In my old life I spent lots of time in and around public schools. No more. But last Wednesday I was tracking down Cindy and Bob Borin, and my only sure shot was to find Cindy at school. (It’s not ice-cream season and Bob, I learned, was volunteering at Gramps.)

Deja vu: There I was at a public school the day before Thanksgiving. It hadn’t changed – the excitement of an early school closing and a long holiday weekend.

Kids were fairly dancing out of Meroby Elementary at noontime and so was Cindy Borin. But she kindly stopped, and told me when I could reach Bob.

Why? To talk about RAAPA and the annual Christmas program on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m., and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

“Tradition: A River Valley Christmas” explores our area’s diverse ethnic groups – Native Americans, the first English settlers, and the Scottish, French, Irish, Italian, Lithuanian groups who followed.

The production, says Bob, “lets people look at their own history.”

Nancy Demilner, Steve Eldridge, Gail Parent and Peter Theriault read those cultural histories as well as some personal stories from a narrative prepared by five research and writing teams, all RAAPA members.

There’s always wonderful singing and dancing at RAAPA’s Christmas show. “Every piece, though familiar, has an ethnic tie,” says Bob.

This time out there are also offerings by Native American flute player Nightshade Wolfstone Francis, bagpiper Denise Hurd, and the Scoggin Cloggers.

The age range of the cast? “Well, the youngest are third-, fourth- and fifth-graders from St. A/St. John Elementary School. Some of the chorus are in their seventies and have been members of the Rumford Area Association for the Advancement of the Performing Arts since its founding in 1968. Cast members come from every corner of the Valley, Roxbury and Hanover, Andover and Peru.

Bob Borin trained at Berklee School of Music in Boston. A voice major, he also “played all the reeds.” There he met Cindy, a Mexico native. Music was to be his vocation, but family life steered him in another direction.

Fortunately for River Valley audiences, Bob practices his avocation here. (He will team with Burt deFrees on a second variety show in Rumford’s Municipal Auditorium in February.)

Judy Kuhn continues to direct RAAPA productions, but Bob has been Christmas program director for three years. He begins work on the production “not later than May.” This should come as no surprise because the Christmas show is a BIG one.

“Wayne Landry keeps threatening to retire,” but he has done another outstanding job on sets for the 2005 show – a different set for each of the four acts, Bob says.

One of them is a stunner; a power point production put together with assistance from the Rumford Historical Society. You go in knowing you’re gonna love it. You come out feeling a lot like Christmas.

Linda Farr Macgregor and her husband, Jim, live in Rumford. She is a freelance writer and the author of “Rumford Stories.” Contact her at [email protected].