With the prospects good for a smooth sea, and a mild sky overhead, and generally favorable conditions, all preparations have been completed for the series of motorboat races on Lake Auburn Wednesday afternoon. Scores of propellers will scare the fishes in the vicinity of Lake Grove, and the first regatta of the future Lake Auburn Yacht Club will be a great occasion.

A fund to send deserving Maine young men to Notre Dame University has been organized under the leadership of Lewiston businessman Raymond A. Geiger, president of the Notre Dame Alumni Association of Maine. Letters have been sent to about 100 local businessmen asking for donations to help the drive get underway. The funds gathered in the drive will be loaned to needy boys, to be repaid after graduation at no interest. Also serving as an officer of the Maine alumni group is J. Leonard Tobin of Lewiston.

• A full day of events including a talent show, queen coronation and all types of games and races kept more than 1,000 Lewiston youngsters busy yesterday during the annual Play Day sponsored by the Lewiston Recreation Department.

Peggy Marcotte of Farwell Playground was crowned Miss Lewiston Playground by Mayor Romeo T. Boisvert. In the afternoon talent show, which featured 27 acts, Sheila Cooper, also of Farwell, won first place with a baton twirling exhibition.

The "acute shortage" of trained stitchers in the Lewiston-Auburn area's footwear industry was the subject of a meeting between industry and government representatives at the East Wilton headquarters of Mountain Valley Training Wednesday afternoon.

According to William Harkins, executive vice president of the Lewiston-Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce, the purpose of the conference was to explore the potential for a training program to assist the shoe industry in its need for skilled workers.

"Machine stitching is a real skill," he said, adding that only a minority of those who undertake the training see it through to completion. Most stitchers, he said, are paid by piecework, and skilled stitchers can earn upwards of $6 an hour.