In addition to balloon rides and launches, the 27th annual Great Falls Balloon Festival brings a wide variety of entertainment to the banks of the Androscoggin River this weekend. Most acts will perform on the festival mainstage at Simard-Payne Park (formerly Railroad Park) in Lewiston or on the Riverwalk stage in Auburn. For the complete entertainment schedule, see www.greatfallsballoonfestival.org.

Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Carol Noonan will perform in concert with master guitarists Duke Levine and Kevin Barry at Celebration Barn Theater in South Paris on Saturday, August 17 at 7:30 p.m.

The Boston Music Award-winning vocalist is known for her contemporary folk music, humorous storytelling, and haunting renditions of traditional Irish, English, and American songs. Her voice has been compared to that of a young Joan Baez.

Chip Morrison will be the guest speaker at the next meeting of the Lewiston-Auburn Rotary Lunch Club on Thursday, August 22. The event will take place from noon to 1 p.m. at the Village Inn at 165 High Street in Auburn.

Morrison joined the Business and Government Services team at Androscoggin Bank in August of 2015. Prior to joining the bank, he was the interim executive director for the Maine Make-A-Wish Foundation. He also currently serves on the board of directors for six local community organizations.

Friends and family members have launched a GoFundMe campaign to preserve the memory of Roy Varney, son of Gregg and Gloria Varney of Turner, who passed away unexpected on July 2.

Varney, who graduated this spring from Leavitt Area High School, planned to attend UNH this fall. An accomplished Nordic skier, he was passionate about skiing, trained seriously to reach his potential, and lived life to the fullest. His accomplishments included winning a state championship in cross country skiing and competing in the National Biathlon Championships. He was scheduled to train at the National Biathlon Center in Jericho, VT.

Bringing extensive experience as an educator and a proven aptitude towards engaging students, Alanna Stevenson has been named the new principal of Saint Dominic Academy’s Lewiston campus, which serves students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Stevenson is currently Dean of Students and an English teacher at the academy’s Auburn campus, which serves students in grades six through twelve.

The new fall brochure from Lewiston Adult Education offers a full menu of classes, including two on how to make bagels and turkey roulade.

Chef Dan Caron of the Green Ladle will teach a one-night class on how to combine turkey breast and stuffing into a spiral-shaped roll. Students in the class will be able to take some of their work home with them.

Alisa Roman, Director of Nutrition for Lewiston Public Schools, will teach several fall classes, including ones on how to make bagels and hors d’ oeuvres. Like the turkey roulade class, the one-night hors d’ oeuvres class will take place just a few weeks before Thanksgiving.

As part of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s continued commitment to supporting the prevention and treatment of cancer and the work of the Maine Children’s Cancer Program, eight-year-old cancer survivor Norman Albert of Mechanic Falls was honored recently as an Anthem Hero at Hadlock for the courage he displayed in battling a rare form of cancer at a young age.

Albert is the second of four Anthem Heroes be recognized during the Portland Sea Dogs’ 2019 season. The ceremony took place prior to the July 27 game at Hadlock Field in Portland.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine has presented graduating Edward Little High School senior Jenna Fowler with a certificate of appreciation for her volunteer work at Washburn Elementary School in Auburn.  

For the past two years, Fowler participated in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program as a high school mentor at Washburn. Each week during the school year, she went to the elementary school to spend time with young children as an older friend and role model. 

Maine has a proud and storied history, and our bicentennial offers us the opportunity, not only to honor that history, but to recommit ourselves to the values that shaped us as a state and as a people.

Our little state, jutting out of the northeast corner of our country, with its population of only 1.3 million, its four fulsome seasons, its forests, hills, tablelands, potato fields, shores, mighty rivers, and secret waterfalls, takes its physical character from ancient eskers and glacial erratics, kettles, cirques, and moraines. There are no straight lines here. This place we call home is unique, and it offers so much to so many.

But Maine is not just its natural resources and phenomena. It is also its people. For more than two hundred years, sons and daughters of Maine, with courage in their souls, kindness in their hearts, and an unshakeable, independent spirit, have built this state and led the nation.

The Outsiders Club of USM’s Lewiston-Auburn Senior College has enjoyed a run of beautiful Mondays for its recent excursions on hiking trails in and around Lewiston-Auburn. Destinations have included Bradbury Mountain, Mt. Pisgah, the Riverlands in Turner, Thorncrag, Poland Spring, and Mt. Apetite. 

The club aims to progressively increase the endurance of its members throughout the season, increasing the challenges as the group progresses to fall climbing. The club is open to members of L-A Senior College. For registration information, see usm.maine.edu/senior.