A Good Time

The First Annual Members ’n Guest Family Outing at the Gray American Legion Post No. 86 was a great success. They had a bounce house, water slide, balloon game, basketball game and lots of others activities, while folks enjoyed free cotton candy, snowcones, hamburgers, hot dogs, sausage sandwiches, chips, sodas and juices.

Dunk-tank donations were taken for their Christmas club, which is for adopted families and a deployed military unit to send gifts to, in the holiday season. Post 86 family made this a “day to remember” with special thanks to Commander Joe Hansen and his wife, Kelly Hansen, for getting a team together to make this such a wonderful event.

Help the Troops

A benefit supper/dance to help The House in the Woods, a military family retreat located in Lee, Maine, will be held on Friday, Aug. 15, at the American Legion Hall, Route 100, Gray. The spaghetti supper will be from 5-6:30 p.m. The dance, with music by DJ Brian Poulin, starts around 7:30 p.m. and ends at 11 p.m. The price to attend is $15 per person. Tickets on sale now, please contact 607-3982. There will be a 50/50 raffle and door prizes.

Starlite Movies

On Thursday, Aug. 21, go to Pennell Park in Gray for a family movie event featuring a “Mystery Movie.” The movie will start about 8:15 p.m. Rain location will be the Newbegin Gymnasium. The Snack Shack will be open and serving your favorite movie snacks and beverages. Go to www.grayrec.com for more information.

Summer Cleanup

The town of Gray will be holding its annual August “Clean Up Weekend” at the transfer station on Seagull Drive. It will be held, Friday, Aug. 22, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 23-24, from 7 a.m.-3 p.m.

You can bring: carpeting – one pickup load; mattresses/boxsprings; sofas, chairs and loveseats; televisions, computers and monitors; refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and de-humidifiers; tires – limit four passenger size ($2 each additional, $4 each additional on rim); automobile batteries; one pickup truck sized load each of branches and yard waste (usual disposal fees apply on additional loads).

Wood waste, construction debris and demolition material are charged the usual disposal rate while stoves, washers, dryers, water heaters and dishwashers are always accepted at no cost.

All vehicles must have a valid 2014 transfer station permit.

Also, Saturday, Aug. 23, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. only, there will be a household hazardous waste drop-off available.

Free Lunch

A free lunch will be served Monday through Friday for kids and teens age 18 and under until Aug. 22 at: Gray-New Gloucester High School, 10 Libby Hill Road, Gray, from 11:30 to 12:30; at Liberty Family Foundation, 23 North Raymond Road, Gray (across from St. Gregory’s Parish) from 11:30 to 12:15; and Russell Elementary School, 8 Gray Park Road, Gray, 11:30 to noon.

The Summer Food Service Program is sponsored by MSAD 15 Food and Nutrition Services in partnership with the Liberty Family Foundation. For more information contact MSAD 15 Food and Nutrition Supervisor Amy Bacon at 657-9331 or abacon@sad15.org. For additional resources, call 2-1-1.

Who Who

The Gray Public Library, on Hancock Road in Gray, will present Chewonki: Owls of Maine-Habits and Adaptations, Aug. 15, 10:30 a.m. Chewonki’s live barred owl, great horned owl, and screech owls are the highlights of this program, which introduces participants to the owls native to Maine and New England. Beginning with slides and sounds to learn the identifying characteristics and calls of each owl. Then, using talons, wings, and skulls, the adaptations of these silent nocturnal hunters are explored.

Chewonki is an environmental education organization based in Wiscasset, Maine. Through its educational initiatives, Chewonki demonstrates and teaches the importance of living sustainably. For more information call 657-4110.

Enchanted Wood, Enchanted Forests

On Saturday, Aug. 16, at the Maine Wildlife Park, Route 26 in Gray, chainsaw wildlife artists will be featured. Join Maine chainsaw carvers Ron Carlson, Tim Pickett, Andrew Logan and Dan Burns, as they use chainsaws to create eagles, bears and more. Watch a block of wood become a work of art.

The following weekend Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 23-24, come see the Enchanted Forests. With the success of last years “make and take” fairy house event; an entire weekend is dedicated to it again this year. Bring the kids to visit the human-sized fairy house, meet and have your photos taken with some “real” fairies; then work with all-natural materials to create your own miniature fairy habitats to take home with you.

From Aug. 22-Sept. 2, The Final Charge, a massive, museum quality display showing two huge bull moose with locked antlers, created by taxidermist Mark Dufresne of Nature’s Reflections Taxidermy in Gray, will be on exhibit. For more information, go to www.llbean.com.

All programs are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. unless otherwise specified. For more information, go to www.mainewildlifepark.com or call 657-4977.

Pennies for Piggies, Etc.

At the end of each of the eight weeks of summer camp, the folks at Gray Recreation have been weighing the pennies collected by staff members Debbie Nickerson, Kim Frost, Tyler Hicks and Graham Ratner to determine who the winner is and who gets the pleasure of kissing a pig.

There is still time to drop off your pennies at Gray Rec because they will be collecting pennies until Aug. 18. The effort will support DEW Animal Kingdom and Sanctuary in Mount Vernon, Maine, where Gray Recreation will be visiting on Aug. 21 and will present DEW with a check.

Upcoming programs include:

• Junior Kids Club – An affordable six-week program just for the “mini-kids” ages 3-5 (potty trained only) starts Sept. 9, from 9-11:30 a.m.

• Mommy and Me – A program designed exclusively for the parent/guardian and the child to participate in together. Starts Sept. 8, from 9-11 a.m.

Call 657-2323 or go to www.grayrec.com for more information.

Folks had a good time at the recent Gray American Legion Post 86 Members ‘n Guests Family Outing.