PORTLAND
Preschool to throw its annual carnival
Children’s Nursery School will host its 44th annual Winter Carnival from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the historic State Street Church.
Formerly known as the Grand Bazaar, the event will feature a wide range of family-friendly activities including games, food, art, live animals, face painting, music and a raffle.
The event is free to families with a suggested donation of $5. All proceeds go to support the Children’s Nursery School, a unique cooperative, nonprofit, non-denominational preschool.

Learn about a salvage archeology project
Spirits Alive will kick off its four-part winter lecture series with a virtual talk at 1:30 p.m. Saturday that explores the history of early New England via Zoom.
Nicholas Bonneau will present “An Accounting of the Dead,” about the Arch Street Project in Philadelphia. In 2016, developers in Philadelphia discovered their building site was a cemetery thought to have been moved across town in 1860. Volunteers from the Arch Street Project have worked to understand not only why these interments were not moved, but also about the lives and deaths of these individuals.
Bonneau, the primary historian of the project, will go through the history of this congregation and community of the dead using techniques that combine the modern technologies of skeletal, DNA and isotopic analysis with related church documents to identify these individuals.
The lecture is free, however donations are appreciated. To register, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkf–hrjgjH9YYyccfxVcnnAqwl4aw9rGj.

WELLS
Library updates weekly offerings
The Friends of the Wells Public Library will sponsor the following events this week at the Wells Public Library, at 1434 Post Road:
• Teen Challenge Mode: 52 Pick-Me-Ups will meet at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday. Attendees will use a deck of cards to create a mini-book, 52 pages long of compliments, pick-me-ups, or other positive ideas. The session is open to students in grade 5 and up. Snacks will be provided. For more details, contact Kayla Sawyer at ksawyer@wellstown.org.
• Mother Goose Storytime will meet at 10:30 a.m. Monday for children ages 0-24 months to engage in lap activities, rhymes, songs, and fingerplays.
• A Lunar New Year brush painting class will be 2 p.m. Tuesday for adults who wish to learn how to write out simple phrases in Chinese characters with a brush and inkwell and learn what the Year of the Rabbit means in Chinese folklore. This event is free by advance registration is required as space is limited.
For more information and to reserve a spot, contact Stefanie Claydon at sclaydon@wellstown.org or call the library at 646-8181.

BRUNSWICK
Downtown Association welcomes all to meeting
The Brunswick Downtown Association’s annual meeting – themed “All About Town” – will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Wild Oats Bakery & Café, at 166 Admiral Fitch Ave., on the Brunswick Landing.
The meeting is open to members and the public, and will include the presentations of awards, an association update and a board of directors introduction.
Doors open at 5 p.m., followed by the program at 6 p.m. Wild Oats appetizers will be served and a cash bar is available. The cost is $35 per person (plus $1.50 processing fee). Pre-registration is required. Payments can be made at brunswickdowntown.org/events/bdas-annual-meeting-2023/ or by calling 729-4439.

GORHAM
Prove your free throw skills at competition
The Gorham Knights annual Free Throw Competition for ages 9 to 14 will be from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Shaw Gymnasium, located at 75 South St.
Youths are invited to try their hand at getting as many free throws as possible for a chance to win a medal, a new basketball and a chance to advance to the state level of competition. There will be six groups for each age and a division for boys and girls. Each participant is given 15 chances at successfully completing free throws. One winner and a runner up will be selected from each age group. Those winners will get the opportunity to participate in the state championship on March 11 at the Old Town High School gym. Runners up can take the place of the winner in the event they can’t attend.
Sign-ups will take place on the day of the event and participation is free. Participants need to bring proof of birthdate (birth certificate or equivalent) to sign up.
For more information on the competition, call Mike Chabot at 400-1814.

SCARBOROUGH
Help new Mainers feel at home
The Scarborough Kiwanis Club will sponsor a talk with Amy Titcomb and Omar Hassan of Welcoming the Stranger from noon to 1 p.m. at Cowbell Burger, 185 U.S. Route 1.
Welcoming the Stranger is a program of the nonprofit Maine Association for New Americans. The aim of the program is to provide an American friend to every asylum-seeking individual or family who wants to help them feel welcomed into the community, figure out how to get around, learn the basics of American culture, and practice English.
Meetings are free and open to the public. For more details, contact the club at scarboroughkiwanis2@gmail.com.