steps is a paid sick leave policy that will offer staff full pay for any scheduled shifts they miss due to illness or COVID-19 quarantines. The business has written a COVID-19 guidebook for its staff that details new policies on matters such as cleaning gear and educating customers about proper distancing.
Like most businesses that rely heavily on seasonal tourism, Portland Paddle has experienced a sharp decline in revenues from bookings since the start of the global pandemic. Portland Paddle also has a loyal customer base of Mainers, however, and Anchors hopes that these local customers will keep his staff busy for the duration of the state’s policy of mandatory quarantining for visitors to the state. Portland Paddle anticipates that the pay-what-you-can policy will also help to sustain a full level of staffing. Almost all of Portland Paddle’s staff returns every summer, but this year owner Zack Anchors is concerned that he won’t have enough work to provide all workers the hours they need.
For more details, call Anchors at 370-1496 or email zack@portlandpaddle.net
Main Street Bucksport hosts 4th annual Community Clean Up Day
BUCKSPORT
Residents are invited to participate in the town’s Fourth Annual Community Clean Up Day Saturday.
Unlike in year’s past, this clean up day will be a do-it-yourself affair, with volunteers invited to clean up trash around their own homes and neighborhoods, making sure to maintain a safe social distance from other people.
Post pictures of your cleanup at Main Street’s Bucksport’s Facebook page for this event. No need to sign up or register, just gather some gloves, trash bags, and maybe some bug spray and head out.
If you are in need of gloves or bags, email Brook at brook@mainstreetbucksport.org.
AUGUSTA
Five graduating art students from the University of Maine at Augusta are exhibiting their works in an all-online Virtual Senior Thesis Exhibition at Danforth.UMA.edu with the display to be followed by a bricks-and-mortar exhibition at 3 p.m. Sept. 6 at the Charles Danforth Gallery.
Art students Marcea Crawford, Shana Rowe Jackson, Evan Lord Martin, Jenn Messier and Becky Pass have spent months preparing their thesis projects, first in UMA’s studios, and then in their home studios as campus access was limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The all-online exhibition highlights the perseverance, resilience and creative achievements of this year’s graduates in extraordinary times using a wide variety of media, formats and scales. These works, forged from the artists’ individual experiences, artistic training and many hundreds of hours of work in the studio, are well-suited to this time in history and shows how this year’s graduates have, before the pandemic era and during, turned difficulty to art.
Free Summer Classes for the Class of 2020!
AUBURN
Central Maine Community College is offering the gift of free online classes to students who are graduating from high school this spring.
Any Maine student graduates of the Class of 2020 are eligible to take advantage of free online college classes this summer as part of a special eight-week term, starting June 1 and a six-week term starting in July. Students can explore their interests, earn college credit and save money and time as they move toward their college and career goals.
To get started, students can check the course listing and registration information at https://www.cmcc.edu/academics/programs/online-summer-session-2020/. If they have questions, they can email CMCC College Navigators Andrew Morong at amorong@cmcc.edu or Connor Sheehy at csheeny@cmcc.edu.
For more details, go to www.cmcc.edu.
Curbside Delivery offered at the CVPL
CARRABESETT VALLEY
The Carrabassett Valley Public Library has begun a stage 1 reopening of limited services that meet state guidelines.
The library building, located at 3209 Carrabassett Dr. No. 3, will remain closed to the public until it is deemed safe to reopen but curbside service is being offered at this time.
Members can search the online catalog, call, or email requests to library director Andrea DeBiase. Items will be packaged, for pickup within a certain time frame in front of the library, or delivered to your car if you prefer. A touch-free drop box will be available for returns. People will not be allowed to take anything from this return bin because these items will need to be quarantined and disinfected before being checked back in for circulation. Please remember social distancing measures.
Patrons should keep in mind that borrowing materials is “at your own risk.”
For more details, go to the CV Public Library online Public Access Catalog: https://opac.libraryworld.com/opac/home.php, email cvlibrary3209@gmail.com or call 237-3535.
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