Hike it or bike it

The New Gloucester Park and Recreation Commission has teamed with Healthy Casco Bay to offer a pair of adult programs this fall: bike riding along Portland’s Eastern Promenade and hiking Scarborough Marsh.

Both events are offered as part of Healthy Casco Bay’s “Easy Adventure” series, geared toward New Gloucester residents belonging to the 50-plus, or minus, set.

The bike ride on Portland Eastern Promenade Trail is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 1, with a rain date of Oct. 2, over two sessions at 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. This event was designed to reintroduce the joys of two- or three-wheeled travel over a closed course along Eastern Prom trail. Bicycles, instruction and guides are provided. Healthy snacks are included. Registration is limited to 25, and the price is just $10.

The hiking and geo-caching outing at the Scarborough Marsh is set for Saturday, Oct. 18, with a rain date of Oct. 25, from 9 a.m. to noon. This activity takes full advantage of the fall scenery, as participants will hike near the marsh at Camp Ketcha and learn to use Global Positional System devices to find hidden geo-caches. Healthy snacks are provided. Registration is limited to 20, and the price is $10.

For more information and registration, contact Anita Chandler at 396-6507, or e-mail alchandler@smaaa.org.

“We’ve heard from many citizens that New Gloucester should be providing more than sports and recreation programs for kids, so we felt these Easy Adventure programs are a good way to start,” said Hal Phillips, chairman of the New Gloucester Park and Recreation Commission.

Healthy Casco Bay is the Healthy Maine Partnership that serves 10 towns north of Portland: Falmouth, Gray, New Gloucester, Pownal, Freeport, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth, Cumberland, Chebeague Island and Long Island.

Healthy Maine Partnerships are community health promotion initiatives funded with tobacco settlement dollars, and they work to encourage tobacco-free living, physical activity, and good nutrition, while discouraging substance abuse.

“Jim Tasse, the project director for Healthy Casco Bay, approached our committee this summer with these ideas for adult activities,” Phillips said. “We hope people will take advantage of them. I know Jim has been working with the Y down at Pineland to develop some adult Easy Adventure programs for the New Gloucester area specifically – maybe this winter during snowshoe and cross-country ski seasons. We’ll spread the word on this when events are finalized.”

A tasty fundraiser

The annual New Gloucester Historical Society apple pie sale is Saturday, Sept. 27, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Shaker Museum on Route 26 in New Gloucester. Local cooks using local apples from Thompson’s Orchard make for a great pie!

Shaker cooking

The first in a series of five talks to complement the exhibit “The Human and the Eternal: Shaker Art in its Many Forms” will be given by Sister Frances Carr on Thursday, Oct. 2, at 3 p.m. at the Shaker Library, Route 26, New Gloucester. Her topic will be Shaker cooking.

Carr has been the Shaker kitchen deaconess for many years and is author of “Shaker Your Plate.” The lecture is free as is admission to the exhibit, 2-3 p.m., Oct. 2.

Village Coffeehouse returns

The Village Coffeehouse opens its fall season Saturday, Oct. 4 with Willie Nininger, a well-known performer in the Boston area, who has a reputation for being able to mix and match country, folk and rock with ease and a great sense of humor.

Nininger was a mainstay of the Greenwich Village Folk Scene in the ’70s and ’80s, became a successful entertainer in Europe in the ’90s and now is back home entertaining audiences in the northeast. He is particularly known for his top flat-pick guitar and solo acoustic bluegrass version of Rossini’s “William Tell Overture.” He is sure to be a great season opener for the Village Coffeehouse.

The Coffeehouse is located in the lower village of New Gloucester at the First Congregational Church on Gloucester Hill Road near its junction with Route 231. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and children. Proceeds will benefit the church.

Because of renovations to the church vestry, the Coffeehouse in October will be held in the church sanctuary, but with the same informal and welcoming atmosphere as usual. For more information on this and other upcoming entertainers at the Coffeehouse, call Julie Fralich at 926-3116, the church office at 926-3260, or e-mail j.fralich @gmail.com.